excerpt
“Hank doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut,” Maria pointed out. “I think he told Natasha about it. That’s why Natasha went into that little secret office just before the plane left. At least that’s what I figured out.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If she has stuff to hide, why would she rush into the lion’s den?”
“I don’t think she knows it’s a bomb scare. Probably wants to get the search over with.”
“No,” replied the American. “I think she’s in real trouble ‘cause I heard them call her name out like they were looking for her. Hope she wasn’t the one who planted a bomb!”
“Who? Lona? She would never do something like that,” Jennifer told him. She couldn’t help but defend the woman until she remembered that she was still jealous of her.
Lona Rabinovitch sat in a folding chair in front of four uniformed inspectors trying not to think about her suitcase. It was like trying not to think about the elephant in the corner. Shit, shit, shit. Just not Hank’s bag, she thought. Not Chopyk’s bag. Not Linda’s. In the end, there was very little to worry about in her own bag: the scrolls, well hidden, and the ugly ewer. She didn’t think they would search the little locket at her neck. When she was called to the front of the line she hoped it would be good news; she would slide through the line first using her dazzling smile, then distract the inspectors as much as possible as they searched the other suitcases. But all had not gone according to plan. She had been told peremptorily to lift her suitcase onto the counter, and to sit down. She placed her cavernous purse and the wrapped balalaika at her feet.
Her bags were searched by three men and one woman, all of them dressed in navy blue uniforms and standing shoulder to shoulder like surgeons surrounding a patient. Carefully and patiently, they probed, opened each zipper and felt in each pocket. Many items were removed and placed on the desk: her shoes, toiletry bag, books. The taller surgeon reached in with both hands as if after the heart and other organs; several wrapped items were pulled out and set aside and her clothes returned to the case.
Libros Libertad 