9.0 by Jack Douglas

Author:Jack Douglas [Douglas, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2014-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

7

Nick and Mendoza continued up Sixth Avenue, past Washington Square Park and New York University on their right, Sheridan Square and the Jefferson Market Courthouse on their left. Mendoza had several times suggested turning west, at Bleeker Street, at Waverly Place, and again at Greenwich Avenue. But each time Nick replied, “Let’s keep going. We can cross over to the west side once we get farther north.”

Now they were approaching Fourteenth Street, the next logical place to turn left. Only Nick wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to see that the devastation had reached the west side. Wasn’t ready to find a collapsed Port Authority Building, a flattened Chelsea Hotel. Continuing along Sixth Avenue, also known as the Avenue of the Americas, shielded him from such sights, and he was tempted to suggest they follow it all the way past Bryant Park and the New York Public Library, to Forty-second Street before finally hooking a left and walking through the Theater District and past Times Square to Eighth Avenue.

When they finally reached Fourteenth Street, all of Nick’s deliberations didn’t matter. At the intersection of Fourteenth and Sixth Avenue, they found a hulking crater that reminded Nick of the one he and Sara climbed during their honeymoon in Honolulu. Diamond Head was its name. Only Diamond Head wasn’t situated in the dead center of a major metropolis. And Diamond Head had been formed some 200,000 years ago. This crater at Fourteenth and Sixth had only been here since around lunchtime today.

“Christ,” Mendoza said, crossing himself again. “How the hell do you think something like that happens? It looks like a goddamn asteroid hit the city.”

For a moment, Nick considered the possibility. But no, there were multiple tremors, which would have meant multiple asteroids striking New York City all at once. And NASA was tracking these so-called Near-Earth Objects anyway, right? What hit today was a quake. A magnitude 7.1 if the postal worker (and amateur geologist) they’d spoken to was correct. This crater had to have formed as a result of an explosion beneath the surface of the street.

Nick glanced around the intersection. The full moon was providing just enough light for him to see that whatever had caused the crater had also blown the tops off several buildings to the east and west. Whatever it was had also shredded Fourteenth Street in the direction of Seventh Avenue.

“We can’t get past this,” Mendoza said. “What do we do? Backtrack?”

Nick shook his head. “I’d prefer not to, if we can avoid it. After all the walking we’ve done, moving south even for a street or two would probably break my spirit beyond repair.” He pointed to the right. “There. We can get around it. Turn up Fifth Avenue and cross over to the west side at the next major hub, which would be Twenty-third Street.”

Mendoza said nothing, for which Nick was grateful. They were about to go out of their way solely because Nick had refused to turn west earlier for no apparent logical or rational reason.

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