The heavy snowfall of the night pounds against the man’s long back coat as he quickly shuffles across the train station seemingly unnoticed. Head tucked in down low. Cap covering his scruffy thick black hair. Scarf wrapped tightly over his nose and mouth. Black leather gloves covering his large experienced hands. The only visible features of the man in the long black coat are his glossy Hazel eyes. The only feature not immediately threatening about the man.

The train station is calm and vacant at 2:30am on Monday 8th December 2016. Just the way he likes his assignments, silent and secluded. He keeps his head low staring at his feet as he keeps walking briskly in one direction, heading north. A loud PA breaks the silence of the nearly empty station. * Train number 386 approaching platform 74. * He quickens his stride wanting to meet the train in time to enter unnoticed by the other riders.

The train quickly approaches platform 74. The doors slide open and tired riders shuffle out of the train. One man quickly darts inside of the train through the last door in the front of the train behind the cockpit. He sits quietly and unfolds the most recent newspaper and starts to skim the headlines while waiting for his target to enter the train. Several men climb aboard sluggishly sitting and preparing for the long journey ahead as there is only one destination for this train. The P.A. crackles through the speakers, * Train departure in one minute. * The man’s hazel eyes narrow and scan back and forth throughout the train car. No luck, the man’s target is not on the train.

The doors of the train start to slide close as a man in a suit and tie lunges through the doors and slides into the nearest seat trying to catch his breath. “Whew, almost missed it. “

Two men quickly follow him inside and sit on the opposite side of the train car saying nothing upon their close call. The man in the long coat peered over his newspaper and quickly looks back down trying to stay unnoticed. The train lurches forward and begins its journey out of the big city. It travels for two hours until it breaks out of the city tunnels and comes out on the other side headed straight for another city on the other side of the state.
The man lays down his paper and looks around the train car, all except one man are still awake. The man in the suit and tie. His name being Richard Harvey. He is a mechanical genius. Known for consulting N.A.S.A in building space shuttles and the U.S.A. military in wartime weapons and also the Secretary of Defense for keeping enemy wartime weapons out of the U.S.A. The two men following him are his highly trained bodyguards who are even more highly paid by the government to keep Mr. Harvey safe throughout his traveling and multi-billion dollar business deals. As for the man in the long coat? He is William Maxwell.

The train continues speeding down the track as it is narrowing in on the large city. The train is about fifteen miles away from the city when a large eighteen wheeler rolls onto the tracks and parks so that the cab is off of the tracks but the large trailer is directly in the line of the train’s path. The conductor quickly applies the emergency break and the train slowly comes to a halt a few hundred feet away from the large trailer. The P.A crackles, * please bear with us as it seems there is a break down on the tracks.*

All is quiet as the conductor opens the door to the cockpit and the train’s mechanic climbs down from the train and approaches the eighteen wheeler.  William looks around the car to notice that Harvey is now awake and obviously confused as to why the train has stopped. His body guards are now standing and curiously looking out of the train’s windows. William switches his gaze to the trailer still on the tracks. The mechanic is about twenty feet away from the cab of the truck when the door slowly opens and an angry truck driver climbs down to greet the mechanic. The two men who are now in front of the truck pull open the hood and start to look over the engine.

Confused and angry passengers are now coming to the front of the train to see why the train is stopped. One large man in particular starts yelling at the conductor saying he is going to make him late and this is un-acceptable. William stands up. “Excuse me sir, what do you expect this man to do when there is an eighteen wheeler parked on the train tracks? Now please go back to your car and have a seat.” Immediately passengers start yelling and a riot breaks out as men are yelling at William and the large man who started the whole conflict throws a punch a William as another man try’s to attack the conductor. William stops the man’s fist from coming in contact by grabbing his arm and bending it behind the man’s back as he shoves him back through the train car door knocking over several passengers.
The conflict continues to increase as a group of passengers push their way back through into the car and knock over Harvey. People who recognize him immediately gasp and back up in shock. His two body guards who are now furious start screaming at the men and pull out their side arms from holsters, aiming them at the crowed. Panic rushes over the whole train in a matter of minutes as the crowed who knocked over Harvey run from the front of the train to the very last passenger car yelling that there are terrorists who have taken the conductor hostage. The conductor who is now panicking suggest that Harvey the two bodyguards, William and himself get into the c*** pit to protect themselves from angry passengers.

As the small group closes the doors to the small room they look peer out of the windshield to see how the mechanic is doing. As they look out they see the truck driver point to what seems to be the problem all of a sudden as he has the mechanic distracted he clubs him over the head with what looks to be a hand gun. The truck driver starts to advance towards the train as he bangs his handgun against the long trailer. The two large doors at the end swing open and a whole army of men in what looks like riot gear jump out onto the tracks and swarm to the train. The conductor quickly enters in a five digit security code and locks down all the doors before anyone reaches the train.
The swarm of attackers immediately get into position and open fire on the doors of the train. The doors don’t hold up and a unit of 20 men enter the train followed by many others as they go car to car taking hostages. The conductor tries to radio in to the command center but all he gets is static on the other end. It isn’t long before there is a loud knock on the cockpit door. Everyone stays quiet as the knocking continues. A few shouts are heard then the clicking of switches before a large volley of fire hits the door in-between the small group of men and the large mass of attackers. The fire does close to nothing as the cockpit door is made of metal that is two feet thick.

William looks around to Harvey his two men and the conductor. “Any ideas? “ He asks.

His question met with silence from three and one wide grin from a proud conductor. What is it he asks? Well the man starts before he clears his throat. There is a hatch in the floor that leads under the engine and opens up directly to the ground, it was installed for mechanic use in case the power dies and the whole train is locked down. William looks at him with doubt on his face. What about the hundreds of armed men all over the train?  They are on the inside. If we can get under the train and get over to that truck unnoticed we can get to town and get some help from the police. Alright I’ll go. You continue to try the radio. And you two obviously are going to stay here and keep Mr. Harvey safe. The door is thick enough to hold them off for a while.

William swings open the heavy hatch and descends down through a few feet of wires until he feels gravel under his feet and he crawls down and out from under the front of the train. He rolls and jumps to his feet as he takes off sprinting towards the truck. He makes it unnoticed and climbs up into the large cab. He checks the ignition and they keys are gone. Of course, he mumbles to himself. He looks around and checks the visor, cup holder and the glove department to no luck of finding the keys. He climbs out of the truck and makes his way around the back of the trailer. He can hear voices coming from inside. From what he can make out they are talking about how they can get inside of the cockpit. William pulls his pistol out of his coat and attaches a silencer. As far as he can tell there are at least two people and no more than four.. That are talking that is.
He jumps up into the trailer and aims his sights on the one talking pulls the trigger twice and moves his gaze to the other man and fires twice more. Two bodies fall and he looks around as looks of horror cross the faces of the men’s guards. He quickly aims and puts one bullet into each of the four guards. They gasp for air and fall silently. He switches his pistol clip and continues into the trailer. He turns on a flash light and peers around the trailer that is stocked with weapons and technology made for jamming radio frequencies. This must be what they used on the train radio. He steps closer to the jammer and switches it off. Next he goes over to the weapons and armor and gets suited up in riot gear.  He takes some extra gear in duffle bags and heads back to the train.
William approaches the train with the gear in his hands and throws the bags up through the hatch. He gives Harvey’s body guards some riot gear and machine gun each. He then gives Harvey a suit of riot gear. “Alright”. William says. So we know this is about the same stuff the attackers are using and there’s a lot more of them than there are us. However we have the advantage of defending this room and the element of surprise as we can get in and out of the train unnoticed. Now conductor try your radio. The conductor switches on the radio and tries to contact the command central. Still all they hear is static. Hmm alright well now Mr. Harvey you stay here with the conductor and us three will try to eliminate some of the attackers. Mr. Harvey looks around doubtfully. “ uhm im not supposed to leave my body guards at all.”  Well don’t worry we will give each of you a gun to protect yourselves. The bodyguards turn and hand Harvey and the conductor a handgun. Now if we can go get more weapons we can come back and we will all be armed better and actually have a fighting chance.

The three of them lower themselves down the hatch and roll out from under the train and crouch into position aiming at the doors of the train and take off sprinting towards the trailer. Just as William and the two body guards reach the edge of the trailer the hear someone sneaking behind them. They all turn and aim their rifles at the man. The mechanic throws his hands up in the air. Don’t shoot! They all lower their guns. Come on in the trailer. Quick. They jump up into the trailer and they help the mechanic get suited up and they all get armed with rifles side arms and a few tactical grenades. They each fill two duffle bags with more equipment and make their way back to the train.

William throws open the hatch and climbs in and pulls up all eight duffle bags and helps everyone into the cockpit. They latch down the hatch and get everyone suited up.  “Alright.” Williams says. So who here shouldn’t fight? All of the men look at Harvey. Alright well he is precious cargo. So he will stay in here with the mechanic. Because he was recently hit over the head. The rest of us will try to get more people to help us fight. We have to rescue some hostages.

As the four of them leave the mechanic latches the hatch and moves a heavy seat over it, just in case. So Mr. Harvey, what business are you on?  I really shouldn’t speak of it. He replies. That’s alright it doesn’t matter. The mechanic stands up over Harvey and aims his rifle at him. Stand up and stay quiet. Harvey’s mind is racing he drops his gun and stands up fear racing through his veins. Now we leave. Says the mechanic. He grabs some zip ties from the maintenance closet and uses them as hand cuffs. One on each wrist and one in the middle to tie them close together.

William and his small group make their way to the end of the train and bust through the last door. They aim their rifles high go in one by one expecting to have to fight their way through. To their surprise, there is not a single attacker. Although there are a few passengers who have terrified looks on their faces and arms in the air. Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot us please! They cry. Shut up! William yells. We aren’t here to hurt you. Has anyone else been through here? The train suddenly lurches forward before anyone could respond. Then stops again.

William looks out of the train door to see the engine car heading down the tracks and push through the trailer and on towards the city. The train engine car split away from the rest of the train. It continues down the track at high speeds disappearing away from sight with Harvey. The whole reason William had come all the way from England to make sure he wasn’t abducted. As Williams failure disappears down the tracks there is a loud noise coming from the open door and he looks just in time to see a lone man standing in the door way. Holding a gun aimed high at Williams head. Then everything goes black. His last thought was not fear but only failure.