Rick Mofina - Whirlwind

“What is he doing? What are you doing?”

Viktor stepped to the doctor and slapped her face once, as Gromov, indifferent to the assault, studied her wallet’s contents.

“This would be your home address?” Gromov held up Aprishko’s license and other cards.

Her heart racing, the doctor tasted blood in the corner of her mouth. Through her tear-filled eyes she saw stars.

“And this would be your daughter?” Gromov held up a photo of a girl about twelve years old beaming for the camera. “And this is your husband?” Gromov held up another photo of a smiling man.

He let several moments pass in silence.

“Listen carefully, Irina Aprishko. Before I came here, I learned where you live and where your family lives. I know from my sources that this clinic is involved in illegal activities. Is that not correct? Do not lie.”

The doctor looked at him, glanced at Viktor, tears rolling down her face. She nodded slowly.

“Good, now everyone here is being truthful. We will not hurt you, or your family, if you help me. Do you want to help me?”

Another nod.

“You are going to tell me if you have preserved or used my son’s sperm.”

They went to Aprishko’s office. Her shaking fingers made several errors as she typed on her keyboard, submitting codes to search the confidential files for Fyodor Gromov and Yanna Petrova.

The doctor confirmed that attempts to impregnate Yanna Petrova with Fyodor Gromov’s sperm had failed, the file was closed and none of Fyodor Gromov’s sperm was preserved at the clinic. However, through the other leg of their business, it had been used without Fyodor’s knowledge or consent to successfully impregnate a woman, a young American woman, by the name of Remy Toxton. The records indicated that she would have been due to deliver about now.

“A boy,” the doctor said. “We have all of her personal information here, including a scanned copy of her passport.”

Gromov stared at the photograph of Remy Toxton, the mother of his grandson.

“Give me all of her information,” he said.

A printer came to life. All documents were collected and passed to Gromov.

“Listen carefully, Doctor. When we leave, you will call police and tell them you were robbed by two men. They took your wallet and struck your face. They have your address and you’re fearful they may harm your family. Make sure they take down a report. If you do this, Irina, and never speak to anyone about our visit, no harm will come to you. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“I’ll have people watch you. Do you understand?”

She understood.

Dallas, Texas

“They’re complete strangers. I never saw them before in my life, but the woman seemed kind of forward, kind of infatuated with Caleb… Then we saw them in the center, I mean they were just there in all the craziness…”

Kate pressed the pause button, stopping the interview she’d recorded at the shelter earlier that morning with Jenna Cooper. Her fingers raced over the keyboard as she transcribed quotes for her story.

It was 2:45 p.m. and Kate needed to finish writing before starting her night shift at the bureau, per Dorothea’s instructions. The thought of it made her angry, but Kate had pushed all the crap over the Mandy Lee incident aside and concentrated on Jenna Cooper’s tragedy.

Reviewing the circumstances, she considered the little more she’d learned about the helpful mystery couple, their demeanor, appearance and actions. Kate also considered the general points listed about a missing-persons investigation noted in the brochure from the Missing Person Emergency Search System that Frank Rivera had given her. And she drew on her own experience as a seasoned crime reporter. These facets had fed her growing belief that there might be more to Caleb Cooper’s disappearance than first thought.

What if these people had kidnapped the baby? Or maybe they were disoriented and wandered off? It was all just a little strange.

Kate removed her earbuds and went to Dorothea’s office. The editor stood at her desk.

“There you are. Good,” Dorothea said. “Here’s a list of what I want. Tommy’s working on it, too.”

Kate scanned the items on the page Dorothea gave her, all information, data and stats on tornadoes.

“Graphics? You want me to gather content for graphics?”

“Our subscribers around the world can’t get enough. And once Chuck gets in, we’ll talk about what happened this morning and our concerns.”

“You mean with Mandy?” Kate glanced around the newsroom, saw Tommy Koop, the news assistant, looking at a wall map, pretending not to hear them, but didn’t see Mandy. “Will she be there, too?”

“No. She’s still out on assignment. I’ve already spoken to her.”

“Okay. I have a strong follow-up story coming on Jenna Cooper, the woman still searching for her baby. The possibility of a kidnapping has not been ruled out.”

One of Dorothea’s arching eyebrows arched higher. “Kidnapping? Do you have police on the record saying this?”

“No, not yet. No one’s really investigating a criminal case. At this stage the baby is considered missing in the storm, like so many other storm victims.”

“Well, we already have a lot of heartbreaking stories coming in. Your focus is graphics.”

Kate looked at the sheet and the requirements for a breakdown of the ten biggest tornadoes in U.S. history by death toll, property damage, tracked path and total financial burden. She couldn’t believe she was being tasked to do this kind of junior-level work. She went to the kitchen and fixed herself a large mug of strong coffee. Returning, she saw Dorothea in Chuck’s office doorway, waving for her to enter.

Chuck was standing at his desk, cell phone to his ear, finishing a conversation concerning upcoming visits to the damaged areas by the Governor and the President. Dorothea was sitting on the corner of his desk, her arms folded, pen twirling in the fingers of one hand.

“All right,” Chuck exhaled. “What’s this again, Dorothea? You had concerns about Kate?”

“Kate went to the flea market site and a shelter this morning without telling us and began reporting.”

“Yes, so?”

“It’s unfair to the other candidates.”

“Unfair, how? It shows initiative. The others are free to show it, if they choose.”

“There’s also an aspect of insubordination. I gave Kate explicit instructions that her shift was to start at three in the bureau and she disobeyed.”

Chuck glanced at the time.

“It’s three now and she’s here. Is there another issue, Dorothea? Because we both know Kate’s worked in newsrooms across the country. We can trust she knows what she’s doing.”

“There’s also the issue of liability, her working when not assigned might void insurance coverage for employees, or temporary ones in her case.”

“Not really. News is a 24/7 job, and if a UFO landed at two in the morning we’d expect staff to work without being assigned. She’d be covered. So long as she is not misrepresenting the company in an unlawful or unethical way. Did she do that?”

“No.” Dorothea grudgingly acknowledged the fact. “I wanted to raise these matters to ensure the fairness and safety of the candidacy competition for our reporter position.”

“I agree it must be fair.” Chuck’s phone rang and he answered. “I’ll call you right back.” Then to Dorothea he said, “So what have we got Kate doing this evening?”

“She’s helping Tommy collect content for graphics.”

“Did you call Burt or Sabrina at the J-schools and get students in here to help with that? We need our reporters reporting. We’re going full tilt on the search-and-rescue efforts, recovery efforts, the financial toll, the VIP visits and finding the best human-interest stories. New York’s demanding everything. Kate, did you find any news when you were out this morning?”