The sight of a German shepherd leaping at a woman pushing a stroller horrified a border patrol officer.
The border patrol officer had been used to tourists’ curious stares for a long time, but he rarely took his eyes off his loyal friend, Zora, a German shepherd with a sharp mind.
Zora was legendary among the staff. After three years of service, scores of offenses were found, and not a single mistake was made. And until the dog started acting strangely, it started out like any other day.
She turned her head suddenly. She noticed a young woman with a large purse and a baby stroller. The woman seemed strained, suspicious, and as like she was trying to hide something.
The dog ran toward the woman pushing the stroller when the police ordered, “Zora, check.”
The woman pulled the stroller ahead and spoke in a tremulous voice:
Leave your dog alone with my son! She is starting to frighten him!
This is a standard examination, ma’am. Where are you from?
from Germany. Too quickly, she said, “Straight flight.”
As the woman tried to depart, the officer took a step forward:
Let me see how your child is doing, please, Ma’am.
— This is absurd! Are you questioning a single mother? Because of a dog?
“Zora, come back,” he pleaded.
But Zora did not obey. For the first time in her whole service. She growled, then barked angrily.
The police officer headed toward the stroller. Although the woman’s lips trembled, she did not move. He lifted the blanket. And when he saw it, froze.
A baby is underneath. A real one. His face was pale, his lips were going blue, and his breathing was shallow. But underneath the pillow…
The cop held it up carefully. There were layers of fabric, foil, and cloth wrapped around a metal cylinder with Arabic text on it. And a little red light. It blinked, but just slightly.
“A bo1 m1 b,” he uttered inaudibly. — Forget it.
The woman dropped then, as if she had been stripped naked. She held back her tears. She didn’t shout. She just mumbled:
This was not my intention. I was forced to do it. He is my son. They contended that he would die otherwise.
Security responded immediately. The terminal was evacuated when the device was defused. They took the woman into custody.
But the story didn’t end there.
Another pregnant woman had been caught at another terminal on another continent, the radio revealed two weeks later. Also with a stroller. Nor did she choose to do so. Zora had another important assignment to finish.
