They sealed the stairwell and the penthouse went quiet.
In fact, it was so quiet the hum of emergency power sounded like a living thing. Glass walls made the world a picture, and all they could see was the drowned city framed on three sides. For a breath it felt like distance had been restored.
Then the ocean stood up.
From the forty-second floor, the first twenty-foot surge didn't look like a wave so much as the horizon lifting a shoulder. Streetlights smeared into a single white vein, then vanished as water rose and shoved itself into the grid.
The casino tower took the hit with a low, spinal groan. Carpets trembled under their boots as the glass in front of them thrummed.
Zubair glanced at the mullions and moved closer to the glass, not to touch, just to see what was going on. "It will hold," he said. It wasn't a guess but rather a decision he made out loud so it would become true.
The harbor swallowed the waterfront again.
