Reyes was in the operations center when the call came through. He had been there since five in the morning, which was earlier than necessary and later than he'd wanted to arrive.
The coordination team from the government had been on-site for days. The lounge was staffed. The boarding zone was clear. There was nothing left to prepare. He had come anyway because staying home wasn't something he'd been capable of doing.
Mendez was beside him. Hahn had arrived twenty minutes ago with coffee he hadn't touched.
The operations center had more people in it than a normal morning. Nobody had formally requested additional presence. People had simply arrived, found reasons to be there, and stayed.
The air traffic controllers at their stations. The coordination team liaisons. Two individuals from the intelligence unit whose presence Reyes had noted and not commented on.
