Lisa Scottoline - Think Twice

She made her way through the crowd, reached the Nassau gate, and got in line at the counter to get her boarding pass. It was five people deep and manned by a single beleaguered airlines employee, so she looked around for a supervisor, but there wasn’t one, so she waited. The air-conditioning had been turned off, and it smelled like body odor and patisserie hot dogs. People thronged to the gate, waiting for the boarding announcement, and by the time she reached the desk, the flight to Nassau was already boarding.

“Can I help you?” asked the airline employee, a faint sheen of sweat covering his top lip.

“My name is Bennie Rosato, I’m booked on this flight, and I need a boarding pass.”

“Certainly. Your ID, please?”

“I don’t have it. My wallet was stolen, and the FBI contacted you about me. They called down from Philadelphia.”

The airline employee blinked a few times. “If this is a joke, I’m kind of busy.”

“The FBI was supposed to call you, or someone at the airline. I just got off the flight from Philly, and they let me on without ID because I’m working with the FBI.”

“If you’re with the FBI, you should have identification.”

“No, I’m a private citizen but I’m working with the FBI.” Bennie dug in her purse and slid Special Agent Wingate’s business card across the desk. “This is the agent in charge of the case. If you call him, he’ll vouch for me.”

“I don’t have time to do that, and I can’t board you without ID, no matter who says so. I don’t make the rules.”

“But I’m booked on this flight. You can find my name, and you know I just got off another flight, because I couldn’t have gotten through security without ID, right?” Bennie sensed it was a losing cause, but she couldn’t give up or Alice would be gone forever. “Just let me on. I have to get to Nassau tonight.”

“I can’t do that, I’m sorry.” The airline employee looked at the line, worriedly. “Now, as you can see, there are so many people waiting-”

“Then give me a phone and let me call.” Bennie walked around the side of the counter, but the airline employee recoiled, putting his hands up, protectively.

“Stop! You’re not allowed back here.”

“I just want to use your phone. I can clear this up in two minutes. I have to get on this flight.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you do that. I don’t have an outside line here. The most I can do is call my supervisor, and you can take it up with her.”

“Call her, then.” Bennie checked behind her, and the flight was boarding quickly. “Right away.”

“I couldn’t reach her right away, Miss. She’s on break.” The airline employee wet his lips, nervously. “Why don’t we put you up tonight, at the hotel near the airport, and give you a voucher for a flight anywhere in the continental United States, usable for up to one year.”

Bennie turned to the next man in line. “Sir, may I borrow your cell phone, please?”

“ ¿Que? ” he said, frowning, but the airline employee was already motioning him forward, speaking to him in rapid Spanish.

“Does anybody else have a cell phone I can borrow?” Bennie called to the others in line.

“Get outta the way!” an older man answered, annoyed. “We’re gonna miss the flight, lady!”

“Excuse me,” said a voice, and Bennie turned. Behind her stood a heavyset man with glasses and a gray-flecked beard. He had on a Hawaiian shirt and carried a Marlboro duffel bag. “Did I hear you say you need to get to Nassau?”

“Yes.”

“I know somebody who can get you there.”

“Tonight?”

“I can find out,” the man answered.

Alice tugged Knox into a bathroom stall and closed the wooden door behind them. She pressed him against the tiles, kissed him, then moved to undo his pants. “I bet I know what you want,” she whispered.

“I know that you do.”

Alice kissed him as she slid his zipper down. Outside she could hear shouting, so somebody had discovered the fire in the jet. Quickly she dug her fingers into Knox’s crotch, got a good grip, and squeezed so hard his eyes flew open.

“Ow!” Knox yelped, bewildered.

“Do I have your attention? Our jet is on fire, and if I get lucky, it’ll blow up.”

Ka-boom! Suddenly, something detonated outside. Percussion shook the building. A siren went off.

“I need you to get me to my car,” Alice said, holding on. “Do what I say or I’ll tell your boss you set the fire. They’re your cigarettes that started it, and your matches. I’ll say you set it, after you raped me. I’ll tell the cops, I’ll tell your wife, too. Everything.”

“No!” Knox shook his head. “I have a record. Please. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Smart move.” Alice released him. “First, get me out of here.”

KA-BOOM! There was a deafening explosion, then more shouting. Another jet must have gone up, the one parked next to theirs.

“Move! Hurry!” Alice grabbed his arm, flung open the stall door, and yanked him out. “Get me to my car.”

“How about another grand?”

“Done.”

“This way, then!” Knox hurried from the stall with Alice, just as another explosion rocked the building. They stumbled but kept their footing, and ran from the bathroom into the waiting room.

The glass windows had blown out in the terminal, scattering shards everywhere. Smoke filled the room. On the runway raged an enormous conflagration, shooting flames into the night sky. It must have been the fuel truck that blew up. An emergency vehicle zoomed toward the blaze. A uniformed employee ran past, shouting into a radio.

Alice used Knox for interference, bolting past doors that read BOND ROOM, then MISSION CONTROL, and out the front door. The blaze superheated the air. Smoke choked her nostrils and stung her eyes.

“This way!” shouted Knox, running to the car.

Bennie gripped the handstrap, and the helicopter left behind the funky architecture and neon lights of Miami. Her hair flew around her face, and she sat pitched forward, looking down through the windshield. The wind buffeted them, the engine rattled in her ears, and the rotors whined at a high pitch. The clouds shifted, and the moon popped into view, shining on a ripple of black water, making whitecaps like a strand of pearls.

The pilot was an older man who knew the heavyset guy from the airport, and Bennie didn’t know more than that about him. He seemed to know what he was doing, his hands moving expertly over the console, with its instruments, gauges, and dials, their colorful numbers glowing disembodied in the dark.

She tried to figure out Alice’s next move. The girl was probably on her way to the Bahamas, if not there already. She must have flown private. The credit cards didn’t get canceled tonight because everybody had been so busy. She wondered if the FBI had called down to the Bahamas. She had no ID, no passport, and no idea how she’d get onto the island.

“Change of plans!” the pilot shouted, to be heard. “Can’t land at L.P.”

“What?”

“Lyden Pindling, the Nassau airport. Gotta take you to another island. Get the ferry to Nassau tomorrow morning.”

“No, I have to get to Nassau tonight. That’s the deal.”

“Too bad. They closed the airport.”

“Can’t you land somewhere else on the island?”

“That’ll cost you.”

“I have the cash. You saw it.”

“Roger that. Hang on, blondie.”

Blondie. It was who Bennie had become. Otherwise, she didn’t know who she was anymore. She used to fight for the law, and now she was an outlaw. She was about to enter a country illegally.