8:48 A.M.
SECOND AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY
Traffic was heavy all over the city, vehicles scurrying down crowded streets and avenues at rush hour. Sidewalks were packed with people walking to work. Traffic became especially dense near the UN. Outer blocks, two or three streets away, were practically not moving. The block surrounding the UN complex was shut off to traffic behind lines of pylons and cordons, behind it dozens of SWAT and various other uniformed policemen, all clutching rifles and scanning the traffic as it diverted away from the UN.
Horns were blaring. A din of engine noise and traffic permeated the air.
Mansour was seated in the front passenger seat of the van. They were at Fiftieth Street, moving slowly in a line of traffic on Second Avenue. Taxis, Ubers, a bus; they were crawling south. At some point, as they came closer, he could see the UN building to his left, a block away, above other buildings.
“Closer,” said Mansour. “Drive!”