Snatched

Part 50 - Los Angeles, California

As soon as Maddie stepped off the plane at LAX, the heat hit her. The feel of the sun glaring on her face reminded her of holidays to Tenerife with her parents.

Daniel had behaved really well on the flight over. Well, really well for a child who had been kept in a carry on suitcase for 9 hours. Maddie chucked a sweet through the gap in the case that Odette was pushing along. They'd bought a load of snacks at the airport and had been plying Daniel with them periodically, throughout the course of the flight. Poor kid, once they got in the taxi, they'd be able to finally let him out.

The one final hurdle that they had to overcome was to get Daniel through the metal detectors at the airport. Somehow, at the French airport they hadn't picked him up, but then they'd been a bit more relaxed on border control. Surely, the American authorities would be much stricter.

Before they got to airport security, Maddie and Odette had wheeled the suitcase off to a private corner of the airport. They'd whispered through the hole in the suitcase to Daniel, explaining to him that he was going on a little ride, but that he would have to be really still. He'd managed this pretty well at the other end, so it shouldn't be a problem.

When they got to the front of the que, Maddie helped Odette to pull the suitcase onto the conveyor, before stepping aside. As Maddie walked through the human metal detectors she felt sick to her stomach. She jumped out of her skin when she heard a bleep, but suddenly noticed that she hadn't taken off one of her bracelets. Odette followed Maddie through the detectors and they stood to one side to wait for their luggage.

All of a sudden, an incredibly loud beeping sound screeched from the conveyor, signalling that something suspicious had been found. Maddies stomach did a summersault as the security guard walked over to where she and Odette were standing. He placed the case on the floor in front of them.
'Ladies, does this case belong to you?' the security guard asked, as he proceeded to unzip the case.

The security guards face went white, when he opened the case to discover a rather blue looking Daniel, panting and gasping for breath. Immediately, he pressed a button on his radio and a team of airport police came running over from various directions.

Maddie heard a squeal escape from her mouth, as one of the officers grabbed both of her hands harshly. She tried to wriggle away, but his grasp was way too tight for her to contend with. She heard another squeal, as she felt the cold, hard metal on her wrists. The officer pushed Maddie forwards, forcing her to walk.
'If you could come with me Madame' he said, as he continued to push Maddie forward.

Maddie heard her trainers squeak against the airport floor, as she tried to hold her body in one place. But the officer pushed her forward, with a force that was impossible to resist.

Maddie was pushed into a room and forced into a robust metal chair. She winced as the warm seat almost burnt her backside. It wasn't until she was sat firmly in the seat with two police officers in front of her, that she noticed Odette was sat beside her.

'Now ladies' one of the officers said, 'welcome to the United States of America. As I'm sure you're aware, our country prides itself on having one of the leading systems for criminal justice in the world. Now, what you have just committed is one of the worst criminal acts I have ever seen during my almost 30 years as an officer working in this airport. So, I regret to inform you that you'll be with us for a very long time. Therefore, I'm gonna give you the opportunity now to make the one phone call you're allowed to a family member.'

The other police officer lifted up what was quite an old-fashioned looking telephone. Maddie took it from him and dialed Antoines number.
'Hey honey!' Antoine replied, sounding quite upbeat, 'boys, it's mummy!' He said. At this, Maddie broke into tears.
'Antoine', she said, 'I'm in a bit of trouble'.