Thats possible. Lets get you both checked more thoroughly. Nancy took them to a table where a patient had just been cleared by the nurse there.
Jenna, this is Margot Tuttle. Nancy then advised Margot about her initial assessment. Be right back, Nancy said. Im going to see someone to help with your son.
Margot, a soft-spoken woman in her mid-thirties, checked Cassie and Jennas vital signs, shone a light in their eyes for any indication of brain or nerve injury, then treated Cassies face, gently dabbing it with cotton swabs.
Im just cleaning your cuts, sweetheart.
Jenna continued scanning the area and other aid tables where medical people were helping the injured before asking Margot, Has anyone seen a baby, a five-month-old boy?
No, not that young. Not yet. Im sorry. Margot glanced to a clipboard. So far at our station, our youngest patients have been a two-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. But were finding survivors, so were hopeful.
Her heart racing, Jenna continued scanning the area surrounding the station while battling a rising tide of guilt and worry over Caleb.
How could I lose him? Why didnt I hold him?
When Margot finished with Cassie, she reached under her table into a bag, took out a stuffed teddy bear and gave it to her.
This guys for you. He needs someone to take care of him. Can you do that for me?
Cassie hugged the bear and nodded. Margot then changed Jennas dressing. Looks like you took a nasty bang to your head, she said as she cleaned her wound and put on a new bandage.
Afterward, Nancy returned and took Jenna and Cassie to another smaller post nearby where a woman and a younger man were at a table working on laptops. The woman took Jennas hands in hers.
Hi, Jenna. Nancy told us about you. Im Belle Walker. This is Denton Reeves, my partner. Were here to help.
Belle offered Jenna a folding plastic chair next to her so she could see her laptops screen. Cassie was given a chair nearby but could not see the screen. She hugged her bear in silence while staring at the ongoing rescue efforts around them.
Were working with the Dallas PD, county and state on a preliminary list of missing and people unaccounted for.
What does that mean exactly? Jennas voice quivered.
In these kinds of situations theres a lot of confusion and chaos. People are hurt, theyre taken to a hospital without loved ones knowing, or they go to a first aid station or an aid post-weve got several here. Or they just go home, or to their hotel, or somewhere.
Or theyre still trapped?
Yes. Or- Belle lowered her voice -the storm-
Jenna revisited images of the tornado tearing the center to pieces, seeing some people sucked up into the winds.
Belle didnt finish her sentence, but Jenna understood.
So were working on the list, Belle said. It will feed into a bigger database that will be shared with fire, police, paramedics, hospital, aid agencies, to help reunite people, okay?
Jenna nodded, then said, Id like to call my husbandI cant find my cell phone. Can you help me call him?
We can. After were done here we have buses taking people to the community hall near here-thats our closest emergency shelter. Again, Belle took Jennas hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Theyll have working phones there for you to use, and there will be counselors there if you feel like talking to someone, okay?
Yes, thank you.
Lets get started, Belle said.
They took down vital information, names, dates of birth, addresses.
Its usually a good idea to give us contact information for relatives in case we cant reach you. Well put it into the system-its all confidential, Belle said.
Jenna gave her the cell number for Blake and her sister, Holly, in Atlanta. Then Belle asked for more details on Caleb, everything she could think of that would identify him.
He was, is, sorry- Jenna wiped her tears. He is wearing a blue-and-white-striped romper with a little elephant crest on it thats lifting a bit on the right. The bottom snap is loose. Hes got a rocket-shaped birthmark on the back of his left calf. Hes in a folding umbrella stroller, navy with green, red-and-blue polka dots on a white seat. The left front wheel had some white paint on it that Id spilled when I put a paint can away.
As Belle entered the information quickly into her laptop the concern on her face deepened.
You live in Lancaster.
Yes.
From our information it looks like it was hit hard. Im sorry.
Jenna closed her eyes tight.
Ill deal with that after I find my son.
Denton Reeves then gave Jenna a photocopy of a floor plan of the Saddle Up Center.
Denton Reeves then gave Jenna a photocopy of a floor plan of the Saddle Up Center.
Please mark the area you were in when the storm hit. He gave her a pencil. As best as you can.
Jenna marked the spot, recounting how the red-haired woman and her friend helped her, leading up to the time the tornado hit.
The woman is in her mid-twenties, with short, spiky red hair. I know she had nice teeth, a nice smile, Jenna said. I dont remember much about the man. Same age, wearing a T-shirt with a dog on it, I think. My bag with the clothes Id bought for the kids was in the strollers basket.
After Belle submitted the details, Denton said to Jenna: Would you recognize the woman who helped you if you saw her again?
Belle threw Denton a look of concern.
I think so, why? Jenna said.
Belle drew up close to Jenna and dropped her voice so Cassie wouldnt hear. We can show you video of the deceased recovered so far from the Saddle Up Center and the area nearby.
Jenna stared at Belle, who continued in a near whisper.
Youve already been through so much and this wont be easy. Would you be willing to look?
What is this? Is this your way of telling me my sons among the dead?
No.
You tell me right now if he is because I want to see him. I have a right to see him!
No, were sorrywe dont know, Denton said. Police made the video. Theyre updating it as they recover more fatalities, and theyre requesting we show it to people whore reporting missing persons. Its a first step before allowing people into the area where the deceased are before theyre moved. Its nearby.
Belle placed her hand on Jennas.
Jenna took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Ill look at it.
Jenna glanced protectively at Cassie. She couldnt see Dentons screen. He made a few keystrokes and a video played. The camera showed bodies arranged on the ground in a neat line, maybe twenty corpses. They were not covered and had varying degrees of damage.
Jenna held her breath and covered her mouth with her hand as her focus went to the smallest victims, seven little children. None looked any younger than two or three. No babies.
Oh God, its real! Those dead children! Their poor parents! Please, please dont take Caleb from me! Please!
As the camera tightened and panned over each one, Jenna looked for any women with red hair, gasping when the camera found one. Instantly she thought of the spiky-haired stranger whod complimented her on Caleb and Cassie at the clothing table; her smile and how shed led them to safety in the center, holding Calebs stroller.
A kind woman who tried to help me.
But the dead red-haired woman, whose bruised face filled the screen, appeared larger and older. She couldnt be the woman whod helped her.
The camera continued its grisly display, evocative of documentary and news footage Jenna had seen of concentration camp and earthquake victims. In this one, many of the bodies looked as if theyd been broken and awkwardly reassembled. Her eyes blurred with tears. Not long ago, these people were living their lives, shopping, just shopping like me, but now-now
Oh, no!
Jenna saw one dead older woman, her neck and face bloodied, still wearing a Dallas Cowboys ball cap and a T-shirt with the words: Vernas Clothes for Kids.
Thats the woman I bought my childrens clothes from just before the storm hit.
Shes been identified by a relative, Belle said. Shes a vendor.
Jenna was overcome.
As the video played out to the end, the image flowed into Dentons screen saver: a mountain vista with snowcapped peaks. Jenna stared at it then at the devastation around them, aching for her baby.
I shouldve been holding him. Im his mother.
Jenna needed Blake, needed his arms around her, to hold her together because she was coming apart. It started with a small cry in a far corner of her mind and grew to a keening as the blood rush hammered in her ears-Jenna, are you all right? Bella asked-creating a deafening roar, and the beginning of a colossal scream rose from deep in her stomach when-
Cassie suddenly got up from her chair and stepped away from the table. Her eyes sharpened on heaps of debris in the distance. Clutching her teddy bear with one hand, she raised the other, extending a little finger to point.
Mommy, I can see Calebs stroller!
8
Wildhorse Heights, Texas
Kate painstakingly picked her way through the debris to the Saddle Up Center.
It had been more than fifteen minutes since shed left the news truck and the curt email from Dorothea.
Her criticism still burned.
You shouldve tried to reach us sooner.
How? Cell phones arent working here and no one at the bureau was handing out satellite phones.
Can you find anything stronger?
What the hell does that mean? Chuck wanted the facts, the heartbreak and the heroes, and thats what Kate got. She could only interpret Dorotheas comments to mean the people in her story were not suffering enough.
In her years as a reporter, Kate had encountered hard-case editors and unbalanced fools for editors, but Dorothea was in a class of her own. What is it with that woman, making those brainless comments on her work from her downtown office on the twenty-second floor of Bryan Tower? No doubt she was watching TV-news footage and convinced she was tuned in to reality while Kate was here, on the ground, stepping through it.
Feeling the crunch of debris under her boots, Kate looked at the wasteland around her; the air was filled with cries for help, the chaos of rescues, radios and helicopters; the smells of upturned earth, broken timbers and small fires.
As she got closer to the Saddle Up Center it became clear to Kate that for some unknown reason Dorothea did not like her. But Kate would be damned if shed let that slow her down. If anything, she thought, tapping her notebook to her leg, taking in the destruction, it made her stronger.