Faces in the Terminal at Gatwick
Right in the middle of the terminal was a transparent fiberglass kiosk with four police officers standing inside. The officers stood in front of a row of video monitors flashing faces of criminals. The screens stood back to back so each police officer was looking in a different direction. Every few seconds, the image on the screen would change and the police officer would look around for a suspicious face in the ocean of faces. One of the images was of Ali.
Ali, unaware that his picture had been sent to every airport in every major city in the world, disembarked from his flight and walked through the terminal. He was in disguise. The police officers looked around in an attempt to find any person bearing a resemblance to an image on the screens in their kiosk, but there were no matches. None of the travelers walking in or out of the terminal bore any resemblance to any of the images.
As Ali passed the kiosk, a small child suddenly walked right in front of him, and Ali had to slow down to avoid knocking the child down. The mother of the child rushed to hold the child. She apologized to Ali and smiled at him in a way that told Ali she was sincerely sorry as well as sincerely embarrassed.
In the kiosk, a red light atop one of the screens started to flash, indicating the surveillance system had spotted a possible physical match to one of the images. All four officers began looking around the terminal carefully, scrutinizing each face that came into their view. Ali was unaware that the police had identified him. Casually, he walked out of the airport, carrying only a small bag and a black briefcase in his hands. Traveling without luggage was always more convenient and quicker and that is the way Ali liked to travel.
It was not the first time that he was visiting London. He did not like the weather of London much, but he had no choice. His duty required him to be in this city, so he was there. He joined the throng of people walking on the sidewalk.
After walking for a few minutes, he flagged down a cab. He climbed into the backseat and it pulled away from the curb, speeding off toward the city.