Zero Day_ A Novel - Mark Russinovich [37]
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And so it went uneventfully all day Monday when, out of the blue, one of Cynthia’s college roommates called and suggested breakfast at Windows on the World at the World Trade Center the next morning. She knew Cynthia was about to become engaged and wanted to hear all the details. Cynthia left her apartment that morning to meet her, excited at the prospect of sharing her private hopes and dreams with the woman who had once been her best friend.
In Langley, Jeff was distracted by his cell phone, which rang, rang, rang. Digging around in his clothing, he pressed a button.
“Something terrible’s happened.” Cynthia’s voice was strained, as if she was about to cry. “I stayed home, like I promised. I did. Then Karen came to town and we went to breakfast then … then…”
In the background Jeff could hear pandemonium. “Where are you?”
“Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of one of the Towers.”
For a moment Jeff heard and felt nothing. His body turned numb. When her voice returned, it was from far away.
“… felt something a little bit ago. The whole building just shuddered, and I thought we were going to fall over.” Her voice was quivering. He could tell she was struggling for control.
“Get out, Cynthia. Get out now!”
“I already tried!” Now she sounded panicked. “Everyone says a plane hit us! I can’t get out, Jeff. There’s fire all below us. There’s no way out. No way. I’m really scared.” She paused. When she resumed, her voice was strangely calm. “I called to tell you that I love you, just in case.”
“Go to the roof!” Jeff insisted. “They’ll bring helicopters to evacuate you.” He gripped the telephone fiercely in his sweaty hand, trying with his voice to will her into action.
“It’s jammed up there. You can’t get on top. We tried earlier.” Her voice was desperate. “Oh, Jeff. This is what you mea—”
They were cut off. Jeff tried to call back, but her cell phone had no service. He snapped on the television set in his office and saw the burning Towers. His team crept in a few minutes later. “We didn’t want to disturb you. You’d know soon enough,” one said.
The other stared at the screen, transfixed. “Nobody listened to us.”
Jeff kept calling Cynthia without connecting. The three were watching as each Tower in turn fell in a great white, billowing cloud of pulverized concrete. There had been no helicopter evacuation.
Jeff sat motionless. The cell phone snapped in his hand, the battery flying out and clattering onto the floor. His rage was almost more than he could stand. He wanted to kill Carlton and, in a flash, saw himself killing the director and all of senior CIA management too.
He shot to his feet and glared at his team, wanting with all his power to strike at them, as if they were the cause. Managing to control himself, he slumped back into his seat, the rage turning on himself, for not calling Cynthia, for not saving her, for not doing enough to save anyone. He should have made someone pay attention.
His assistant was right. No one had listened.
14
EAST CHINA SEA
TEN MILES OUT FROM NAGASAKI, JAPAN
TUESDAY, AUGUST 15
1:03 P.M.
Captain Vandana Shiva lifted the binoculars to see if he could spot the offshore facility at Nagasaki as yet. He knew it was early, but he never entirely trusted computers and the Global Positioning System on which they relied. He’d begun his forty-one-year career as a seaman aboard a traditional Indian dhoni. In his mind that had been real seamanship, just the crew and the small boat against the ocean and wind. It had required skill and courage, and it was nothing like what he did now.
An uncle had liked the young Shiva and, lacking a son, financed his education. He’d done well and subsequently risen steadily in the merchant service until reaching the culmination of his career three years earlier when he’d been given command of The Illustrious Goddess, the largest supertanker ever built.
With a crude-oil cargo capacity of six hundred thousand DWT, or deadweight tongue, there had never been a ship of this size in history. More than a quarter of a mile long