The office has been relatively quiet without Ander here. His flamboyant personality always brings the office to life. I’ve really come to like the kid and he has done a phenomenal job.

“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, have 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.”