When Darkness Ends (Moments in Boston #3) - Marni Mann Page 0,61

at the sound of my name and turned around. The man standing behind Ashe was the one who had spoken it. He was dressed in an extremely impressive suit, a briefcase hanging from his shoulder.

“Yes?” I responded.

He held out his hand for me to shake. “I’m Brett Young, an agent and one of the owners of The Agency, the largest talent firm on the East Coast.”

I felt my eyes bulge as I put his face to his name—one that had been whispered throughout our department since the first day of my freshman year.

“I’m extremely impressed with what I saw on that stage. I’d heard you were phenomenal, but I wasn’t expecting a performance like the one you just delivered. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

I’d heard there would be a few agents in the audience tonight.

But I hadn’t heard Brett Young was going to be one of them. An agent every actor in the country would give up anything to sign with.

“Yes,” I replied quickly. “Of course I do.” I turned toward Ashe, trying not to freak out when I said, “I’ll be just a minute.”

“Not a problem,” he said, taking Gran’s hand from mine, smiling with so much encouragement. “We’ll wait for you over by the car.”

As they began to walk away, I faced Brett. “It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve been following you for a long time.” I realized how that sounded and corrected, “I don’t mean following, following.”

He laughed and moved us over to the side of the stairs. “I understand, Pearl, and the honor is mine.” He adjusted his jacket. “I normally send my team to some of the top-performing schools, looking for new talent, but everyone raved about you, so I had to come see you for myself.” He shook his head, the streetlights showing me how pleased he was. “You certainly made the trip worth it. Could you meet with me tomorrow morning? I’d like to talk about your goals and see if we can find a place for you in our company.”

I didn’t have to act.

I was positive the shock and emotion were covering my face.

This was the moment I’d been waiting for.

The moment where everything was going to change. The dream I had of making a better life for Gran, of getting her out of Boston, had the potential of coming true.

My lips parted, a breathlessness in my chest. “Just let me know where and when, and I’ll be there.”

Forty-Four

After

Ashe

The clock on the wall was digital. Rather than hearing the constant tick of the second hand, I had my eyes glued to the countdown. Each minute that passed meant we had that much less time to find the motherfucker who had blown up our city.

When it came to acts of terror, time was of the essence.

That was why our captain and the director of the FBI had immediately called us back in before any of us had even reached ground zero. The two of them stood at the head of our conference room, a whiteboard behind them that showed the breakdown of the last several hours. Diagrams of the finish line depicted the location of each detonation, and camera footage was running on a wall-mounted TV, replaying the last minute before the explosion.

Once the video ended, it started over.

Tactical teams were on the ground, forensics were scouring every inch of the area, crews were monitoring phone lines that had been set up for tips from the public. And we were here, coming up with the plan on how to identify the bastard and take their ass down.

Every few minutes, we were updated on the number of deceased, the amount injured, how the hospitals in the area were handling the sudden intake.

Mentally, Boston was a fucking wreck.

But everyone in this room, along with teams that were being flown in, was tough as hell, and we were going to do everything we could to heal those wounds.

Since the explosion, my phone had been vibrating nonstop from my pocket, and I’d dodged all calls, aside from my family, letting them know I was safe and ensuring they were as well. But as I took a quick glance at the screen, Alix’s name was on it.

She had just called a few minutes ago and not left a message.

I sent her to voice mail, hoping she would leave one this time, and looked at the FBI director. He was outlining how far the fragments of the bombs had flown. But as I tried to