Excerpt: With or Without You

The signal changed as Derek began slowing down at Barclay Street. As the crowd began to start moving, he put on a burst of speed and cut around them, coming close to the traffic moving past him. A couple of car horns sounded as he darted his way past the crowd, but Derek didn’t care. He was just moments away from getting to the World Trade Center complex. He kept his eyes on the towering structures a block away, trying to frantically make that last surge to the Vesey Street intersection.

The light was already green as Derek neared, but the signal was already flashing the warning hand signal. A lump of desperation grew in Derek’s throat, making it difficult for him to swallow as he breathed hard, forcing his legs to keep churning their way towards the towers. He broke through the intersection as the final seconds of the warning hand signal ticked away.

Derek sprinted his way past World Trade Center Five, making his way towards the central courtyard in the plaza. As he passed by The Sphere, he checked his watch again: the time was now 8:45 A.M.

The world was about to change in sixty seconds.

Derek looked up; immediately in front of him stood a tall, broad-shouldered man. Unable to stop his run, Derek plowed into the man from behind, tumbling to the street, losing his grip on both his cell phone and Sebastian’s coin as well as his newspaper as he hit the ground. His momentum caused him to roll over a couple of times. Grabbing his copy of The New York Times as he made his way to his feet, he saw the man grumbling as he picked himself up off the ground.

“Hey, hey!” The man shouted as he made his way to his feet. “Just where in the hell are you hurrying off to?”

Derek’s shoulders slumped as he recognized the outfit on the man: he was a New York City police officer. “Look, officer,” he began, “I’m really terribly sorry, but I’m in a big hurry; you see, my wife--”

“Listen, pal,” the officer said, holding up a hand, cutting Derek off, “you’re not the only person in this city that’s in a hurry. You are, however, the only one who’s in a hurry that also wasn’t watching where the hell he was going and hitting a police officer, to boot!”

“I know, I know,” Derek said, pausing momentarily as his ears detected a faint rumbling sound in the distance. His stomach began to sink as he recognized the noise as the sound of an airplane. A note of fear creeping into his voice. “I should have been more careful and watching where I was going, but my wife is--”

“I take a lot of flack from a lot of people around this town,” the officer said, raising his voice, “and the thanks I get is to get knocked on my ass by some clown who can’t watch where he’s going--”

The rumbling grew louder in Derek’s ears. He looked up and saw the outline of a jumbo jet growing larger in the air. He turned back to the police officer. “Officer,” Derek pleaded, “you have to understand; my wife’s--”

“Your wife, what?” The officer barked over the growing sound of the airplane. “Your attitude is really starting to make me--”

Derek looked back towards the growing outline of the speeding plane and pointed in the air. “There’s no time to explain! Officer, there is a plane that is heading this way!”

The police officer scoffed, thrusting his index finger towards Derek. “You must really think I’m a pretty stupid guy, don’t you? You have any idea how many people I’ve dealt with in this city who have tried to pull crazy stunts like that on me? More than you can shake a stick at!”

“Officer!” Derek pleaded, “you have to hear me out; I’m telling you that--”

The rumbling of the plane’s engine grew louder.

“That’s it!” The officer shouted. “I’ve had enough of your lip! Now, you listen up, and listen good!”

“Listen to me, damn it!” Derek cried out, pointing frantically towards the sky. “That plane is going to hit--!”

A loud explosion thundered overhead.

“No!!!” Derek screamed out. “Madison!!!”