“Thank you for choosing American Airlines. How may I help you?” the short brunette behind the counter asked as Jack approached the front of the line. She wasn't particularly pretty, but she had a friendly smile, despite the fact that working at the lost baggage center had to be anything but pleasant. Her name tag read "Grace," and Jack was drawing on every bit of that quality he had left to contain the rage he felt at having to report to this particular area of the airport to begin with.
"Hello, my bag was lost on a flight from Cabo San Lucas this morning," Jack said, resting his arm on the counter and taking a deep breath.
Giovani and Zabrina were not with him. They thought it would be best if they kept their distance so that no one would notice three people even remotely meeting the description of the murderers the authorities were looking for hanging out together in the airport.
"I'm so sorry to hear that," Grace replied, typing something into her computer without looking up. "May I have your name please?" she asked with her smile still plastered in place.
"Jack Carol," he replied, using the alias Giovani had created for him. He had a passport, driver's license, bank account, social security number, and several credit cards all in his new name. Assuming she may need some form of identification, he went ahead and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
Still typing furiously, Grace said, "May I see your identification, please?"
As he handed her the requested card, Giovani sent him a message via telepathy. "Any luck, man?"
"No. And I'm not leaving this airport without it," he replied. Somewhere between Cozumel and the second trip to Cabo, he had figured out how to make the telepathy thing work.
"Well, I'm glad we decided to wait on that connecting flight to Omaha because we'd be missing it now, brother."
"Yep," Jack replied, though he also realized that, if they hadn't changed their minds at the last minute and decided to spend a few days in Dallas, he may not have been in a situation where his bag became lost. At any rate, it was missing, and he needed to get it back in his possession as quickly as possible.
"Okay, Mr. Carol," Grace was saying, bringing him back to the counter. "We don't have any sightings of it yet, but as soon as we do, we will contact you."
That answer was not what Jack wanted to hear. "What do you mean? It has to be on a plane somewhere, right? You have a little barcode scanner thingy on it, don't you? How do you lose something like that?"
"Sir," Grace began, still smiling but gritting her teeth. "I understand that losing your bag is frustrating; however, I assure you that we are doing everything we can to find it. Now, if you will kindly fill out this form, we will contact you as soon as we have located it."
"But, you don't understand. I had a ring in that bag--for my girlfriend!" He didn't mention that the ring could also link him to a murder; that seemed like an unnecessary bit of information to share with the lady behind the counter at the airport.
"I'm very sorry to hear that," Grace continued, her smile beginning to fade. She handed Jack his identification back and said, "Make sure you list the cost of the ring on the form, and we will see what we can do to replace it."
"That's not the point!" Jack spat, barely able to control his anger now. In fact, as he said the word point, he could feel his teeth beginning to become just that and had to take a deep breath to regain control of his emotions. "Fine, give me the form," he said, waiting for Grace to hand it over.
As she handed him the form attached to a clipboard with a pen dangling, Grace's eyes grew wide. She had noticed the peculiar eye color of this particular customer as soon as he approached the counter, and now she was fairly certain she had seen a shift in his teeth as well. Though most other people may not have noticed, Grace was familiar with a specific type of being this Jack Carol person seemed to resemble. Her Uncle Sam had shared many stories with her over the years, despite the fact that his line of work was supposed to be top secret, so when Mr. Carol asked for the clipboard and walked away, Grace was happy to see him go.
"What are you doing now?" Giovani asked a few minutes later.
"Finishing up this stupid form," Jack replied. He had filled out most of it. "Bitch at the front counter was completely worthless," he added.
"Oh, yeah?" Giovani asked. "What did she say?"
"Nothing helpful," Jack fired back.
"Should I come over and straighten her out?"
"Nah, I don't think that's necessary. Just pissed. I wanted to give Cadence that ring, and it's in the bag."
"I see," Giovani replied. A few minutes later he added, "Well, if the bitch isn't going to help then maybe she needs to be taught a lesson."
"Maybe so," he agreed as he finished the last of the form and made his way back over to stand in the line again. He was hopeful that he might get a different representative this time, but when it was his turn, Grace was the one who was not busy. He made his way over to her. She looked just as irritated to see him again as he felt.
"Thank you, Mr. Carol," she said taking the clipboard. "As soon as we know something, we'll give you a call."
Her smile was so fake, Jack could feel his stomach tightening. Just as he was about to say something snide, a familiar voice behind him said, "This is unacceptable, Grace. I want to see your supervisor."
Grace gulped, fear clearly present in her eyes. "I'm sorry, sir. We don't have a supervisor available right now. But, if you call the number on the bottom of this form," she continued, giving Jack his copy of the form he had just filled out, "you can speak to a supervisor."
Giovani shook his head and Jack put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. "My brother was right," he said tersely. "You are a bitch."
"Sir!" Grace replied, shocked, "I don't think that's called for. I've done everything I can to help. Now please, leave before I call airport security."
Giovani laughed, but Jack was still thinking more like a human and was able to push him away from the counter. "Thank you for your time," he said, still irritated. "Come on, brother. Let's go."
As Jack and Giovani made their way out of the missing luggage office, Grace put a "Closed" sign on her lane and took some quick precautions. First of all, she pulled up Jack Carol's information from the airport security system and began to search through the other passengers on the same flight until she saw a passport picture that resembled his brother. She knew she was breaking rules and probably several laws, but she felt it was necessary to get this information to her uncle as quickly as possible. Something just didn't seem right about those two.
"Are we just going to let her get away with that?" Giovani asked as he and Jack met up with Zabrina back near the baggage claim area.
"I don't know," Jack said, considering what had just transpired. "She wasn't helpful, but she didn't do anything too terrible."
"What?" Giovani practically spat. "She was a total bitch to you! Surely you can't be suggesting that we just let her go on about her day like she didn't just treat you like trash?"
Zabrina rolled her eyes. "Giovani, you are so overly dramatic." She tossed her long honey-brown hair over her shoulder as she stood and slipped her arm through his, hoping to calm him down.
"What are we going to do? Follow her into the bathroom and take her out?" Jack asked, looking around to see where the taxi stand was.
"No, we follow her home and make sure she never treats another paying customer like shit again," came the quick reply.
"How will we even know where she lives? I don't even know her last name," Jack replied.
"Leave that to me," Giovani assured him. "I have connections, my friend. Zabrina, why don't you go rent us a car while I make some mental calls."
Zabrina shook her head, knowing her lover well enough at this point that there was no point in arguing. "Come on, Jack," she said headed toward the Hertz counter. "May as well let him have his fun."
