Nine Days, Twenty-One Hours And Eleven Minutes

Kira couldn’t stop crying. Giana threw both arms around her shoulders and spoke in the softest voice she could manage. ‘Kira dear, come on, you’re overthinking. He can’t be dead. It’s impossible.’ ‘Really? Why?’ Kira looked at her like a drowning person clutching at straws. ‘Why is it impossible?’ ‘Uh, he, uh…’ Giana looked at her boyfriend for help. Noah received the message. He bent down and faced Kira. ‘Mr McCarthy is the president of a huge company. He travels with bodyguards, I presume. They won’t let him come to any harm. It’s their job.’ Kira stared in Noah’s direction. Her vision was blurred by tears. ‘Really? Then why didn’t he call me?’ ‘Maybe he got held up,’ Giana said. ‘By what?’ His ex-girlfriend, probably. But Giana kept that thought to herself. She racked her brain for another plausible answer. ‘Uh, maybe some difficulty at work?’ ‘Like what?’ Giana was sweating now. ‘Uh, I don’t…Maybe…maybe some big deal fell through and he had to be there to, um, to save the day. He’s