As they waited, Anna gently asked the boy his name. “Luca,” he replied, his voice barely a whisper. She introduced herself and asked him about the sign he had made with his fingers. Luca hesitated, his eyes darting around the room, before he slowly explained that it was a distress signal he had learned from a school program on emergency situations. The realization hit Anna like a wave; the boy had been trying to communicate that he was in danger.
Meanwhile, the crew members were being debriefed by airport security and local law enforcement. They explained that the pilot had ordered the emergency landing after receiving a discreet signal from Anna, who had been trained to recognize signs of distress in passengers. Anna’s quick response had been prompted by a gut feeling, an intuition that something was amiss when she saw Luca’s sign.
