The Island by Coes Ben

Author:Coes, Ben [Coes, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, Mystery, Crime
ISBN: 9781800325586
Amazon: B097D6M8ZX
Goodreads: 58556979
Publisher: Canelo Action
Published: 2021-08-17T07:00:00+00:00

48

9:05 A.M.

MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL

COLUMBUS CIRCLE

NEW YORK CITY

Rob Tacoma stood naked in a large, marble-tiled shower, in one of several bathrooms in the penthouse condominium. The warm water was perfect.

Tacoma had spent $40 million and bought into the Mandarin at the development stage. Today, the condo was worth at least one hundred million dollars. But Tacoma didn’t think about that, and he didn’t care. It was simply where he stayed when he was in New York. The penthouse suite of rooms was dimly lit, with interior walls of wood and exterior walls of glass in every direction. The most amazing view was, without question, the front: a sheer wall of glass that looked out on Central Park and the crowded streets below, and people; distant, though, like objects seen from an eagle’s aerie on a high mountain.

Then, he felt it. It was a sharp quiver to the very foundation of the building.

The massive apartment took up half the penthouse floor of the Mandarin Hotel. It also had come with a stunning, large, rectangular terrace that faced Central Park. The views were astounding. The most cutting-edge engineering firms had been hired. Glass was everywhere, clad upon a steel chassis as laid out by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Yet, whatever had just exploded outside made the Mandarin tremor and bend.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of breaking glass.

Tacoma lurched for the shower door and sprinted naked into the living room, running to the windows that looked out at the city. He was soaking wet and tracked water even as he charged to the window and looked out as a pair of mushroom clouds filled with smoke and fire ballooned over the skyline. Then a third vibration shivered through the skyscraper and—a second later—two more explosions echoed from somewhere to the south, and then the telltale mushroom clouds of orange fire spiraled into the sky from there too.

Alarms inside the Mandarin began wailing from the hallways—and emergency government sirens on buildings all over the city started a frenetic medley of rising high-pitched chaotic distress signals.

The air was soon covered in a layer of haze as smoke was blown from each of the tunnels across the darkening sky.

Tacoma stood on the terrace. His eyes were drawn to the streets below, Central Park South, Columbus Circle, and he saw dozens of people running in every direction as guns were fired. He searched and then registered two, then three, then three more gunmen. They were different from the others, the pedestrians just fleeing. Each man was armed with an automatic rifle. Another low boom from one of the rifles went off, and he saw the flash. He tracked the sound, then saw a woman falling to the ground, shot in the head at close range.

Tacoma watched calmly as three gunmen moved randomly, looking for prey, pumping slugs. They shot anyone they could find, gunning people down in cold blood on the streets, people in cars, even gunning up at buildings, trying to sow terror and chaos.

Clouds of smoke clotted the air even as the gunmen moved, indiscriminately killing people.

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