Sam Gerard's team had returned to the office an hour earlier, the fugitive they had been pursuing safely behind bars once more, and now the team was ready for some serious unwinding. Cosmo Renfro, Bobby Biggs and Savannah Cooper were all clustered around Cosmo's desk, digging into the pizza that had just been delivered when Frank Henry came wandering over.
"Hey, Frank, help yourself," 'Vannah said as she motioned towards the pizza.
"Thanks," Frank said as he reached for a slice with one hand while going into his pocket with the other. A moment later, he pulled out a small handheld television. "Anyone want to take a look at this? Just got it yesterday for my birthday."
"What sort of reception do you get with this thing?" Bobby asked as he took the set and started to fool with it, flipping it on to check out what was available. Oh, something like this would be perfect for those long, boring survalence assignments!
"Think I know what's going on my birthday wish list," Cosmo said with a chuckle as he also admired the little television.
"First you'd have to get someone who likes you enough to give you something, Cos," 'Vannah said with a chuckle.
The group was still checking out the little set several minutes later when Cosmo noticed something. "Hey, flip that back for a minute. Want to see what the news is saying."
Bobby changed the channel back not quite sure why Cosmo was interested in the weather report.
"And here's Claudia Maretch bringing us the latest on the string of tornados that are currently cutting a three county wide path in New York. Claudia?" the man at the desk said before cutting to the field report.
"Rick, we're here in the town of Hudson, the area that's currently seeing the worst of these storms. Just minutes ago, a tornado was confirmed on the ground. That cell hit the courthouse and as you can see....." the cameraman swung his equipment around to give the viewers a good look at the devastation, the demolished courthouse and people picking their way out of the rubble and wandering around in a daze.
Cosmo concentrated for a minute as he listened. He wasn't totally sure but wasn't Hudson where Catherine was going to testify in that court case? He shook his head trying to remain focused. Maybe he was wrong and even if he wasn't, the case wasn't supposed to last long. Cath was probably already halfway home by now.
Just then Sam Gerard came through, checking his voice messages as he looked over to see what in the world his team was looking at so intently. "Hey, Sam," Cosmo said as he hurried over. "You remember the name of the town where Cath was going to testify today?"
"Hudson, Hudson, New York. Not sure when she'll be back. She left a message that the case was taking longer than she thought," Sam said, not really sure why Cosmo was asking him.
Cosmo visibly paled when what Sam had just said sunk in. That meant that Catherine was definately in that building when..... "Uh, Sam, they just had something on the news about some tornados in New York and.... Uh, it looks like the Hudson courthouse got hit pretty bad. Are you sure that Cath was there when she left the message or could she maybe have been calling from...."
"What?" Sam demanded, stalking over and taking the television from Bobby, staring silently at the screan for a minute as more pictures of the devistation were shown before turning and heading for the door. "Get on the phone and get me a flight now! I want them ready to go by the time I get to the airport!"