At the far end of the same floor, on the side without a view, the other point of light shone over a different desk. Its surface was covered with stacks of paper flying flags of multicolored tabs on the margins and topped with Post-it notes. In the shadows six feet away stood a different woman, six inches taller and ten years younger. She looked even younger with her sloppy ponytail and pale bare-skin face. She, too, was dressed for a workday, though not in designer wear, and she, too, stared at her reflection in the glass, but her face wasn’t still. A muscle twitched at the corner of one bleary eye, winking on and off like a semaphore. She’d been at her desk for more than fourteen hours. Wearily she turned, slid some papers into a battered canvas bag, and picked up her coat. There was no lock on her office door, and she left it standing open.

As she trudged to the elevator, a hush swelled through the penthouse corridors, broken only by the abiding hum of the building’s mechanicals. They wheezed like a hospital ventilator on a comatose patient.

When she arrived at the elevator bank, the older woman was already there. She didn’t respond when the younger woman spoke to her. The center elevator arrived. The doors slid open. The women stepped on. The doors closed.

911. What’s your emergency?

We’re stuck in an elevator. The power’s gone out.

Okay. Can you tell me your name?

Shay Lambert.

What’s your location?

Marketplace Tower. We’re stuck in the elevator. The power’s completely out. I pressed the alarm button, but nothing happened. The intercom isn’t working, and the air compressor’s out, too, I think. We’re in total darkness.

Is someone there with you?

One other person. Lucy Carter-Jones. This is her phone I’m calling on.

Is she all right?

I’m not sure. She seems pretty upset.

Let me talk to her.

Okay. Hold on. I have to turn on the phone light so I can see where she is. Okay. There. They want to talk to you. [pause] I’m putting the phone to her ear.

Hello? This is the 911 operator. Can you tell me your name?

[no response]

Hello? Are you all right?

[no response]

Hi, it’s me again. Lucy’s not talking. She seems really out of it. We need to get her out of here.

The Fire Bureau has been dispatched. Please stay on the line.

I don’t know. This phone’s about to die. It’s got like one percent charge left.

Stay on the line. Rescue workers will be there soon.

No. I better conserve the battery. I might need the flashlight again.

Best if you stay on the line, ma’am.

No. But thank you.

Hello? Hello?

Part I

Chapter 1

FEBRUARY 2, 2014

11:16 p.m.

The motor started up with a chug of gears that sounded like teeth gnashing. The lights flashed on, and I scrambled up off the floor and charged for the doors. The elevator plunged beneath my feet, so fast it felt like free fall, but I didn’t care. I wanted down, I wanted out. In seconds we reached the lobby level. The doors opened and I burst out—into a semicircle of waiting men.