They reached the airport and, al last, saw some real people, actual citizens.

     There weren't many, no more than half a dozen.

     They were, also, finally able to get a look at a clock.

     Four thirty in the morning. 

​     Two women quietly conversed.

​     A man wandered from one end of the airport to the other, back and forth, back and forth.

     A couple huddled in a corner, sitting up but still trying to sleep. 

     Another man studied every sign and poster in the airport intently.

     The question became, who in this group had a phone Niki and Trevor could "borrow" for a minute or two without really bothering anybody?

     They studied the situation until Niki said, "Those two women. The ones who are talking. They've got to have their phones within easy reach. Where are their purses?"  

     One had her purse on her lap. She clutched it while she talked.

     "She must have something pretty valuable in that purse," Niki said. "At least to her. She's holding it pretty tight." 

     The other woman, though.

     She wasn't holding her purse at all.

     It sat next to her on an empty chair.

     Not only that, but the purse was open.

     Niki hoped the woman kept it that way so that she could get to her phone if she needed to. 

     She peered into the lady's purse. 

​     Yep, there it was. The phone rested on top of everything else she had in her purse.

     Perfect. 

     It took one quick snatch, then Niki flew away to rejoin Trevor. 

     "You're going to put that phone right back in her purse the second we're done with it, right?" Trevor asked. 

     "Shut up, Trevor. Stop being a baby. This phone's nothing like the one I had three years ago."

​     She got on the web. Search: Adam Forwarder.

     The responses that came up were of two kinds:

     Half the responses were news clips of Adam Forwarder from the year before, his new baby in his arms, standing knee deep and covered in muck. 

     Niki had been there that day. 

     She didn't know anybody was taking pictures. 

     The other images were of the desolation and heartbreak The Fours had caused since making its presence known seven years before.

     The Fortune 500 kidnapped and ransomed for half a trillion dollars.

     The obliteration of the Adam Forwarder compound. 

     The top floors of two buildings in Seatrailia obliterated.

     The "amusement park" that stole every penny of every person who attended.

     Egoneg's attack. 

     The destruction of the entire continent of Naturia. 

​     The pieces claimed all of that, somehow, was Adam Forwarder's fault.

     Niki's takeaway was that Adam hadn't been seen since the day he returned to Earth from Domitika.

      "He's gone underground, and I don't blame him," Niki said. 

      "What about Gramps?" Trevor asked. "Anyway we can get ahold of him?"

     "Do you know Gramps' real name, the name on his driver's license?"

     Trevor chuckled. "No. Everyone just calls him Gramps, even his daughter. For all I know, that is his name."

​      "How about his daughter? What was her full name? Her first name was Abby, I remember that."

      "Dawson. The family name was Dawson." 

      Then, from over where the two ladies sat: "My phone! It's gone!"

​      "Shit," Niki said.

      Two drones whirled into the airport lounge.

      They went right to Niki and Trevor, which is to say for the phone Niki still had in her hand.

​       "Oops," Niki said as she let the phone drop.

      Trevor and Niki flew to the opposite end of the airport lounge away from the drones.

     The drones circled the phone like hounds circling a fox.

     "That phone sought information concerning Adam Forwarder," one of the drones said.

     "That's my phone!" the woman yelped. "I just saw it was missing a second ago!

I have no idea how it got way over there!"

     "Out of here?" Trevor muttered. 

​     "We need another phone."

     Niki drifted over to the guy who studied all the signs and posters. He wore a light, summer jacket, and in the pocket of that jacket was a phone.

      The man's attention, at the moment, was focused on the ruckus with the drones. 

      Niki got his phone with the first grab. She wasn't slick about it, though, and the guy felt the pull on his jacket. 

​      "Hey!"

      "So sorry," Niki said as she and Trevor flew from the airport, "And, sorry Trevor, but he's not getting it back, either."

                                                 CONTINUE