Chapter 6 - The Voice Brooke Had to Obey
The temporary medical area stood beside the western parking lot.
Bright emergency lights flashed against the dust.
Stretchers lined one side.
Responders moved between patients.
Overhead, helicopters circled.
Brooke stood near the family reunification desk holding a clipboard.
A few hours earlier, she'd been delivering a speech about leadership.
Now she was writing down names for people whose loved ones were missing.
The difference frightened her.
Her hands shook every time someone asked a question she couldn't answer.
---
A woman approached carrying a small pink coat.
"My daughter was sitting in section E."
Brooke looked up.
The woman was pale.
Her hair was filled with dust.
"What's her name?"
"Lily. Lily Peterson. She's eight."
Brooke checked the list.
No Lily.
She swallowed.
"Let me ask the reunification coordinator."
The woman grabbed her sleeve.
"Please."
Brooke froze.
She remembered Marcus reaching toward Nora after the cycling accident.
The blood.
The fear.
The desperation.
She had filmed it.
Now a mother stood before her needing more than a phone pointed at her face.
Brooke set the clipboard down.
"I'll help get the information to the right team."
She walked toward the command post.
---
Nora was assisting the medical crew at a controlled access point when a responder called her over.
An adult had been extricated from beneath a damaged platform.
He was conscious but confused.
His breathing was labored.
The paramedics began assessment and stabilization for transport.
Nora helped within her assigned nursing role, maintaining clear communication with the team.
The man's jacket had a university logo.
He looked no older than thirty.
"My wife," he whispered.
Nora leaned close.
"What's her name?"
"Anna."
"We'll pass that information to the reunification team."
He closed his eyes.
She looked toward the ambulance.
There were too many patients.
Too many frightened families.
Too much uncertainty.
But she couldn't carry all of it at once.
She could help the person in front of her.
Then the next.
---
Brooke approached the perimeter.
A firefighter stopped her.
"You can't come through here."
"I need to find a child."
"Give the details to the reunification team."
Brooke began to protest.
Then Nora appeared nearby.
"Brooke."
She turned.
Nora looked at her face.
"What's happening?"
"There's an eight-year-old missing. Lily Peterson."
Nora didn't pretend to know where the child was.
She pointed toward the incident coordinator.
"That information needs to go through the search and reunification channels. Go there. Give the child's name, age, last known location, and description."
Brooke nodded.
Then hesitated.
"What if she's dead?"
Nora met her eyes.
"We don't know. Don't give her mother an answer nobody has confirmed."
Brooke swallowed.
"Okay."
She turned to leave.
Then stopped.
"Nora?"
"Yes?"
"I'm scared."
Nora looked at her for a moment.
"So am I."
Brooke stared.
She'd imagined competent people were never frightened.
That confidence meant certainty.
But Nora's honesty steadied her more than a false promise would have.
"Go," Nora said. "They need that information."
Brooke went.
---
By late afternoon, the collapse site had become the center of a major emergency response.
Firefighters and technical rescue specialists continued searching.
Hospitals across the region received injured people.
Authorities coordinated family reunification and public information.
A safety perimeter kept unauthorized people away from unstable areas.
The death toll was not yet confirmed.
And nobody could promise when the search would end.
---
Harrison Whitfield arrived at the reunification desk and found Brooke holding a radio supplied for her temporary administrative role.
"You're still here?"
She looked up.
"Yes."
"Come with me."
"I can't."
His expression hardened.
"Brooke, reporters are asking questions. We need a statement."
She stared.
"People are missing."
"That isn't our responsibility now."
The words struck her.
She remembered her father's name carved above the science building.
People like me get buildings.
That was what she'd told Nora.
Now people were trapped beneath one of those buildings.
And her father wanted to discuss messaging.
"Dad," Brooke whispered, "what happened to the grandstand?"
He looked away.
"It's being investigated."
"Was it safe?"
He hesitated.
"Of course."
"Then why did it collapse?"
His jaw tightened.
"Watch your tone."
Brooke stared.
For the first time, that warning no longer felt like a command she had to obey.
"I need the truth."
Harrison looked at her with undisguised irritation.
Then turned and walked away.
---
Near sunset, a search team found Lily Peterson alive in a protected pocket beside a fallen seating section.
She had injuries requiring hospital evaluation and treatment, but she was conscious when responders reached her.
The news traveled through the reunification area.
Brooke was standing beside Lily's mother when the official notification arrived.
The woman began crying.
Brooke cried too.
They held each other.
For a moment, wealth and reputation disappeared.
There was only a mother learning her daughter was alive.
---
Later, Brooke found Nora washing dust from her hands.
"She's alive," Brooke whispered.
Nora looked up.
"Lily?"
Brooke nodded.
Nora closed her eyes briefly.
"Good."
Brooke stared at the red backpack beside her boots.
The same bag.
The same repaired zipper.
The same white cross.
"I remember what I said to you."
Nora looked at her.
"At college?"
Brooke nodded.
Nora dried her hands.
"So do I."
A long silence followed.
Brooke swallowed.
"I was cruel."
Nora didn't rush to reassure her.
"Yes."
Tears filled Brooke's eyes.
"I'm sorry."
Nora studied her.
"Right now, the most useful thing you can do is keep helping the families and cooperate with the investigation."
Brooke nodded.
Then whispered, "I will."
It was not forgiveness.
May you like
Not yet.
But it was the first honest thing Brooke had said to Nora in five years.
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