It was almost a week before Lea spoke to John again after the morning tea conversation.
She knew he had no choice but to send Bill to Dhaka, after all it was the biggest story of the day and surprisingly she took great pride in the fact that he was now on the world stage, everything that he'd hoped for was coming true.
His riveting account of the devastation and the relief efforts had been hard to grasp given the graphic nature of the stories, especially with the cholera epidemic that followed shortly after the disaster. All she could do is worry about his safety and tell herself that she'd take care of him once they were together again.
As she boarded the elevator for her usual ride to her floor, the door was held just long enough for John to leap in. Their eyes met as he boarded but the silence was deafening as it made its way slowly up, stopping floor after floor to deposit its human cargo until they were the last two onboard the slowly moving elevator. Lea was first to speak, "Look I'm sorry about the other day, of course you were right in sending him to Dhaka", John looked at her with a business like look and said "yes I know". She smiled a half smile, but at that moment the elevator jolted to halt and the door opened at her floor.
The awkward silence prevailed as she exited and the doors slowly closed behind her. She could feel his anger and disappointment in the way he'd reacted to her half apology. "Fuck, now he's angry with me as well."
John continued his ride, and as soon as he stepped from the elevator his assistant was instantly at his side with a telex from Dhaka confirming that his local correspondent was indeed dead. It took a moment for the impact to sink in, and another for him to realize that having Bill on the ground was the best decision he'd made.
He'd been expecting this news, but it impacted him heavily as now his concern was for Bill's safety, knowing that the Cholera epidemic hadn't yet reached it zenith.
John was not a religious man, but all he could do was pray for his safety in the aftermath of the disaster after all he'd put him in harm's way. John silently prayed for them both, because if anything happened to Bill he would never forgive himself, nor would Lea...
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