Free The Watchers by Wendy Reakes

away. "No! No, it is not."

Chapter 11
    New York
     
    The three-carriage trai n moved slowly through the tunnel of Penn station, out into the open. The stowaways were at the end of the last carriage where some of the hostages were on seats and some on the floor of the aisle. Tom and Jay were crouched on the floor behind the back row of seats. No one had noticed them. Their presence had been lost among the crowd.
    An Iranian terrorist stood guard at the front with his rifle pointing at the people, ready to shoot anyone who gave them trouble. Permanent beads of sweat glistened on his forehead and ran down the side of his face. Someone said they could be ISIS, which meant big trouble for all of them.
    “So, what’s next, kid?” Jay whispered as he kept one eye on the guard at the other end of the carriage.
    Tom pulled his cell from his back pocket and pressed the on button. He’d turned it off just before he let off the firecracker in the station. He was pleased that he’d thought of everything. Not that anyone rang him anymore, but if they had, he wouldn’t have wanted it to ring and give them away. “I’m going to phone the feds.”
    Jay reached out and grabbed his hand, covering it with his own. “If you’ve got messages waiting, it’ll ring you. Then we’ve had it.”
    He quickly turned it off again. Jay had a point. "Okay. I've got a couple of seconds before it rings. I'll go straight into set-up and turn the sound off…put it on vibrate."
    “Well, you’d better make it quick, kid. I don’t fancy getting fried by these bastards.”
    Tom nodded and once more turned on the phone. As the display came up, he moved his fingers expertly, going to the correct call mode to change the ring to vibrate only.
    As an afterthought, Jay spoke. "Hey, why didn't you just turn the volume down on the side?"
    Tom stared at him with wide eyes. “I didn’t think of it.”
    “Man! Here I am…a sittin’ duck with a friggin’ technology expert.”
    Tom glowered. “This is new for me too, you know. I can’t think of everything.”
    Jay cast a glance at the guard with the gun. “Just get on with it.” He looked back and saw Tom pausing. “What’s wrong now?”
    “What’s the number for the Feds?”
    “For god’s sake. Just dial 911.”

Chapter 12
    Downing Street, London
     
    When Alice burton made a privat e call to The President of the United States , it had been simply to offer encouragement. As it turned out, the call took nearly an hour, the longest she’d ever spoken to him since she’d taken office.
    Alice,” he said when the call was put through. She imagined him sitting in the oval office behind his desk, rocking in his chair as she too rocked in her chair. Alice had never been to the White House and so far, she hadn’t been asked. Maybe now, with her second term in office, he’d see fit to extend an invitation.
    “Good evening, Mr President,” Alice said. “I wanted to ring and offer my support during this awful time.”
    “That’s very good of you, Alice. We’re working through it.”
    “I’m told you have six different sieges across America.”
    “That’s right, ma’am. Five of them in main train stations; New York, Los Angeles Union, Union Station Chicago, Cincinnati Union Terminal and right here in Washington DC.”
    “Terrible.”
    “Yes, ma’am. The latest has come from our airport in Jacksonville, Florida. We have a lot of cleaning up to do.”
    “Of course. If there is anything I can do.”
    “Appreciate it.”
    “ISIS is spinning out of control.”
    “Yes, ma’am. But my people aren’t sure they’re ISIS.”
    “Oh!?”
    “Iranian extremists we fear, but we’ll have more news on that later. In the meantime, we’re trying to contain each location. The hostages…”
    “Anyone important?”
    “No, thank God,” he guffawed. She knew what he meant. If they were average citizens they were expendable, but someone with a high profile…now that was a different matter