She fished for her American coins. Lifting the receiver, she dropped in a penny. It tumbled somewhere with a clicking sound. The echo told her it accomplished nothing. She tried a dime, but it, too, made a series of metallic jiggles before coming to a stop in the belly of the box. The quarter was too big for the slot. She dipped her hand into her side pocket and found two more coins, one of them a nickel. She dropped it in the slot. A shrill dial tone almost pierced her eardrums. She brushed away the tiny stab of concern that she had just committed a crime, pulled out the business card she had kept in her pocket since early afternoon, and dialed the number scribbled on the back.

The ring was more like a series of bleats, but after five of them, her call was answered. She heard static and background chatter and clanging dishes.

“Dr. Liang? This is Nola Sands.” The words shaped themselves into triangles with sharp edges. “I need your help.”

“What is it? The baby all right?”

“I— I—” Nola felt embarrassed and humiliated. “I— I—” she said again. Finally she blurted out her predicament.

“Where are you?”

“I can’t read the street signs—wait. There was a plaza and a rose garden two blocks away.” She scanned the street. “There’s a department store diagonally across the street from me. I am next to a newspaper kiosk. This place looks like Chicago. There’s a computer store with a big neon sign for Microsoft—and Kentucky Fried Chicken!” How she would have loved to bite into a piece of chicken. The sign alone already made her feel like she was home. She couldn’t help smiling as she added, “But they made the Colonel Chinese.”

“Gi’me ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Dr. Liang.”

“Ming-Ji. I come only if you call me Ming-Ji.”

“Thank you, Ming-Ji.” But the phone was already dead.

She surveyed the crowd for Ming-Ji’s diminutive figure, for the quick steps of a no-nonsense woman in a white coat whose child’s face was hidden behind large, dark-framed glasses and therefore failed to notice the black Mercedes that sidled up next to her until it came to a stop. Nola’s breath caught at the sight of the diplomatic license plates. The tinted windows hid the car’s occupants. It was too late to flee.

Nola clutched Lulu and sprinted back to the shadows of the tree. Jerked out of her slumber, Lulu let out a shriek and struggled to free herself from the confines of the sling.