Chapter 16: Mira

Mira called Dana two weeks after publication. Not through any channel Dana would have predicted — through Marcus, who received a call from a number he didn't recognize and passed the phone to Dana with the specific expression of an editor who understood that sources sometimes operated on their own schedule. 'You did it right,' Mira said. Her voice was calm. Not the calm of someone who hadn't been afraid — the calm of someone who had been afraid for three years and had recently stopped. 'I tried to,' Dana said. 'You kept me out of it.' 'The story didn't need you. The evidence spoke for itself.' 'I know. I built it to do that.' A pause. 'I've been watching the coverage. The DOJ announcement. Driscoll's recusal from the contract review.' Another pause. 'I'm coming home.' 'When?' 'Thursday. I told Pete.' Dana thought about the forty-three pages and the false story and three hundred people in a small Nevada town carrying something they'd been given to carry. 'Did you know it would take three years?' she asked. 'I knew it would take as long as it took. I built the documentation to survive time. I built the cover story to survive pressure.' Mira was quiet for a moment. 'What I didn't build for was how it would feel to wait. That was harder than the documentation.' 'What made you trust Pete to find the right person?' 'Pete knows what good work looks like,' Mira said. 'He reads everything. He reads your columns. He said, if I ever find someone who reports the way she does, I'll know it's time.' She paused. 'Apparently he was right.' Dana didn't know what to say to that. 'Welcome home,' she said finally.