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.On, on, on, Anna went, floor after floor, until even she began to] feel tired.She thought about Rebecca and Tina, and prayed they were both safe.She even wondered if Fenston and Leapman were still sitting in the chairman's office, believing themselves impervious to any danger.Anna began to feel confident that she was now safe and would eventually wake up from this nightmare.She even smiled at some of the New York humour that was bouncing around her, until she heard a voice behind her scream.'A second plane has hit the South Tower.'11Jack was appalled by his first reaction when he heard what sounded like a bomb exploding on the other side of the road.Sally had rushed in to tell him that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.'Let's hope it scored a direct hit on Fenston's office,' he said.His second thoughts were a little more professional, as expressed when he joined Dick Macy, the Supervising Special Agent, along with the rest of the senior agents in the command centre.While other agents hit the phones in an attempt to make some sense of what was happening less than a mile away, Jack told the SSA that he was in no doubt that it was a well-planned act of terrorism.When a second plane crashed into the South Tower at 9.03am, all Macy said was, 'Yes, but which terrorist organization?' Jack's third reaction was delayed, and it took him by surprise.He hoped that Anna Petrescu had managed to escape, but when the South Tower came crashing down fifty-six minutes later, he assumed it would not be long before the North Tower followed suit.He returned to his desk and switched on his computer.Information was flooding in from their Massachusetts field office, reporting that the two attack flights had originated out of Boston and two more were in the air.Calls from passengers in those planes that had taken off from the same airport suggested they were also under the terrorists' control.One was heading for Washington.The President, George W.Bush, was visiting a school in Florida when the first plane struck, and he was quickly whisked off to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.Vice-president Dick Cheney5iwas in Washington.He'd already given clear instructions to shoot down the other two planes.The order was not carried out.Cheney also wanted to know which terrorist organization was responsible, as the President planned to address the nation later that evening and he was demanding answers.Jack remained at his desk, taking calls from his agents on the ground, frequently reporting back to Macy.One of those agents, Joe Corrigan, reported that Fenston and Leapman had been seen entering a building on Wall Street just before the first plane crashed into the North Tower.Jack looked down at the many files strewn across his desk and dismissed as wishful thinking, 'Case Closed'.'And Petrescu?' he asked.'No idea,' Joe replied.'All I can tell you is that she was seen entering the building at seven forty-six, and hasn't been seen since.' Jack looked up at the TV screen.A third plane had crashed into the Pentagon.The White House must be next, was his only thought.'A second plane's hit the South Tower,' a lady on the step above Anna repeated.Anna refused to believe that kind of freak accident could happen twice on the same day.'It's no accident,' said another voice from behind, as if reading her thoughts.'The only plane to crash into a building in New York was in '45.Flew into the seventy-ninth floor of the Empire State Building.But that was on a foggy day, without any of the sophisticated tracking devices they've got now.And don't forget, the air space above the city is a no-fly zone, so it must have been well planned.My bet is we're not the only folks in trouble.' Within minutes, conspiracy theories, terrorist attacks and stories of freak accidents were being bandied about by people who had no idea what they were talking about.There would have been a stampede if they could have moved any faster.Anna quickly became aware that several people on the staircase were now masking their worst fears by all talking at once.'Keep to the right, and keep moving,' was the constant cry emanating from whatever uniform trudged passed them.Someof the migrants on the downward journey began to tire, allowing Anna to overtake them.She was thankful for all those hours spent running around Central Park and the shot after shot of adrenaline that kept her going.It was somewhere in the lower forties that Anna first smelled smoke, and she could hear some of those on the floors below her coughing loudly.When she reached the next stairwell, the smoke became denser and quickly filled her lungs.She covered her eyes and began coughing uncontrollably.Anna recalled reading somewhere that 90 per cent of deaths in a fire are caused by smoke inhalation.Her fears were only exacerbated when those ahead of her slowed to a crawl and finally came to a halt.The coughing had turned into an epidemic.Had they all become trapped, with no escape route up or down? 'Keep moving,' came the clear order from a fireman heading towards them.It gets worse for a couple of floors but then you'll be through it,' he assured those who were still hesitating.Anna stared into the face of the man who had given the order with such authority.She obeyed him, confident that the worst must surely be behind her.She kept her eyes covered and continued coughing for another three floors, but the fireman turned out to be right, because the smoke was already beginning to disperse.Anna decided to listen only to the professionals coming up die stairwell and to dismiss the opinions of any amateurs going down.A sudden feeling of relief swept through those emerging from the smoke, and they immediately tried to speed up their descent.But sheer numbers prevented swift progress in the one-way traffic lane.Anna tried to remain calm as she slipped in behind a blind man, who was being led down the stairs by his guide dog.'Don't be frightened by the smoke, Rosie,' said the man.The dog wagged its tail.Down, down, down, the pace always dictated by the person in front.By the time Anna reached the deserted cafeteria on the thirty-ninth floor, the overloaded firemen had been joined by Port Authority officers and policemen from the Emergency Service Unit - the most popular of all New York's cops because they deal only in safety and rescue, no parking tickets, no arrests.Anna felt guiltyabout passing those who were willing to continue going up while she went in the opposite direction.By the time Anna reached the twenty-fourth floor, several bedraggled stragglers were stopping to take a rest, a few even congregating to exchange anecdotes, while others were still refusing to leave their offices, unable to believe that a problem on the ninety-fourth floor could possibly affect them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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