Page 7 of Shielding Instinct

Today, Hawkeye drew the long straw. He’d be the one who got the extra legroom as he sat in the bulkhead row. He was also the point guy for the four dogs, as his teammates wouldn’t have easy access though they were sitting right behind their partner K9s. As tall as the men were, it took a bit of unfolding to get in and out of a regular seat.

This configuration was new to Hawkeye.

In his short time with the company, Iniquus always chose first-class seats for their operators and their K9s.

With the men’s large builds, they had the comfort to rest for their upcoming assignment, good food, and the dogs could curl up on the bigger seats or the floor. Disembarking first was helpful, so was being in a curtained space apart from the other passengers who might have allergies or fears associated with bigger dogs or dogs in general.

And just as importantly, they were away from cameras and could let their guard down a bit on long-haul flights.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the attendant spoke into the handheld PA system, “as you settle into your seats, I would like to announce that flying with us today are four K9 heroes. These working dogs are on the Iniquus team that recently made two search and rescue saves in the Washington, D.C. area. Over the summer, K9 Max found a grandmother who had wandered into the mountains during a fierce storm. And here, just recently, K9 Cooper found the four-year-old child who went missing for two days in the cold after the child wandered away from his caregiver. Thanks to this wonderful team, that child has made a complete recovery and is back home in the arms of his family. As the men and their dog partners come onto the plane, we ask that you keep your phones away and that you not take either pictures or videos. These men and their dogs often protect our nation’s lawmakers and diplomats overseas, and it’s important they maintain their anonymity for security reasons. We thank you for your cooperation.” The attendant paused, then finished with a rousing, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our national heroes.”

Ash turned and sent the rest of the team an “oh shit” raise of his eyebrows.

Iniquus culled its tactical teams from the lists of retired special forces operators. True, sometimes their missions did require heroic action, but to all the men in this line, the heroes were the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice.

For this team, work in the field was another day in the office.

Hawkeye didn’t like to admit it, but he was a might superstitious on this subject. Someone calling him a hero was a little bit like prophesying the worst.

And by the look on Ash’s face, he felt the same.

When the applause broke out, the team adjusted the bills on their caps slightly lower over their eyes.

While the hats gave them a bit more anonymity, Hawkeye also learned in training that obscuring his face came at a price. The forehead was where most people started a scan of a face to identify that person, and it was also the means by which they read the person’s emotions. A covered forehead created distrust of the hat wearer.

It was an odd snippet of applied psychology, but once he was aware of it, Hawkeye saw it play out in real-world scenarios.

For that reason, Iniquus operators only wore hats when it made them more effective on the job. Usually, that had to do with glare. Iniquus Logistics must have been concerned about the seat changes when the airline combined the two flights, putting the team on the more public side of the first-class curtain.

Had it not been for their orders, the team wouldn’t be wearing the hats.

While it was unusual, Hawkeye was grateful.

As the applause continued, Ash squared his shoulders, gave his K9, Hoover, a hand signal, and moved onto the plane.

Hawkeye followed him on, waiting patiently as Ash signaled Hoover into seat A by the window.

When Hoover jumped onto the seat he turned to put his paws on his headrest, looking out over the plane of clapping passengers, the applause turned to cheers.

Hoover’s behavior wasn’t atypical. Their dogs were highly intelligent and trained to be observant. When moving into any kind of new environment, the operators let the dogs get a sense of the space, knowing their dogs could hear, smell, and see far better than their handlers could. In a security situation, the team wanted their dogs to have all the information available.

What was not part of the game plan, though, was that the tabby cat at the back of the plane was in its owner's arms instead of in its case. Hawkeye assumed it must be an emotional support animal by the way that the woman clutched the cat to her chest. But even from the back of the plane, the cat must have smelled big, wet dogs.

The cat pressed its front paws against the woman’s face, pushing itself into a backbend as it let out an ungodly shriek.

The intake of breath among the passengers seemed choreographed.

They released their seatbelts and whipped themselves around to better understand what was going on and if there was a threat.

Typical human behavior.

Hoover was hard-focused with alert ears, his gaze fixed.

Ash reached forward and wrapped Hoover’s lead around his hand in case Hoover’s prey drive got the best of him.

Hawkeye swept his gaze down to catch Cooper’s eye, then signaled him onto his assigned seat. He sent a glance toward the woman sitting in the window seat to assess her comfort with the enormous German shepherd leaping onto the aisle seat.

In one hand, she had an eye mask, and with the other, she was pressing earbuds into place, seemingly oblivious to the drama in the back.

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