Ethan felt himself bolt upright on the couch. “What do you mean, something happened?”
“There was an explosion,” Zach said.
Ethan’s brain immediately started swimming. He barely heard anything as the blood ran to his ears after the word ‘explosion’. His heart started thudding in his chest as his mouth ran dry. Breathing was hard and becoming more difficult with each passing second.
“Ethan!”
“Give me a second,” Ethan screeched out between shallow, almost nonexistent breaths.
“Dude, breathe!” Zach yelled. “You’re having a panic attack. I remember what they sound like from our early years on stage together.”
Ethan heard the words, but their meaning wasn’t clear. His vision blurred like he was looking through a fish lens.
“Ethan!” Zach yelled again. “Breathe, damn you. Do what the doctor taught you.”
Ethan closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing as he bent over the waist and put his head between his knees. He heard a voice. It sounded like it was a million miles away, and Ethan couldn’t make out any of the individual words. Ethan forced himself to inhale then exhale deeply. As his breathing and pulse normalized, Zach’s voice sounded like it was getting closer, even though Ethan knew it was all in his mind.
“Whoa,” Ethan said between breaths.
“How you doing, buddy?” Zach asked.
“I haven’t had one of those in years, and now I’ve had them two days in a row.” Keeping his eyes shut, Ethan slowly returned to a normal sitting position. “Okay, tell me what you know about Stephanie.”
“I don’t know much. The FBI only let her make one call, so she called me because she had my number on a slip of paper in her purse.”
“Whoa, FBI?”
“Oh yeah, totally missing some pieces here. Let me backtrack.”
Ethan listened as Zach told him about the explosion at Stephanie’s house. Thankfully, Stephanie hadn’t been in the house because she was talking to the FBI. Even though Zach did his best to tell the story, pieces of what was going on were still absent.
“If you talk to Stephanie again, give her this number. I’m going to get on the first flight back to New Orleans. I’ll call you as soon as I have plans,” Ethan said. Zach promised he would as they hung up.I need to talk to Blayne.
* * * *
Dr. Hennigan
Dr. Hennigan sat in her office, reading an email she’d received from an agent on the ground in New Orleans. Ms. Wilson sat on the other side of her desk, waiting for Hennigan’s reaction.
“How the hell do you miss killing someone when you use a bomb?” Hennigan seethed.
“In Agents Fox and Kramer’s defense,” Ms. Wilson said cautiously, “their plan was flawless. The asset was destroyed as soon as the target’s cell phone was within range of the incendiary device. Unfortunately, the target was not with the asset at the time of the explosion.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Dr. Hennigan asked without emotion as she narrowed her gaze on Ms. Wilson.
“That look doesn’t intimidate me, Phillipa,” Ms. Wilson said.
Using her first name was like a slap across the face. She knew she’d overstepped a line with Ms. Wilson. “I’m sorry, Ms. Wilson,” Dr. Hennigan said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “This entire operation keeps going to shit.”
“Well, Dr. Hennigan,” the switch to her honorific was immediately noticed, “the FBI arrived immediately before the incendiary went off.”
“Then the bomb didn’t work.”
“One would think, but the explosion perfectly coincided with the cell signal. We think her phone must have been dead when she entered the house. She probably plugged it in, and once it rebooted and got the cell signal, it triggered the incendiary.”
“This is speculative?”
“Of course it is,” Ms. Wilson said. “But speculation doesn’t mean it doesn’t fit the facts on the ground.”
