Their rescuer chatted endlessly about scientific things. Catalina didn't have the bandwidth to pay attention, and it wasn't as if they could have a real conversation. It mostly felt like Sasha, she’d finally said her name, was fine having a one-sided conversation as though it was a way to calm herself as she flitted about the room and played with her glasses in her hands. She did mention she had a pain reliever, crushing a single pill on the table. Catalina found the best crumb, one that was about the same size as a pill based on their current height, and gave it to Trey.
Having food, water, and countless assurances from Sasha that she was going to help fix this and she'd figure everything out, Catalina could finally breathe. She wrapped some of the paper napkin around her and Trey as she tried to delicately curl into his uninjured side and hoped their nightmare vacation would come to an end soon.
Chapter 27
Sasha
Sweating through one’s clothes was never a good thing. This was never more true than when traveling through an airport.
Sasha wasn’t sure how very tiny things, like shrunken people, could be such a weight on her shoulders. The responsibility placed on her was as heavy as a boulder.
Figuring out how to transport people smaller than an inch wasn’t easy. Putting them in any sort of luggage, checked or otherwise, was too risky. There were too many ways her overactive imagination could see this plan going wrong. Sasha also couldn’t toss them into her purse or stick them in her pocket, especially since Trey was injured. With her luck, she’d either forget and do something foolish or get a pat down from security, and they’d get squished. It proved to be the most perplexing dilemma she ever faced as a biomedical engineer.
The solution came to her as she was packing her toiletry bag after taking some of her anxiety medication.
The pill bottle.
She spent the morning engineering something halfway safe, poking air holes and spreading out the enclosed cotton ball and securing it to the sides to create padding. Next was figuring out how she could carry it on her person without anyone noticing.
After telling her plan to Catalina and Trey with as much confidence as possible, it was time to put it into action. Too bad she started sweating bullets as soon as she got on the resort’s shuttle bus. It only got worse when she arrived at the airport.
What was wrong with her? She wasn’t doing anything wrong…well, besides smuggling literal people. Did this count as human trafficking? It’s not like she was sneaking in weapons or drugs. Except maybe the security dogs would sense how nervous she was, and this alone would be enough to trigger suspicion. Did she look suspicious? Her anxiety medication wasn’t working well enough today.
Sasha needed to act casual. Real casual. Everything was fiiiiiiinnnnneeee. She took a long, deep breath.
Oh God. Security had those body scanners.
Would Catalina and Trey show up in the scans? And if security did see something, how was she going to explain it? She’d end up in jail for sure. Why was it so hot in here? Using a hand to wipe the sheen of sweat from her hairline, Sasha willed herself not to pass out because a fall would likely injure or kill them.
“Señorita, step forward, por favor.” A big security man with an impressive mustache motioned hertoward the body scanner.
It was too late. She had to move forward. She was totally cool. Totally casual. She could do this.
Sasha held the pose while waiting for it to finish. She could only breathe again when security waved her through. She needed to remember to stay upright as much as possible. Her motions, including walking, felt stiff and awkward, which probably drew everyone’s attention, but at least she got through secur—
“Señorita! Señorita! Alto!”
She froze, her heart leaping into her throat. There was a security guard strolling into the area with a leashed German Shepherd, and he eyed her from head to toe. An arm grabbed her elbow, and she nearly screamed. She found herself facing the airport security worker, the one with the mustache.
“Señorita. Por favor.” He pulled her in a particular direction. Her blood was draining from her face, and sweat was pooling behind her neck. “Sus cosas.”
“Oh! Oh, my things! Yes, thank you!” Her forgotten carry-on items waited for her on the conveyor belt. All she could do was scramble to collect them, releasing a nervous laugh. “Don’t want to forget that.”
“You nervous today, Señorita? Don’t be nervous. It’s just a plane.”
“Thank you. Yeah, I… I don’t like to fly.”
“Que tenga un buen día.”
“Okay, thanks, you too,” she replied, unsure if her response was the correct one, but there was a smile behind his mustache, and he was letting her go. Everything was good.
The flight from Cancun to Belize City took about an hour and a half, but it wasn’t any more relaxing than the previous part of her trip, as she continued to worry about Catalina and Trey. Were the air holes sufficient? What if it got way too hot inside the medication bottle? Did she clean it out enough, or were medication particles causing them to OD? There was no way she was comfortable enough checking on them in the privacy of the tiny airplane bathroom, afraid they’d hit a pocket of turbulence and she’d somehow lose them again.
She felt a moment of peace after catching an airport taxi in Belize City. They weren’t out of the woods yet, but she was on her way to meet with Dr. Cutchin, and it would be nice to finally share some of the weight, especially with someone who was more of an adult than her. Plus, Dr. Cutchin had all the security clearance needed to access the MASS laser room to get this fixed before anyone higher up could stop them. She sent a text to inform him she was on her way.
He met her, waiting on the sidewalk in front of the Belcove Hotel, holding an umbrella to keep the light rain off his balding head and glasses. “You got them?” he asked as soon as she stepped from the car.
“Yes. One seems to be pretty hurt, so we’ll need to get him medical attention after this is all done.”
