ATHENS, GREECE
AS SOON AS TAYLOR AND JEREMY REACHED THE SIDEWALK, she grabbed his hand. “We have to split up. You go talk to the lawyer, I’ll go and get the coins.”
“You know where they are?”
“Yes, she whispered in my ear when she hugged me.”
“Where are they?”
Taylor looked around nervously. “I don’t even want to say it out loud. Just go. I’ll meet you back in the lobby of the Grand Hotel in a couple of hours, and we can figure out what to do next.”
“I don’t like you going off by yourself and my not knowing where you are. Maybe I can postpone our meeting with the attorney and come with you.”
She shook her head. “No. You need to talk to him, see if we can get her out and bring her home with us.”
He sighed. “Taylor, I don’t know how realistic that is. And what if something happens to you while you’re retrieving them?”
“I’ll be fine. They’re in a public place. Don’t worry.”
He looked at this watch. “I have to be at the lawyer’s office in an hour and I think it’s about a forty-five-minute drive with traffic. I guess I’d better get going. Be careful. I’ll see you back at our meeting place.” He gave her a hug and they went in opposite directions.
* * *
Taylor grabbed a cab back to the airport. Once there, she scanned the arrivals floor until she found the baggage services area. The lost luggage room her mother was talking about must have been behind that counter, but she couldn’t just walk behind it and through the door, obviously. She observed two bored-looking women behind the counter. One was flipping through a magazine while the other was processing a form for a customer. As she approached the counter, she noticed the woman looking at the magazine had a cell phone next to her whose case featured a picture of her and a young girl. Taylor waited until she looked up.
“Pardon me,” Taylor said in Greek.
“Yes?”
“My daughter lost her suitcase a few days ago, and we still haven’t heard anything. She’s so upset. Her favorite stuffed animal was in it, and I can’t get her to calm down.”
The woman’s expression remained stony. She pushed a form in front of her. “Fill this out.”
Taylor smiled at her. “I’ve already done that. I know there are a lot of bags to go through, but I’m sure you understand how hard it is for a mother to see her child upset. I was wondering . . . is there any way I could just look through the luggage on my own?”
The woman said firmly, “No, that’s a restricted area. You cannot go in there. If your daughter’s bag is there, they’ll call you.”
“Would you be able to check for me?”
The woman shook her head. “That’s not how it works. Besides, we’re closing for lunch. You can come back in two hours and check again.”
Taylor walked away, her brain working overtime to come up with another idea.
She walked to the other end of the airport, scoping out the employee entrance doors, which were guarded by military police holding Uzis. But spotting a young man at one of the ticket counters, she had an idea. She walked up to his kiosk and gave him a shy smile.
He looked her up and down, then smiled back.
“Hello, miss. Can I help you?”
She leaned in toward him and widened her eyes. “I hope so.” She told him the same story about her daughter, adding that they were leaving in a few hours on a ferry to go to one of the islands. “The baggage department is closed for lunch. Is there any way you could escort me to the room and I could see if her bag is there? Maybe I could buy you a drink when I get back tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. That’s against the rules.”
She tilted her head and gave him a long look. “I’m sure you’re important enough to break a few rules without getting in trouble. After all, what fun is life if you follow the rules all the time?”
He leaned toward her a bit, then inclined his head toward a door to his left. “Give me ten minutes, then go to that door and it will be open. I’ll be waiting.”
She walked away and watched from a distance as he put up a sign indicating the counter was closed and then disappeared behind the door. In exactly ten minutes, she walked over and turned the knob. His hand reached out to take hers and he pulled her toward him. “How about a little something to say thank you?”
She swallowed. “Let’s get the suitcase first. Then I’ll be happy to show you some appreciation,” she said in Greek.
He didn’t seem pleased with her response but started down the hall, still holding her hand. “Come on, let’s go.”
As they walked down the long corridor, turning left, then right, Taylor paid close attention so she would know her way out. When they came to a door marked “Baggage,” which he opened with a key card, she sighed. There were hundreds of suitcases in the room. How was she going to find the one hiding the coins?
“What does the suitcase look like?”
She had no idea the color or size, only what her mother had told her. “It’s got a picture of a pony on it.”
He began moving suitcases and looking while Taylor crossed to the other side of the room. They both continued looking for the next twenty minutes, and then she saw a flash of pink between two large black suitcases. She reached out into where it was wedged and yanked it out. She’d have liked to confirm that the coins were in it, but she needed to get out of there before he got any more ideas about her thanking him. Besides, how many My Little Pony suitcases could there be in a Greek airport?
“I’ve got it.” She walked toward the door and he stood in front of it, blocking her.
“Where’s my thank-you?” He tried to grab her waist, but she stepped back out of his reach.
He scowled. “Listen, bitch. I gave you what you wanted, now it’s your turn.”
She smiled at him, then brought her knee up hard to his groin. He yelled out in surprise, and Taylor reached up to his head, pulling down hard as she raised her knee again to connect with his face.
“Didn’t your mother teach you not to call a woman names?” Leaving him stunned and groaning on the ground, Taylor pulled the door open and sprinted down the hallway back the way they’d come, the suitcase securely in her hand.