Additional Players..

Harville Vohn

Delaine Vohn

10:15 am

“Thanks for coming out, man; I owe you one.” Mason thanked, offering Dax a hard hat and protective eye wear to tour the massive condo structure.

Mason Grey and Dax had been best friends for as long as they both could remember; and though they were often viewed as business adversaries, nothing could be further from the truth.  Where Dax’s style was more cutting edge and futuristic; Mason‘s was more classic and Zen like. They were both highly sought after artisans and often recommended the other for top design jobs. Where Dax was arrogant and boastful, Mason was humble and modest. But their friendship worked and they were always there for each other. It was Mason, who bailed Dax out of jail in Mexico on spring break; toasted with him the day he took over D.E.; introduced Dax to Zhay and later stood next to him when he promised to love Zhay forever. They were more than friends, they were brothers.

“You owe me more than one,” Dax joked, “just pay my damn consulting fee when you get your bill in the mail.”

“Yeah, sure.” Mason smirked leading the way to the first tower.       

Dax let out a loud whistle upon entering the structure; the crew was hard at work, but Dax’s critical eye had already picked up some crucial flaws in the construction, but he didn’t want to alarm Mason; not yet anyway.  “Who was the architect on this project?”  he asked.

“Javier Montenegro, he has some great ideas about design and real raw talent.” Mason replied following Dax as he moved from concrete pillar to concrete pillar testing the steel casings.

“What is the estimated completion date?” Dax asked rubbing the back of his neck.

“18 months, barring any unforeseen impediments, you know natural disasters, global steel shortages, timber strike, Somali Pirates holding the glass shipment hostage.” Mason riddled off jokingly.

“50 stories? Modern mostly glass and ultra green in design?  Hmmm.” Dax noted, talking mostly to himself. “Pre fab concrete pillars?”

“Yes, Dax. And don’t do that. It’s never good when you start talking like that.”  Mason paced, running his fingers through his dark brown tresses.

“Like what?” Dax asked confused, rubbing his chin.

“Like Mason, you dumbass; you should know better?” Mason replied and briefly stopped his pacing.

“You said it; I didn’t.” Dax laughed, rubbing his temples.

“Well, it seemed adequate. I mean unless we encountered some major problem in securing the glass, the timeframe was achievable.” Mason continued pacing, stopping only to read Dax’s face occasionally.

 Dax noticed that construction seemed a bit off from the designs Mason showed him in the trailer earlier; he knew his buddy was in trouble once he started moving around the c structure; something didn’t feel right. He wanted to advise Mason to halt construction immediately and talk to the site manager to get his thoughts on the project so far.

“What about the construction? Who’s running the site? Dax inquired noting that the site manager had yet to come over to greet them, in the 20 minutes that they had been there. He stopped a moment to pull out the blue prints and the engineering specs to look them over on a nearby work bench.

“Harris Nolan, from Dampier West Construction, I’m not sure where he is;” Dax looked around not seeing Nolan, “He knew that I was coming out today. And the engineers are a group out of Houston. I’ve never worked with them, but Nolan recommended them.” Mason finished, watching Dax’s eyes move rapidly over the prints.

“Shit, did you say Houston? Dax asked quizzically, looking to his friend, “please for the love all things good, do not tell me it’s Harmon Brother’s Engineering?”  Dax warned, rubbing a hand down his face.

Mason gulped loudly, “Yes. Why? Have you worked with them before?” Mason asked a bit panicked.

This isn’t good, Dax thought, “I’ve never worked with them before; but do you remember the mall parking deck collapse in Virginia last summer?” Mason nodded in the affirmative. “Harmon Brothers; not to mention that condo complex in Florida sinking into that massive sinkhole or that..”  But before Dax could finish his thoughts Mason waved it off.

“Fuck, this isn’t good.” Mason cursed pacing wildly, grabbing his cell phone to call Nolan. “Where in the hell did Nolan find these clowns? And how the hell are they still in business? Shit I knew I should have bid this job out; but Nolan has never screwed up like this?” Mason rambled on, grabbing his cell phone and punching the numbers on the keypad.

“Nolan, It’s Mason; I am on site at the Renaissance Tower project, how soon can you get here? I’m here with Dax from Daxton Engineering and we have a few questions.  Yep. No. Now.” Mason ordered he was beyond irritated. “Just get here Nolan.” Mason screamed into the phone, causing some of the crew to stop what they were doing. Mason was always so easy going that an outburst like that was way out of character for him.

Mason took a deep breath and moved to the make shift table where Dax had the building plans sprawled out.  Dax had been on the phone contacting Structural, Mechanical and Electrical engineering firms that he partnered with.  Though Dax’s company handled structural consulting, they were mostly engaged in railway and bridge enhancement  projects of late, both overseas and across the country; leaving them unable to work on Mason’s project in the time framed need to complete the towers.

 “How bad is it?” Mason inquired moving to stand next to Dax.  Mason knew that a delay in construction due to their negligence was the kiss of death for a firm. Shit, his first project and he thought that he had done his due diligence when he selected the key players for his team. Now here he was staring in the face of a calamity, if the engineering specs were proven to be off and they had to delay the project; or worst if it were stopped altogether, his company could be out millions of dollars.

“Let’s not assume the worst just yet.” Dax answered in an attempt to evade Mason’s question. “I’ve called a couple of firms that we outsource to that I’ve worked with personally. When I get back to the office I’ll put in a few more calls and get Dad to come out and give you his opinion.” Dax could tell that Mason was panicking, this was the first big job that he was running solo and it was the boost that he needed to move out of his own father’s shadow. “Maybe Harmon Brother’s have cleaned up there shit and actually hired well trained engineers; I think that we are just being overly cautious.” Dax offered, trying to reassure his friend.  Mason knew better. He and Dax had been friends for a long time and they could easily read each other.  Dax was just as concerned as he was. Mason saw it the minute Dax took the plans out and began roaming around the structure.

“Where in the hell, did Nolan find these guys?” Mason questioned checking his cell phone.

“Hacks-r-us.” Dax joked attempting to lighten up his friend’s mood, while gathering the plans and specs.

“Well, Nolan said that he’ll be here in two shakes? Whatever the hell that means; so let’s go wait in the trailer. My head hurts….” Mason complained as he headed towards the exit.

Both men talked with the crew as they made their way to the make shift construction offices, housed in three trailers just across the street from the site.  Mason’s phone began to ring and reflexively Dax reached for his own, realizing that he didn’t have it.

“Shit, I left my phone on the work bench, which trailer is your office again?” Dax asked, turning to head back into the towers.

“Number 3.” Mason called over his shoulders, “I’ll fix us a drink, or two.”

“Mase, it’s not even noon yet.” Dax laughed at his friend and turned back to enter the towers. He sincerely hoped that he was wrong about the Harmon Brothers shoddy engineering, but something just kept nagging at him. He knew quite a few firms that had been burned by them and he was amazed that they were still in business. How Mason, had never heard of them was a bit off putting and he made a mental note to ask him about it later.

*************************************************************************************

Once Dax reached the area that he and Mason had just vacated, he stopped a moment to check his phone for messages, in less than 10 minutes, he already had 5 missed calls. He scrolled through them and was both sad and relieved that none of them were from Zhay.  Sad because he wanted to hear her voice saying that she loved him too and relieved that she did call to cancel dinner. He missed her; he promised himself in that moment that he would make everything right between them.  

Just then Dax was roused from his musings, when a loud explosion rocked the structure.  The explosion sent workmen and supplies flying in all directions; knocking Dax on to his back. Groaning from the fall he just took, Dax got up from the spot where he landed and heard the frantic calls to determine the work crew’s safety. Everyone was a bit dazed and confused but otherwise could stand and walk about on their own accord.

“What the hell was that?” Dax asked one of the crew men, still a bit shaken by the blast.

“I have no idea, this building is still mostly steel and concrete, nothing electrical in place yet other than what we need for our tools and what not.” The worker advised.

Dax nodded in understanding, “Let’s just try to get everyone out of here, so we can figure this out.”

Dax’s stomach was twisted in knots, this was worst than he feared. Before he could usher the rest of the work crew out of the tower a loud rumbling could be heard and felt by everyone; the structure began shaking and debris began falling from the collapsing tower.  It was suddenly pitched black, as if the day had magically transformed into night without warning.  Before Dax could even contemplate his next step he was struck in the head by falling rubble. As he started falling into the darkness, his thoughts went to Zhay, their life, their lost love. He wanted her to know that he loved her, he forgave her; he wanted them to be a family again. No matter what, they would have their happily ever after.

“Fuck me, this is bad!” Mason cursed, “Do we know how many of the construction crew are still inside?” he yelled at Nolan.  Nolan finally showed up, minutes before the accident. “I swear to god Nolan, if any of my men die, I am going to nail your fucking sorry ass to the wall and build a damn strip mall on top of your head.” Mason promised pinning Nolan with a glare so icy Nolan knew that he meant it.

“Mason, I’m sorry, I don’t know what, what...” Nolan babbled, “Um, were still not sure, some of them men got out after the first explosion; but the structure started crumbling so fast after the second it’s unlikely that everyone got out in time. Harlan is still trying to get and exact account of who is still missing.” Nolan informed staring off to the collapsed site.

Ash, dust and broken concrete completely blanketed the construction site. Emergency, fire and police personnel swarmed the scene, Mason knew that it was only a matter of time before the news crews showed up and he needed to be prepared. Shit this was bad. Mason thought still holding a bandage to his head. He was hit by falling debris running to the site after the first blast.

“Jenna!” Mason yelled at his assistant “Get PR on the phone tell them to prepare a press statement for both print and televised media distribution once we’ve finalized rescue plans with the fire and EMT personnel.”

“Chief Ballard, we think that there could be up to at least 20 people still un accounted for in the rubble.” Nolan offered the fire chief.” We want to hold off on a briefing until we can get a hold of the site engineers.”  The chief agreed, but insisted on speaking with the reps from the gas company; he advised that it wasn’t too early to rule anything out.

*************************************************************************************

Barron entered the office quietly, careful not to interrupt or startle her as she was on the phone. It didn’t matter Rosie could always sense when he was nearby.  She turned away from the windows, giving him one of her heart melting smiles and waved 1 finger indicating that she would be done in a minute, motioning him to take a seat.

Barron stared at Rosanna, she was as stunning as she was the day he walked into the office and found her sitting behind the receptionist desk, all those years ago.  He lost his heart to her the minute he looked into her striking chocolate eyes; all of the plans that he struggled through the door with fell to the floor. He was rendered speechless when she politely smiled, got up from her desk and introduced herself; in the two minutes she took to help him recover the plans, he fell in love with her.  Barron sighed, thinking about love lost and regrets; a love so passionate and enduring that it has the intensity to burn and hurt; even when that isn’t the intent. What he and Rosie, had / have is /was (he was no longer sure anymore) beyond love or lust or even infatuation. They were simply the other half of each other.

“Laine, I have to go now, honey. I will see in a few weeks. La mère vous aime et envoie vous embrasse et embrasse d'Atlanta. Muah, muah, love you too.”  Rosie finished her phone conversation, closed her eyes and sighed; completely forgetting that Barron was still sitting there. She missed her daughter.

“Laine is well?” Barron inquired. “Is she still enjoying running the streets of Paris and studying at the Sorbonne?” he questioned; it had been a while since he’d seen Rosie’s daughter Delaine. But from all accounts, she had matured into a rather accomplished, beautiful young woman. She spoke 5 languages fluently; taught English to orphans around the world. Worked with the Peace Corps and UNICEF and even found time to paint and graduate from Oxford, while earning a full ride to the most coveted Sorbonne.

“Laine is fabulous, just making plans to spend the summer on an archaeological dig in Egypt; much to my chagrin.” Rosie tensed, “Of all the places, she wants to traipse off to; the middle east, to play in the dirt none the less; just to give her dear old mother a heart attack. I have a mind to sign up for the dig too; just show up there. Egypt? All this dirt right here in the US and she needs to …..” Rosie bemoaned but stopped once she saw the smirk on Barron’s face. “What?” she smiled at him.

Barron laughed, if he knew Rosie and he did; she would pack up shop and go to Egypt for the summer just to make sure that Laine was safe. “You’re not going to Egypt,” Barron teased, “Laine will be fine; she’s lived on her own for how long now? Swiss boarding schools, undergrad in London; summers in Australia and New Zealand, Kenya and South Africa; teaching in Cambodia and now college in Paris. She knows how to stay out of harm’s way, you’ve taught her well.”  He assured.

“Thank you, but all the credit should go to Harville; he was the one who put all those grand ideas in her head. If I had my way, she would have graduated from Spelman, like the rest of the women in my family. But no, her father just had encouraged her to see the world, love it and live in it; he always told her.” Rosie surmised, completely missing the way Barron flinched at the mention of her husband and Delaine’s father.

Barron, didn’t know why after all these years, the fact that Rosie married bothered him.  If he were honest with himself, he could answer that. He had no right to feel any angst; After all he too was married. But still, he felt slighted that Rosie had found love in Harville Vohn. He guessed a part of him felt that she would always be there for him, only him. Love only him. Selfish, he knew but that was just what he was, all those years ago. Though he loathed admitting it, he knew that Harville had been both a good husband to Rosie and an excellent father to Laine.  And worst he couldn’t begrudge a dead man for loving her, she made it so easy. After all this time he still thought about her as the fresh faced 19 year old, that drove him crazy without even trying. His love, his heart, Rosie would always be his no matter what.

He stared at her for a minute as she continued her little tirade and smiled; he often wondered what their life would have been like if he hadn’t….he stopped himself. He knew that thinking about what could have been wasn’t fair to either Rosie or his wife. Alise his wife whom he loved dearly, but who was often lost to him in moments like this. Moments when he would get lost in her eyes, those soulful brown pools and that devastating smile hypnotized him each and every time; losing his heart to Rosie all over again.

Almost sensing that Barron was in another world, Rosie pulled him from his daydream, to find out what he needed. “Any way, I’m sure you didn’t come in here to listen to me ramble on about the injustices and worry that mother’s suffer at the hands of their carefree children.” She teased. “What’s up?”

“Actually, I was looking for Ethan,” Barron hesitated, “We had a little…um disagreement earlier and I wanted to apologize to him; but I can’t seem to find him. And he is not answering his phone.”

Rosie pulled up his calendar on Outlook and was confused that he wasn’t back from meeting Mason yet. She looked at the clock to check the time 12:27pm. That wasn’t like Dax, to cut it this close with a presentation.

“Let’s see, he was going over to meet Mason at around 10 o’clock; for about an hour. He has the Cooper Industry presentation at 1pm.  4 o’clock is the conference call with the West Coast office and then dinner with Zhay at 7pm.?” Rosie finished, reaching for the phone to call Dax to find out where he was. But, she didn’t get an answer either.  Strange she thought.

“I’ll give Mason a call to find out if Ethan is on his way here; once he gets back in I’ll be sure to send him directly to the conference room.” Rosie promised, staring into his mesmerizing blue eyes.

“Thanks, beautiful.” Barron responded tenderly before getting up and heading for the office door.  He turned around and stole one more look at her, “I miss you, Rose.” He offered before disappearing into the hallway.

“I know, Barry” she smiled, “I miss you too.” She knew what that meant and what he couldn’t say, they had promised each other that they wouldn’t revisit that place.

“Ethan, it’s Rosie. Your butt better be on the elevator on your way up to the conference room. The Cooper meeting started 10 minutes ago. Where are you and Mason hiding? He’s not answering his phone either.  Call me back asap.” Rosie had a bad feeling; she knew that Harper would be presenting today, but still Dax was never this cavalier with clients. He would never flake out on a meeting and not call to tell her, something was wrong.

*********************************************************************************

“Listen, Mason Harlan is right, in a crisis like this, you need to utilize all of your available resources. Most of our heavy equipment is buried underneath the rubble; let’s contact all of construction sites in a 5-10 mile radius to get some of their equipment here. It is the fast and most efficient way to start digging.” Nolan advised. “Let me call all of my contacts, I have a pretty good idea who is working on most of the projects in the area, please let me do this. I know you want to minimize the press on this but, the more time we spend talking, the less time the men have breathing. It has been nearly 3 hours if any one survived the collapse, we need to make sure that we get them out before they start running out of air.”

That statement alone shocked Mason into action, “Make sure you go over this with the EMT, fire and police chiefs and we have to be sure that the area is stable enough to handle the weight of all the equipment that we need to bring in.” Mason took another look at the site before being whisked away by his PR team. “Harlan, I need you to come with me; I want to brief the workmen’s families and make sure that everyone on your official list is accounted for.” *************************************************************************************

“Barron, I have to tell you that I am really impressed with the presentation.” David Cooper praised, “Harper is quite talented, the design is everything we hoped for, where do we sign?”

“How about we sign the contract over a late lunch? Barron asked checking his watch; masking his annoyance that Dax didn’t show up for the presentation.

“That sounds great, will Dax join us then?” David inquired, “I was hoping to pick his brain on a few other projects today.”

“Let me check, Ethan wasn’t up to par this morning but was running from site to site making sure that all of the projects were on time and budget; I tell you he is one special kind of CEO, still designing, going out to sites, a real hands on guy. Nothing like me right, I was never afraid to delegate.” Barron joked as he dialed Ethan again; he knew men like David, men like him would feel slighted that Ethan didn’t even show up to pitch his own company. “Rosie, is Ethan in the building? David, Harper and I are going to the Commerce Club for lunch and wanted him to join us; OK. ..well let him know so that he can meet us there.” Barron hung up the phone and walked over to Harper.

“Harper, great job today.” Barron praised, “We are going to the Commerce Club for lunch. Have you heard from Ethan? Rosie said he never came back from meeting Mason and he still isn’t answering his phone.”

Harper immediately tensed up, right before heading into their meeting, he heard about an explosion at one of Mason’s construction sites in Midtown.  “Was he meeting Mason, at his office or on site?” Harper questioned, trying not to sound alarmed.

“In the office, I guess. I think they were working on that joint charity construction project?” Barron pondered, but he wasn’t sure.  

“Let me track Mason down and find out where Dax was headed once he left their meeting; he maybe upstairs sleeping, he didn’t look so good this morning.” Harper hoped that he was, but his gut was telling him something else. “We’ll meet you at the Commerce Club.” Harper assured Barron and walked over to David’s team to wrap the meeting.

Barron dialed the number to Ethan’s penthouse, but didn’t get an answer. “Son, if you’re there please pick up. Barron sighed We’re taking the Cooper team to the Commerce Club for lunch in 10 minutes. Meet us over there.”  Where could he be Barron wondered, he hoped that Dax wasn’t still mad about their talk earlier. He just didn’t wanted Dax to feel the disappointment that he lived with everyday due to his own negligence. He knew that Ethan was stubborn and would come to him in time to talk things over. But Barron couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong; it was one thing for Dax to avoid his calls, but he would never avoid Rosie’s.

*************************************************************************************

“Hey Darlin’, I got your message sorry I missed your call I was in the air. I’m actually in Miami picking up fresh supplies and meeting with WHO officials. I fly back to Haiti in the morning so call me when you can. Love you Zhay.” Adam hoped that Zhay was ok. He knew that every day was a struggle for her, but the last few times they spoke she sounded stronger.  But today, she sounded upset. She’s fine he told himself, probably just checking in and headed back into the medical staff briefing.

“Grey” Mason growled into his cell phone. It had been ringing non-stop, once it was revealed that the explosion site was a Hampton-Grey project. Fuck my life Mason thought.

“Mason, it’s Harper” Harper returned just as short.

“Listen Harper, I can’t talk now, I’m in the middle of some heavy shit right now.”  Mason rushed out.

“Yeah, I heard. Hey whatever you need just let me know and I can have a crew ready to go.” Harper offered more calmly than he felt.

“I appreciate that, and I may take you up on that, thanks.” Mason softened, he knew he was being an ass but it was just that kind of day.

“Oh Mason, one more thing, is Dax around? We’ve been trying to reach him but he isn’t answering his cell phone. He never came back to the office after your meeting.” Harper sat down upon hearing the silence on the other end of the phone.

Mason froze on the spot. He had been so caught up in everything that was happening he forgot that Dax had been there. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Mason cried, drawing the attention from everyone around him; he remembered that Dax went back inside the towers to retrieve his cell phone. “Harper let me call you back. I need to check on some things.”

“He’s there isn’t he?” Harper asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Yes, He was here, let me...Um…check to see if he is being treated by the EMT's.” Mason tried to get out but he was too overcome with emotion to finish. He knew Dax didn't make it out, he hadn't seen him.

“I’m on my way Mason.” Harper grabbed his keys and headed out of his office. Shit shit shit Harper thought how in the hell did this happen.  He sent up a silent prayer and walked over to Rosie’s office, how the hell was he going to tell her this.

He knocked on the door and she ushered him in.

“Rosie, I think I know where Dax is.” Harper offered and asked her to turn on the flat screen TV that was mounted on her office wall.