Nick checked his watch again, and with a couple of minutes to spare, walked to the front of the car. Looking through the forward window, he could see perhaps a dozen heads in the upper deck of Car 2, most of them seated toward the center of the car. The windows were tinted and he couldn’t make out any detail. Any one—or all—of them could be the terrorists he was looking for, but the only way to know for sure was to enter the car and clear it one person at a time.

He would do that shortly, but now his watch indicated that Monroe Falls was rapidly approaching. He walked back to the center of the car, stopped, and checked his watch again. The controller in his hand had a button for each car on the train. He pressed number 6, checked his watch again, and gazed out the back window. His thumb pressed the RELEASE button.

He felt a mild jolt, just a shudder under his feet. As the shudder faded, he tried to look past Car 5 to see if Car 6 had released, but couldn’t be sure.

He began to see buildings out the side windows, farms and barns and a few houses, sweeping past at two hundred knots. The train horn sounded, but the Express never slowed an inch. Suddenly he saw the town, streets and shops and homes, then the Express swept through the station at full speed and Nick relaxed just a fraction.

That was one load off his mind…

He turned toward the front of the car and his eyes narrowed—on the top deck of Car 2, one of the passengers was on her feet, standing in front of the window not more than six feet from the front of his car, facing him. He felt his skin crawl as he saw that she was about eighteen, slender and pretty, with long red hair.

She was smiling at him. She raised her right arm and he saw her thumb press down onto something in her hand.

Behind him…

Car 6 exploded.

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