Dear readers,
here's the second part of the 9/11 story:
It all started some months after the first terrorist attack back in 1993. At the time, he was working at the Pentagon as a simple clerk. His main tasks were to go through the paperwork, make the necessary copies and forward them to other people or departments, write reports about ongoing activities and so on. Now and again he would be asked to do some more challenging jobs, like to give feedback about a defense plan or help to draft a new one.
Paul knew that something was wrong, but he did not know what exactly. Many of his colleagues probably did not notice anything at all, but he had to report to his boss more than once a day and he had seen and heard things that he had not liked. Mind you, nobody had noticed him, possibly because they had not even known he was there or that he was listening.
Well, at the beginning, he was not really listening, until he overheard words like "explosives", "collapse" or "terrorists". So he had started to listen to what they were saying while he was just writing reports at his desk or sending emails or looking for material. He still remembered the day he started to think that they were dealing with something big. It was the summer of 1999. He was making some photocopies when one of his colleagues came out of the main office. He stopped at the door, still talking to the person inside:
"So, are you sure they're going to do it?"
"Yes, definitely. I'm going to contact them as soon as possible to make sure everything is ok with the plan."
"Who's going to do the work at the towers in New York?"
"Well, that's something we'll have to take care of once we know for sure if and when it's going to take place."
What was going to take place, he wondered? He went back to his desk and sat down. He went through the documents he was copying, the reports he was forwarding to his boss, the documents he had to file. Most of them were about national security, some of them were about regulations for the New York police department and for national defense in case... of... terrorist attacks?
Wait a minute...
He went through a second pile of documents he had on his desk. Some of them were warnings coming from different sources, among them also were foreign government information services. Some warnings were about hijacking planes, some others about a few terrorists living somewhere in the US.
"They must be talking about a possible terrorist attack. After all, we are responsible for national security", he thought.
However, something was wrong. All of them were internal communications, no official statements, no communications to the president, no warning was actually forwarded to the government. He decided to put them aside and ignore them. He was sure they were going to inform someone soon.
The following week everything changed: when he went to work in the morning, he noticed that the people he worked for had moved to another area of the Pentagon. Suddenly, nobody was there. Instead, he had to report to a new boss, who explained to him that he would now work for the department of internal organization and information technology. They needed more personnel and he was the right person for the job. He actually did not mind about a change, but he wondered why. Soon, he forgot all that stuff about terrorism and went on to do his new job. Until one day...
New York, 4th April 2000
After a long working day, Paul felt really tired. He had just finished to tidy up in his office when John Davidson came in. John had been one of his superiors before Paul was moved to another sector and was mostly responsible for air defense.
"Hi Paul, how are things going?" He sat down, smiling.
"Well, fine thanks. I've had a long day today. A lot of paperwork." He sat down as well, longing to go home already.
"Listen, Paul. I've got good news for you: you've been assigned to the World Trade Centre in New York. In about a month you'll start working there. We need you there for a special job."
Paul looked up at him. He knew who worked there: defense, CIA, secret service. The news was indeed good: he lived in New York, just a few blocks away from the WTC. He only wondered why this sudden change.
"Oh really? Well, that's good. That's round the corner for me. What is this special job?"
John did not answer immediately. He first looked around and his look went to the different documents on Paul's desk.
"Terrorism", he finally said. "As you have probably noticed, there have been warnings from different sources and we have to check them out and decide what to do."
Paul suddenly remembered the warnings and the documents he had noticed a few years before. Maybe there was a connection, but he decided not to say anything about it just now.
"I see. Well, that's great. I just don't understand this sudden change. I was assigned to another department last year. Now you're calling me back?"
John looked at him and smiled. "Exactly. We need more people to go through all those documents and help us out with our plans."
Paul was happy to go back to work for the defense department. He had been working for them for years and he liked his colleagues there. Moreover, he loved the World Trade Centre in New York. He also knew a few people there and couldn't wait to move to his new office there.
Then one day...
