Page 98 of Girl in the Water

Ian had the money out and the door open by the time the cab pulled over in front of the airport. He shot out of the car while it was still moving, but somehow Daniela was already ahead of him.

But they only got as far as the first line of security, two armed guards who went for their guns when Ian and Daniela tried to push past them, ignoring the CPRU badges they held up, ignoring their shouted explanations.

So they pulled back.

“Twenty minutes,” Daniela said as Ian pulled his phone again.

Santos picked up on the first ring. The sound of sirens came through the line. He was in his car. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Too late. You have to tell them to let us in.” Ian handed the phone to one of the guards.

The man listened. Objected. Listened. Objected again.

Then he gave the phone back to Ian and made his own call on his radio, probably to his supervisor.

He listened. Explained. Listened. Shooting Ian and Daniela pissed-off looks the whole time, his hand back on his weapon, same as his buddy’s.

Then,finally, he ended the call and stepped aside, waving them through with a long curse about foreigners.

They ran to the departures board, searched the list of dozens of flight, lucked out when the overhead speaker system announced the boarding of Carol’s flight for Miami. Gate 29.

They ran.

If the plane took off before they got there…

Could an ordinary detective stop a plane from taking off? Ian wasn’t about to take chances. He didn’t know Brazilian jurisdictions. He grabbed his phone and called the federal commissioner they’d met in Rio when they’d first arrived in Brazil.

To his credit, the delegado didn’t ask many questions. He got with the program right away.

But could he get through in time? And did he have the power they needed?

* * *

Daniela

Daniela scanned every female in the boarding area, looking for Carol and anyone resembling the photo of Essie that Ian had on his phone. Ian was looking through the shops interspersed with the gates.

When Daniela couldn’t spot the women, she held up her CPRU ID to the gate agent at the desk. “Has a Carol Peterson boarded already?”

The woman shifted uncertainly on her feet, glancing around for a supervisor and finding none. When Daniela didn’t budge, at last the gate agent checked the passenger list. “We don’t have a Carol Peterson on this flight.”

But…the Miami flight had been the only ten a.m. flight to the US on the departures board.If Carol isn’t going to the US, where is she going?

The loudspeaker system was announcing flights that were boarding.Which one?Daniela ran toward the long line of other gates, explaining to Ian as he followed that Carol wasn’t going to Miami.

What if she was already on a plane? They’d never catch her before her flight took off.

When Daniela finally spotted Essie with a stroller, in line to board a flight to Rio, Daniela rushed forward. Only one child in the stroller. A brown-haired toddler.

“There,” Ian shouted behind her.

She turned.

Carol was pushing another stroller from the direction of the bathrooms. This one held a blonde baby girl, six or seven months old, sitting up and blowing saliva bubbles. The exact baby they’d all seen in Carmen and Phil Heyerdahl’s posters.

Ian and Daniela broke into a run.

Carol spotted them the next second, her eyes snapping wide. Then she was careening around a group of tourists with the stroller, and took off running, her long white linen skirt flapping behind her.