Breaking News

Carson forces a smile at Misty and shakes his head. “I guess I said something wrong about the comments he was making about you. They rubbed me the wrong way. It’s nothing…”

He looks up as food arrives. “How about we eat, just us, and enjoy it, even though I screwed things up, huh?”

Carson does his best to keep things light the rest of the meal, even though he really feels like not eating at all. The more he thought about it, the more Frankie’s attitude disturbed him. But how could he say that to Misty? She obviously was clueless that anything was wrong at all.

He decides it is best if he just sits and waits…if something really was wrong, Misty would discover it sooner and later, and hopefully she wouldn’t get hurt herself in the process.


The rest of the day seems to go fairly smoothly. All couples who were out for lunch return to finish out the work day, and most have no big plans for the evening. It’s a quiet night…perhaps most are still recuperating from the prior day’s events. It seemed like such a short time ago, yet a lifetime ago at the same time.

Jason winds down quickly after work, heading straight for the apartment and bailing out on practice with the guys that night. He was simply too tired.

Scott heads home as well, eating supper then setting about his project in the back room, a dim red light his only source for sight for a while as he works. Eventually though, he heads to bed himself, tuckered out, with Domino at his side.

Con eats supper with Jamie then goes to his own home, heading to bed early to prepare for the long day tomorrow.

Wyatt manages to slip on down to Mom and Pop’s to grab Aerith as soon as she got off work so they could go out for some ice cream before he takes her back to Jamie’s place.

Laura makes it home just a little late after an evening with Nate, first supper, then a quiet drive to the lake. She felt good…relaxed…and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Ty and Jim spend one last evening together at Wyatt’s, knowing that Jim will be heading back to Texas the next day. Thought their time together has been brief, both feel good about the short relationship they’ve been able to gain, and Ty relents to a promise that he’ll come back to the ranch to visit soon.


Morning. Loved and dreaded at the same time. Rays of sunlight bring about a fresh new feeling – a start to a brand new day. But they also prove that the night is over and wake sleepy eyes whether they want to be woken up or not.

As Reese goes about contacting everyone at TJY about future plans, what was happening with the Elite, and everything involved, the morning seems to fly by. Hardly anyone has time to converse with each other, and just gaining time to see each other over lunch proves to be a task.

“Hey, Jamie…” Scott heads toward the hall with Katie’s hand in his. “We’re grabbing a bite in the breakroom. Since your boyfriend dumped you today, want to join us?” He gives her a teasing look before continuing his route.

Once arriving, Jason is already there, grabbing a sandwich from the vending machine. He nods to Scott and looks to Katie too. “Hi, strangers. Fancy meeting you here.”

Scott chuckles. “Yeah…after this crazy morning, I’m lucky I got time to be in here at all. I had to rescue Susanne five times already today!”

Pulling out chairs for him and Katie, he goes to warm up some food in the microwave, sidling out of the way as Jamie enters to prepare her food as well.

Biting into his sandwich, Jason remains standing and goes to the little television in the corner, turning it on. “After everything that’s happened lately,” he comments, “I have no idea what’s going on in town, let alone the world.” It was prime time for the mid-day news, and he leans against the counter, half-listening.

Several minutes later though, something catches his attention and he turns up the volume, hushing the others in the room.

“And Justine Plume reports live from the site of this breaking news…”

A woman reporter appears outside, microphone in hand in front of a construction site. “I’m here at the newest construction zone of locally owned company, Titan Inc. Just hours ago, a crew of fifty men were working diligently on plans for a housing addition owned by the multi-million dollar corporation, Z-tron. But today as they moved toward the westerly end of the site, tragedy struck.”

The camera moves from Justine’s face to zoom in on the site itself. It was utter chaos. Men were everywhere, shouting and running. Equipment was parked in odd places, and a new structure was half torn down. Rescue vehicles lined the site, lights flashing and sirens wailing.

The shot moves back to Justine. “Sources tell us that during an operation just today, there was a sudden cave-in over the site. Several heavy pieces of equipment broke through the ground, revealing what appears to be a large sinkhole. We’ve also been informed that this sinkhole may be one of many surrounding underground caves that were undiscovered before today.”

A male voice from the news studio comes through. “Justine, were not land surveys taken? Or extra precautions?”

“Well, Jim, that’s one thing we’re investigating here. It’s not clear why Titan Inc. was unaware of these underground tunnels, and unfortunately, they found out the hard way.”

“Was anyone injured in this cave-in?”

“I was asking someone just minutes ago that very question, and yes, there have been several injuries. Apparently some men were actually running the equipment as they fell through the surface, and others were in the close vicinity, also affected.”

“Justine, have there been any fatalities?”

“Not that we know of. However rescue crews are here to treat the injured, and right now they are trying to dig down into the place that collapsed because there are three men missing.”

“And do we know who these three men are?”

“Names have not been released,” Justine informs. “Right now there is much confusion as they try to clear away this area. They are proceeding with much caution to avoid further cave-ins, and it is unclear when they may be able to find the missing men.”

“Do they believe anyone could have survived?”

“Well, Jim, there is hope that those fallen may have been trapped inside a pocket below the surface at the edge of one of the underground caves. However, even if that is true, without an air passage, oxygen will run out quickly, so this is indeed a serious situation. I’m told that we have people here that are trying to map out the cave sites so the rescue crews will have some way to pinpoint where any pockets may be.”

Jason stands stunned for a moment, and turns around to look at Jamie, afraid to ask. "Isn't...isn't that where Con works?"