Wayne sets up his main character Zeb, a 37-year-old jaded Iraq/Afghanistan vet whose mind sees every possible outcome, then reads the chapter where the Chinese crash a Vancouver-to-Seattle airliner into Pike Place Market. The excerpt introduces Zebulon Mordecai Dalton — named for the biblical Mordecai from Esther — and a Balkan woman searching for her friend Sasha. The hosts react: the scene paints pictures, not flat description.