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Marcus was desperate to get to the roof.

Only there, outside the concrete stairwell, would their satellite phones work. Only then, Marcus knew, could he call Roseboro and get a helicopter to pick them up and take them to safety. As Marcus ascended, however, he remembered that none of the employees who worked on floors above the Skydeck had been evacuated.

Coughing violently, he grabbed Pete and Jenny and pointed to the doorway to the 104th floor. Using hand gestures, he did his best to explain that he was going to round up anyone on the floor and send them to the roof. He motioned for them to clear the next two floors and meet him at the top. They instantly took his cue and raced to their assigned floors.

Marcus burst onto the 104th and found a mass of people terrified and huddled in the vestibule, away from the shattered windows. He tried shouting instructions to them, but no one could hear a thing. So he pointed to the roof. As they filed into the stairwell, Marcus moved from office to office, looking to see if anyone was still there. When he found two women hiding under a conference table, clutching one another, he pulled them out, led them to the stairwell, and again pointed to the roof. Then he made one last sweep around the floor to make sure no one else was left.

Back in the stairwell, Marcus was barely able to see because of the amount of smoke now pouring up from below. He knew Pete and Jenny were clearing the 105th and 106th floors, so he burst onto the 107th. It looked empty. He hoped people from the lower floors had already alerted them and sent them to the roof. Still, he could not bear the thought of anyone being left behind. Moving office to office, restroom to restroom, kitchen area to maintenance closet, Marcus finally confirmed that the floor was, in fact, clear.

He found Pete and Jenny back in the stairwell, and they all spread out on the final floor—the 108th—then raced up to the roof. Now that they were out of the wind tunnel created by the building’s crosscurrents, the wind—though still strong—had lost some of its force.

Smoke was rising from the north, east, and west sides of the building. Still, the air was marginally more breathable than what they’d been experiencing for the last several minutes.

Jenny took a head count and found that there were only forty-two people total. Marcus had no idea how many people had been in the building at the time of impact, but he took some comfort in the fact that it wouldn’t be twenty-five thousand. Still, he feared many others had come to watch the event at the stadium from the unique vantage point of their offices.