United Airlines flight 782 departed from Albuquerque International Airport at 7:23 a.m. on the morning of December 23. It arrived at Brasilia, the capitol of Brazil, at 4:30 the next afternoon. It was Christmas Eve, the middle of winter in New Mexico, but here it was the middle of summer. The woman could see the beach from her window seat as the plane taxied in to park. Bikini-clad females and muscle-bound men pursued their tans on bright beach towels.
It had been an uneventful flight. The passengers reached for their belongings and prepared to disembark from the A-380 jumbo airliner. Sonja Swentzel smoothed the slight wrinkles on her Anna Sui silk suit and leaned down to adjust the strap on her Christian Louboutin platform pumps. As she neared the exit ramp, she placed the Gucci sunglasses square on her face and held on tight to her shoulder bag.