Escape from the Twin Towers Read online

  For Mrs. Kelly Walker and the readers of

  Gilbert Elementary School

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1: A Robin-Egg, Blue-Sky Morning

  Chapter 2: Playground Practice

  Chapter 3: Trapped!

  Chapter 4: Ninety-One Floors to Go

  Chapter 5: Escape from the North Tower

  Chapter 6: Darkness and Dust

  Chapter 7: Rescue in the Ruins

  Chapter 8: Fighting for Breath

  Chapter 9: Race to Shelter

  Chapter 10: Shoes in the Ashes

  Chapter 11: Sadness and Scarves

  Chapter 12: Search for Survivors

  Chapter 13: A Voice from the Darkness

  Chapter 14: A Race against Time

  Chapter 15: Home

  Author’s Note

  Further Reading

  Sources

  About the Author

  The Ranger In Time Series

  Don’t Miss Ranger’s Next Adventure

  Copyright

  Risha Scott held a box of muffins and stared up at the Twin Towers. She loved visiting her mom’s office at the World Trade Center. It was fun to walk through the busy, crowded plaza, with its fountain and sculpture and bright flowers. Risha loved the buzz of thousands of people, all going to work in the Twin Towers. Today she and her best friend, Max, got to spend the whole day there! They had to visit a professional workplace as part of their fifth-grade career project. Max’s dad worked downtown, too, but his office didn’t allow visitors.

  “I call that chocolate chip muffin!” Max said as they walked into the lobby with Risha’s mom. They waited to sign in at the security desk. Then they’d take the elevators up to the ninety-first floor of the North Tower, where Risha’s mother worked.

  Risha yawned.

  “You’re not tired already, are you?” her mom asked, laughing.

  “You got me up so early!” Risha said as they waited for the elevator. “But I’m not complaining. Today is going to be amazing.” Risha had on her navy blue dress with Mom’s pretty pink-and-purple scarf tied at her neck. Mom wore the bright purple dress Risha loved, with her cool red-framed glasses and black shoes with little bows on top. Last night, Risha and Mom had even painted their fingernails the same color, a sparkly pale pink. Max was dressed up, too, wearing his dad’s favorite red tie.

  It was perfect September weather, with a robin’s-egg-blue sky. On their way to the office, Max and Risha had gone with Mom to vote in the primary election for New York City’s mayor. They’d walked another three blocks to pick up muffins for everyone in the office at the fancy bakery Risha loved. Now Risha and Max would get to help Mom at work all day.

  “You know what’s going to be amazing?” Max tapped a poster on the wall. It was about the Paul Taylor Dance Company’s performance in the World Trade Center’s outdoor plaza that night. After work, they planned to buy picnic food and stay to watch the show. Risha and Max had taken ballet lessons together when they were younger. Max was still dancing, but Risha had switched to gymnastics in fourth grade.

  “That’ll be you someday,” Risha said, pointing to the men on the poster. She gave Max a fist bump.

  “Here we go,” Mrs. Scott said as the elevator doors opened. She worked on such a high floor that it took two elevators to get there! When they stepped off the second one, Risha led them down the hall to the office. Mom’s company worked with big transport ships to make sure they were following rules and being safe. To be honest, Risha didn’t really want to do that kind of work when she got older. She was more interested in being a gymnast and an art teacher. But missing school to spend a whole day downtown with Mom was too great a chance to pass up.

  They shared the muffins, and there were a few left over. Mrs. Scott looked at her watch. “I’m going to take a muffin down to my friend at Port Authority. You can hang out in the conference room, and I’ll be right back.”

  She brought Risha and Max to a big room at least three times the size of Risha’s bedroom. It had a long table with fancy, cushy chairs that spun around. Best of all was the wall of windows that looked out toward the Empire State Building.

  “Whoa!” Max said.

  Risha smiled. She’d seen the view before and was excited to share it. She pulled her colored pencils and sketchbook out of her backpack. Later, she’d need to take notes for their career project, but for now, she wanted to draw the buildings outside.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Then I’ll introduce you to some people you can interview for your project,” Mom said, and closed the conference room door behind her.

  “This rocks,” Max said. He polished off his muffin in three bites and pulled Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire from his bag.

  Risha looked up from her drawing and laughed. “Haven’t you already read that like three times?”

  “Gets better every time,” he said.

  Risha went back to work on her drawing. A few minutes later, she heard a sound like an airplane. It got louder and louder. She looked out the window.

  A plane was flying low in the sky. Too low! Risha stared as it roared past the Empire State Building.

  It was heading straight toward them.

  “Come on up, Ranger!” Sadie called from the top of the slide at the park. “You can do it!”

  Ranger jumped onto the slide. He climbed slowly up to meet Sadie, spreading his toes so his paws wouldn’t slip.

  When he made it to the top, Sadie gave him a hug. “Good job!” she said. Then they slid down together.

  Walking up steep slopes was something Ranger had learned in his special training with Luke and Dad. Ranger had been practicing to be a search-and-rescue dog so he could find missing people and rescue those who needed help. Ranger had practiced following Luke’s scent to find him when he was hiding in the woods. He’d practiced walking over all kinds of surfaces, including slippery slides like this one. But when it came time to take his test to be an official search-and-rescue dog, Ranger hadn’t passed.

  It was all because of the squirrel. In order to be a search-and-rescue dog, you had to ignore everything except the commands. You had to ignore juicy hot dog pieces and squeaky toys on the lawn. You also had to ignore squirrels. Even squirrels with big, swishy tails. Even if they ran right past while you were taking your test! That’s what happened to Ranger on the day of his test. He’d chased the squirrel up a tree instead of ignoring it.

  Ranger knew that Luke wasn’t really missing or in trouble on the day of the test. If a real person had needed help, Ranger would have helped. But Luke was just pretending, so Ranger chased the squirrel instead.

  “You sure are good at obstacles like that slide, Ranger,” Luke said, scratching Ranger’s neck. “Too bad you didn’t pass your test. But you’re still the best dog in the world.” He turned to Sadie. “We should go home. Dad’s making chili.”

  Ranger walked home alongside Luke and Sadie. When they went into the kitchen to wash up for dinner, he got a drink of water from his dish in the mudroom. Just as he was finishing, he heard a humming sound coming from his dog bed.

  Ranger walked over to his bed. He pawed at his blanket until he uncovered the old first aid kit he’d dug up from Mom’s garden one day. The humming was coming from the old metal box with the leather strap. And it was getting louder.

  Ranger knew what that sound meant. The first aid kit only hummed when someone far away needed his help. Twice, the old metal box had taken Ranger into war zones, where young men were struggling to survive. Once, it had taken him to help two girls trapped in a trembling city full of fire and smoke. Once, it had taken him to a flooded neighborhood where people had to cli
mb onto their roofs to keep from drowning. And now, the box was humming again.

  Ranger nuzzled the first aid kit’s strap over his head. The humming got louder and louder. The first aid kit grew warm at Ranger’s throat. Light began to spill from the cracks. It glowed brighter and brighter. Soon it was so bright Ranger had to close his eyes. He felt as if he were being squeezed through a hole in the sky.

  The humming stopped. Then a roar filled Ranger’s ears. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a room with a long table and big, cushy chairs. Next to the table was a tall window. Ranger looked out just in time to see a huge jet tip its wings.

  It was enormous and close — too close! Ranger barked, and a thundering crash shook the room as the plane slammed into the building above him.

  Someone screamed. Parts of the ceiling caved in. A tall shelf full of binders and books tipped and slammed to the floor. Papers blew everywhere. Bits of plaster rained down on Ranger’s back. He yelped and darted under a table. Another shelf came crashing down on top of the table. Ranger curled up on the carpet, trembling.

  When the noise quieted, Ranger crawled out. Where was he? He stepped over jagged bits of broken wall. He could hear people somewhere down a hallway. He’d go find them. Maybe they needed help. But just as Ranger started toward the door, he heard a muffled cough.

  Ranger barked. He couldn’t see anyone. But he knew that sometimes when buildings were damaged, people were trapped where they couldn’t be seen. Ranger barked again to see if the person would say anything. But all he heard was the building creaking and groaning above.

  Carefully, Ranger stepped through the broken furniture and ceiling tiles. Where was the person who’d coughed? Ranger sniffed the air. He smelled plaster and dust and smoke. Hot metal and melting plastic and gasoline. And then …

  There! Ranger caught the scent of a person.

  Wait … no …

  Two people! Ranger followed the scents to the corner of the room. That was where the first shelf had fallen on a heap of crumbled plaster. Ranger barked again, and someone called out, “Hello?”

  Ranger pawed at the heavy shelf, but he couldn’t move it. He had to bring help. He barked once more. Then he climbed through the debris to the door. People sounds were coming from down the hall. Ranger ran until he found some men and women huddled in a group. Ranger barked, and one of the men looked down at him.

  “Whose dog is that?” he asked.

  “No idea.” A woman with a torn skirt shook her head. “I’ve seen people with service dogs, but not on this floor.”

  She and the man both turned away. Ranger barked again. He pawed at the man’s leg. When the man looked, Ranger ran down the hall toward the room where the ceiling had fallen. He stopped and barked again. Then he raced to the man, and back down the hall. Back and forth Ranger ran, barking and barking.

  The woman with the torn skirt gasped. “Were Sudha’s daughter and her friend down there?”

  She and the man followed Ranger down the hall and into the battered conference room.

  “Hello?” the woman called. “Risha! Are you here?”

  Ranger climbed back to the spot where he’d heard the cough. He barked, and a weak voice called out, “We’re here …”

  “Hold on!” the woman shouted. “We’re going to get you out!”

  Risha couldn’t see anything from under the rubble, but she recognized the woman’s voice. It was her mother’s friend, Mrs. Burt, who worked in the reception area. “We’re all right!” Risha called. “But we can’t move.”

  “It’s okay. Just sit tight …” The man began pulling tiles and pieces of wall from the pile. He tried to lift the big shelf but couldn’t.

  “We need strong arms down here!” he shouted out the door. Soon, two other men came rushing in to help.

  “Easy now,” one of them said. “On three. One …”

  The men bent down and wrapped their hands under the edge of the shelf.

  “Two … three!”

  Together, they lifted the heavy shelf. A pink-nail-polished hand burst up from the plaster and dust.

  “There she is!” Mrs. Burt grabbed Risha’s hand and pulled her carefully out of the mess.

  Max crawled out behind her, coughing. Then he sat back and looked at Ranger. “That dog found us.” He leaned over and lifted the first aid kit from Ranger’s neck. “And he brought … bandages and stuff?”

  “That dog wouldn’t leave us alone until we came for you,” the man from the other room said. “You sure you’re all right?”

  “I’m okay,” Max said, and then looked at Risha. “You’ve got a big scrape on your forehead.” He took a bandage from Ranger’s first aid kit.

  “I’ll be okay,” Risha said as Max put the bandage on for her. “But I need to find my mom.”

  Mrs. Burt’s eyes darted to the other adults. Her face was full of concern. “Where did she go?”

  “She …” Risha’s breath caught in her throat. The morning came rushing back. The low-flying airplane. The crash and the dust and the darkness. The plane must have slammed into the building above them.

  Where had Mom said she was bringing those muffins? Had she taken the elevator upstairs? What if she was where the plane had hit? Risha’s eyes burned with tears.

  Max answered for her. “She said she was going to Port Authority.”

  Mrs. Burt let out her breath. “That’s way down on the sixty-eighth floor.” She put a hand around Risha’s shoulders. “Your mama’s fine. She’s probably already —” She broke out coughing before she could finish her sentence. The smoke was getting thicker. When Mrs. Burt stopped coughing, she looked at Risha. “We’ll find your mom outside. Right now, we all need to get out of this building.”

  Everyone rushed to the office reception area. Outside the window, thousands of pieces of paper fluttered down from above. They looked like giant white butterflies in the wind. Inside, the smoke was getting thicker.

  A woman gave Risha and Max bottles of water and wet paper towels. “For your nose and mouth,” she said, hurrying on to the next people.

  Max was still holding Ranger’s first aid kit. “Should we bring this?”

  Risha nodded. “Here …” She grabbed her backpack and tucked the first aid kit and water inside.

  Risha and Max didn’t have cell phones, but lots of other people were making calls. Their voices spilled together.

  “Hank, is that you?”

  “Yes, it was an airplane. We don’t know anything more.”

  “Heading down now. I’ll call when I’m out.”

  “Does your mother have her phone?” Mrs. Burt asked Risha as she held out her own.

  “I’m not sure,” Risha said, but she took it and dialed. It went right to a fast busy signal. “The call didn’t go through.”

  Mrs. Burt sighed. “Lines are all tied up. It’s okay. We’ll meet up with her outside.”

  A man came running in from the hallway. “We found a way down! Two stairways are blocked, but the other one is clear. We’ve got to go now. Follow me!”

  Ranger walked between Risha and Max as they felt their way through the smoky hallway. At the door to the stairs, everyone stopped. It was pitch-black. Fire alarms echoed through the emptiness. Someone behind them turned on a flashlight.

  Risha stood on her tiptoes so she could see. The sprinkler system must have gone off. Water was cascading down the stairs from above.

  “Careful!” someone shouted. “It’s going to be slippery!”

  The woman in front of Risha wore a bright blue blouse. Risha tried to focus on that instead of her pounding heart as she stepped into the dark staircase.

  Follow the blue, she thought as they started down the first flight of stairs. Follow the blue.

  Ranger walked just behind Risha, in front of Max. He was glad they were leaving this place. The stairwell smelled hot and dangerous, like smoke and sweat and fuel. It burned his nose and throat. Where was the fresh air?

  Two flights down, emergency lights f
lickered on. Risha was grateful. But just as she relaxed her grip on the railing, she slipped.

  “Risha!” Max grabbed her arm just in time to keep her from tumbling down the whole flight of stairs. “Are you okay?” he asked as she scrambled to her feet.

  “I’m all right,” Risha said. But she’d banged her knee hard. She wished she could sit and put ice on it, but they had to keep going. The smoke was getting thicker. Mom would be waiting for them downstairs. She’d be worried. Risha tried to count the floors as she followed the blue-blouse lady down.

  Eighty-six … eighty-five … eighty-four …

  Before long, the stream of people stopped. Risha stood sweating in the staircase, waiting to move again. But then word came up from below. Something was blocking the stairwell. They’d have to find another way down. Risha followed the crowd into a hallway. She’d lost count of what floor they were on. She and Max trailed after the woman in blue through the smoke until they found another staircase and started the long march down again.

  Follow the blue … Follow the blue …

  Ranger stayed close to Risha. He was afraid she might slip again. Every once in a while, he felt her hand on his back. He did his best to be still and strong, to steady her. The staircase was so crowded. There were so many smells! And so many voices.

  “Stay to the right!” someone shouted. Risha looked behind her. Two men were helping an injured woman down the steps. She had terrible burns on her face and arms. But she was walking calmly down the stairs, eyes ahead.

  Risha swallowed hard. She’d thought she and Max were unlucky to be trapped when the plane hit. Now she understood. They were the lucky ones.

  When they reached the seventy-first floor, Risha called to Max, “Can you get that water?” She paused so he could unzip her backpack. Max pulled out the two water bottles and handed her one. It was warm, but it felt good in her dusty throat. The staircase was so hot, and they had so far left to go. Risha leaned down and gave Ranger a quick drink, too.

  Max wiped sweat from his forehead. He pulled off his necktie. “Okay if I shove this in your bag?” he asked. Risha nodded. He zipped it into her backpack, and they started down again.