Part 1
"It was for views!" my sister’s melodic laughter cut through the screams as my body struck the freezing marble floor of the historic atrium.
The air was violently hammered out of my lungs. A sickening crunch echoed through my ears as the rigid medical brace encasing my torso snapped, driving jagged plastic deep into my skin. Sixty days ago,...
Part 1
My name is Sloan. At thirty-four, I inspect heavy industrial cranes and high-altitude scaffolding for a living, pulling in $210,000 a year because I know exactly how steel buckles and bones break under pressure. Two months ago, a structural failure dropped me fifteen feet straight onto an unyielding concrete pylon. I miraculously survived, but two crushed thoracic vertebrae...
Part 1
My name is Sloan, and at thirty-four, I make $210,000 a year inspecting industrial cranes and high-rise scaffolding across the country. I survive on cold calculations and steel tolerances, but sixty days ago, a fifteen-foot plunge onto a concrete pylon cracked two of my thoracic vertebrae. My surgeon strapped me into a rigid TLSO torso brace made of...
Part 2
Arthur’s knuckles turned white as he gripped his glasses. Tears welled in his aged, weathered eyes, spilling over his cheeks before he could stop them. For a long second, the only sound in the hall was the old man’s ragged breathing.
"What boat?" Arthur choked out, his voice cracking.
"USS Louisiana, sir. SSBN-743," I replied, keeping my bearing despite the...
PART 2 — THE MAN WHO UNDERSTOOD THE SILENCE
“Because I called the Navy,” Ethan snapped. “I told someone Dad was gone. They knew where she was.” Walter didn't put his glasses back on. “Knowing where a ballistic-missile submarine is and being able to bring one sailor home are entirely different things.” His voice carried to the far end of...
PART 2 — THE RECORDING MY GRANDMOTHER LEFT BEHIND
“KEENE! SHOW ME YOUR HANDS!” Chief Mercer shouted as Detective Martin Keene reached beneath his jacket. I moved sideways, pushing Officer Morgan behind the booking counter. Keene pulled a compact handgun and aimed directly at my chest. “Nobody moves!” he screamed. The room erupted. Two officers drew their weapons while Mercer...
Part 2
The air in the auditorium turned into thick, unbreathable glass. Forty young pilots held their breath, their eyes darting between Captain Barrett’s imposing frame and Major Vance’s flushed, humiliated face.
Marcus stepped back, aggressively swatting at the front of his uniform as if to brush off Thomas’s physical intimidation. "Captain, I read the official mishap report," Marcus spat, his...
Part 1
Warm blood was dripping down my neck onto my white silk robe, but the physical sting was nothing compared to the sound of steel blades slicing through my hair.
I’m Marin, twenty-nine, a senior logistics director in Chicago. For years, I believed that if I worked hard enough and stayed out of the spotlight, my family might finally see...
PART 2 — THE FOUR PEOPLE MISSING FROM THE SLIDE
“Four,” I said from the third row. Every head turned. Maddox lowered his remote. “Four what?” “Four sailors on the landing area when I turned toward the ocean.” For a moment all I heard was the projector fan. Keene remained standing beside me. “That is the missing fact, Trevor,” he...
Part 2
Greg was completely paralyzed. His designer sunglasses had slipped off his head, clattering onto the ribbed floor of the jet bridge, but he didn't even notice. His eyes were wide with a creeping, visceral horror, fixed on the group standing in the small vestibule right before the aircraft door.
Standing there was Marcus Thorne, Julian’s grandfather and my lifelong...
