A businessman and a short order crook

Howard stepped briskly toward the main exit of the teminus international airport. He had his extra large black Telco^tm Travel bag with his carrying all his possessions for the business trip that was now over. His wife Anne and their 2 kids trotted after him. Out of his eye Howard spotted a man in a dark blue jogging coat flying at him. At the same time 3 other man ran from their assigned posts, holding their tiny undercover earphones in their ear as the chief was shouting orders. They pounced on Howard and snatched his Telco^tm Travel bag away from him. He protested but all the events were so fast, his heart banged against his chest, he was an entity of pure adrenaline as the police officers went into arrest citizen mode. Unfortunately, adrenaline alone doesn’t form coherent sentences. While Howard was saying something about him not knowing why they were doing this, a police officer tore open Howard’s bag and produced a plastic wrapped block of white powder.

"Sergeant, look at this" Howard looked at the bag as the officer pulled out yet another block of the deadly white stuff. Howard tried to say that the bag couldn’t be his but was rendered speechless when a stylish silk black dress (that was not his wife’s) oozed out. His wife stared at him like he had shot her. He wanted to tell her that this was some mistake but the officers had handcuffed him and were dragging him away from his life.

Before this, just 10 or so minutes, everything was normal. Howard had just stepped off the plane and strolled over to the luggage carousel. As he was walking over he ran in to a woman who seemed to be in a large hurry. The only detail he got was her red curly hair as she sped past him. He grabbed his large black Telco^tm Travel bag and noticed that his candy red travel tag was missing. It was firmly attached to his bag previously but the lousy luggage handlers had probably torn it off. He grabbed the bag and sauntered over to his wife and kids, as a man listened to his undercover earbud, and them he started in Howard’s direction.

The woman with the curly red hair almost ran into a man in a jogging jacket. Her heart screeched to a halt as she saw what was imprinted on the back of his jacket:

"Customs"

Strangely he ran past her. She still didn’t relax. She rushed toward the door while trying to look like she wasn’t in a rush. She didn’t stop untill she had landed in the passenger seat of a nondescript off-white-but-not-quite-beige Cadillac. The driver smiled big at her.

"Hello Mrs. Alice, I’m sure Mr. Caterpillar told you who I am, do you have the magic mushrooms?" the man said, using the code words that they (her, the driver, the dealer, and the mob boss) had decided on.

"yea… the police…drive!" Her breaths coming in gasps as she was slightly shaking from an adrenaline overdose. She had stepped in a puddle too deep this time.

"Chill" The driver, codenamed Mr. Cheshire, who was a tall guy who look just as crazy as his namesake. He popped in a Stereo MC tape and applied all of his body weight to the gas pedal and they peeled out in a manner slightly stealthier than flying a 747 into a skyscraper.

While Howard was being charged with possession of cocaine, Mrs. Alice was attempting to explain why she didn’t have what she was hired for.

Lesson: Take the train.