Mothers and Daughters Pt. 06

So it was going to be Hamburg or nothing. Pavlina waited and waited, and finally, as they announced pre-boarding, a single mom with an infant got up and walked to a nearby bathroom. Perhaps an unpleasant odor had heralded a recent biological urgency. Whatever the reason, mom held her child in her arm, and toted all her travel bags into the washroom. Pavlina followed, and headed for a stall while mom unfolded the baby changing station on the wall. As Pavlina walked past the mom, she noticed mom had a flat pocket on the outside of her purse where she kept her passport and boarding pass neatly tucked away, and accessible for quick retrieval. Pavlina got lucky – mom was organized.

Pavlina closed the stall door, but did not use the toilet. She stood silently, and within seconds the smell in the bathroom quickly confirmed that baby had deposited a present for mom to deal with. Pavlina flushed the toilet, opened the stall door, stepped into the bathroom, and stopped for a moment, scanning the situation. Mom was applying a fresh diaper to her baby at the fold-open station, and she had set her purse close by at the end of the counter with six sinks. A paper towel dispenser rested on the wall over the woman's purse.

Pavlina walked to a sink near the purse, but not right beside it, turned on the tap, and pretended to wash her hands, but never let the water touch her dry fingers. Mom was busy tossing out the rolled up, smelly diaper, and didn't even notice Pavlina's odd behavior. Then Pavlina went to the left of the counter – exactly where the woman's purse was, and pulled paper towels out of the dispenser with her left hand as a distraction. With her right hand, Pavlina pulled mom's passport and boarding pass out of the purse, and replaced it with her own passport and boarding pass in exactly the same position.

Pavlina smiled at the hurried mom as she left the bathroom. Pavlina took up her position far away from the gate, but within view of the boarding process. She watched and waited until mom and infant came out of the bathroom. Having missed her pre-boarding opportunity, mom stood in line with everyone else, and Pavlina watched her shuffle agonizingly slowly toward the gate in a long line-up of travellers. Ten minutes went by while the gate agents processed over 100 passengers ahead of mom. Finally mom and infant were two people away from boarding. Pavlina's heart was pounding. She was ready to turn and walk away if the woman discovered she held the wrong passport. It would not take her long to realize the only opportunity for the switch to happen was in the washroom.

Pavlina wanted to run, but she needed to know if the switch was successful. Then mom was one person away. Without looking, she reached to her purse, felt exactly where the passport should be. She started opening it, but the agent asked for her documents, so she just handed the passport, semi-opened with her thumb in the picture page where the boarding pass also was, and she handed them to the agent.

9/11 happened a long time ago. Ostensibly airport security was as strict as ever, but everyone had relaxed in the intervening 15 years. So the ticket agent looked at the passport, scanned the boarding pass, and without comparing the passport picture to the person, closed it and handed it back to mom, wishing her a pleasant flight, and told her what her seat number was. Mom smiled and thanked the gate agent, and slid the passport and boarding pass back to into the flat pocket on the outside of her purse, and disappeared down the jetway toward the waiting aircraft.

Pavlina let out a huge sigh of relief, turned on her heel, and joined a stream of passengers from an incoming flight who were deplaning at another gate. She walked with them, staying in the crowd, and walked through the secure exit, into the main terminal. As far as the Hamburg police knew, Pavlina Kozak had just boarded the plane to Frankfurt. Later, the Lufthansa computers would report she never boarded the onward flight to Prague. Their search for the AeB fugitive would begin in Frankfurt, and Pavlina was hoping that misdirection would give her enough time.

Eventually, mom would realize she had the wrong passport. But if Pavlina was lucky – really lucky – mom was flying home to Frankfurt, and was not connecting to another flight. She would go home, tuck her passport away in its proper place without another glance at it, and not even notice she had the wrong document for weeks, months, or years to come. Pavlina couldn't count on such luck, because mom was probably transferring to another flight. Although Frankfurt is a much smaller city, it is the largest airport in Germany, and the Frankfurt airport serves as the Lufthansa hub, not just for Germany, but for the globe. Mom could be going anywhere. She likely has a connecting flight, and the name on her next boarding pass won't match the name on her passport. Even a relaxed gate agent will notice that. Worse, for all Pavlina could know, mom might check her passport in mid-flight, and detect the switch before her flight lands in Frankfurt. She will reconstruct what must have happened, and alert the police as soon as she lands. They police will take a keen interest in pinpointing someone who went through the risk and trouble to steal a passport.

The flight from Hamburg to Frankfurt takes an hour and ten minutes. Pavlina had maybe 90 minutes before things would start to unravel. She walked to a quiet corner of the airport, checked that no security cameras were watching her, and looked at her stolen passport. Reanna Babette Monnig didn't look much like Pavlina. She hoped it didn't matter. Pavlina navigated the subway network to the Hauptbahnhof South station, Hamburg's largest train station. There Pavlina purchased a one-way ticket to Berlin with Nate's spending cash.

She went to the ticket counter, instead of the automated machine which would read her passport electronically. The disinterested sales clerk behind the plate glass asked for her identification, but when Pavlina dropped Reanna Monnig's passport into the sliding tray below the bulletproof glass barrier, he barely glanced at the document, and certainly did not record any details. By paying cash, Pavlina left no trace of her destination. She boarded the train right away, which pulled out of the station exactly on time at 21:02. In a few hours, Pavlina melted into the anonymous streets of Berlin.

- - -

The cell phone beside his bed awoke Nate at 8:02 Saturday morning. Thomas Brandt was calling, which was unusual so early on a Saturday. Herr Brandt explained he had been roused by the police at 5 o'clock. It seems Pavlina had not made her connection in Frankfurt, and they questioned him about his role in her AeB processing.

Brandt explained the police asked where Briana was living, and as an office of the court, he was compelled to tell them. Brandt speculated the police were on their way right now to arrest Briana and revoke her AeB status. Technically, he explained, they were not allowed to do that, but as few AeB subjects have the means to challenge the police's actions, they do it anyway. Brandt recommended Briana get dressed immediately, and prepare to be taken into custody. For Briana to flee was a serious mistake, he cautioned Nate.

Nate woke Briana up, and then retrieved her original jeans and T-shirt from his office downstairs. "Get dressed," he ordered her, handing Briana the clothes she was wearing on the day they met.

"What's going on?" Briana asked as she pulled her underpants on.

"Pavlina disappeared," Nate explained. "She went as far as Frankfurt, and then bolted. The police are coming here to question you," he lied. "They are on their way, so get dressed."

Briana dressed quickly, and then went to the bathroom. Nate took the opportunity to get dressed himself when the knock came at the door. Not surprisingly, the police had made it through the building's front security door. Nate pulled his T-shirt over his head, and went downstairs. He opened the door with the chain still attached. "Yes?"

"Herr Traymore?" a uniformed policeman asked through the crack in the door?

"Ya," Nate answered.

"I am here for Fraulein Evans," he explained in German. Nate pushed the door closed, released the chain, and opened it wide this time. Two more uniformed policemen were in the hallway. Nate invited them in. Two stepped through the door, and the third remained in the hall. Nate closed the door.

"She is getting dressed," Nate explained in German. "I will get her. Please wait here." Nate climbed the stairs, and found the bathroom door still shut. "Briana," he knocked, "come out please." He was about to knock again after several seconds of silence when the door unlatched and Briana appeared. "The police would like to see you." She nodded with silent apprehension.

Nate gestured Briana to lead the way downstairs, and he followed. When they reached the bottom, the lead policeman asked "Fraulein Briana Carly Evans?" She nodded. "I am taking you into custody by order of the Directorate of the Ausländer equitiable Behandlung," and the second policeman walked behind Briana and handcuffed her.

Suddenly Briana realized why Nate told her to dress in her jeans. "You bastard!" she snarled at Nate in English as the sounds of the handcuffs clasped upon her wrists.

"Hey," Nate held his free palms up, "none of this was my doing, but I will do what I can to help. I will call Brandt, and work on your release."

"Fuck you!" she snapped back as the police led her away in cuffs.

"Are you saying you don't want me to get you out?" Nate asked flatly.

Briana's face collapsed from anger to dread. "Yes, please yes, Nate" she begged shamelessly, "and I will ... you know," she offered with unguarded desperation, and then quickly looked at the ground, hoping the police didn't catch the reference.

Nate followed the two policemen who opened the apartment door and led Briana handcuffed into the hallway, where the third officer was still waiting. The three officers ushered Briana down the hallway to the elevator. Nate followed, and saw two more uniformed policemen in the ground floor foyer below. He imagined more police officers were lurking in tactical locations.

Nate called Thomas Brandt after returning to his apartment, and told him the police had taken Briana into custody. Brandt said he would go to the AeB office and petition for her release first thing Monday morning. Nothing could be done before then, he cautioned.

Nate hung up and cleaned up the apartment. He collected all of Briana's items into her duffle bag.