I thought Clancey, too. It was surreal.
My son had been sent home from school on the 10th with a bad bronchial infection. We were both up a lot during the night, he was quite ill, and I had already planned to take a half day. Although I had awakened at 7.30 to call him off of school, I actually went back to try to get some rest while he slept and was awakened at 8.43 am by a call from a family member who said, 'You have to turn on the TV and see this.' I was stunned. I turned on the TV to see the first plane hit. I tried to call my sister who was in the Boston metro area but there was no getting through. I called a friend who I knew did not watch TV and would want to know. I was glued to the TV and saw the 2nd plane hit and both Towers fall.
I might add, I work in the finance/investment world (in PA), so in addition to horror of watching the horror unfold, the loss of life and the uncertainties of just what else might happen, I was in touch with my workplace and supervisor finding out on a whole other level more details. The market of course did not open, not all week. And, at the time, we waited to hear if or when it would or could.
I thought Clancey, too. It was surreal.
In the mid 90’s Tom Clancey published “Debt of Honor” and Dale Brown published “Storming Heaven”.
Both books featured planes crashing into the capital.
What was really weird, is that both books were published within a month of each other.