Rick and Alexis stood at the corner of Canal and Mercer still looking up at what was unfolding right in front of them. People in small groups were running north on just about any street that would take them away from the disaster they just witnessed. Fire trucks, ambulances, and patrol cars from the immediate area were racing up the Westside highway, Broadway, and 6th Avenue, heading not away from, but towards whatever fate awaited them. But Rick still stood there, not moving. It was only when he felt Alexis pull his hand, and he looked down at her outstretched arm, did he realize what she was seeing.

From where they are standing, across the street he saw an NYPD cop running north up Canal Street heading towards 6th Avenue.

"Excuse me, officer," Rick yelled out over the sirens in the background.

Kate heard him yelling to her and stopped running.

"Sir, I need you to head back to your home. It's not safe in this part of the city right now."

"Yes, I know it's not safe, but I just need to know if it's safe to be here, well, I mean in my house. I'm not sure how good the quality of the air is going to be after what I just witnessed."

"As you can tell, sir, I'm in kind of a rush. I have five minutes to get to my station house and deal with what's going on downtown."

"And you are?"

"Patrolman Kate Beckett. Badge number 0334."

"Patrolman Beckett, I wish you safe travels and Godspeed!"

"Thank you…?"

"Oh sorry, Rick Rodgers."

"Get somewhere safe, Mr. Rodgers," Kate said as she started off in a run towards her precinct.

September 11th 9:15 am
NYPD 6
th Pct.
233 West 10
th Street New York, NY.

"All vacations and days off are now canceled. All law enforcement personnel are assigned in the following capacities:

"Karpowski, Stedner, Ryan, Esposito, Tolliver, Hastings, Beckett, Cole, Slaughter, and Sullivan. You ten officers will be used alongside the FDNY in search and rescue operations. There is a bus out on 10th waiting to take you to the NYPD staging area. Get moving now!" Captain Willis ordered.

In no time, they were all on the bus heading towards the scene at Liberty and West streets. Upon arriving at the NYPD staging area less than a block away, they all heard the sounds of something hitting the glass canopy in front of the main entrance for the North Tower. When she looked up Kate could see people starting to actually jump from the building - knowing that falling from that height would end their life. She shuddered, knowing that if they were jumping there must be a fate worse than falling up there. She saw the flames licking the side of the tower and the size of the hole in the side of the building.

September 11th 9:32 am
1 WTC North Tower

"Can I have everyone's attention?" The FDNY Battalion chief shouts out to be heard.

All eyes were on him.

"Thank you. The assignments are as follows: Engine 7, Ladder 1, you are assigned to the east stairway up to the 61st floor. Engine 15, Ladder 18, Battalion 4, your crew is assigned to the south stairwell up to the 43rd floor. Ladder 20, Division 1, Rescue 6, make your way up to the impact floors. Elevators are operational in FD mode only. You'll need to huff it up five floors because elevator service stops at the 85th floor. Each crew will have two officers from the 6th precinct assigned to them. Officers, your job is to search only. Let the firefighters do the heavy lifting if needed. Direct people down the stairway in a calm and orderly fashion. Oh, and before I forget, The Port Authority has police officers from the Lincoln, Holland, and GWB as well as their own ESU on the upper floors already. From what I can figure out they are in the thick of it. That is all."

Every team broke off to their groups. Kate and Stedner were with the Engine 7 crew. Kate really felt bad for Slaughter and Ryan because they're working with the Rescue 6 crew who were going to be up there where the plane hit the building. She only hoped that they would be all right. As they head towards the east stairwell, they deal with civilians exiting the stairwell and direct them how to get out safely.

Climbing up to the tenth floor, they encountered many people trying to escape the burning building by heading down from the damaged floors. They said it had taken them over twenty minutes to get to where they are now, but at least they were being civil about it. Everything was going well as the rescue team climbed up to the 38th floor. But then they ran into three men, two FDNY firefighters and a Port Authority cop named John Skala. Each had one civilian that has been badly burned. It was Officer Skala who spoke next.

"I need all of the firefighters to come up to the 72nd floor with me," he said, looking at the new firefighters. "We have many wounded and people with second and third-degree burns that need to be brought down to the command post."

Stedner was the first to say that they would take the two men and one woman back down to the command center in the lobby because Kate couldn't believe what she was seeing right in front of her. Kate and Stedner both watched as the Port Authority cop and all the firefighters turn and start back up the stairwell.

What they didn't know was that none of those men would survive this. They would all die in the stairway near the 63rd floor, trying to come back down with more injured people.

Slowly Kate and Stedner traversed the stairway back down to the lobby. Due to the injuries that the victims sustained, it took them about one minute to get down each floor level in the stairwell. By the time they reached the 23rd floor Kate and Stedner felt what amounts to a small earthquake. It was nothing of the sort.

September 11th 9:59 am
1 WTC North Tower

The North tower lobby was being inundated with debris from the collapsing South Tower. By the time they arrived at the lobby of the north tower, it looked like a war zone. Uncertainty was what first came to Kate's mind. Then she walked out from the stairwell with their wounded civilians and saw an FDNY lieutenant, a pair of firefighters, an FDNY EMT, and a civilian walking past them, carrying the body of a priest who had been hit by falling debris from the south tower. She and Stedner were able to get proper medical care for the people they'd escorted down. On their way back to the stairwell, the FDNY Battalion chief stopped them before they could get to the door.

"Patrolman, we're pulling back to BMCC campus up on West street. There is a base of operations there that you will report to. With the events of the South Tower collapsing we are not taking a chance with the North Tower. It might collapse, it might not, but we do not need any non-essential personnel here if it does collapse. Take your gear and head to the rallying point."

Kate stepped out into the street and it looked like a nuclear explosion went off in front of her. FDNY pumpers, ladder trucks, NYPD patrol cars and many ambulances were damaged some overturned and crushed. There was at least a half a foot of concrete dust and debris on the units that were fortunate to make it through with little damage.

Xx

9:38 am September 11th, 2001
Southeast corner of Mercer and Canal streets

Rick stood there at the corner of Canal and Mercer for what felt like a lifetime. He watched as a second airplane slammed into the south tower and then it felt was like it was snowing in New York City. There were paper and office files falling from the top floors. He was then jolted back to life by his daughter, who suggested that they did what the pretty police officer told them to do.

"Pumpkin, I think that's a great idea. Let's go."

As they walked back to the loft, the number of emergency vehicles that were responding to the WTC was overwhelming. Almost every avenue heading south had ambulances parked on it. Emergency vehicles included their crews, so, unfortunately, they were standing around waiting to be called to the scene. And it wasn't just FDNY ambulances. There were ambulances from as far away as Connecticut and New Jersey lining the street as they walked by.

Rick never wanted to lie to his daughter, but there are some things that are hard to tell a six-year-old. This was done on purpose. How could he tell his daughter that men or women had intentionally killed people using airplanes? Retreating into the safety of the loft, his thoughts went back to that young policewoman who was out there in the middle of this saving lives. He flipped on the TV; the news coverage is on every channel, live of course. He could watch both events live on the TV and through his picture window because the towers could be seen from the loft.

"Daddy, what about my first day of school?"

"Honey, with all that's going on out there I'm not sure that school will be in session this morning."

Alexis just turned to the TV to watch what was happening, upset that she would miss her first day of school.

Rick had been watching out the loft's picture window when the unthinkable happened. One second the south tower was there, the next it simply vanished. But what worried him the most was the plume of smoke that filled every street, alley, and everywhere there was breathable air when the building fell. It was quickly moving towards Canal and would overtake his building in a matter of seconds.

His first concern was his daughter. When he turned to find her, he saw her eyes glued to the TV screen. She had tears flowing down her face and he knew exactly why. He drew her into his embrace and held her, wishing that she could unsee what just happened. Then the view turned into night in a matter of seconds. The cloud of debris and smoke overtook the loft, and he knew that the air intake on the roof was sucking all of it inside the loft. In less than a minute, the toxic mix of air outside the loft was now being blown inside.

There was nowhere to go. Outside was worse than being inside, so Rick tied a towel around his daughter's head, covering her mouth and nose, hoping this would filter out what they saw around them. He did the same for himself.

10:09 am September 11th, 2001
1 WTC North Tower

Before they left for the rally point, Kate tried once again to contact the firemen and the lone Port Authority Police officer who went back up the stairwell, to no avail. The portable radio she was transmitting on didn't have the strength to connect with the repeaters. Without this, she was unable to talk to anyone.

She and Stedner had done all they could do. On the way out of the North Tower Lobby, they gathered about sixty or seventy people whose injuries were not serious and told them to leave by crossing either the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridge.

They were near the rally location when they heard what sounded like a tornado tearing apart everything in its path. When they both turned around and looked down West street they saw the North tower falling into itself…