"...no reports of survivors..."
The newsman's words echoed through Joe's head as he weaved his car through traffic.
"No...she's alive. She has to be," Joe stubbornly insisted to himself. "She's alive and perfectly fine...and when you find her, she'll laugh at you for thinking otherwise."
Maybe she got out in time, the hope in the back of his mind spoke up.
"But why would she get out at all? She'd have no reason to even suspect something like a bomb." Joe's throat constricted as unwanted images invaded his mind.
Horrifying images of sweet innocent Lily in the wrong place at the wrong time...and brutally subjected to the powerful destructive forces of manmade bombs.
Joe shook those terrible thoughts from his mind as he jerked his car to a stop near the partially demolished building.
One flash of his official badge, and he was admitted past the rescue workers with a simple warning about unstable debris.
His feet pounded through the dust and brick that the bomb had discarded upon detonation.
Out of breath, he finally arrived at his intended destination—the eastern wing of the brick building where he had left Lily for her undercover assignment.
Though one wall and part of the roof were damaged, the majority of the structure was still intact.
Joe grunted with exertion as he forced open a sagging wooden door that led inside.
He stepped into the hazy darkness, cursing himself for not having a flashlight with which to see his way through.
"Hey!" a familiar voice called from behind, then Darnell appeared in the splintered doorway with a flashlight in each hand. "Marcy called me," he explained before Joe could even voice a question. "I want to help find Lily."
With a silent nod, Joe gratefully accepted the younger man's flashlight and assistance.
Stepping cautiously, the two men dodged past various jutting remnants of what was once a clean, organized office.
They navigated their way through the seemingly endless debris, calling Lily's name and listening for any reply.
Both men had mixed emotions about the situation; they were anxious when met with no answer from the woman in question, yet they were also relieved when their search turned up no bodies.
"Do you think she got out in time?" Darnell questioned solemnly, darting a brave glance at his boss.
"I don't know," Joe answered with a sad shake of his head. "If she did, then how? And where did she go?"
But Darnell gave no response. His flashlight beam swept over a corner that had captured his attention. He hesitantly stepped closer, mindful of stumbling over anything in his path.
He came to a stop, his flashlight now aimed at the floor.
"Joe," Darnell called quietly.
Steeling himself against what he suspected Darnell had found, Joe came to stand beside his colleague.
His breath caught in his throat as the light from his battery-powered torch illuminated two bodies.
One was male, spattered from head to foot in a sickening stench of dirt mixed with blood.
The other body was obviously a young woman, clothed in a conservative skirt and blouse and flat-heeled shoes.