I’m attempting to rub the feeling and the blood back into my fingers. “Obviously, you are not a threat to security. But we do need to be careful.”
“Your guards should be more careful.” I hold up my hands to show Donna the red welts those horrid handcuffs cut into my wrists. “They could seriously injure someone.”
“Our guards are trained to deal with criminals and terrorists,” she says as she sets aside my ticket and boarding pass, and returns the contents of my wallet back to me. Meanwhile another guard has finished ransacking my carry-on bag. He opened everything and took it all apart and even examinedmy camera like he thought I was trying to smuggle state secrets in it. Perhaps he thought that is was really a homemade bomb. I wonder if Paige is going through the same kind of interrogation…and how she’s holding up.
“But I’m not a criminal or a terrorist,” I say for the umpteenth time. “And neither is my sister.”
“I think we have almost established that, Miss Forrester, but we take all security risks equally seriously. It’s for your safety as much as for anyone else’s. And when your sister threatened the guard—”
“Threatened the guard?” I question. “With perfume ?”
“The guard had no way of knowing what was in that bottle. And when a passenger acts questionably like that, our guards are trained to think fast and act swiftly. For all our guard knew there could’ve been something toxic or explosive in that bottle.”
“But there wasn’t. And my sister squirted herself with it first. That should’ve proved it wasn’t dangerous. And I could smell it clear over to where I was standing. It was obviously perfume!”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Donna assures me. She’s now checking my phone, writing down the numbers stored there like maybe my friends and family are cohorts in crime, or fellow spies, or crazed terrorists. And even when my phone rings, she doesn’t let me answer it.
“We’re going to miss our flight,” I say hopelessly. Like I even care at the moment. Right now, I’m mostly just worried about Paige.
“There are other flights to New York,” she says calmly.
But as I sit there, replaying this whole weird incident through my head, I’m thinking this is seriously twisted. Imean, I care as much as anyone about safety and preventing terrorist attacks, but to tackle a young woman for squirting perfume, then to hold us long enough to miss our plane, to be treated like criminals…And I wonder if what they’ve done is even legal.
Chapter 7
After about thirty minutes of being impris -oned in this stuffy airport office, my things are finally returned to me. I repack my bag and am released—just like that. I guess they can’t keep holding you if you haven’t done anything wrong. Still, I wonder if I should talk to a lawyer. And, as I go through security and then wander down the terminal, I can’t help but wonder if this all might just be a bad dream. Maybe I haven’t even gotten out of bed yet. But my ringing phone jars me back to reality. To my relief, it’s Mom. I tell her I’m okay, then ask about Paige.
“She’s not with you?”
“No. I was being questioned by security. They treated me like a terrorist and—”
“I know. But we’ll discuss that later. Right now we need to find your sister.”
“Totally. What should I do?”
“Call Fran. She’s still over there, on the other side of the security gates, trying to find where they’ve taken Paige. We’d hoped you two girls were together. I’ve arrived at the airport,but I can’t get through security without a boarding pass. But I do have someone over here trying to help me sort this nonsense out.”
“Right.” I cautiously walk back toward the security gates. I seriously do not want to get too close to those freaks again. Who knows what they might do next?
“The reason I was so concerned for you girls is that we’ve done some news stories on this very thing,” Mom
“Your guards should be more careful.” I hold up my hands to show Donna the red welts those horrid handcuffs cut into my wrists. “They could seriously injure someone.”
“Our guards are trained to deal with criminals and terrorists,” she says as she sets aside my ticket and boarding pass, and returns the contents of my wallet back to me. Meanwhile another guard has finished ransacking my carry-on bag. He opened everything and took it all apart and even examinedmy camera like he thought I was trying to smuggle state secrets in it. Perhaps he thought that is was really a homemade bomb. I wonder if Paige is going through the same kind of interrogation…and how she’s holding up.
“But I’m not a criminal or a terrorist,” I say for the umpteenth time. “And neither is my sister.”
“I think we have almost established that, Miss Forrester, but we take all security risks equally seriously. It’s for your safety as much as for anyone else’s. And when your sister threatened the guard—”
“Threatened the guard?” I question. “With perfume ?”
“The guard had no way of knowing what was in that bottle. And when a passenger acts questionably like that, our guards are trained to think fast and act swiftly. For all our guard knew there could’ve been something toxic or explosive in that bottle.”
“But there wasn’t. And my sister squirted herself with it first. That should’ve proved it wasn’t dangerous. And I could smell it clear over to where I was standing. It was obviously perfume!”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Donna assures me. She’s now checking my phone, writing down the numbers stored there like maybe my friends and family are cohorts in crime, or fellow spies, or crazed terrorists. And even when my phone rings, she doesn’t let me answer it.
“We’re going to miss our flight,” I say hopelessly. Like I even care at the moment. Right now, I’m mostly just worried about Paige.
“There are other flights to New York,” she says calmly.
But as I sit there, replaying this whole weird incident through my head, I’m thinking this is seriously twisted. Imean, I care as much as anyone about safety and preventing terrorist attacks, but to tackle a young woman for squirting perfume, then to hold us long enough to miss our plane, to be treated like criminals…And I wonder if what they’ve done is even legal.
Chapter 7
After about thirty minutes of being impris -oned in this stuffy airport office, my things are finally returned to me. I repack my bag and am released—just like that. I guess they can’t keep holding you if you haven’t done anything wrong. Still, I wonder if I should talk to a lawyer. And, as I go through security and then wander down the terminal, I can’t help but wonder if this all might just be a bad dream. Maybe I haven’t even gotten out of bed yet. But my ringing phone jars me back to reality. To my relief, it’s Mom. I tell her I’m okay, then ask about Paige.
“She’s not with you?”
“No. I was being questioned by security. They treated me like a terrorist and—”
“I know. But we’ll discuss that later. Right now we need to find your sister.”
“Totally. What should I do?”
“Call Fran. She’s still over there, on the other side of the security gates, trying to find where they’ve taken Paige. We’d hoped you two girls were together. I’ve arrived at the airport,but I can’t get through security without a boarding pass. But I do have someone over here trying to help me sort this nonsense out.”
“Right.” I cautiously walk back toward the security gates. I seriously do not want to get too close to those freaks again. Who knows what they might do next?
“The reason I was so concerned for you girls is that we’ve done some news stories on this very thing,” Mom
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