“Yes”

“What hotel?”

“I’m not sure.” Bette replied as she tried to understand the significance of Tina’s hotel choice to Shane, “The Mandarin Oriental or the Regal I think.”

“Which one?” Shane barked as she stopped pacing and glared at Bette.

“I don’t know, it’s on the fridge.” Bette responded, a little taken aback with Shane’s aggressive questioning.

Bette watched as the lanky brunette raced to the kitchen and studied the itinerary that was pinned to the fridge with an ‘I heart NY’ magnet they had bought years back.

 “Fuck” Shane whispered as she ran a hand through her dishevelled hair.

“Shane, what the hell is going on?” Bette demanded, Shane was not one for theatrics and this behaviour was unsettling to say the least.

Shane offered no explanation instead she marched back into the living room and picked up the TV remote, studying it. “How the fuck do you turn this thing on?”

Bette took the remote, pointed it at the screen which came to life.

“CNN” Shane muttered as she wrapped her arms around her body.

Bette duly changed the channel and was confronted by the image of a building and the subtitle, that read “Terrorist attack in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia”.

The journalist spoke but Bette only heard sound bites, terrorists had taken hold of the Regal hotel, the number of hostages or dead were unknown at this stage.

“It’s Tina’s hotel” Shane whispered. Bette’s eyes never left the screen as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. In disbelief she walked back to the kitchen to consult the itinerary Tina had left on the fridge door. The hotel name was printed in black and white, Bette inhaled sharply. Pacing back into the living room she retrieved her cell phone from the coffee table, the small screen flashed to life but there were no missed calls or unread text messages. She immediately pulled up Tina’s cell number and hit the call button.

“Pick up, Tina” She whispered as she walked to the front door and surveyed their quiet street. Her heart beat heavily as the unanswered call went through to voicemail. “T, please call me back as soon as you get this, immediately. I love you.” Ending the call, Bette shoved the phone into the front pocket of her jeans and turned her attention back to the television.

Bette couldn’t remember the order of anything from that point on. It was a blur of phone calls to handle the logistics, book a flight, have Kit collect Angie, get to the airport. Three hours later Bette sat at an airport bar scouring the TV screen on the wall for any sign of Tina, hoping for a glimpse, just enough to let her know her wife was safe. In her heart, Bette knew Tina was in that building. A fresh volley of gun fire thudded though the speakers, Bette closed her eyes and swallowed the bile in the back of her throat. She took a couple of deep breaths to try and slow her heart rate, she reminded herself that Tina was smart, resourceful.  The hardest part was not knowing what she’d find when she reached her destination.