2. One-Way Ticket

Feet pounded on the stairs, chased by shouts.

"Hobson!"

Gary skidded to a stop. "Marissa! What're you doing here so early?"

Marissa frowned. "We've got deliveries and I figured that with Toni-"

The second set of footsteps stopped and Gary squeaked slightly. Toni must have grabbed him. Experience had taught Marissa that sometimes touch was the only way to break through Gary's intense focus. And stubbornness.

"HOBSON! Show it to me."

"No."

"Show. Me. Your. Paper."

It fluttered as Gary clutched it to him. "No!"

"Hobson, do I need to remind you that I'm trained in hand-to-hand combat?"

"No. I remember that well enough from last ni-" He cut himself off.

Marissa bit her lips, tucking that personal tidbit away for later.

Gary stammered worse when he was embarrassed. "Anyway. I, well, I just came down for some coffee. Marissa here makes the best-"

"Cut the crap, Hobson. I saw your face. Something has you totally spooked, and you are not leaving me out of this one."

"Gary?" Marissa stood. Tension crackled in the room. Gary was scared. Terrified. Maybe angry. She softened her voice. "Gary, what is it?"

"I- I've gotta-"

Marissa willed Toni to stay quiet. Gary might cave if they just waited.

There was a sudden scuffle and the bar vibrated. Gary grunted. The paper crumpled. Marissa sighed. At least Toni was as stubborn as Gary.

"Oh my God," Toni breathed.

Marissa had never heard Antonia Brigatti sound rattled. Not like that. "Toni? What is it?"

"Now you see why I gotta go and do...something."

"Do what? Gary, these planes are taking off in half an hour. From Boston."

"Planes?" Marissa's heartrate sped up.

"-This is happening and-"

"All right, you two. I know it's bad. Spill."

Gary's feet stuck to the floor as he padded toward her. Typical. He was talking about heading to Boston and didn't even have shoes on. He edged toward her and put his hands on her shoulders, alternating between squeezing gently and stroking them. Not bad, then. Catastrophic.

"Marissa, there are planes taking off from Boston in thirty minutes. They're going to be hijacked." He swallowed.

Okay, a hijacking. These things happen.

Gary squeezed tighter. "Marissa, they're going to fly the planes into the World Trade Center towers and...and...the towers are going to fall. There are two other planes too, one going into the Pentagon, and one in Pennsylvania. Thousands of people are going to die. I have to-"

"Do what, Hobson?" Toni's voice was actually shrill. "No one can get to Boston from Chicago in thirty minutes."

Gary let go and turned. "Whaddya want me to do? Just sit here and watch it on the news!?"

"You mean like any normal person? You don't get to be the big hero today, Hobson. You just get to see it all unfold, helplessly, just like anyone else."

"Oh, there it is again. You hate this damned paper more than I do!"

"Of course I do! I'm a cop and I don't get these kinds of leads. You...you're...no one, and you get a chance to do what I swore my life to doing...so, now, when it matters most...you get to be just like me." She stomped away, feet on the stairs like gunfire.

Marissa took a deep breath, swallowing the wish to comment on how these two emotionally-stunted people who lash out when they're angry or frustrated, both deserve each other and should probably take a breather. She reached out and Gary was still near enough to touch his arm.

She kept her voice soft although her heart raced. "What are you going to do?"

"What can I do, Marissa? I can't...I can't do nothing. I've got to call. I've got help or do...something. What can I do?"

"How long do you have?"

"Just over an hour...no. Wait. Eastern time. Marissa, the first plane is taking off in 15 minutes!"

Gary grabbed the phone and jabbed three numbers. "Yes, I, um, need the number for Logan International Airport. Yes, in Boston. Yes, right away!"

Marissa laid a hand on Gary's arm. Her chest was hollow. She squeezed his arm. They could do something. They had to be able to. The paper wouldn't tell them if there wasn't something they could do.

"Hello? Hello! Um, yeah. There's a flight about to take of from, um, American. American Airlines Flight 11. And, um, my aunt is on the plane. She's, um, really sick, but what she doesn't know is that she forgot her medication." Gary paused. "Yes. Her medication. Well, yes, she could get more when she lands in L.A., but, you see, it's seizure medication, and, um, I'm afraid she's going to have a seizure and, well, wouldn't that make the flight-yes, I'll wait." Gary shifted so he was holding her hand, fingers interlaced. He tapped their hands on the table. "They're transferring me to the gate."

Marissa held her breath.

"Whaddaya mean they've already locked up? I know they're about to take off, but you've gotta understand-" Gary swallowed. "Her name? Her name is ah, my aunt Nancy. Nancy Johnson."

Marissa could hear the voice on the line faintly. "Sir, there is no such person mentioned on the flight manifest. Maybe she missed the flight or changed it. I'm sure everything will be all right."

"No, it won't! The plane is gonna crash!" Gary paused and Marissa held on tight. "They hung up on me."

There was silence as McGinty's seemed to close in around them, airless.

Feet pounded on the stairs.

"Brigatti." Gary said cautiously.

"I called," she said. "I tried to call. My old friends in the U.S. Marshalls...I tried to call. But no one is on those flights. There...there's no one. I couldn't get to anyone." She sniffed and covered her mouth with a hand, blowing through it. "I...I couldn't do anything."

Marissa held out a hand. There had to be something.

"Gary, you said there was more than one plane, right? Maybe we can't stop this first one. Maybe we can stop the next one. Maybe we can get word to the pilots before the hijacking happens. When does the next flight leave?"

"7:15 our time."

Marissa checked her watch. "All right. We have just over twenty minutes to do...something. There are three of us. We have phones."

"She's right." Toni huffed a breath. "We won't stop. If they won't stop, we won't stop till there's nothing left to do."

"This time we need names. We'll call the other airports too..."

~o~

The sign they'd hung on the door simply said, "Closed. Go be with your loved ones."

Marissa leaned against Gary's shoulder, eyes closed, as the newscasters droned on.

"Oh, my God," Toni breathed from Gary's other side.

Marissa jerked her head up, squeezing Gary's arm.

"The other tower is falling," Gary choked.

The blast from the television was drowned out by a blast at the door. Metal on wood and glass and metal. Marissa ducked as shards flew and scattered around her.

Then there were voices, deep, ragged, overlapping as they shouted.

"Nobody move!"

"Get down!"

"Keep your hands where I can see them!"

Gary and Toni both tried to say something but were shoved into the bar even as Marissa's head was shoved into the wood. A strong forearm pressed against the back of her neck. It was hard to breathe.

"This is the phone, boss!"

Hands gathered hers, cuffing them.

"You're under arrest for conspiracy to attack the United States."

Marissa could no longer hear words, just the humming, angry bustle and jolt of every stool and table, the sharp cries around her, and the newscasters repeating themselves behind her.

When she leaned from side to side, reaching out with shaking, cuffed hands for Gary in the official vehicle, he was not there.

~o~

~o~