Lee Fang Residence, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lee Fang sat on her couch, legs curled up under her, a bowl of popcorn on her lap, a shaker of ranch flavoring gripped in one hand, a bottle of Diet Pepsi in the other. It was the most riveting thing she had ever seen, China never broadcasting anything that might terrify its populace.
But not in America.
She frankly couldn’t believe the Americans were allowing the broadcast. It was now on almost every channel, commentators who seemed to be experts on everything giving their opinions, explaining what was going on and who was involved, and what might happen next.
And now there were breaking news reports that something was happening at JFK in New York.
It was exciting.
It was terrifying.
And it didn’t affect her.
Yet it did.
Perhaps she truly was starting to think of this as her home, as her country, and terrorists attacking it and murdering its citizens pissed her off. She shoveled another handful of popcorn into her mouth, though not before shaking some more flavoring on the kernels in her hand. She licked her palm clean, not at all missing the episode of Castle she had been watching before the interruption.
The soldier in her wanted to head to New York and kick some ass, but the woman who lived in this apartment under an assumed identity, with no power to do anything, was forced to content herself with running scenarios in her head on how she would assault the facility.
Her jaw dropped and she leaned forward suddenly, her popcorn falling onto the floor.
“Is that—?”
She grabbed her remote and hit pause, freezing the frame on the image showing a man walking down the stairs, flanked by two others.
“Dylan!”
And suddenly she was invested in the outcome like tens of thousands of others out there watching tonight.
All with loved ones in the stadium.
She grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it close to her chest, resting her chin on it.
Loved ones?
She closed her eyes, picturing the handsome American that had saved her life and who was her only friend in the world.
And wished she were there by his side, ready to do battle against their enemies.