Tic Toc

Nine

Chris
Nevada
Airport

The chaos hadn't dampered much in the airports, despite the hour or so we we're in the air. Ryan had made sure we laughed our way through the flight, so it really put our good mood to a screeching halt. Not bothering manners, we pushed and shoved our way to someone official looking. I held up my exemption card.

"I need information on somebody." I said. The man sighed. He had dark skin and was grossly overweight. He wore a white shirt and a bright yellow safety vest. Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, I offered polite smile.

"Just what do you need, sir?" The tone was mocking. I grinded my teeth is my smile faded.

"I'm not here to ruin your fucking day." I snapped. "I just need some passport profiles."

Ricky put a hand on my arm. It was far too late though, because the men was already pissed off.

"Can i help you with something, ma'am?" He looked past me to a woman that was waiting.

"Oh... Well..." she looked unsure if she should interrupt. Her long black hair was pull over her shoulder, almost blending in with her black sundress.

"It's fine." I stepped back.
"I just need to look in the lost and found, sweetie." She told me.  "It'll be real quick.
There was something about her that seemed familiar. At the back of my mind it felt like she reminded me of my mother. But that was impossible, because my mother didn't smile like that. My mother wasn't so polite. And she certainly never called me sweetie.
"What?" Ricky asked
"Huh?" I looked it him. "Oh nothing."
I hadn't realized I was staring.
The man showed her the same disrespect, sighing and walking to the back. I shook my head and leaned against the counter, my back to the woman
"What now?" I asked.
"We wait. Calm down, dude." He told me.
Call down? Was he nuts?
behind the store woman's phone ring. I glanced as she answered the video chat.
"If he doesn't give us what we need then we'll hunt Ryan down." Ricky said.
"Mom, did you find it?" The person on the other end of the line said it the same time.
The man came back with the box.

"I'm looking right now, Remington." The woman said.

"He's down to know someone who can do something if he can't."
I couldn't help but here both of them talkin at once.

"Let's see... I see a stuffed animal... a pack of crayons... A– oh I hope that's not a jock strap. Ah ha! Found it."
I looked behind me to see her holding up a ring.

"Oh thank God!" The person, I guess his name was Remington, said.

"Can i help you with something?" A flight attendant walked up to us.

"I need to see some passport profiles." I handed her my exemption card.

"We can do that." she walked us behind the desk into the back, away from the crowds. We followed her into a little office. As though she's been in there million times, she sat down behind the desk and got on the computer. She tapped around before swiping my card through the card reader attached to the keyboard.

"So do you have any idea which ones you need, darlin'?" She asked me.

I ran my fingers through my hair. This was the hard part. I didn't know his name, nor did I know exactly which flight he was on.

"Um... I know it's a man I'm looking for." I bit my lip. She didn't seem phased at all. She tapped at the keyboard and smiled.

"Ooo! That narrowed it down quite a bit. Anything else?" She smiled.

"It would be the flights coming into Vegas in the past week or so."

"Better make it two." Ricky cut in. "Just to be sure."