A Lifetime in Fifteen Minutes

Lee looked at his watch before stepping into the airport's arrivals hall. It was midday exactly, and he noticed that the flight from Loas had just landed. Hence, the hall was full of travellers clearing passport control.

‘Good,’ Lee said to himself, ‘time to check whether the officers on the morning shift and on duty were on the ball and processing the incoming tourists efficiently.

Lee was scanning the hall full of incoming passengers and wondering if he needed to go into the staff room to get more of his people into arrivals to help with the influx when he first spotted her in line with her passport in hand.

She was a short girl in her twenties, about five feet six inches tall, with shoulder-length brown hair. She was clearly Eurasian. 

The girl was dressed in jeans and a multicoloured T-shirt, no different from the thousands of other visitors Lee saw every working day, but from the moment he saw her, Lee could not tear his eyes from her.

Lee had been a customs officer for over thirty years, so he had a practiced eye when it came to picking up on details concerning people, what they wore, and what they had around them as they passed his line of sight. So, in a second, he noticed the girl in line and picked up on important aspects of her appearance.

Lee immediately noted her facial features, the curve of her jawline, the smallness of her nose, and even the wrinkles on her forehead as she waited in line for passport control. He thought about the thousands of mugshots he looked at during his workday as a senior supervising customs officer and the fleeting thoughts he privately harboured about whether he might see anyone with these features in his work one day. 

“Do you see something, sir? " Chan, his deputy in the airport division, asked. Do you see someone we should mark out for secondary inspection?”

Lee looked over at Chan’s puppylike eyes and suppressed a smile. ‘Was he once as full of ambition as his deputy?’ Lee mused.

“Okay,” Lee said in a soft voice, “you see the girl over on line 5? The one with the multicoloured T-shirt, backpack, and roller luggage?”

Chan nodded.

“I want to have a closer look at what she’s got, especially the roller luggage.”

Chan nodded again and asked, “Yes, but why her?”

“You see the way she’s dressed?”

“Yes…?”

“So now look at her wristwatch,” Lee jutted his chin towards the girl, “notice anything about it?”

“Looks shiny and new,” Chan observed.

“It’s a Miss Elenor top-of-the-line model dress watch, worth a lot of money even if you buy it in Laos, where she arrived from.”

Chan did not seem convinced. He gazed at the girl’s watch from where they stood for a moment longer and then asked, “What if it’s a fake?”

Lee did not take his eyes off the girl and said simply, “No, I don’t think so. Take a closer look at the face of the wristwatch she’s wearing. Did you notice that glint when she moves her wrist?... See? It’s that special tint of electric blue developed by the Miss Elenor company that they claim especially shows off the diamonds. Do you see it now?”

Chan remained still for a moment, then nodded slightly, “Yes, I saw it just now…but that could still be a fake watch, can’t it?”

“Possible…but if it’s the real thing, her watch is out of place with the rest of her appearance, don’t you think?”

“Alternatively…she could be a poor girl with a rich boyfriend, couldn’t she?” added Chan. 

“Again, that’s possible…but did you also notice her roll-along luggage? It’s a name-brand piece of luggage, isn’t it?”

“Yes, that looks like an executive model bag.”

“Trouble is that it’s out of place with a worn and dirty backpack she’s got on her back, is it not?”

Chan did not answer. He just looked back at Lee, showing he was confused.

“I think our young friend did not follow her instructions properly,” Lee said without waiting for Chan to get onto the same page he was on, “my guess is that she was told to dress up in a business suit before she left her hotel for the airport back in Laos. However, our inexperienced mule over there either forgot to pick up a suit and dress up as an executive before catching her plane or is a new, lazy or sloppy recruit of our friends in Loas…and because of this, she figured that she could get away without the suit or high heels and all the other bits of smuggler’s camouflage her handler told her about, because she’s a natural talent at this sort of thing, or is a free spirit or some such myth that people make up in their heads.”

Chan did not disagree with Lee’s hypothesis. 

“So, what do you want to do, sir?” asked Chan, “shall I get a female officer and have her bags and body searched?”

Lee shook his head slightly. " No, I want to talk to her first alone. She might be willing to speak more freely that way.”

“I understand but shall I join you when you start talking to her with my recorder on, so we have a full record from first contact?”

“No, I want to talk to her alone. I don’t want anyone near us; more people present might lead to her clamming up prematurely…however, if I hear enough to merit pulling her aside for a full interrogation later on, you can join us then. At that stage, you can play ‘good cop’ to my ‘bad cop’.”

“Understood, sir,” Chan responded in his best parade ground tone, which irritated Lee somewhat because it was inappropriate for where they were. 

However, Chan then moved away from Lee’s vantage point without being told to do so and positioned himself at the end of the customs inspection line close to the exit to block off any escaping suspect if required to do so. Lee made a mental note that Chan was going by the book without needing more instructions from him. That was good, and that at least would be a plus point in his next fitness report. 

Lee then walked over to the customs inspection line, but he did not take up any positions where his officers carried out customs inspections. He just waited on the side, watching for the girl to clear passport control and approach the area where he was stationed.

Presently, the girl got through passport control and walked towards where Lee was with her baggage.

Lee watched her approach and noted that she must have had her backpack and roll-along bag with her in the aircraft cabin.

Lee knew that if she was moving something illegal and valuable, such as a drug shipment, she would have been told to keep the drugs contained in the bag close to her all the time. That was why she had both her backpack and the roll-along bag with her in the line for passport control instead of having to reclaim one of the two from the baggage carousel beyond passport control.

As the girl approached the customs line, an officer named Ching approached her. Lee stepped forward and motioned Ching away.

The girl’s eyes moved from the departing Ching and fell upon the figure of Lee, and Lee mentally registered the concern in her involuntary expression.

Lee knew he wore a different uniform from the other officers in the arrival hall, and he could see that this fact alone was enough to set off alarms in the girl’s head without Lee having to say a thing.

Nevertheless, the girl recovered and managed to smile at Lee after her momentary lapse of composure.

“Miss, may I have your passport, please?” Lee asked politely.

“Yes…yes, of course.” The girl said as she handed her passport over.

Lee glanced at the travel document and saw it was in the name of Molly Sullivan, an Australian citizen whose birthplace was Sydney, New South Wales, some twenty years ago.

Lee closed the passport and looked directly at the girl.

“So, Miss Sullivan, do you have anything to declare?”

“No”.

“Miss Sullivan, are you carrying anything illegal or prohibited in any way?”

“No! No…no, not at all…why should I be doing that, for goodness’s sake? I’m just a tourist…I’m just…I’m…”

Lee held up a hand to immediately stop her nervous rambling. ‘She is awful at this,’ he said to himself, ‘obviously the first run she has ever done. I’ve just got to make sure this will be her last. 

“Can you please put your bags on the table and open them for inspection?”

Sullivan complied, and Lee noticed that her hands began to shake as she unzipped her bags.

“Did you pack these bags yourself?”

Sullivan replied in a faint voice, “Yes”.

Lee nodded and started inspecting the inside of the roll-along bag. He noted that the clothes in the bag were folded and neatly packed, and they were also all new. He then looked in the backpack, where the clothes were all crumpled and stuffed haphazardly into the pack.

‘She really is not good at this,’ Lee thought.

Next, Lee moved aside the clothing in the bag and ran his finger along the lower sides of the bag, applying pressure as he did so. Lee felt the bottom of the bag give way slightly, indicating it was a false bottom. He knew instantly that if he removed the panel, there would be a space under it containing something that was not solid, like a bag of powder or something similar.

Lee looked up and saw Sullivan’s face visibly paler than before. Her expression was blank as far as she could manage, but her eyes were large with silent terror.

Lee leaned toward the girl and whispered intensely; it was almost a hiss.

“Molly, Listen carefully to what I have to say to you, and answer me truthfully…do you understand?”

Molly nodded without speaking.

“There’s a hidden panel in your bag. What’s in the hidden compartment?”

“I don’t know. I was just handed the bag at the airport.”

“By whom?”

“Shane, my boyfriend…he said he owed money to some people, and I had to do this for him, or he would be in trouble with them. That’s all I was told, I swear.”

“Where or when were you to hand over the contents of this bag?”

“Shane said someone was going to meet me at the hotel tonight, and he or she would come to my room and say that Shane sent him. I was then to hand the bag to that person. That is all I know.”

“Are those all the arrangements? Was there anything else?”

Molly shook her head while fighting back tears.

“One more thing, Molly, did anyone come with you on the plane? Did anyone come on the same aircraft with you who is connected with the people who gave you the bag in Laos?”

Molly looked slightly puzzled at the question and paused momentarily before shaking her head.

“Alright, then, Molly. Listen very carefully and do exactly what I tell you to do because your life is in more danger than it has ever been. Do you understand?”

Molly heard what was said then based on life experience, or perhaps instinctively, she tried to offer an excuse. “It wasn’t my fault…my boyfriend likes to gamble…and…”

“Enough!” Lee silenced the young woman with one word so intense spoken that she instantly stopped what she was saying.

“Molly drug smuggling is punishable with the death penalty in this country. Do you understand? There is no clemency or reduction of sentence because of mistaken belief or any other excuse or unexpected hardship…if you are caught in possession of what I think is in this bag, you will be put in prison and executed. Regardless of your story, your Australian nationality or any other thing your lawyer might say in court…you will face the death penalty without hope of appeal. So, I say again,…Do you understand what situation you are in?”  

Molly nodded slightly, averting her eyes from Lee’s gaze.

“Good now listen and do exactly as I tell you to,” Lee paused and looked around to ensure there was still no one within earshot, “your boyfriend Shane is gone, he’s a dead man…he is never leaving where he is being held. You cannot help him now; in fact, I don’t think you could have helped him at any time since this whole thing got underway.”

Lee looked at Molly to make sure she was taking in this next piece of his instructions: “When you leave this arrival hall, do not leave the airport. Do not go to the hotel as you were told to do or anywhere else. Stay in this airport…”

Molly’s eyes widened, and she asked weakly, “You’re not going to arrest me?”

Lee was in a hurry, so he did not answer her question, but he went on, “When you leave the customs hall, you will come across a lost and found place on your right before you get to the taxi rank. First, remove any tag or thing attached to the bag with your name, which can be used to trace it back to you. Then you leave the bag you were given in the lost and found, if possible, without saying anything to anyone. But if someone talks to you and you can’t get away without saying anything, you tell the clerk or whoever else asks you that you found the bag in the terminal. Then, slip away without saying anything more. Certainly, do not give anyone your real name or any details. Just lie and leave false details if you must, but give no true details about yourself. Got that?”

Molly did not respond but just nodded.

Lee asked, “Do you have a good credit card for a flight back to Australia?”

Again, she nodded.

“So, after you are done with the lost and found, come back into the airport building and approach the standby desk for the Australian airline counters. They are on the second-floor concourse. There’s a flight to Sydney later today, as well as a flight to Melbourne an hour later. I think there’s also a flight to Perth at about the same time. You can buy a ticket for any of those flights from the airline counters on a standby basis. Do so. It does not matter where in Australia you fly to, but it is essential that you fly out of here today and back to Australia.”

Molly did not respond, but she clearly understood what Lee was saying.

“Remember, you must do exactly what I’ve told you if you don’t want to rot in the local prison system before they put you out of your misery by executing you.”

Molly was taken aback and started to ask a question when Lee held up a hand to stop her.

“Enough! We are out of time. I spent about 15 minutes with you on this inspection and examination; any longer than that, and the procedures of the department call for me to direct you to the back area for a more detailed inspection of your luggage and for interrogation by at least two officers. And if that happens, I'll no longer be able to protect you. We have no time for anything more…so go! Now!”

Lee then stood back from Molly and said, in a voice that could be heard by people around them, “Thank you, Miss Sullivan. That will be all. Have a nice day.”

Molly then sheepishly turned from Lee and headed toward the arrivals hall exit with her luggage.

Lee looked at Chan, who looked confused and shrugged to indicate that it was okay to let Molly leave.

Lee then watched Molly through the glass wall in the back of the hall as she left the customs inspection area and walked over to the lost and found office. Within a few minutes, Lee watched Molly emerge from the lost and found office without the roll-on bag.

Then, without attracting Chan’s notice, Lee quietly returned to his office behind the customs hall and, through the airport's closed-circuit system, watched Molly go up to the Australian airline counters to buy her ticket.

Lee stayed in his office for the rest of his shift and watched Molly as she made her way into the departure lounge and finally onto a plane bound for Sydney.

After Lee was satisfied that Molly was out of the country, he went to the staff locker room to change out of his uniform and into civilian clothes for the drive home.

As he opened his locker to get his clothes, Lee got out his phone to call an anonymous police tip line to report a bag left at the airport that was in the lost and found office. As he was doing so, Lee’s eye caught sight of an old photograph he had taped inside the locker door. The picture was old and faded, but you could still clearly see that it was of two people smiling and holding hands in front of the iconic structure of the Sydney Opera House. One of the two people in the picture was Lee, who was skinnier and had more hair. The other was of a tall blonde girl with an unusual jawline, a small nose, and a forehead that Lee remembered fondly was home to some pronounced wrinkles when stressed. 

Lee finished his call to the tip line, hung up and closed the locker door.

‘Sorry, Molly, I wasn’t there for you all your life, but I hope our fifteen minutes together today went some way toward making up for all that’, Lee thought to himself as he left for home.

END