Available Darkness Season 2

OK?”
    “OK,” Hannah said. “Why are we going to Washington? Did something happen with John?”
    “I don’t know. Nobody’s saying much, but they were insistent that we leave immediately, and they wouldn’t insist unless they thought you were in danger.”

    **

    They drove to a private airfield where a small private Agency jet waited.
    They sat with another agent, Agent Henry, a tall Marine-looking black man with a black suit, and a granite jaw, and no trace of a smile.
    They rode in silence as Hannah tried to calm her jangling nerves, both from the flight, and all that was happening so quickly. The world was a web of confusion around her, each second seemed another sliver of proof that everything was wrong and nothing would be right, not ever again.
    She drew long breaths, in and out, over and over, holding heaves at the top of her inhale as she gently dug her fingers into her thighs and lightly bounced her heels against the floor. Through every mile of her fear, Hannah tried to find the voice. But her inner whisper, that other voice that had led her down this path, was silent.
    You sure had a lot to say before!
    I know you’re there because I’m here.
    Why won’t you answer me?
    If something happens to me, then it happens to you, too. And if something happens to US, it’s all your fault.
    Hello?
    Even after Greg started speaking, Hannah’s whisper stayed silent through his story.
    “How are you doing over there?” Greg asked, friendly.
    “Fine,” Hannah said. “I guess.”
    “I’m sorry about all of this.” He looked at the clouds outside the window rather than her, but it was hard for Hannah to doubt the thick apology lining his voice, despite his many lies.
    She was tempted to answer his sorry with an, “It’s OK,” but she was far from OK, and didn’t feel obligated to protect his feelings. So she said nothing.
    Greg’s eyes held the clouds as he spoke. “I didn’t plan for any of this.”
    Hannah stared down at her hands in her lap, still silent.
    It was hard to separate truth from its opposite. There was so much of Greg to love, but impossible to know what was real. The meaning of true had softened since truth told with bad intent was sometimes worse than a lie.
    Hannah thought back on the years of Greg’s countless compliments; the many times he practically sang gospels about how lucky he was to have a girl like her in his life. He would compliment how she looked, the way she smiled, and how she could just turn any handful of flowers — from garden to bucket — absolutely beautiful. He would stare into her eyes and steal glances at her face and body, desire kissing Hannah through the length of his gaze. Greg always went out of his way to make her happy, like the way he slipped notes into her lunch bag, which she often found stuck to the bottom of her see-through microwavable containers. At first she would only see them as she finished her lunch, but Greg had done it so often Hannah was now trained to look first.
    The hardest part about their flight, besides heading into the next chapter of her nightmare, was that every affectionate gesture, kiss on the cheek, or midnight nibble now seemed somehow premeditated or possibly insidious, down to the day they met.
    Clouds thinned, and snowy ground and city came into view below. Greg continued staring out the window. Agent Henry was reading Popular Science
    As Hannah sat there, something jarred what felt like a memory, or perhaps a glimpse from a remembered dream, loose in her mind.
    They were standing on the beach, the warm sunshine kissing her skin, the cool, salty breeze blowing his long hair. His eyes met hers. She asked what he was thinking about. He was always so quiet and so distant in thought. Usually he would answer “nothing,” even though she never believed him. This time, however, he said something different. “You. It’s weird. I never really felt like there was something missing from my life. I never felt like I was waiting for the right person to come along. But now I realize just how empty I was before I met you. And how even though I didn’t know it, I was waiting for someone — you, Hope.”
    A chill ran down her spine as she was snapped back to reality by Greg’s voice asking, “Are you OK?”
    “I’m fine,” Hannah said as she realized the jet was landing. “I guess.”

    **

    They took a truck from the airfield to a nondescript office park with a 12-story mirrored building that seemed like a thousand