'Who is it?' Annie asked, her voice still distorted by alcohol. After Linda had left her at the restaurant, she had consumed more than her share of Black Russians before going home alone.
'Annie, it's Pat. Where's Uncle Bob right now?'
Anger drained from Annie's voice. 'Oh, hi, Pat. I imagine he's at the office. Why?'
Hennessey's voice in the telephone receiver was frantic. 'Turn on the TV, Annie. Something's happened at the TNTO.'
'Sure… okay…' Annie walked unsteadily to pick up the television's remote. The set came to instant life just in time for the woman to catch the second airship slamming into GNN Headquarters. For several seconds she stood dumbfounded, then blurted into the phone, voice breaking with tears, 'Pat… Linda and the kids are in there!'
On Annie's screen, another plane struck low at the World League Headquarters. There were three buildings burning now on the First Landing skyline, with smoke and flames beginning to billow up and out.
TNTO, 0915 hours
It was pandemonium. Office workers ran to and fro frantically, looking for some escape. Cute little secretaries in short skirts wept. Some people, those a bit calmer or braver, punched numbers into their cell phones for a last goodbye to their loved ones.
The smoke inside was worse now, though it was still not clearly visible to the naked eye. Outside, however, it was an angry black cloud rising past the windows like a swarm of vicious wasps. Tongues of flame licked up occasionally, though the greatest flames were just visible through the smoke, dancing around the GNN building.
Milagro-clutched in Linda's arms now-coughed from the smoke and cried. Her elder sister, nicknamed 'Lambie,' tried to be brave though a quivering lip and dampened eyes betrayed her. The boy, Julio, put an arm around Lambie's shoulder and hugged her close and tightly.
Uncle Bob had left them for a few moments to check on the possibilities of escape via elevator or stairwell. He returned, looked at Linda, then shook his head slightly. No way out.
At his nod, she steeled her face and pushed her emotions away before they themselves ran away with her. For the nonce, she also pushed away the decision: burned or crushed or fallen? Oh, my babies, why? What did you ever do to harm anyone?
A hand gently brushed the baby's hair and cheek, brushed away a tear and a bead of sweat. The floor was growing noticeably warmer. 'Don't cry, Milli, we'll be fine,' she lied.
Taking his cue from his mother, ten-year-old Julio said much the same to Lambie. Even as he spoke those few words of comfort, he looked at his mother meaningfully. We're going to die, aren't we, Mom?
Linda answered, indirectly, 'I wish your father could see you now. He would be so proud of his son.'
The boy smiled, as best he could manage, and nodded. He wished his father could see him, too, see him grow up to be a man. He had wanted to be a soldier like his dad. Well, he would act like one now.
Bob stood there for a moment, watching the silent interplay with admiration. I was so wrong. What a woman my nephew found. What children she brought to our family. I, he concluded, have been an utter ass and a fool.
He walked the few steps to Linda and handed her his cell phone. 'Here, call your husband if you can get through. Give him my regards… and my regrets.' He patted her shoulder, not ungently, nor even lacking a certain late-blooming admiration and affection.
Linda took the device and smiled up, gratefully.
'I have something else I have to do,' Bob announced.
The uncle, the old tyrant, walked to his desk, fiddled with a computer that had no wires coming from it, then began to speak.
'John,' he said aloud to a face that appeared on his screen, 'there's not much time. Can I do a codicil to my will over this line? I can? Good. Prepare to copy this then. 'I, Robert Hennessey, being of sound mind and body… ''
Cochea, 0924 hours
Hennessey was pale, Parilla saw; paler even than the gringo norm. His eyes were glued to the television screen that showed the imminent collapse of all his hopes, the destruction of his life. On the screen people were jumping from the flaming towers to smash their bodies below. It was better than burning.
Hennessey's own cell phone rang. Jimenez picked it up, answered, then-not without some reluctance-passed it over. 'It's Linda,' he announced in a breaking voice.
Like a drowning man grasping desperately for a life preserver, Hennessey took the phone.
'Honey, where are you and the kids?' he asked desperately.
He heard screams and cries in the background as Linda answered, 'I'm here at Uncle Bob's office… the children are with me. I am so sorry, Patricio.'
Hennessey felt his heart sink. 'Is there any way out?'
Her answering voice held infinite sadness and regret. 'No… I don't think so. The only way off would be helicopters, now. And I don't hear or see any. It's getting very warm in here, husband. We'll have to go soon. Why don't you talk to the kids? Do not worry; I will wait as long as possible but I will not let our babies burn if I can help it. Goodbye, Patricio. You know I love you.'
'I love you, too, Linda,' he wept. 'I always have.'
'Dad?' Hennessey heard young Julio say, voice quavering, then firming up. 'I am being brave, Dad…'
TNTO, 1003 hours
The air was very bad now. The windows people had knocked out in order to jump had let in as much smoke as fresh air. Ashes floated on the fire-fanned breeze.
Uncle Bob, Linda and the kids crouched low, breathing what oxygen there was in the hot, stifling, and murky office.
'Not much more time… Linda,' Bob said. As if to punctuate, a chorus of heartrending screams came from down the hallway. The fire had eaten through the floor, consuming a half dozen office workers who had been steeling themselves for the jump. The screams seemed to go on and on.
Linda stifled a sob as she hugged Milagro and Lambie to her breast. With tears rolling freely down her face, she said, 'It's just so wrong. What did my babies ever do to harm anyone? What did I do? What did Patricio do that he should be left all alone?'
Bob just shook his head. He had no answer that would help. He looked out the window towards the GNN building, even as a cloud of dust and smoke began to billow out from it.
'It's collapsing,' Bob gasped through the smoke laden air. He gestured toward the open main area of the office suite'The fire is getting worse. We have to go now.'
Linda nodded, sniffed, suppressed a cough. 'One last thing first.' She took her arms from around the girls briefly, put her hands on her stomach and said, 'I baptize you in the name of the Father…'
It was almost time to go. The heat rising from the floor, telltale of the flames below, was already too much to bear for long. Nor could anyone on the floor stand for all the thick, toxic smoke that hung above.
On the other side of the suite, a man laughed. 'Infidels,' he cried in a foreign accent, 'see the judgment of Allah. See the wages of your iniquities. You will all die here and burn in Hellfire forevermore for your crimes against the will of the Almighty.'
Uncle Bob recognized the voice and answered back, with more force than reason, 'God will send you and all your kind to Hell, Samir, you miserable, treacherous bastard.'
Julio looked calmly at his mother. Ten years old or not, he was her son, and his father's. 'Mom, will Daddy make them pay, the men who did this?'
'That will be as it will, my baby,' Linda answered. 'But… knowing your father, I can't imagine that he will not. He is… he can be… a very harsh man.'
Linda looked at the flames rising behind her. 'Almost time, children. Pray, now.' She began to recite, 'Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come…'
Others joined in the final prayer, and one began to sing a halfremembered hymn, in English. Yet Linda recognized the song by its Spanish version. She, then the children, then another dark and lovely young girl in a short red shirt joined in, in Spanish.
Perhaps because she was an island of relative calm in a sea of insanity, people clustered around Linda. Most stopped praying, a few going silent but more joining in the hymn. In English it was known as 'Abide with Me.'
As the song neared its end, Linda and Bob stood. It was easier to stand near the smashed-out window than
