Yusuf Zuck felt as if the heavens were playing a colossal joke on him, a huge one. After surreptitiously eavesdropping on Russ Trujillo's conversation, he completely lost his composure. No wonder he hadn't found any of Ruth Wilcox's belongings at the crash site—it turned out she hadn't boarded the plane?
If she hadn't been on the plane, then she hadn't been blown to bits.
"Damn it." Yusuf cursed under his breath and immediately took out his cellphone to power it back on.
His hands were trembling, shaking with excitement. Ruth Wilcox might actually be alive, she wasn't dead, she wasn't dead!
Yusuf wanted to laugh, wanted to burst into crazed laughter. The joke was too much to bear—she hadn't boarded the plane, the Meskill family hadn't killed her.
The cellphone booted up quickly, and then Yusuf immediately dialed Ruth Wilcox's number.
The phone prompted that it was turned off.
"Turned off? Then Mia!" Yusuf cut the call short and dialed Mia's number.
