Part of a Crew

Chapter 8

  A little while later-or what feels like a little while-Eliot taps me on my shoulder, bringing me back into the real world. He says, "Landing in twenty. Get ready to get off." I look up from my book, and look around. I ask, "How long have we been flying?"

        "Four and a half hours."

I check my book, and exclaim, "Wow. That would explain why I'm so close to the end of my book."

        He nods, then sits back. I lower my book, then look across Eliot and Parker, and out the window. Outside, I can see a city, but it looks like it is a Latino. Right up against the Latino-like city is a very american city. El Paso. Meaning we are in Mexico.

     The plane touches down with a bump, and we speed down the runway. The plane slows, and pulls up to the terminal. The gate meets us, and the flight attendants announce that we can start to stand and ready for getting off the plane. I stand, and walk down the aisle. Parker and Eliot follow me. We walk out the plane door, and stride up the walkway of the tunnel. When we reach the gate waiting area, Nate, Sophie, and Hardison are waiting for us.

        We join up, and walk together towards the baggage claim. we wait for a minute there, then our bags cycle through. Nate's bag comes through first, then Parker's follows a few bags behind his. Both of them grab their bags off the rack. After a few bags pass us by, Sophie's comes through, but she misses it, and it moves to cycle through again. The next time it comes through, she snatches it. We wait for a while, until almost all the bags are gone, but Hardison's still hasn't cycled through. By now, Eliot is snickering, and Hardison is shooting him the glare.

Then, finally, on the next baggage carusel over, I see a bag that looks just like Hardison's. I poke him, and he sees it. He runs over, and grabs it just in time. Eliot and I snicker while he is gone, but put on poker faces when he comes back, huffing and puffing, but with his bag. Eliot and I didn't have to worry about When he re-joins us, Nate leads us out of the airport, and to the car place. We get two cars, one van-Hardison's specialty, and one small sedan. Eliot, Hardison, Parker, and I pile into the van, while Sophie and Nate get into the sedan. We are heading to Juarez-or Ciudad Juarez-right now.

Hardison takes the wheel, and Parker grabs shot gun. Eliot and I try to find places to sit before the car starts. There is only one chair, and that is a swivel chair. Not a very good idea for sitting in in a van. There is a small table in the back of the van, and shelving along the walls. Eliot wedges himself in the corner by sitting on the desk. I lean on the shelf, and grab hold of the bracket. The van starts with a jerk, then it starts to drive. Eliot and I attempt conversation, but due to the bad muffler of the van, it is hopeless.

We drive for a while, then the van slows. Parker yells back to us, “We are coming up to Juarez. We are going to go to the hotel. Get your bags. Be ready to get out.”

“Got it.” I call in reply. Eliot and I start to get our bags together. Hardison and Parker's bags are back here too, but we leave them alone. Hardison hates it when we touch his precious laptops. As we both reach for out bags, we hit a bump in the road, and our foreheads smash together. We both rub our heads and shout, "Ow!" At the same time. Then we both laugh.

  In another five minutes, the van stops, and Hardison and Parker get out. A second later, the van's rear doors open, and Parker steps in. She grabs her bag,then Hardison's. Eliot and I hop out of the van, and we look around. We are standing the parking lot of a small hotel outside the town. Nate and Sophie's sedan is already here. Hardison slams the door of the van shut, then we walk into the office of the hotel.

Nate and Sophie are standing at the counter, asking the man standing there for their room keys. The man hands over four cards, and Sophie takes them. She walks back to us and tells us, “Parker, Dylan, and I will share a room, while you boys share one.” She hands me a card, then hands Eliot one. Written on my card is a number. 207. I assume this is the room number. A 200 number, meaning second floor. I walk over to the stairs, and Parker follows me. Sophie stays back with Nate, and Hardison and Eliot are a couple steps behind us. When we reach the top of the stairs, I push open the door and step out into the hallway. I look around for the room number, and find the first room on my left is room 218. I walk out into the hallway, and look to my right. All the odd numbers are on the right. Right before we hit the end of the hallway, I find room 207.

I slip the key into the lock, then turn the handle. The door opens, and Parker and I look in. It is a suite. Inside, there is a couch, coffee table, and TV in the first room. Then there is a small kitchen area, a large bathroom, and the main bedroom. The main bedroom holds two queen sized beds, and according to the small sign on the coffee table, the couch has a pullout bed. Sophie dumps her stuff on one of the beds, and I grab the second bed. Parker is stuck with the couch. Sophie starts to unpack, then the door that connects our room to the room next door shoots open. Hardison leans in and says, “Hey, we have to start recon.”

Then he backs out. Sophie gets up, and Parker joins her. I ask, “I know what recon is, but what does it mean in this sense?”

Sophie answers, “We already know their schedule, interests, and backround. Hardison gets it collected from the internet, intelligence agencies, all that. Now, he's gonna show it to us.”

“Ok. Good to know.”

We walk together into the next room, which happens to the boys' room. Hardison has his laptop set up in the TV room, and the TV has info pulled up on it. Hardison is standing next to the TV, and Nate is sitting on the couch. Sophie and Parker join him, while Eliot and I stand in military rest postion on either side of the couch. Hardison starts, "Ok. So our marks......