Page 66 of The Story of Danny Rose

“You don’t fucking say?” Danny yelled.

I squeezed him to me, a silent hush, and kissed the side of his head.

I felt a pressure on my chest, and I couldn’t stop flicking a glance at the nearest clock on the wall, because it was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? If our operations handlers didn’t announce something over the PA system, then Terrance or TJ would. I mean, were we going to New York? They were going to need help, and most of us had experience in rescue ops, military, and/or first response.

They had to be closing the airspace, if they hadn’t already, and my next question was whether they’d close all of Manhattan.

“Do the higher-ups upstairs know anything yet?” I heard one of the recruits ask.

“They’ll know before the reporters do, and we’ll know when Terrance has enough to go on,” I responded firmly.

“This is so fucked up,” someone mumbled.

The footage changed to cover the attacks again, but I was more focused on Sid. He’d walked away a bit and was currently on the phone, and as if sensing my watching him, he met my gaze.

“They’re shutting down airports,” he stated.

That could only mean one thing. Bloody fucking hell, I wanted to know what was going on in air traffic control. They would know. Theydidknow, and now airports were closing? Yeah, definitely a hijacking.

We were under attack.

I swallowed a bout of queasiness, and I could no longer stand here and do nothing. First things first—I pulled out my phone and sent a message to the only one I figured could tellme something from the Air Force. She was part of the senior leadership at a DC squadron.

Good timing to catch up? Do you have anything for me? Is anyone in the air?

“Shit’s gotta be bad if my man’s sending a text message,” Danny mumbled.

In another time and place, I would’ve laughed.

“Anyone who knows someone, start reaching out for intel,” I ordered, turning around to face the others in the cafeteria. “I don’t care if you were with the Navy, if you know someone in the NYPD, or if you picked up trash at JFK. We gotta collect all the information we can.”

That lit a fire under their asses, and everyone pulled out their phones.

I had one more message to send, to Kane, who was back in London, but he was close to the power. He was working with the ambassador.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for Jen to message me back.

No official orders yet. We’re flight ready but working to figure out what the airspace is like. We don’t know who’s still up there. I’ll get back to you when I know more.

A beat later, someone announced they were evacuating the White House, and Sid ordered for the channel to be changed to CBS.

“The Pentagon’s been hit,” he finished, clenching his jaw.

“Holy fuck?—”

“Are you serious?”

“Change the damn channel!”

“Shut up!”

“Everybody calm down,” I growled.

And there it fucking was. Smoke billowing from the Pentagon, and a news ticker scrolling by with the words terrorist attack, third plane flew into the Pentagon, White House evacuation, and the president being in the air.

Sid and I exchanged a quick look, and I nodded with a dip of my chin.

He turned to everyone. “I want everybody to get ready and stand by for orders! When we—” He was cut off by crackling static coming from the PA system, soon followed by Quinlan’s voice.

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