Chapter 2: Paul Rhodes

7:14 AM

Paul Rhodes had already been up for several hours. His wife, Elizabeth, had a huge day ahead of her. She was, after all, one of the new department secretaries of Marsh & McLennan Companies. A big business meeting was scheduled for 9:00 AM that morning, and NYC traffic was something of a nightmare to traverse through after 8:00 AM. Even though they lived just a few blocks down from Times Square in an apartment, it was still hellacious.

With Elizabeth working at the World Trade Center and Paul working at a rising tech company, Capital Novus, both had their work cut out for them. However, today was different in the fact that Paul had a day off. And he meant to use every bit of it to pester his wife of 6 months with annoyingly loving phone calls. He loved that woman dearly.

She was his everything. They had met once before at Rutgers, then kept in touch over the years. When he finally landed a job in town, her name was the first that came to mind, and within 3 months of dating they were already in love. She was kind, intelligent, and enduringly hard-headed; such were traits that Paul was just weak in the knees for.

With her office being on the 96th floor, he took almost any advantage he could of going to visit her. The city looked so wonderful up there, especially at nighttime. They had dined at Windows on the World almost twice a week since their marriage. Those two evenings would be their way of kicking off the week and wrapping up the week.

Paul dropped her off at the World Trade Center around 8:30 AM. As was the usual tradition, Elizabeth leaned in for a kiss and he happily obliged. "I'll see you later on this evening sweetheart," he said. "I'm already wishing it was that time," was her reply. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Little did he know that those words would be the last they ever spoke to one another.

A short while later, Paul parked his car a couple of blocks down from the towers and went for a stroll, heading towards Wall Street to visit another friend from Rutgers who had taken up residency in the Big Apple. Right as he was walking past a group of firefighters doing what appeared to be a gas leak check, a loud jet was heard overhead.

That's odd. What the hell is a plane doing flying that low?

He looked up to follow the source of the noise only to end up seeing a large plane slamming into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, a massive fireball rising into the shape of a mushroom almost. And right where the plane had impacted, judging from how far up the impact was, was his wife's office.

She had been killed instantly.

But Paul didn't know this right away. The firefighters next to him were now in emergency mode, moving with a purpose and acting accordingly. Paul immediately took off in a run, 10 years of a daily morning jog finally beginning to pay off. He ran as fast as he could towards the World Trade Center. And right as he was coming up to the plaza of the mega-structures, horror and disbelief unfolded before his eyes once more.

It was 9:03 AM, and United Airlines Flight 175 had just flown itself into the other tower of the World Trade Center. Paul fell to his knees and began to openly cry. He didn't care that debris was once more raining down, that the masses were in a state of chaos, screaming and running for their lives. All he cared about was getting to Elizabeth, who was now most likely dead. It hurt to come to that conclusion, but the pain of it registered as he got closer and closer to the towers before the second plane hit.

He pulled himself up off his knees and slowly began to walk towards the North Tower. Dead or alive, he was going to find his wife.

Rumbling. That was the best way to describe the sound that he heard emanating from the structure he was standing in right now. He was on the 10th floor or so of the North Tower, and it was almost 10:00 AM. Then the rumbling became louder to the point of it being deafening. He felt everything begin to shake around him and looked out the window of the office he was in just in time to see the rest of the South Tower collapse.

"Oh shit," he swore. Thousands of people were inside that building, and perhaps thousands more were trapped inside the one he was currently in. "He made a run for it, and immediately began to descend back down the stairs. His mind was engaged in a civil war in that instance. One half was screaming at him, calling him a worthless coward who was abandoning his Elizabeth to a fate worse than anything imaginable. The other half of his mind was telling him that she was already dead and that she wouldn't want him to die on her behalf after she was no longer alive.

He didn't push past people, but he ran right along with them as they were moving. He finally made it to the lobby of the building right around 10:20 AM. The cloud of asbestos, ash, cement, and God knows what else hung heavy in the air, causing him to erupt into a fit of coughs. He had to push through though, he had to keep going. For Elizabeth.

He was back to where he had first fallen to his knees after the second impact, right whenever that terrifying rumble started up again, and this time the North Tower collapsed. He knew then, as much as he hated to admit it, that Elizabeth was as dead as dead could be. And he also knew that he would go to whatever depths he had to take to avenge her death.

"You have an interesting resume Mr. Rhodes. Interesting enough that I wanted to do the interview with you myself. But a resume only says so much about someone. I want to know why it is you sought out my company to join," Charles Bliss said, curiosity evident in his tone. "What motivates you to want to work with my company?"

Paul shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hadn't expected the personal interview with Bliss, let alone an interrogation at the hands of the man. But he promised himself revenge, and after losing that which was most dear to him, he would stop at nothing to honor his promise. He cleared his throat and then spoke up.

"Simple sir. I want revenge. I want to get those bastards that struck us."

"And that should convince me? I have no use for a man that only has his mind set on some personal vendetta. I read further into you Rhodes. I am sorry for your loss, but even someone as talented as you should know that petty revenge isn't going to bring back your loved one. We operate as a team, with nothing holding anyone back. Your emotions and priorities will drag down those you get assigned to."

"Respectfully, sir, do any other engineers you have under your wing have half of the credentials I do? Anything even close to that? Because if so, then you don't need me; if that were the case, then you never should have called me back to interview me in person. I think the both of us know damned good and well that I meet all the requirements you set forth. I chose you because you don't have time for bullshit, and quite frankly, neither do I. We both are seeking something out of the aftermath of the attacks; you want to continue serving your country, and I want in on that service."

The room fell quiet after Paul spoke. He thought momentarily that he had overstepped his boundaries, until he saw the look in Charles' eyes. I look of acceptance, of conviction.

"Consider yourself hired. Welcome to the team Paul."

Hey everyone. I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last posted an update to a story. Life has been nothing short of surprises, and between COVID-19, the National Guard, and overall life itself, I have been unable to do anything within the boundaries of this particular world we all come to when we want to get away from everything else. I do hope that you all stay tuned, and I appreciate your continued reading and support. I promise the next chapter will be longer.