The next twenty minutes were filled with planning. There was a construction area near the gate, where the area at the very back of the airport was being remodeled. The whole area was roped off with caution tape and flimsy plywood walls, but there wasn’t much security keeping people out. Probably because the area wasn’t particularly inviting, and there wasn’t anything worth stealing. Just a lot of exposed concrete, rebar, and old pipes.
If Jordy could get the kid into the area, he felt confident that he could lose the handlers in the maze of scaffolding and hanging tarps.
My job was to help them get there.
A handicap transportation cart brought the best opportunity.
It looked a bit like a golf cart, big and black with seats for several people. It was meant for airport staff to help elderly and disabled travelers get around the sprawling airport. Most importantly, however, it parked right in the middle of the aisle, blocking our view of the opposite gate.
Jordy and I split up. He wove through the crowd and migrated his way over to the gate where our target was waiting, while I approached the security staff driving the handicap vehicle.
“Hello, I hate to bother you, but could you help me?”
The man sitting behind the wheel of the vehicle barely looked over at me. “Yeah? What do you need?”
It was either the end of his shift, or he was very overworked. The man had a stressed-out look about him, like one more inconvenience was going to send him over the edge into a full-blown melt down.
I could work with that.
“My mother’s eyesight isn’t so good. She misread our tickets, and we went to the wrong gate. The gate we need is in acompletely different part of the airport. Would you be able to take us there?”
The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look. If you misread your tickets, that’s your problem. This vehicle is meant for handicapped, or people with mobility problems. Not people too lazy to take care of their own mistakes.”
Well, that was rude. At first, I felt a little guilty for lying to the man, but all that guilt vanished in an instant. If this was how he talked to people who actually needed help, then he could use a lesson in humility.
“I know, I know,” I said, trying my best to act embarrassed while also keeping an eye on Jordy on the other side of the aisle. “It’s just that our plane leaves soon, and my mother doesn’t walk that fast. She really should apply for disability, but she’s too proud for that. You’d be doing me a huge favor if you could help us out.”
The man sighed again.
“Fine. Where’s your mom.”
“She’s right...”
I looked over my shoulder, then feigned shock.
“Oh, damn. She must have wandered off. She does that sometimes. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if I need to get her checked for dementia. Hold on. Please wait a moment. Hopefully, she’ll answer her phone.”
The man grumbled but agreed to wait while I turned away from him, pretending to be fumbling with my phone as if panicking.
Meanwhile, while I’d been making a fool of myself, Jordy slowly made his way closer to the boy sitting between the two handlers at the other gate.
It happened faster than I expected. One moment Jordy was mingling among the other travelers, looking completely innocuous even to my eyes, and the next he was dartingforward and grabbing the boy out of his chair. At first, the boy struggled, as much as he could in his drugged state, but then Jordy whispered something in his ear and his attitude instantly shifted. He clung to Jordy’s hand, and the pair of them ran off together into the crowd.
The two handlers immediately ran after them.
That was my cue.
I’d watched the whole thing while lingering near the front of the handicap transportation vehicle, still pretending to struggle with my phone and growing increasingly more frantic like I wasn’t able to contact the forgetful elderly mother than I’d made up on the spot. However, as soon as Jordy and the boy started running, I shoved my phone back in my pocket and jumped behind the wheel of the vehicle.
“Hey,” the rude security officer shouted as I pushed him out of his seat.
“Sorry,” I called back as I switched the vehicle into drive mode. “I’m not taking it far.”
That was an understatement. I barely had to move the vehicle more than a few feet, just enough to block the path of the two handlers and give Jordy a chance to escape.
The vehicle jolted when one of the handlers literally ran into its side.
“What?” they shouted, confused.
