Naelle yelped when he put the handcuffs on her.
“No! What the hell? You can’t do this to me! I’m an American citizen.”
“Just chill,” I told her.
“What the hell is going on?”
“We’re being taken in for questioning about the cocaine that they found in the jet.”
“Cocaine? Are you joking? I’ve never even seen any! My dad would murder me with his bare hands if I ever used drugs.”
He pulled her off of the plane. She didn’t shut up.
I quietly went into the car after her. She never stopped protesting even as this man drove us into Quito, making the long journey from UIO into the heart of the city.
I didn’t say much, just waited for my moment.
Officer Ortiz
Naelle
My wrists hurt from the handcuffs. I’d never been handcuffed before, and I really didn’t like it.
They were too tight for one thing, and the man ignored me.
I wished that I was home. Dad would’ve taken care of this.
I waited as we went to a building that was obviously a jail.
I started shaking.
“Don’t worry,” Emilio’s deep voice said. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
If I could have crossed my arms, I would have.
“I cannot believe you got me into this situation.” I knew he hadn’t meant to, but I was also about to go to jail.
“Don’t worry,” he repeated. “All of this is a horrible misunderstanding. Once we are booked, we’ll get out.”
I turned to him, my eyebrows drawn together.
“What?” How did that make any sense?
“Just trust me.”
I turned to look out the window. The guy who had found the baggie of cocaine in our jet was opening the door and roughly pulling me out of the car.
His hand on my arm hurt, but I got the feeling that if I tried to call Internal Audit on him, I’d only worsen my situation.
My hands were shaking a lot now, and my eyes were filling with tears. I considered myself a pretty brave person, but I wasn’t equipped to handle going to jail in a foreign country. If I’d thought that there was even a possibility of getting arrested in Ecuador, I would’ve gone somewhere else. Hawaii sounded like a much better destination at the moment. At least I would’ve been on US soil.
Emilio got out of the car under his own power, and the official walked us both into the police station.
The second that we walked inside, there was a man waiting by the door.
“I’ll take it from here, Aguilera,” he said, taking my arm and pulling me away from the first governmental official, whose hand tightened painfully on my arm.
“I made the discovery. I get to book them!” Aguilera’s face was red.