Awake

“I’ve sent the name of the hospital to your phone, Damian,” the captain said. He was panting as though he’d been running.

“What happened?” Tracy asked.

“It was bad. Really bad.”

“What was bad?” Damian asked.

“The trace led us to a decoy spot. Lucien’s ex-wife was there. It was a trap, I think, to lure him there. She was… not okay.”

“Was?” Tracy picked up on his use of past tense.

“Nothing gets past you, huh? She um… confessed to being part of the kidnapping plot before she um… shot herself. In front of him.”

“Fuck,” Tracy whispered.

“’Fuck’ is right,” the captain lamented. “He was in a bit of shock. I wouldn’t be surprised if he somehow still thinks this is his fault somehow.”

“What do you mean ‘still thinks’?”Damian asked.

“The stuff she said to him… it wasn’t good. She got in his head, I think. He may seem fine. But he’s hurting. I know what he said, about her being nothing to him now. And she very may mean nothing to him… but something like that… it does things to you.”

Looking at