James Patterson - Don’t Blink

There wasn’t any.

The loading gauge of the tunnel looked to be only a few inches higher than the train itself. Even if he lay flat, he still wouldn’t clear it. It was either jump or splat!

Or get inside that damn train in a hurry.

Keller shifted his body alongside the panel, desperately throwing his weight into the crowbar as the tunnel kept getting closer and closer to its end. The vibration of the train felt like an electric shock through his body as the air whipped over him, blasting his face, pushing the beads of sweat off his brow like rain on a windshield.

“C’mon, you son of a bitch!” he yelled at the panel. “Move!”

TIME WAS MEANINGLESS – and I had no idea how many minutes, how many seconds, had actually passed so far. A burst of late afternoon sun hit my eyes as we shot out of the underground tunnel leaving Grand Central Station. It felt like we were practically flying off the tracks.

Torenzi had barked at the engineer to “gun it” and that’s obviously what he was doing. Given that the poor guy had a gun aimed at his head, I could hardly blame his accommodating nature. Funny how that works.

I squeezed Elizabeth ’s hand. “Stay behind me,” I whispered, stepping between her and Torenzi.

I wasn’t expecting any small talk or chitchat from the bastard. Whatever his plan was, it didn’t include telling me all about it. He’d come to kill me, and the only reason he hadn’t done it yet was to make sure he wouldn’t get caught. But I had to die – I knew too much.

I figured we weren’t about to pull into some town in Westchester and step off the train, la-di-da. Agent Keller had seemed sure of it, too. Still, he had plotted every scenario the moment Torenzi had hung up on me at the hospital and had arranged for local police to be camped out at every station all the way up to New Haven, the end of the line.

“Just in case Torenzi’s stupid,” Keller had said.

But we both knew he wasn’t. He was daring as hell, and he was smarter than I would have thought. Actually, I’ve noticed that before about professionals in Europe. They work hard; they learn their craft – even the hit men, apparently.

Torenzi turned to the engineer less than a minute later. “Stop the train,” he ordered. “Right here! Now.”

The engineer slammed the brakes like… well, like a guy who still had a gun aimed at his head.

We skidded along the rails, the train wheels scraping like countless fingernails on a blackboard. I spun around to catch Elizabeth, who was hurtling toward the ground. Not a good thing when you’re wearing a bomb, I was thinking. All I’d been focused on while on that train was how to make sure Elizabeth survived this. I was the reason Elizabeth was here, and so far there was nothing I could do to help her.

Torenzi held every advantage, literally. The gun. The detonator. A plan to kill me. I held nothing. Except a very scared little girl’s hand.

Out the window I could see dense trees on both sides of the track. We were shielded from view and it wasn’t by accident.

“Please, leave the girl alone!” I shouted. “You’ve got me. I’m the one you want.”

“You’re right,” said Torenzi calmly, reaching into the engineer’s cabin.

He hit the button for the doors to open. Then he raised his gun and aimed it dead center at my chest. For the first time, I let go of Elizabeth ’s hand.

“GET DOWN! GET DOWN, DANIELS!”

Out of nowhere came a voice from the back of the train car. I didn’t know who it was at first, and I didn’t care. It was someone!

And suddenly that someone was shooting at Torenzi! I grabbed Elizabeth and yanked her down to the floor with me as Torenzi fired back. Bullets whizzed over our heads as I connected the voice to Agent Keller. But how did he get on the train? And did I really care how?

Looking up from the floor I saw Torenzi grab the engineer in a choke hold. Next, he jammed his gun right into the man’s ear.

Keller stopped firing.

“Stay where you are, asshole!” Torenzi warned as he forced the engineer up the aisle in front of him. The closer he got, the more I tried to cover up Elizabeth with my body.

The train fell nearly silent, the only sound the low hum of the idling engine. I didn’t dare look at Torenzi as he came toward us, not even a glance. All I wanted was for him to get off the train, even if it meant he’d never be caught.

But as he reached the open door right by us in the vestibule, he kicked me in the ribs. “Get up!” he said.

He kicked me again even harder, to make sure I had heard him and was getting up.

Slowly I began to stand, and before my knees could even straighten, Torenzi pushed the engineer down and grabbed me in his place. I was his new hostage, his ticket off the train, and of course I was his target as well.

But Keller had other ideas. What was he doing now?

His gun gripped tight in his outstretched hand, he began walking toward us down the aisle.

Torenzi barked. “STAY WHERE YOU ARE!”

Keller didn’t. He kept walking, his mouth clenched so tight I could see his jawbone rippling along his cheeks. He seemed like a man possessed. What was he doing? Didn’t he see the gun to my head?

In fact, that’s all he saw.

Right before Keller shot me in the chest.

THE FORCE OF the bullet’s impact knocked me out of Torenzi’s grasp. It happened so fast that even if he’d pulled the trigger and tried to blow my brains out, he probably would’ve missed. Besides, what was the point? Why bother killing me when the FBI was doing it for him?

As I fell to the ground, Torenzi thrust his gun forward and opened fire on Keller. I couldn’t see much, though. Shit! Did he get Keller? Did Keller get him?

No! And – no!

I saw Bruno Torenzi dive behind the row of seats across from where I lay wounded. I looked over at Elizabeth. “Don’t move!” I said to her.

She nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I won’t, Uncle Nick. Are you okay?”

Next to her was the engineer, clinging to the floor. Our eyes met for an instant and it was as if I could read his mind. I should’ve called in sick today!

I hear you, buddy. Me too.

I could see enough of Torenzi to tell he was reloading. One hand was holding his gun, the other removing the magazine.

Wait! Where is the detonator?

My eyes searched the seat next to him. There it was.

I didn’t stop to think. I didn’t stop at all. I pushed off the floor with both hands. Then I lunged for the detonator, scooping it up in my hands.

I had it! But now what could I do?

Torenzi turned to me and I was maybe four feet away from him – point-blank range.

That’s when Keller shot him for the first time.

Blood sprayed as Torenzi took a bullet above his elbow. He let out a horrific grunt and spun around to shoot back at Keller, only to take another bullet higher on the arm, some-where just below his shoulder.

But the killer didn’t go down. Instead, he fired back at Keller.

Then Torenzi bolted off the train. The last sound I heard was his footsteps on the gravel around the tracks as he raced into the woods.

KELLER LOOKED LIKE a blur in a comic-book-inspired movie as he came sprinting down the aisle.

“I’ve got the detonator!” I yelled, holding it up. With the other hand I was pointing out the door of the train. “Don’t let him get away!”

But Keller went nowhere except down on one knee, right by my side. “Suspect armed and on foot,” he announced into his radio. “You okay?” he asked me.

My chest felt as if I’d just danced with a wrecking ball, but all things considered? “Yeah, I’m okay,” I said. I handed him the detonator.