Reasonable Doubt by Carsen Taite

Time to steer April away before she could grill Sarah some more. “You said Jana was waiting.”
    “Yes, she’s over by the bar. Come on and I’ll introduce you.”
    April’s smile was real now and Ellery supposed she should be glad. Smiling April was actually very beautiful and, if you could get past her constant need to be in the spotlight, she was a fun and interesting date. But she wasn’t glad because walking off with April meant she was walking away from Sarah. She met Sarah’s eyes and raised her shoulders in a gesture of defeat. Did she imagine she saw regret reflected back?
    She started to tell April to go on and she’d be right there just so she could have one more moment of this magnetic connection, but at that moment, the floor shook and a loud boom echoed through the room. At first she chalked it up to one of the many small earthquakes that had been shaking the ground around Dallas in the previous months, but as people began to line the windows, pointing and shouting, she had a chilling sense of doom. Seconds later, a loud ring cut through the cries of the crowd, and she saw Sarah pull out her cell phone and glance at the screen. Sarah’s entire demeanor morphed from flirting partygoer to duty bound cop. Her eyes took on a steely glint and her jaw was set.
    Ignoring April’s tug on her arm, Ellery asked Sarah, “Is everything okay?”
    Sarah looked up, a far away expression in her eyes, as if she’d forgotten Ellery or anyone else was in the room. “I’m sorry. I have to go.” She’d only taken a few steps before a voice cried out.
    “Someone’s bombed the arena!”

    *

    Sarah watched as more of the crowd ran toward the windows in response to the shout about a bomb. She gripped her phone tighter as if she could squeeze the bad news out of it. She read the three-line text twice to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. NTAS ALERT. Explosion at high value target. Report in immediately.
    Holy shit. The very first National Terrorism Advisory System alert and it was in her backyard. No need to look out the window to know what happened. She started toward the doors, but Ellery’s voice cut through the dark cloud of her thoughts. She started to answer, but she was interrupted by more shouts.
    “Was it a bomb?” “Look, it’s burning like crazy!” “It’s on Channel 4, right now.” She couldn’t tell who was doing the shouting, certainly more than one person. With no televisions in the room, everyone started whipping out their cell phones and calling out whatever facts poured in from Twitter, Breaking News, and Facebook. She grabbed Ellery’s arm and pulled her close. “Find an exit and wait there. Stay inside. Find a TV if you can—it’s your best bet for getting news, cell service might get sketchy real quick.”
    “What’s going on?”
    Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know, but it’s bad. Do whatever you can to keep folks calm.” She looked down at her hand that was still on Ellery’s arm. Ellery who was here with a date. For all she knew, this might be the first day of the end of the world. Deciding she didn’t give a damn about Ellery’s date, she leaned in close, so close her lips grazed Ellery’s ear, and whispered, “Sometimes you do need a change to make you feel more alive. Let’s hope we all get a chance to find out what makes us happy.”
    She didn’t wait for a reaction before she took off. She made it as far as the door of the bar when she heard a voice calling her name. Danny. She waved for Danny to follow her, pausing only when they were out of the room.
    “What is it?” Danny asked.
    “Don’t know, but I just received an NTAS alert with a report right fucking now text.”
    “So where do you report?”
    “Good question. I’m a hellavu lot closer to the arena than I am to the field office. I’m headed there now and I’ll figure out the rest on the way.”
    “I’m going with you.”
    “Slow down, pal. You should stay put. Your wife’s in there and