know anyone. He‟s just obsessed with that phone she decided.
The next morning they got up late and while still in bed he
did get a call for which he immediately went to the balcony and
shut the door behind him. She couldn‟t hear anything and the
call lasted only a few minutes. He came back inside after the
call.
“Who was that?” she asked inquisitively.
“An old friend from school” he said trying to be
nonchalant.
Didn‟t he go to school in the Netherlands? Who would be
calling him from there? He had never mentioned any friends from
school. The funny thing was that he rarely ever mentioned anyone
and if he did mention someone it was usually because they were
about to meet that person. Why was he so closed about his past
to her? He had always been but there was always so much going on
and he was gone a lot. Now they had spent the whole week
together, every waking moment. He had become his old self again
which was great and she loved it but he was still very private
about his past and rarely talked about the things he did when he
was gone.
“Let‟s go to town today” he suggested, “We can do some
shopping.”
“I thought we were going to the beach and rent some jet
skis” she objected.
“Nah, I want to go to town” he insisted, “We can go to the
beach tomorrow.”
She shrugged a little disappointed but said ok. The jet
skis had seemed a lot of fun and she had been looking forward to
it but it could wait a day. They showered and got dressed. The
town center was within walking distance and they walked through
the streets. The weather was great again and they walked for
twenty minutes. The town square was lined with cute little shops
that were very tourist oriented and at the time there was a
market going on. They checked out a few stands and soon Jake got
another call. He stepped out of earshot again as he took the
call. Kim was starting to worry about these secretive calls. He
got off the phone and told her to stay right there. He would be
back in a bit. Before she could ask who that was or where he was
going he was lost in the crowd. She sighed and looked at the
stands some more. Fifteen minutes went by before he returned. He
was holding a small plastic bag with something in it. She
couldn‟t make it out though.
“What‟s that?” she asked.
“A surprise” he answered.
She gave him a puzzled look and his grin made clear he
wasn‟t going to reveal it.
They moved on and she asked as casually as she could “Who
called this time?” trying not to seem like she was snooping.
“It was my new boss” he responded, “they might have an
opening in one of their management training classes for me and
he asked if I was interested. And I said yes.”
“When is that?” she asked.
“I don‟t know, he didn‟t give me many details” he
responded.
“That‟s great” she said while she kissed him on the cheek.
They walked on and had lunch outside at a café on the
square then did some more shopping. When they got back to the
hotel it was almost dinner time. They went to the room to drop
of their purchases and while in the room he received another
call. He looked at the screen of the phone and stepped out on
the balcony again before answering and closed the door behind
him. The call lasted ten long minutes as she sat there waiting
for him and wondering what all these calls were about. When he
came back in he had a guilty look on his face.
“What‟s wrong?” she asked.
“That was my new boss again and they want me in this
management training for my new job” he said.
“That‟s great, that means they have big plans for you” she
responded trying to be cheerful, which was not easy as she
expected a catch based on his look.
“It‟s starting on Monday so I would have to leave tomorrow.
They already bought a ticket for me” he said with an apologetic
look.
“But we still have five days left after tomorrow” she
stammered.
“I know, I‟m sorry but I think I need to do this” he said
and hugged her.
“I know” she said sadly, “I‟ll start packing.”
“You should stay here, the training is in Saint Louis and I
will be in it the whole week until you get back. Stay and enjoy
the resort. Everything is paid for anyway and it would be a
waste to let that go and pay extra to come back home early and
sit in the snow by yourself for a week.”
She wanted to protest but he had a point. It wouldn‟t be
any fun without him though but home would be worse. She had
planned never to sleep in the old apartment in Chicago again.
After the trip they would get the key to the new house and they
would move that day. She didn‟t care if she would be dead tired
from traveling and if she would have to sleep on the floor in
the new house. The floor there was more appealing than the bed
in the old place. She agreed and they went down for dinner.
After dinner they came back to the room and packed his suitcase.
The shuttle for the airport would leave at five am so he had to
get up early and they went straight to bed.
“I‟ll miss you” she said as she dozed off.
“It will only be for a little while” he responded and
kissed her gently.
The next morning she woke up and he was gone. She vaguely
remembered him saying goodbye and kissing her but she had been
more asleep than awake. It was quiet in the room and she opened
the door to the balcony to let some sound in hoping it would
drive away the loneliness. The waves of the ocean were soothing
but it still felt empty. They had planned all these activities
and she was still considering them but by herself it didn‟t seem
that much fun. Today she had planned to go to the beach with him
and finally rent some jet skis and she had really looked forward
to that but by herself she just didn‟t think it was that great.
So she had breakfast and went to the pool and read her book. She
could have done that at home but the nice weather and
environment made it a lot more pleasant here. She ate her meals
alone and tried to entertain herself by switching activities
between shopping in town, going to the beach or pool and getting
massages at the resort spa. It had all been nice but it had also
had emptiness to it. She should have been able to share it with
him but that wasn‟t to be.
The day before she was scheduled to leave for home she came
back to the room and there was a message on the phone. She
listened and it was Jake. He had forgotten the surprise he had
gotten for her in town and was asking if she could bring it home
with her.
“Don‟t look in it though, I want to be there when you open
it” he had said.
He had hid it in the bottom drawer of the dresser in the
room.
“I love you and miss you and will pick you up at the
airport. See you soon!” he had finished.
She opened the bottom drawer and in the back was the small
bag he had held in the town square. Curiosity got the better of
her and she opened the bag. In it was a brown unmarked box that
was sealed with heavy duty duct tape. The box was about six by
six by six inches in size and weighted a few pounds. She gave it
a puzzled look while trying to determine if she should open it.
Surely he would know that she had opened it as it is way too
well packaged and opening it would surely do some damage to the
box. Not wanting to disappoint him she decided against it and
put the box in her suitcase so she wouldn‟t forget it. She
packed the rest of her stuff and went to bed. Tomorrow she had
to get up early as the shuttle would be there to pick her up at
seven to go back to the airport. She had already setup a wakeup
call for six and was ready to go. Thinking about tomorrow as the
start of her new life with Jake she dozed off in a matter of
minutes.
Chapter 18:
She woke up from the phone and looked at the alarm clock.
It showed 5:59 am and with a groggy voice she picked up the
phone.
“Hello” she said.
“Buenos dias, senorita, this is your wakeup call” which
sounded a bit too cheerfully on the other side of the line for
her liking this early in the morning.
“Thank you” she managed and put down the phone.
Then she got up and stretched. She got out of bed and
dragged herself to the bathroom to take a shower and got
dressed. She was heading back to the cold and last night when
she had checked the weather in Chicago it had been depressing.
Even though she didn‟t want to give up her vacation feeling she
was more eager to get to the new house, so she decided to wear
regular jeans and sneakers for comfort. She still wore a light
top but packed a sweater in her carry-on. Then she checked the
room for anything left behind but couldn‟t find anything and she
headed downstairs.
When she got down she checked out and by the time she was
done the shuttle had already arrived. She got in and the driver
put her bag away. It was still early so they had to wait a
little while for some other guests and by the time the shuttle
left it was completely full. People were all groggy and sad
about leaving. Some had taken advantage of the last night to
party some more and were clearly paying the price now. One sat
next to her and she prayed he would not throw up on her. He kept
it in but it was clear it had taken all his focus and will power
to manage that and she was glad she hadn‟t decided to party the
night before. Then again without Jake she didn‟t feel like it
anyway.
The shuttle took about thirty minutes to reach the airport
and when she got there it was busy. Much busier than when they
had arrived. The majority were tourists on their way home. There
was also much more police on hand. She figured that it was
because the place was much busier. She dragged her suitcase to
the ticketing line and got her passport and confirmation out.
The line was long and she started to stress a bit about making
the flight but it was moving fast enough. She got to the front
of the line and was called by a ticketing agent.
“Buenos dias” she was greeted.
“Where are you traveling to today?” the agent asked.
“Chicago, United States” she responded.
The woman took her passport and confirmation and opened the
passport, and then she looked up as if surprised. She got the
attention of the manager and showed him Kim‟s passport. The man
pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. Kim
couldn‟t see what it was but they both studied it intently and
then looked at her and nodded to each other. The woman took the
passport back and the man headed in the other direction. When
she got back to the desk she started working on the computer
with the confirmation.
Curiously Kim asked “Is something wrong?”
“No, no, everything is fine. Just a routine check” the
agent said without looking up and clearly very nervous as she
continued to work on the computer feverously.
Kim looked around, the manager had disappeared and
everything seemed normal except the woman that was helping her.
She was giving off a vibe that something was wrong. Not three
seconds later she felt a hand on her shoulder and when she
turned she saw three police officers standing behind her. One
was clearly a superior to the other two whom were holding large
machine guns.
“Miss Brown?” the officer asked.
She nodded wondering what this was all about. He walked
passed her and the agent handed him the passport. He looked it
over very intently while the two officers with the guns had
their eye fixed on her.
“Please follow me Miss Brown” the officer said as he walked
back past her while still investigating the passport.
Kim grabbed her suitcase and followed the police officer
while the other two were following close behind her. What was
all this about? She hadn‟t done anything wrong she thought as
she started to panic. Must just be a routine check she convinced
herself. The officer opened a door and they walked through.
They walked though an empty hallway in contrast to the busy
terminal she had been in only seconds ago. He opened another
door and motioned her to go inside. She did and the police man
followed her. The two officers with the guns also stepped inside
and closed the door. Then they stood by the door as if guarding
it. Kim was getting really uncomfortable.
“What is this about?” she demanded.
“Just a routine check, please sit down” the officer said.
She sat down in the hard plastic chair. The room was empty
except for a few plastic chairs like the one she was sitting on
and a large table. Across from the table was video camera that
was pointed at the table and her. The officer walked over to the
camera and fiddled with it. Then a little red light lit up on
it. He walked back to the table and pointed at the backpack that
she had with her as her carry on.
“Is that yours?” he asked sternly.
“Yes” she said wondering what this was all about.
It sure didn‟t look routine. He took the backpack and
placed it on the table.
“Who packed this bag?” he asked.
“I did” she responded.
He nodded and opened it up. Then he took everything out and
laid it on the table almost like he was displaying it for the
camera. Could one of the souvenirs she had bought on the market
be old and a protected treasure? She had heard about that. But
nothing she had bought she paid more than ten dollars for. Or
could it be that she was still registered in the United States
as a runaway? That would be the only reason why her name would
have flagged something, but she was eighteen now and could no
longer be considered a runaway. Then again it wasn‟t like she
had the most uncommon name in the world so it could also be a
mistake in identities. All the scenarios played in her head. She
was getting nervous about missing her flight.
“I‟m going to miss my flight” she protested.
The officer looked at her and told her that she didn‟t have
to worry about that. Somehow that didn‟t comfort her at all. He
opened every single pouch in the back pack and took everything
out down to a used tissue and displayed it on the table. When
done he looked everything over and then shoved it all back in
the backpack without any regard on how it had been in there
before that. Then he half zipped it back up and dropped it on
the ground next to Kim. Then he turned his attention to the
suitcase.