CHAPTER 2: The Surveillance Room
Officer Reynolds felt his knees weaken.
Every eye in the checkpoint was now fixed on him.
Before he could speak, two airport supervisors arrived.
"What cameras?" one of them asked.
The FBI agent calmly pointed upward.
"All of them."
The supervisors exchanged nervous looks.
Within minutes, Reynolds was escorted into the airport surveillance room.
The FBI agent followed.
So did airport security management.
The footage was pulled up on a giant monitor.
Everyone watched in silence.
There was Reynolds.
Opening the suitcase.
Looking around.
Removing something from beneath his belt.
Sliding it inside.
Then pretending to discover it.
The room went dead quiet.
No explanations.
No misunderstandings.
No excuses.
Everything had been recorded.
One supervisor lowered his head.
Another reached for his phone.
Reynolds stared at the screen as if watching someone else's life collapse.
Then the FBI agent spoke.
"That wasn't your first time doing this."
The room froze again.
Reynolds looked up sharply.
The agent's eyes narrowed.
"We've been investigating complaints from travelers for eight months."
Suddenly Reynolds understood.
This wasn't an accident.
The suitcase had been bait.
And he had just walked straight into the trap.
The agent leaned forward.
"You weren't the target."
May you like
"You were the operation."
And for the first time that day, Reynolds felt real fear.
