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By Root 291 0

some of that from junior high school. He also remembered something else from junior high school. Something that had permanently shaped his view of the building itself. He had come to New York from Los Angeles for a week during the Christmas vacation with other honor students. As they drove to the city from Kennedy International Airport, he looked across the East River and saw the United Nations at dusk. All the other skyscrapers he saw were facing north and south: the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Pan Am Building. But the thirty-nine-story glass-and-marble United Nations Secretariat Building was facing east and west. He happened to mention that to James LaVigne who was in the seat next to him. The thin, bespectacled, very intense LaVigne looked up from The Mighty Thor comic book he was reading. The magazine was hidden inside a copy of Scientific American.

"You know what that reminds me of?" LaVigne said. Hood said he had no idea.

"It's like the symbol on Batman's chest."

"What do you mean?" Hood asked. He had never read a Batman comic book and had only seen the popular TV show once, just to see what everyone was talking about.

"Batman wears a bright gold-and-black bat symbol on his chest," LaVigne said. "Do you know why?" Hood said that he did not. "Because Batman wears a bulletproof vest under his costume," LaVigne said. "If a criminal starts shooting at him, that's where Batman wants him to aim. At his chest."

LaVigne returned to his comic book. The twelve-year-old Hood turned back to the United Nations building. LaVigne often made bizarre observations, his favorite being that Superman was a retelling of the New Testament. But this one made sense. Hood wondered if New York had built it that way on purpose. If someone wanted to attack the United Nations from the river or airport, it was a big, fat target for a Cuban or Chinese secret agent. Because of that vivid childhood impression, Paul Hood always thought of the United Nations as New York's bull's-eye. And now that he was here, he felt surprisingly vulnerable. Intellectually, he knew that made no sense. The United Nations was on international territory: If terrorists wanted to strike at America, they would attack the infrastructure-the railroads, bridges, or tunnels-like the terrorists who blew up the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and forced Op-Center to work with its Russian counterpart. Or monuments like the Statue of Liberty. When he was on Liberty Island that morning, Hood was surprised how accessible the island was from the air and sea, Coming over on the ferry, he was disturbed to see how easy it would be for a pair of suicide pilots in planes loaded with explosives to reduce the statue to slag. There was a radar system located in the administration complex, but Hood knew that the NYPD harbor patrol had only-one gunship stationed on nearby Governor's Island. Two planes coming from opposite directions, with the statue itself blocking the gunship's fire, would enable at least one terrorist to reach the target.

You stayed at Op-Center too long, he told himself. Here he was on vacation, running crisis scenarios.

He shook his head and looked around. He and Sharon had arrived early and gone down to the gift shop to get Alexander a T-shirt. Then they went up to the vast public lobby of the General Assembly Building, near the bronze statue of Zeus, to wait for the UN Youth Arts representative. The lobby had been closed to the public since four o'clock so employees could set up for the annual peace reception. Because it was a clear, beautiful night, guests would be able to eat inside and chat outside. They could roam the northside courtyard, admiring the sculptures and gardens, or walk along the East River promenade. At 7:30, the new Indian United Nations Secretary-General Mala Chatterjee would go to the Security Council chambers with representatives of member nations of the Security Council. There, Ms. Chatterjee and the Spanish ambassador would congratulate the members for the massive United Nations peace-keeping effort being mounted to prevent further