Page 25 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“It’s not me I’m worried about. You look like you’re about to shit your pants.”

“Language!” I chastised her like I was talking to my own daughter.

“Please. Do you know what I hear in school? It would scare the shit out of you.”

I didn’t doubt that. Not that I was against swearing. I did it regularly, but now I felt somehow responsible for this girl. “Where are your parents?”

“In a Russian gulag.”

“Those don’t exist anymore. And you don’t look Russian.”

“I don’t have to be Russian for them to be in one.”

“Only if they still existed,” I corrected.

She adjusted her backpack, hiking it higher on her shoulder. “Why do you care?”

“Um…because I’m a decent human being?”

“Who just paid me a hundred dollars to slip through security,” she retorted. “Yeah, you’re a real peach.”

She might have a point, but I wasn’t about to continue arguing with her. “Where are you headed?”

“Iowa.”

That sounded horrible. “Is that where you live?”

“Nope. I just figured I could blend in there.”

I took a long look at her clothing and snorted. She was dressed in all black and had purple streaks in her hair. “What part of your outfit makes you think Iowa is the place for you?”

“It’s not New York.”

That wasn’t the best excuse, but I didn’t have time to argue as the line moved forward. I needed to get out of here, and she was my ticket. She handed over her boarding pass and turned to me.

“This is my aunt. She’s accompanying me to my gate.”

“Sorry, but you need a ticket,” the man said, not bothering to look at me.

“I have strict instructions from her mother not to leave her side.”

“You still need a boarding pass.”

“Sir, if I don’t accompany her, I will hold you personally responsible if something happens to her.”

I chanced a quick glance over my shoulder and nearly panicked when I saw the men looking around for me.

“She has Tourette’s syndrome and scares the passengers,” I said quickly.

“Fucking barbaric metal detectors!” the girl shouted on cue. I couldn’t have asked her to play her part any better.

I gripped her hand and smiled. “It’s okay, Celia. We’ll be there in just a moment.”

“Assholes! Stupid murdering psycho assholes!”

I patted her hand and turned to the man sympathetically. His eyes tracked the other travelers before waving me through the metal detector behind my fake niece. I kicked off my heels in less time than it should have taken and stashed all my things in the tray. Thankfully, there were no more hangups.

Until I bent over to pull on my heels and caught the attention of the men hunting me down.

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