by Kelly Moore
“Hey, Ashe, how about we skip out of here and go play some indoor racquetball at the club? I haven’t gotten a chance to beat your ass in forever.” Wren has been working on the computer all morning and has finally finished. He has a small blue ball in his hand that he’s throwing in the air and catching.
I hop up out of my chair. “I think that’s a great idea. I haven’t had any physical exercise lately.” I grin to myself because I know I’ve had a hell of a workout between Aedon’s legs.
The ball drops to the ground and he looks over at me. “Really?” He is obviously surprised that I said yes.
“Yeah, really. I’ll go home and change and I’ll meet you there in an hour. Let me grab Ander’s radio so that I can take it with us.” He’s up and on his feet.
An hour later, I walk into the pretentious club that I haven’t set foot in since giving up my practice. Wren is standing at the counter flirting with a hot little redhead. I’ve heard him mention her before, but I don’t think he’s ever taken her out. I walk up beside him and sign in. He stuffs a piece of paper in his shorts pocket.
“Hi, Dr. Manning. I haven’t seen you in here in a while.” The hot redhead says.
“I’ve been a little busy.” I put my hand on Wren’s shoulder and head toward the indoor courts. “Did you get her number?”
“Yeah, I did. It’s about time I had a life outside of work.”
I wonder if it’s because he knows that Aedon belongs to me. “I’m glad to hear it.” We walk through the glass doors onto the court. “Look, Aedon told me you had a little thing for her. I hope there are no hard feelings between us.”
His jaw locks tightly. He reaches in his bag and pulls out his racquet. “Did she now?” he says with a little bite behind his words. He starts bouncing the ball.
Now would not be a good time to piss him off. He has a killer hit and it would hurt like hell if directed at me. “I just wanted to clear the air. We’re friends and I don’t want it to come between us.”
“Did she tell you everything?” he says, and then crushes the ball in one hard swing. It comes flying back at me before I’m ready for it. I move out of the way right before it hits me.
I take my racquet out of my bag and grab a ball. I step up to the line and toss it in the air a few times. “She tells me everything now.” I glance back at him, then toss the ball in the air and slam it toward the wall. He jumps on the court and hits it back. It bounces off a corner wall and strikes the back wall. I have to run fast to return it.
I’ve already worked up a sweat and we’ve only just started to play. Other than the grunts and groans coming from both of us, neither of us says another word. It makes me wonder what else he really wanted to say. Did Aedon leave out part of the story? I don’t want to ask him anymore questions, I’ll wait until Aedon is back.
He’s won all four games. I’m wringing wet, there’s not a dry spot on me. “I need water,” I pant breathlessly. I clutch my water bottle and let it pour out. Only some of it goes in my mouth, the rest runs down my shirt. I wipe my chin with the back of my hand. “One more game,” I tell him.
Wren is bouncing the ball getting ready to serve when the radio blares an alarm. We both drop our racquets and sprint over to my bag. I dig it out and turn up the volume.
* * *
“The Pentagon has been attacked by terrorists. It has been confirmed that a bomb exploded and has taken out almost the entire building. Hundreds of people are missing.”
* * *
I don’t even finish listening before I dig out my phone and press the speed dial number for Aedon.
“What time was her meeting?” Wren looks as worried as I feel.
“It was eleven this morning. Damn it, she’s not answering.” I redial.
Wren has his phone in his hand too. “Her meeting should have been done by now. I’ll try her parents.”
She still doesn’t pick up. I throw our racquets in our bags. I point to the door and he opens it. “Did you get them?”
“No, they didn’t answer either. I’ll meet you at the office.”
We get in our separate cars. My Bluetooth kicks on in my sport Mercedes. “Ander, I need you at the office now.” I don’t give him time to respond. My tires spin on the pavement, leaving a path of smoke behind me. I keep trying Aedon’s number, but to no avail. “Damn it!” I beat on the steering wheel. I won’t be able to get a visual on the big screen in our office since no drones are allowed in that area.
My car has barely come to a stop when I throw it in park and jump out, feet hitting the ground at a dead sprint towards the elevator. The short elevator ride seems like an eternity. Wren arrives a few seconds behind me. We are both working on getting all the computers booted up when Ander walks in the office.
“What’s up, boss man?” The smile vanishes from his face when he sees the seriousness in mine.
“The Pentagon was bombed and Aedon had a meeting there today.”
He immediately starts punching keys on his keyboard. The wall monitor lights up, showing the Pentagon from a distance. Smoke and dust hover over it. “I can’t get any closer than that.”
The three of us stand close to the screen to try and distinguish something, anything. “Ander, keep trying to get Aedon, put her on automatic redial. And here,” I hand him my phone, “This is her mom’s cell phone number, keep trying that one too. Get my team dispatched to Washington.”
Wren’s finger lands on the screen. “I swear that could be Aedon’s father.” He’s pointing to a man standing by a woman outside the gates of the Pentagon. She’s bent over holding her head.
“I don’t know, maybe. I wish we could zoom in closer.” We watch as the man takes something from the woman. He turns his back to the screen.
My phone rings and vibrates across Ander’s desk. All three of us dive for it at the same time. My hand lands on it first. “Aedon?”
“Is this Ashe?”
“Yes.” I hold the phone so that I can see the number. It’s Aedon’s mom’s number. I turn to look at the screen and see the man holding what looks like a phone up to his ear. “Mr. Thatcher?”
“Yes, can you hear me?” he yells into the phone.
“Yes, I can hear you. Are you standing outside the gates with your wife?”
I see him look around like he’s trying to find me. “Yes, where are you?”
“I’m in New York watching from our office. Are you okay?” I little bit of relief washes over me because I know they were together.
“We weren’t inside, but the explosion sent debris flying everywhere. My wife can’t hear anything.”
“Mr. Thatcher, where is Aedon? She can get her mom to the hospital.”
That’s when my world starts spinning out of control. “She was in the Pentagon,” he cries. “She forgot her purse and went back inside to get it. A few minutes later, the building blew up.” His voice breaks and transitions into deep sobs.
I fall backward, catching myself on Ander’s desk. Wren takes the phone from me and tells him to get his wife to the hospital and that we will be there as soon as we can get on a plane.
The business part of my brain kicks into gear and I start giving Ander orders. Before I’ve even grabbed all the supplies we will need, Ander has a plane on standby.
“How long before the two of you can get there?” he asks.
“We’ll leave right now.” I take my bag and head to the elevator with Wren right behind me.
“Do you need to go by your apartment first?”
“No, we’ll get whatever we need when we get there.” It dawns on me that I don’t have any of my medications with me, but I can get it from a pharmacy in DC. I don’t want to waste a minute trying to find Aedon.
* * *
The plane takes off and Ander already has all the news feeds coming into us. He has a map pulled up of the Pentagon. “Here is where Aedon’s meeting would have been.” I point to an area on the screen. “This is where General Briggs holds all his meetings. Ander, h
ave there been any reports of survivors yet?”
“They’re saying there have been several survivors found that were in the outer offices on the first floor. There are seven floors of rubble that exploded. Some of the walls fell outward, but the majority of the building collapsed in the middle.”
“The conference room she would have been in was on the east side of the building. Are we getting any visuals on it yet?”
“It looks like that section collapsed inward.” His voice trails off.
“She could have been on her way back out, don’t jump to any conclusions yet.” Wren says, running his hands through his hair. “We’ll find her and bring her home.”
Chapter 19
Aedon
The thick dust hanging in the air makes it nearly impossible to open my eyes. Even after I manage to squint them open, I can hardly make out my surroundings in the few beams of light shining through the cracks in the wall and ceiling. I raise my hand to rub my eyes and a sharp pain assaults my right side. “Shit that hurts!” I try to yell, but the pain is so bad it comes out as a whimper. What happened? Something is laying on my legs. I try to move and it’s then that I remember the explosion. Oh my God, it was a bomb. A wave of panic clouds my mind for several long moments before I can shake free and think straight again.
Despite the pain, I sit up, pushing debris off me. I hear a soft sob from somewhere in the room. Bia, she was in here. “Bia! Where are you?” I still myself so I can listen for any movement. There’s nothing. “Bia! Talk to me!” I hear the sob again coming from the far corner of what used to be the conference room. “I’m coming, Bia! Hold on.”
I move gingerly, pushing shards of steel beams off my legs. As I shift, blood drips in my eye, dimming my vision even more. I wipe it and feel for where it’s coming from - a laceration the length of my brow. I press firmly against it with the heel of my hand to keep it from bleeding. When I remove my hand there is blood dripping down my wrist. Wiping the blood on the end of my torn blouse, I turn my attention back to freeing myself and manage to shove free of the beam that has me trapped. There are cuts and scrapes all over my lower body, but nothing seems to be broken, other than maybe my ribs. I steady myself on a piece of concrete and force myself up. Pain sears through me again, causing me to buckle over in pain.
Bia’s soft cry for help makes me stand up straight, oblivious to the pain tearing through my whole body. “Keep talking, Bia.” I stumble over the broken leg of a table, but catch myself before I crash into a large piece of glass protruding from what used to be the windows that divided the rooms.
A soft, tiny motion catches my eye. I turn and see her little hand sticking out from under a tabletop buried under chunks of concrete. “I’m here, Bia. It’s Aedon. I met you earlier, sweetie.” I pull pieces of the room off her as I talk.
She can barely open her eyes when I uncover the rest of her. She holds them open wearily, looking at me behind a haze of confusion. “Aedon?” her voice whimpers.
“Yes. Let me look at you.” I touch her upper body looking for any injuries. She doesn’t wince when I press on her stomach. Her legs are still buried. “Do you hurt anywhere?”
“What happened?” she asks with tears slipping from the corner of her eyes.
“I’m not sure, but I think the building exploded.”
“Daddy!” she cries.
“We’ll find your dad, but for now I need you to tell me if anything hurts?”
“My left leg is throbbing.” Her hand reaches down to touch it. When she can’t reach it, her head comes up and she realizes for the first time that she’s still partially buried. Her cries grow louder.
“It’s okay, Bia. I’m going to get you out of here,” I say, trying to calm her. “You’re going to have to stay still so nothing else falls on us. Do you understand?”
She nods and slows her breathing.
“Good girl.” I move further down, removing what I can as I go. My side hurts so bad that it doubles me over for a moment while I catch my breath.
“You’re hurt, too.”
“I’m alright, just give me a second.” I push back the pain, standing to lift the heavy broken conference table that’s crushing her legs. “When I lift this, do you think you can push yourself out using your arms?”
“I’ll try.”
“On the count of three. One, two…three!” On three, I lift with everything I have in me. Bia cries out in pain, but she’s able to move enough to get out from under it. I slowly let it down to prevent it from moving any further.
“My leg!” she cries.
“Let me see it, Bia.” I sit down at her feet and slowly start moving my hands down her legs. Her left leg is broken below the knee and her left ankle is pointed outward at an awkward angle. I feel for a pedal pulse and there is none. If I don’t set her foot, she will lose it.
“Is it broken?” she cries, again.
“Yes, it is. I need to set the bone in your ankle. I know you probably won’t understand this, but there is no blood flow to your foot and if I don’t set it, you may lose your foot.”
“No!” she screams.
I crawl up to her so that I can look in her eyes. “Look at me. Who is the strongest person you know?”
Her tear-filled eyes are on mine. “My dad,” she sniffs.
“Is he like superhero strong?”
“Yes.”
“I need you to be a superhero, like your daddy.”
“Like Wonder Woman?”
“Yes, Bia, like Wonder Woman. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s going to hurt really bad for a split second. Do you think you can handle it?”
She takes my hand. “It’s okay, I’ll be brave.” Her little lip quivers.
I crawl back down to her leg and gently take her foot in my hand. “Grab the end of your shirt and ball it up. Put it in your mouth and bite down on it.” My hope is that she will pass out. She does what I tell her. “Are you ready?”
She squeezes her eyes tightly and shakes her head. I position my hands. “One, two…” I snap it quickly. She screams out in pain and her eyes roll back in her head as she passes out. I lean over holding my side and let my tears fall. I hate hurting a child. Forgetting about the cut over my eye, I lay my face in my hands and the bleeding starts again. I apply pressure and close my eyes for a second. Something crashes down behind me.
I have to get us out of here. There is no telling how unstable this building is – the whole thing could crumble down on top of us if we wait too long. I stand and wince. The side of wall that was lined with windows is completely open. It looks like the floor of the room above us fell so that it braced the area we are in. That’s the only reason we’re alive. If it would have collapsed completely, we’d be dead.
The glass crunches beneath my feet as I make my way to the opening. I briefly stop to check the pulse of a woman buried under bent steel beams and chunks of concrete, but there is none – not that I expected to feel one.
“Aedon.” I hear Bia’s weak cry.
“I’m here, Bia.” I make my way back to her, careful not to step on the broken glass, some of which remained in thick shards large enough to puncture straight through a person’s foot.
“Is my foot going to be okay?” She lifts her head to look at it.
“It will be once we get you out of here. I need to find something to splint your leg with.” I stand and look for anything I can use. It’s then I remember what I came back for. “My purse. I have a phone in my bag.” I scramble trying to remember where I left it. The entire room is foreign now and my head spins, wondering how the hell I am going to find it under all the debris. I take several slow, deep breaths and close my eyes, trying to get my bearings as to how the room looked prior to the explosion. “Damn it.” The biggest portion of concrete laying around is on the exact spot I was sitting.
“What’s wrong, Aedon?”
“I can’t get to my phone,” I tell her, pushing thoughts of the phone to the back of my mind and scanning again for some
thing to improvise a splint out of. The window frames splintered from the blast, but several long, straight pieces remained intact and are laying on the floor near us. Not ideal, but they should do for now. I gather up the longest of the broken pieces and lay them beside her. “I need to find something to tie around them.”
She sits up and looks around. “Over there.” She points.
A tattered curtain flutters lazily in the air currents blowing in through the destroyed wall. On my way to it, I glimpse my purse handle sticking out from under some concrete. I tug hard on it until it slides out from underneath, causing a large pile of concrete to shift and sending up a cloud of dust. I quickly rifle through the contents to find my phone, but it’s something sharp jabs my finger. I gingerly wrap my hands around it and withdraw my phone. It is completely crushed, the screen now crisscrossed with jagged chunks of glass. I turn it upside-down and empty it on the floor, looking for anything of use. I grab the smashed candy bar I took from my dad, a pair of nail scissors, and a flashlight Ashe gave me. Why couldn’t I be more prepared, like a boy scout?
Part of the curtain is caught underneath an upside-down filing cabinet. I push hard, but it won’t budge. I use the tiny nail scissors to cut a piece of the fabric so that I can rip it apart. I’m able to remove just enough fabric to use on her splint.
I make my way back over to her. “I’m going to place this wood on either side of your leg and then tie this around it. It’s going to hurt when I move your leg.”
“It’s okay, I can take it.”
“Your father is going to be so proud of you.”
Her head falls downward at the mention of her father. “Do you think he’s still alive?”
“I think your daddy is a brave man and he would do whatever he could to make it to you. He’s probably looking for us right now.” God, I hope I’m right. My mind flashes for the first time to Ashe. He’s got to be frantic knowing I’m in here. He will find us, even if it kills him.
