Turning back toward the MTA officers, Harvath asked for the quickest way up to the street level. One of the officers pointed to a doorway at the other end of the platform and told him the stairs led to a service corridor just off the hotel lobby. Leaving their motorbikes behind, the team ran for the door and bounded up the stairs. When they hit the service corridor, they raced toward the lobby door, and that’s when they heard the telltale sounds of gunfire.

Abdul Ali ejected his newly spent magazine and slapped in a fresh one. They must have found the body on the train tracks. It was the only reason he could think of for the police having found them. But at the same time, such a disproportionate response could only mean that the officer he’d shot wasn’t dead. The man must have radioed in the details, because what had just showed up was no ordinary police unit.

The heavily armed ESU team laid down waves of suppression fire. They were incredibly accurate and extremely disciplined. Through the fog of the firefight, there was something else that was clearly evident. These men were angry. Their city had been attacked. Fellow policemen and citizens had been killed and now they were prepared to fight to the death if they had to. It made Ali extremely nervous. He knew that a motivated, determined enemy was the most fearsome foe of all.

The ESU team threw so much lead in their direction that even the five battle-hardened Chechen Spetsnaz soldiers were showing signs of concern. While an eventuality like this had been considered, it hadn’t been deemed very probable. Their plan from the beginning had been to tie up as many tactical units as possible and then never to stay in any one location long enough for any to catch up with them. The ESU team that had found them must have been attached to a nearby high-probability attack site, maybe Grand Central itself. Whatever the case, Ali had no choice but to order his men back into the 49th Street stairwell.

Once everyone was inside, Sacha slammed the door shut. As he followed his soldiers up the stairs, he removed the last two fragmentation grenades from his tactical vest. Halfway up, he rigged a crude booby trap. Though it wouldn’t hold their attackers back indefinitely, it would at least slow them down and hopefully thin their ranks by two or three men.

Bursting into the Grail facility’s entry corridor, Sacha began barking orders at his four remaining men. In the event that they couldn’t find another way out, they were going to have to make a stand right where they were. Both Sacha and Ali knew that the longer they stayed there, the greater the chances that the Americans would be able to summon backup. If that happened, not only would Abdul Ali’s mission be in jeopardy but so would the lives of all the men on his team.

The escape route that seemed to make the most sense for them was the one they immediately dismissed. If it was the MTA officer who had drawn the ESU team to the scene, then it was very likely there were police on the train platform downstairs outside the freight elevator. Going back the way Ali had come was definitely out of the question. That left them with either the 50th Street stairwell or the private exit from the garage.

Staring at the carnage that had been created during the assault on the Grail facility, Ali began to formulate a plan.

By the time Harvath and his team stormed through the Waldorf’s Lexington Avenue entrance, the sound of gunfire had already stopped. They couldn’t help but suppose the worst.

Running toward 49th Street, the team pulled up short just before the corner of the building. Peering around the side, Harvath saw a very well equipped NYPD Emergency Services Unit preparing to breach what appeared to be a Grail facility stairwell door.

Raising his ID above his head, Harvath whistled to get the men’s attention and began walking toward them. Seeing the weapon tucked into his waistband, several of the officers spun and squared up on Harvath ready to fire. He didn’t have to see the red dots painted on his chest to know that their laser sights were lighting him up like a Christmas tree. He moved purposefully, but without making any sudden moves that could be misinterpreted.

“Department of Homeland Security,” said Harvath as he came within earshot of the team commander.

The commander waved him off, yelling, “We’ve got active shooters on site. Get the hell out of here, now!”

“Negative,” said Harvath as he continued approaching. “My team and I have been on their trail most of the evening. Trust me, you’re going to need our help.”

Though reluctant to waste any more time, or accept assistance from a Federal agent he knew nothing about, the commander was smart enough to realize that Harvath might very well have intelligence that could prove helpful. Leaving a contingent of men to watch the door in case the shooters reemerged, he moved behind the safety of a blacked-out Tahoe parked on the sidewalk to speak with Harvath. “Okay,” he said, “you’ve got about thirty seconds to tell me what’s going on here.”

Harvath really didn’t care about maintaining the secrecy of the NSA and its covert operation, but nevertheless he remained circumspect. “The men inside that stairwell have hit three other government installations this afternoon.”

“Three others?” replied the man whose name tab on his vest identified him as McGahan. “This is a hotel, not a government installation. The closest thing we’ve got to government inside this building is the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to the UN.”

“There’s a special freight elevator from the train platform beneath the hotel,” said Harvath. “It goes to a secret facility within the hotel that is being used by one of our intelligence agencies.”

McGahan looked at him like he was nuts. “Are you for real?”

Harvath gave the commander the broad brushstrokes of what they had witnessed up to that point and then let the man make up his own mind.

It didn’t take McGahan long. “And you’re sure about the diagram that marine gave you?”

“One hundred percent,” said Harvath.

McGahan walked over to one of his men, relieved him of his radio, and brought it over to Harvath. “I wish I had more, but that’s all I can spare. Our truck is two blocks over and I don’t think either of us want to waste any more time.”

“You mean, this isn’t your truck?” asked Harvath as he took a step back from the Tahoe.

“This belongs to whoever the shooters are.”

Harvath should have known they wouldn’t leave their escape vehicle too far away. With its lights left flashing, who would have suspected it was anything other than a very official vehicle on very official business? It really was a clever idea. “Did your people look through it?”

“We were just wrapping up a quick cursory when the shooters came out of the stairwell and began firing at us.”

“Did your men find anything?”

“No. It’s pretty clean.”

Harvath nodded his head. A more thorough search of the truck would have to wait. Hopefully, though, it wouldn’t be necessary. Pulling the LaRue tactical knife from the sheath on his vest, Harvath punctured both passenger-side tires. One could never be too careful.

“Okay, then,” said the commander. “Get your team over here. I want to brief them and be inside that building in less than three minutes.”

Harvath signaled Herrington, who brought the rest of the team from around the corner and up 49th Street to where he and the commander were standing.

Compared to the special response unit, Harvath’s team was woefully underequipped, but there was nothing they could do about it. Even if the NYPD officers had wanted to help out, it wasn’t as if they drove around with duffels full of extra helmets, kneepads, and body armor. What they did have, though, were explosives.