CHAPTER FORTY TWO
Despite the protesting aches in his body, Zero ran to his daughters as they disembarked from a plane and came up the gate at Dulles International Airport. He caught them in each arm and hugged them both tightly, as if they had been apart for months and not only four and a half days.
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” he told them.
“You too, Dad,” Sara said. She looked up at him somberly. “Are you okay?”
He almost laughed aloud. “I’m supposed to be the one that asks you that.” He released them finally and looked them both over.
“We’re okay,” Maya told him, but there was a look in her eye, something grave and sobering and beyond her years that hadn’t been there before. Or if it had, he hadn’t noticed it.
He had already been informed about what happened to Alan. They had medev
