Chapter 21
Jordy
The airport bustled with activity. It was the middle of the morning rush, the busiest time at an airport, and the easiest for someone to disappear into a cloud.
Security was stretched trying to keep track of everyone coming and going, which also made it the most opportune for traffickers to slip through the cracks.
Well, hopefully not today.
“So, Miss Kim couldn’t narrow it down any more for us?” I asked Kitt as we sat at one of the airport’s overpriced restaurants, watching the people walk by.
Kitt never looked up from the book he was supposedly reading, yet although his eyes seemed to be moving over the page, I was certain he was paying close attention to every person in the crowd.
“We’re already pushing our luck that she was able to tell us what country Grace Calderon was probably fleeing to.
Otherwise, our whole plan would have fallen apart as soon as we hit customs. Asking for her to also tell us exactly which gate Calderon was flying out of and when, would be asking too much. ”
I pulled out the ticket that I’d stored in my pocket along with my passport. It had been two days since the shoot out at the safe house, and most of that time had been spent retrieving my vital documents from the safety deposit box at the bank where I’d stored them.
Airports were a tight mess of security. A person couldn’t just waltz up to a departure gate, especially not for an international flight. We had to have tickets, and to get those, we first had to have proper identification.
The whole process had given me a headache, and Kitt had handled most of it.
He was right. Without knowing which country Grace Calderon was headed for, this never would have worked. However, there it was, printed in bold text on the ticket I didn’t even plan on using.
Ukraine.
As an escape destination, it made sense. The country was rife with war and civil unrest right now. Whether that was Calderon’s final destination, or just a temporary hideout, it was an easy place for her to disappear.
“You’re right. Miss Lily’s already done more than we could ask for. We’ll just have to find Calderon the hard way.”
After storing my ticket and my passport safely back in my pocket, I checked my watch. Based on the timeframe Miss Kim had given us, we had about an eight-hour window before Grace Calderon would have successfully fled America and escaped our reach for good.
Eight hours was not a lot of time. We weren’t going to get far checking everyone in the airport one at a time. If we had the help of an entire security team, we might have had a chance, but not with just the two of us.
“And you’re certain we can’t alert airport security?”
Kitt turned a page in his book.
“Not without anything substantial to give them. Calderon will have at least a few members of security in her pocket in order to get through customs. Without knowing who’s in her pocket, we’d just risk handing ourselves over to her.
Besides, even if we managed to find an honest member of security, at face value, neither of us would seem that reliable.
We’re not law enforcement, so we don’t have any authority of our own, and all our evidence comes from a source that we can’t reveal. ”
Okay, so people watching it was. We, of course, also made sure to check every departing flight that left for Ukraine, but in between these scheduled take offs, we sat and observed the crowds, waiting for something to catch our attention.
I idly stirred the straw in my drink, which I’d only bought to blend in with the other restaurant patrons. Honestly, four dollars for a soda that was more ice than drink was practically robbery.
Another half hour passed as we watched the people coming and going.
We’d specifically picked this spot because it was near the main hub of the airport, right between the international customs check-in and a wall of digital billboards announcing all arrivals and departures.
Everyone would have to come through this area at some point, which meant it was the best place to look out for anyone suspicious.
I’d nearly finished my overpriced soda when someone caught my eye. It wasn’t Grace Calderon, that was obvious with a mere glance, but I still nudged Kitt.
“Hey, do you see that kid over there?”
I didn’t want to obviously point at the kid that had caught my eye, but in such a large crowd it wasn’t immediately obvious who I was talking about.
Kitt had to put his book down and wrap and arm around me, pretending to kiss along my neck and whisper sweet nothings into my ear like a loving couple while he aligned himself closer to my line of sight.
“The blond boy over by the restroom? Yeah, I see him. What about him?”
“You said Calderon wouldn’t just be running away on her own. She’d try to bring assets with her. For a human trafficker, that means kids. I think that boy is one of the bell ringers’ Angels.”
Kitt’s arm tightened around my waist. “You recognize him?”
I shook my head. “Nah. Too young. We wouldn’t have been kept together at the same time. But I recognize the look.”
The kid in question seemed to be about ten, but I knew from experience that appearances could be deceiving when it came to kids who had been trafficked.
Not only did the bell ringers specifically pick kids for their young looks, but growing up in such an environment didn’t encourage healthy development.
According to my own doctors, it was probably one of the reasons I was a bit on the short side. I’d hit puberty later than I should have, and my body had never fully caught up with that delay.
Kitt studied the kid on the other side of the bustling lobby, but even before he said anything, I could already tell he didn’t see what I saw.
“What look?” he asked. “If you don’t recognize him, how can you be certain he’s one of the bell ringers’ victims?”
Closing my eyes for a moment, I leaned my weight against Kitt as I searched back in my mind for one of the many memories I didn’t like thinking about.
“The bell ringers only operate in America, so they don’t usually leave the country, but I remember one time they did take a few of us on a plane to meet a client.
I don’t know where they took us, don’t even know if we left America or not, but I remember the experience very clearly and looking at that kid is basically like looking in a mirror from back then. ”
I didn’t want to admit it, but the kid looked so much like me, it was almost painful to watch.
He moved with a slight sluggishness, like his limbs weren’t quite cooperating.
It could have easily been mistaken for exhaustion, but I was certain that the boy had been drugged to keep him docile while he was moved.
Kids couldn’t just be shoved in a suitcase and smuggled through customs, after all.
They had to be walked through on their own legs.
However, there were ways to keep them awake but cooperative.
The slightly glazed expression in the boy’s blue eyes was the most damning evidence.
His gaze darted around but never quite focused on anything.
I remembered the feeling. All of my senses were muffled, like I was half asleep.
My thoughts slowed to a crawl, which made the whole world seem to be spinning too fast. Everything had a floaty, dreamlike quality to it, but not in a pleasant way.
Maybe some people found that kind of drugged state to be pleasant, but the one time I’d experienced it, I’d just been left with a vague feeling of paranoia that I couldn’t shake off until the drug worked its way out of my system.
“See that guy standing next to the boy…” I pointed him out to Kitt as I shook off my own memories. “That’ll be the kid’s handler. He’s in charge of making sure the boy passes through security without catching any unwanted attention and that everyone gets to their destination.”
“So, they’re a combination of bodyguard and jailer,” Kitt summed up.
“Yeah. When traveling, they usually pose as someone innocuous, like a parent or older sibling, but don’t be fooled. They’re dangerous. These are the people who do the real “dirty work” of the operation.”
The boy and the man were moving on, following the flow of the crowd deeper into the heart of the airport.
As casually as we could, Kitt and I left our table and followed them.
“Usually, this kind of operation would be spread out,” I explained as Kitt and I pushed our way through the other travelers, always keeping the boy and the man in our sight.
“One kid and one handler per flight. Never more. That way, if someone gets caught, they don’t lose too much product at once.
However, since Calderon is in a hurry, she might be taking more risks. ”
Farther into the airport, the crowd dispersed down different hallways as people headed for their gates.
This meant that the crowd was thinner and easier to navigate, but that also made it harder for us to follow the boy and the man unnoticed.
We had to fall back even more to keep out of sight.
Thanks to my height, I couldn’t even see our targets anymore, but I trusted that Kitt still knew where to go.
“Calderon isn’t just fleeing America,” Kitt said as he kept a hand on my arm.
“At this point, she’s also running from the bell ringers, since she’s apparently stolen some of their kids, and she clearly doesn’t have the money for a private plane.
She can’t afford to take her time and spread out her escape over multiple flights.
Hopefully, we’ll get lucky, and she’ll be on the same flight as these two. ”