“Senator! Would you comment on this terrorist attack—“
“—tell us how feels to lose your sister-in-law to terrorists—“
“—any word on your daughter—“
Caddrick held up his hands, pled with the reporters. “Please, I don’t know anything more than you do. Cassie’s dead . . .” He paused, allowing the catch in his voice to circle the globe live via satellite. “My little girl is still missing, her college roommate has been brutally murdered, that’s all I know, really . . .” He was pushing his way through the mob, his aide at his side.
“Is it true the terrorists were members of the Ansar Majlis, the down-time organization that’s declared jihad against the Lady of Heaven Temples?”
“Will this attack cause you to re-open your campaign to shut down the time terminals?”
“Senator, are you aware that Senator Simon Mukhtar al Harb, a known Ansar Majlis sympathizer, is spearheading an investigation into the Temples—“
“Senator, what do you plan to do about this attack—“
He turned halfway up the steps leading to his office and faced the cameras, allowing his reddened eyes to water. “I intend to find my daughter,” he said raggedly. “And I intend to find the bastards responsible for her disappearance, and for murdering poor Cassie . . . If it turns out these down-timer terrorists were responsible for Cassie’s murder, if they’ve kidnapped my only child, then I will do whatever it takes to get every time terminal on this planet shut down! I’ve warned Congress for years, the down-timers flooding into the stations are a grave threat to the stability of our up-time world. And now this . . . I’m sorry, that’s all I can say, I’m too upset to say anything else.”