The Commuter Train: A Hijacking for Justice - Softcover

Milde, Karl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1440180121 ISBN 13: 9781440180125

Verlag: iUniverse, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

On a Monday morning in October, Carl Collingwood and his 20-year-old son Bruce hijack a New York City commuter train. They board the diesel-powered train at its northern-most terminus, Wassaic, New York. That sets events in motion that alter the lives of a host of characters including: Mike Snead, the arrogant, Machiavellian CEO of Transport International; David Price, a tough, action-oriented F.B.I. agent: and Juli Gables, an energetic but neophyte TV journalist. A brilliant inventor, Carl developed the "personal aircraft" -- a vertical take off and landing fixed-wing airplane -- that the military needs but Snead saw a way to divert some of the steady flow of government dollars away from Transport International. When Carl needed capital for his company, he took Mike's bait and mortgaged his intellectual property. Carl inadvertently missed a payment, allowing Mike to spring the trap. Carl sought redress in the courts, but somehow Mike had been able to dodge the legal bullet, leaving Carl despondent and bereft. Now, Carl and Bruce let all the passengers off except Mike. Carl's objective is to deliver Mike to Washington, D.C., to testify before a Congressional Committee on corporate corruption. Can a commuter train on a line that dead-ends in Grand Central make this trip?

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Karl Milde practices patent law in White Plains, NY. Karl is an inventor himself, having patented numerous advances in vertical take-off and landing aircraft. He is also a children's book author, having penned a series of books, called "Jason and the Detectives." Karl lives with his family in Mahopac, NY.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

THE COMMUTER TRAIN

A Hijacking for JusticeBy Karl Milde

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Karl Milde, Jr.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-8012-5

Chapter One

WASSAIC TO WASHINGTON

"All abooaard!" shouted the conductor. The few latecomers hurried up the steps to the platform to get to the train before the car doors closed. It was 6:31 Monday morning at the station in Wassaic, New York, the northernmost end of the Metro-North commuter railroad.

The doors slid shut and the train started up with a jerk.

Carl Collingwood sat in a car in the middle of the train with a duffel bag on his lap.

Carl's son, Bruce, a young man in his early twenties, took a seat in the front of the first car, just behind the growling Diesel locomotive. There were only a couple of other passengers in this car.

"Ticket?" Bruce Collingwood handed the conductor his ticket. The conductor punched it and gave it back. "You're gonna have to put that up on the rack." He pointed to Bruce's duffel bag, on the seat next to him. "This car fills up pretty fast."

Bruce nodded, and the conductor went on his way, walking down the aisle, stopping to punch the tickets of the few other passengers, and then left through the door at the rear of the car.

The train stopped briefly at Tenmile River to pick up a few more passengers. None got into the front car.

Bruce unpinned a cell phone from his belt and pressed the bleep button. His father, Carl, keyed his phone, "Okay?"

"Yeah. I'm ready."

The train slowed to a stop at Dover Plains. The station platform was filled with early morning commuters who crowded the car doors before they opened. The passengers rushed in when the doors parted, as if at the starting gun of a race, and took their seats.

One of the passengers, dressed smartly in a gray suit, was on a cell phone as he entered the car. Without taking the phone off his ear, he surveyed the available seats and chose one by a window. Mike Snead, President and CEO of Transport International, Inc., was

on his way to corporate headquarters from his country estate in the nearby town of Millbrook.

Carl, in he same car as Sneed, bleeped Bruce with his cell phone and said quietly, "He's here."

Bruce pressed an acknowledging bleep, and snapped his phone shut, hitching it quickly to his belt. He opened his duffel bag, took out a wrench, and zipped the bag closed again. Turning around with one swift movement, he used the wrench to unlock the front door on the passenger car, pulled the door partly open and slipped out. One of the other passengers looked up absently from reading the paper, but the unusual occurrence failed to register in his mind.

Outside, the roar of the Diesel engine was deafening. Bruce held on to a bracket with one hand and, with the other, deftly used the wrench to unlock the back door of the locomotive. He pushed this door open and stepped inside.

Bruce bleeped Carl: "I'm in."

Carl got up from his seat, carrying his duffel bag, and sat down next to the man in the gray suit. He placed the duffel on his lap and looked squarely ahead. Snead was oblivious, barking orders on his cell phone to some underling far away. Then Snead pulled a small computer from his briefcase and opened it on his lap.

The train pulled into the Harlem Valley Wingdale station and picked up a few more passengers. Bruce opened his duffel and replaced the wrench. When the train started up again, Bruce reached into the duffel, took out a handgun and zipped the duffel closed again. He then moved forward along a narrow corridor in the locomotive, past the roaring engine, and approached the back of the engineer.

Bruce watched as the engineer stopped the train at the next station, Pawling. He took a deep breath, stepped up to the engineer and, holding the gun to the engineer's head, said sharply but politely, "Hello. Don't move. Don't make a sound." The engineer instantly froze with fear. "I don't want to hurt you or anyone else. Just do as I say."

The train signal changed from red to green. "Go ahead. Take us to Patterson," Bruce commanded. The very frightened engineer did as he was told. Bruce unhitched his cell phone again and bleeped Carl. "We have control."

The train traveled on to the Patterson station, stopped and picked up still more passengers. When everyone was seated and the car doors were closed, the train started up again.

Bruce spoke to the engineer, more calmly now: "Call the dispatcher and tell him the engine isn't running properly Tell him you can make Southeast, but then all the passengers have to get off."

"Y-yes, sir."

The engineer's call came in to the Metro-North Railroad control room, located in Manhattan, above the tracks in Grand Central Station. The dispatcher, Phil Davis, wearing a telephone headset, sat facing an enormous illuminated track board, monitoring and directing the trains. Whenever anyone asked how he liked his work, he'd tell them "It's like a huge real-time video game."

"This is the Chief on Metro two-niner out of Wassaic."

"Come in, Jack. Is that you?"

"Yeah, Phil, it's me," came the somewhat nervous voice over the speakerphone. "We - uh - have a little problem here. Engine's smokin'. It's overheating but fluid levels are okay. I can make it to Southeast, but then I gotta dump all the passengers. They can take the local."

"Shit. Can't you keep that old Diesel running? What did you do? Feed it cow piss up there in the country?"

"You gonna let me stop, or what?"

"Yeah. 'Course. After you unload, back it onto a holding track and shut it down. We'll have someone come up there and check it out right away."

"I'll be there."

"Roger that."

Phil looked at his computer screen to see what trains were scheduled to leave Southeast station after the 6:31 out of Wassaic passed through. There were plenty of trains to pick up the slack. Next he pressed a button on the console to call maintenance.

"Metro-Central. C'mon back."

"Maintenance."

"We've got a problem with one of our Diesels. He's going to park at Southeast station. Can you get up there?"

"Uh, let's see ... Yeah, we've got a guy who can hop the next train out of North White Plains. Is it serious?"

"Serious enough to dump all the passengers."

"Oh. Well maybe he'd better take the truck with the equipment."

"Your call."

"No problem. He's on his way."

"Roger that."

Next Phil pressed another button on his console for the public address system.

"I need an announcement, now."

"Okay. Go ahead."

"The 6:31 out of Wassaic is disabled. When it stops at Southeast all the passengers will have to change to the 7:20 on the electric line. We're taking that train out of service."

"Passengers on the 6:31 Wassaic to change in Southeast to the 7:20?"

"Roger that."

Having taken care of this small emergency, Phil went back to watching the trains inch along on the Big Board.

Chapter Two

In the middle car of the train, the passengers listened intently to the announcement.

"The last stop of this train will be Southeast. All passengers are asked to get off and change to the 7:20, which will be waiting just across the platform. This train will not - repeat not - be going on to Manhattan. It will be taken out of service."

A huge collective groan could be heard throughout the car as people stopped what they were doing and began to collect their belongings, preparing to...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1440180121
• ISBN 13: 9781440180125
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland