From the Heart

with you. Everybody’s scattered around town or down with the flu.” His tone hinted that the flu was no excuse for being unavailable for assignment. “Go, they’re in the van.” He popped a small, round mint into his mouth.
    “I’m gone.” Liv dashed for the door.
     
    It was worse, much worse than she could ever have imagined. The tail section of the plane protruded from the face of the building like the shaft of an arrow. It might have been taken from a scene of a movie, carefully staged. Fires, started by the impact, belched out smoke. The air radiated with waves of heat and smelled pungent. The building was surrounded by fire engines and police cars, and they were still coming. Fire fighters were geared up, going in or coming out of the building, or spraying it with the powerful force of their hoses. The lower floors were being evacuated. She could hear the weeping and the shouts above the wail of sirens and crackle of the fire.
    Behind the barricades, the press was already at work. There were cameras and booms, reporters, photographers and technicians. All were moving in their special organized chaos.
    “We’ll stay portable,” she told Bob as he hefted the camera on his shoulder. “For now, get the building on tape, a full pan of these trucks and ambulances.”
    “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he muttered, already focusing in on the visible section of the plane. “Can you imagine what it’s like inside there?”
    Liv shook her head. She didn’t want to. There were people inside there. She forced back a swell of nausea. She had a story to report.
    “There’s Reeder.” She glanced in the direction Bob indicated. “Assistant fire chief.”
    “Okay. Let’s see what he can tell us.” Liv worked her way through the crowd. She was jostled now and again, but she was used to that. She knew how to snake through masses ofpeople to her objective. And she knew the crew would follow behind her. Coming to the edge of the barricade, she secured her position and took the mike from her soundman.
    “Chief Reeder, Olivia Carmichael with WWBW.” She managed to get the mike out to him by leaning over the barricade and planting her feet. “Can you tell us what happened, and the status of the fire?”
    He looked impatiently at the mike, then at Liv. “Charter plane out of National.” His voice was curt, gruff and as impatient as his eyes. “We don’t know the cause of the crash yet. Four floors of the building are involved. Of the six floors, three have been evacuated.”
    “Can you tell me how many people are on the plane?”
    “Fifty-two, including crew.” He turned to bark an order into his two-way.
    “Has there been any contact with them?” Liv persisted.
    Reeder gave her a long, silent look. “My men are working down from the roof and up from the lower floors.”
    “How many people are still in the building?”
    “Talk to the landlord, I’m busy.”
    As he walked away, Liv signaled to Bob to stop the taping. “I’m going to try to find out how many people are still inside.” She turned to the sound technician. “Go back to the radio; find out if the desk knows the flight number yet, the plane’s destination, any clue to the cause of the crash. We’ll set up for a live bulletin.” She checked her watch. “Five minutes, right here.”
    She turned to push through the crowd again. There was a woman sitting alone on the curb. She was dressed in a worn robe and clutched a photo album to her breast. Liv backtracked from her search for the building’s landlord and went to her.
    “Ma’am.”
    The woman looked up, dry eyed, pale. Liv crouched down beside her. She recognized the look of shock.
    “You shouldn’t be sitting out here in the cold,” Liv said gently. “Is there somewhere you can go?”
    “They wouldn’t let me take anything else,” she told Liv, pressing the album closer. “Just my pictures. Did you hear thenoise? I thought it was the end of the world.” Her voice was reed thin. The sound of it pulled at Liv. “I was fixing tea,” she went on. “All my china’s broken. My mother’s china.”
    “I’m sorry.” The words were pitifully inadequate. Liv touched the woman’s shoulder. “Why don’t you come with me now. Over there. The paramedics will take care of you.”
    “I have friends up there.” The woman’s eyes shifted to the building. “Mrs. McGiver in 607, and the Dawsons in 610. They have two children. Did they get out yet?”
    Liv heard