19
Several minutes passed, and the majority of passengers had already boarded. Talia again approached the ticketing agent. “Now?” she said with a smile.
“Yes, ma’am. I believe it’s safe to say that the seat is yours.” He tapped at his keyboard but glanced down at her backpack. “You only have the one carry-on?”
“I travel light.”
“Name?”
Talia’s stomach jumped. Why didn’t you think of a false name in advance? Her mind scrambled for a name. “Gamila Rahal.”
He glanced her up and down. “But you are Israeli, no?”
This is never going to work, she thought. “Uh, my mother is Israeli, but my father was Egyptian.” Her heart rate accelerated.
His tone shifted, and Talia could tell he thought the whole thing odd. “That’s most unusual,” he said, but then continued typing. “The fare is 15,136 Egy
