She was halfway through dialing when her phone rang, and upon seeing the name on her caller ID, she pressed talk so hard that in any other situation she would have been afraid it had broken. It didn't bother her right now, though.
"Bill! Thank God – I didn't know – are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he answered, and the sound of his voice was enough to make her realize how close she had come, once again, to losing him. She closed her eyes for a long moment as he continued. "Karen, are you all right?"
"Yes," she answered quickly. "I'm fine. I was just worried." Focus. "Bill, this is – we need something to go on. What do you know?"
Across the country, Bill Buchanan hesitated. It was pointless, he knew, because not telling her was not an option. Still, he almost didn't want to add one more thing to her burden. "We're not quite sure yet," he told her. "But Karen, we have new intel suggesting that there are four more nukes out there."
"Oh, God," she sighed, feeling the headache that hadn't gone away for nearly eleven weeks worsen and pinching the bridge of her nose. "All right. Do you have any idea where they are?"
"Not yet," he replied. "We have everyone working on it. We're doing the best we can."
Karen nodded. "I know you are," she said, her voice softening. "Bill, is CTU in the radiation zone?"
"No," he told her firmly. "The way the winds are going, it looks like we're safe. I'll let you know if that changes but we should fine." At her sigh of relief, he added, "Nothing's going to happen to me, okay? I'll be all right."
"You can't know that," Karen argued, before realizing how pointless it was. "Just – try."
"You know I will, sweetheart," he replied gently. "Listen, I need to get back to work. I'll talk to you soon."
Karen nodded again. It was a habit of hers, gesturing while she was on the phone, although the person she was talking to obviously couldn't see her. "I should go too."
"I love you," Bill reminded her. Just to make sure she knew. Karen smiled.
"I know. I love you, too."
Hanging up, she looked at the phone for a long moment before squaring her shoulders. She had to get back to work.