Black Smoke and Fighter Jets

The chatter on board the first busload of K-9 search specialists died suddenly when they approached the tunnel into New York City on September 11. “We saw black smoke and fighter jets,” said Sarah Atlas, “and it got real quiet.” Even more sobering was the thunder of the third World Trade Center building, whose collapse shook the rescuers walking toward the disaster site that afternoon. “I’m scared,” Atlas confided to one of her teammates. As she neared Ground Zero with her search dog, Anna, she heard firefighters and police officers murmuring, “The dogs are here. They’ll get our guys out.” But after ten 18-hour days of crawling over the pile, they found nothing but smashed corpses and body parts. Atlas knew her work was at an end when Anna—exhausted, dehydrated, bloody paws, and melted conduit burned onto her belly—just laid down and would not get up. The worn-out handler and her rescue dog came down from the mountain of ruin, but an off-duty policeman brandishing a photograph stopped her. “Please, please,” he begged. “Have you seen him? Can you please go back and look for my son?” He pulled a T shirt from a paper bag. “Can the dog just smell my boy’s shirt and go back again?” Atlas had to turn and walk away.