📸 Photo

MARCHING POWDER

passport. I looked at my watch. It was ten minutes before my flight had originally been due to leave. I knew it wouldn't leave without me – there is a security rule that planes cannot take off with the passenger's luggage onboard if the passenger isn't also on the plane. I asked the colonel what was going on, but he ignored me. He began writing down some of the details from my passport on some kind of report.

The colonel's office was only partly underground – at the top of the back wall was a window that was just above ground level. Through it, I could hear a plane engine starting up outside. I wasn't sure if it was my plane, but I started to feel a little worried.

‘Please, señor. Is something wrong?’ I asked, and finally, he answered.

‘They have found something in your bags, Señor McFadden.’

‘Who has?’

‘Los perros,’ he said.

‘I don't understand.’

‘The dogs. They have detected something in your suitcases.’ I felt my heart sink. But I didn't panic.

Just then, the other officers left the room. I leaned forward and put my hands on the colonel's desk.

‘What's going on, Mario?’ I asked.