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After finally persuading his daughter not to come, George Stacy let out a long sigh of relief and handed the phone back to Henry.
As Henry was about to put it away, he noticed that many of the people organizing equipment inside the command tent were sneaking glances at him.
Others weren't even bothering to be discreet.
Understanding immediately, Henry tossed the phone into the air toward them.
"If you need to call your families, go ahead."
Then he added:
"Just don't pass my phone all the way to the North Pole."
"Thanks, Henry!"
Several people responded at once.
Soon, a small crowd formed around the device, taking turns contacting loved ones.
---
With one worry temporarily settled, George looked back at the young man who had surprised him repeatedly throughout the morning.
"What supplies do you think we'll need?"
"Can you make a list?"
"That way I'll know what to ask the mayor for."
Instead of answering immediately, Henry grabbed a radio.
"All units, be advised."
"The North Tower has begun collapsing."
"Personnel within one hundred meters of the North Tower, watch for falling debris."
---
10:28 a.m.
Twenty-nine minutes after the South Tower collapsed, the North Tower followed it into history.
This time, however, the rescue personnel had some warning.
Having already witnessed one collapse, they reacted much more quickly.
Operations continued in an orderly fashion.
Meanwhile, Henry and George retreated back beneath the command tent.
This time, all four tent flaps were lowered.
Personnel without immediate assignments helped secure the structure and seal gaps to keep out the dust generated by the collapse.
The effort wasn't completely successful.
Fine gray dust still found its way through cracks and seams.
But it was far better than being completely engulfed as they had been earlier.
---
When the dust finally settled, Henry picked up the radio again.
"All units, report status."
Unlike the radios shown in movies and television, modern digital full-duplex systems allowed simultaneous transmission and reception.
Everyone could theoretically speak and listen at the same time.
The result, however, often resembled a crowded marketplace.
When too many people transmitted simultaneously, clarity became another matter entirely.
Normally, radio discipline existed to prevent exactly this problem.
Today, however, nobody had time to worry about protocol.
The radio immediately erupted into overlapping voices.
Multiple units were reporting at once.
To most listeners, it sounded like incomprehensible noise.
Not to Henry.
He quickly identified three units that had not checked in.
The three groups immediately responded.
One admitted they had intentionally waited their turn rather than talking over everyone else.
Another was busy rescuing trapped civilians inside a nearby building.
The third was negotiating with a newly arrived group of firefighters stationed on the perimeter.
After learning their unit designation, manpower, and available equipment, Henry immediately assigned them to operations around the recently collapsed North Tower.
He also redirected some personnel from South Tower search efforts and adjusted search zones accordingly.
Everything was documented by staff members in the command tent.
Others were dispatched to verify information independently.
The system effectively combined inventory tracking and resource allocation simultaneously.
Instead of funneling every person and every piece of equipment through headquarters before redeploying them, assignments happened immediately.
Every unnecessary step removed meant valuable time saved.
---
That initial status report opened the floodgates.
Soon, units were constantly reporting new developments.
Some reported discoveries.
Others requested medical evacuation locations.
Still others needed reinforcements.
Henry answered them all.
He allocated manpower.
Redirected resources.
Resolved conflicts.
Until the police command structure became fully operational, virtually every rescue effort depended upon one man and one radio.
---
While directing operations, Henry's hands never stopped moving.
He found paper and pens and began writing lists.
The first page contained basic emergency supplies.
First-aid materials.
Drinking water.
Emergency rations.
Those were simple.
The more, the better.
The second category contained upgraded equipment:
Generators.
Searchlights.
Rescue tools.
Protective gear.
Particularly respirators and face masks.
The demand for those had effectively no upper limit.
The later lists became increasingly specialized.
Life-sign detectors appeared first.
Then came more advanced equipment.
Multi-purpose tactical platforms.
Drones.
Acoustic detection systems.
Equipment clearly intended for professional search-and-rescue operations rather than civilian use.
---
George stared at the final page.
Especially the note at the bottom.
"Preferably supplied with trained operators."
The police commissioner looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"Can anyone actually provide this stuff?"
He scratched his head.
"Wouldn't it be faster to ask the military?"
Normally, disaster relief wasn't the primary mission of the U.S. military.
Only when local police and fire services became overwhelmed would military assistance typically be considered.
Even then, state governments usually requested National Guard support before approaching active-duty military forces.
Federal military intervention in local affairs remained politically sensitive.
Henry, meanwhile, paused his radio coordination long enough to answer.
"Didn't the mayor say he'd handle resource requests?"
"Then let him handle them."
He pointed at the lists.
"Fax copies to Stark Industries."
"Oscorp."
"Lockheed Martin."
"Any giant corporation with money and technology."
"Send the request."
"Whoever responds, we use."
George stared at the lists.
"You think that'll actually work?"
Henry shrugged.
"You miss every shot you don't take."
"If we never tell people what we need, they won't know what to send."
"They'll just send whatever they assume is useful."
"And that creates waste too."
Then he immediately returned to the radio.
---
Watching from the side, George couldn't understand how Henry managed it.
The radio traffic sounded like complete chaos.
Half the voices overlapped.
Some messages were nearly impossible to distinguish.
Yet Henry somehow extracted exactly the information he needed and responded appropriately every time.
It made no sense.
Eventually, George gave up trying to figure it out.
Some people were simply gifted.
---
Leaving Henry to coordinate field operations, George moved toward the communications section.
While cellular networks had completely collapsed, wired telephone infrastructure remained largely functional.
Even damaged lines could often be restored by reconnecting physical cables.
That included fax services.
For that reason, George had already ordered technicians to establish hardline communications between the command center and the outside world.
Now he used those lines to contact Mayor Giuliani at City Hall.
He explained the situation.
Then he faxed the supply lists.
---
Rudy Giuliani was surprised.
Under normal circumstances, governments didn't issue specific requests during disasters.
Aid usually arrived through voluntary donations.
Authorities accepted what people chose to send.
They rarely pointed at specific organizations and requested particular equipment.
But today was not normal.
New York had suffered a catastrophe unlike anything in its history.
Extraordinary circumstances required extraordinary measures.
And by the time Giuliani returned to City Hall, he'd learned another shocking fact.
The planes that struck the Twin Towers were not the only hijacked aircraft.
At 9:37 a.m., another plane had crashed into the Pentagon.
At approximately 10:03 a.m., around the same time the South Tower collapsed, a fourth aircraft—reportedly intended for the White House—had crashed in Pennsylvania.
Whether it crashed on its own or had been shot down by the military remained unclear.
Rumors were spreading in every direction.
What was certain was that the United States had already implemented nationwide airspace restrictions.
International flights were being diverted to foreign countries.
Aircraft within American airspace were being grounded.
And President George W. Bush was currently aboard Air Force One, somewhere in the sky.
No one seemed entirely certain where.
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