Chapter 2 - The Man in the Gray Jacket
The gray-jacketed man shoved through the emergency connector.
Devlin's security chief, Liam Burke, followed.
“Liam!”
Devlin's command stopped him.
“Don't chase him blind.”
Liam turned.
“He's getting away.”
“He wants you to follow.”
Devlin pointed toward the passengers.
“Secure this carriage first.”
Chantelle stared at him.
“That sounded surprisingly responsible.”
Devlin looked down at her.
“You expected something else?”
“I haven't decided what I expect from you.”
“You recognized me?”
“No.”
That answer genuinely surprised him.
“You don't know who I am?”
“I know your name because your employee called you Boss.”
Liam returned.
“Devlin Murphy.”
Chantelle waited.
Liam frowned.
“Nothing?”
“Should there be?”
A teenager across the aisle looked horrified.
Devlin almost smiled.
Liam said, “Murphy Maritime. Murphy Development. Murphy Hotels.”
“Oh.”
Chantelle looked at Devlin.
“You're rich.”
Liam coughed.
Devlin's stare sharpened.
“That is one interpretation.”
Chantelle noticed several passengers still avoiding eye contact.
“Apparently not the important interpretation.”
Before Devlin answered, the intercom crackled.
A distorted voice filled the carriage.
“Technical delay. Remain seated.”
Devlin immediately looked upward.
“That isn't the conductor.”
“How can you tell?” Chantelle asked.
“The conductor's voice was male when we boarded.”
Liam nodded.
“And the train operator is female.”
Devlin turned toward him.
“You checked?”
“I always check.”
Chantelle muttered, “Normal people don't do that.”
Devlin replied, “Normal people aren't followed from the docks.”
A second guard approached.
“Emergency service is dead. No signal from transit control.”
“Tunnel access?”
“Two hundred yards behind us.”
Devlin looked toward the passengers.
“We move them out.”
Liam shook his head.
“Tunnel could be compromised.”
“So could the train.”
A woman across the aisle finally spoke.
“My son is seven.”
Devlin looked at the frightened boy beside her.
“We'll get him out.”
The woman stared at him as though she hadn't expected reassurance.
Neither had Chantelle.
Devlin's voice became commanding.
“Listen carefully. Leave your bags. Stay together. Nobody runs. My men go first and last.”
An older passenger protested.
“Who put you in charge?”
Devlin looked at him.
“No one.”
“Then why should we listen?”
“Because whoever stopped this train expected me to panic.”
Devlin nodded toward the emergency door.
“I don't.”
The man fell silent.
The passengers began moving.
Chantelle picked up her canvas bag.
Devlin noticed.
“I said leave it.”
“My uniform is in here.”
“Leave it.”
“My paycheck is also in here.”
He stared at her.
“You carry your paycheck in a canvas bag?”
“I was going to deposit it tomorrow.”
Devlin sighed.
“Fine.”
They entered the tunnel.
Water dripped from overhead pipes. Emergency lamps stretched into darkness.
Devlin remained beside Chantelle.
“You don't need to babysit me,” she said.
“You identified the man in gray.”
“He looked suspicious.”
“My trained security team didn't notice him.”
“Your trained security team was staring at everybody's hands.”
Devlin glanced at her.
“What were you watching?”
“Faces.”
“Why?”
“I'm a waitress.”
He waited.
“That explains nothing.”
“It explains everything. Spend years serving people and you learn who is about to complain, who won't tip, who's drunk, who's lying to his wife, and who's planning to leave without paying.”
Devlin studied her.
“You read people.”
“I bring people hamburgers.”
A sound echoed behind them.
Liam raised a hand.
Everyone stopped.
Footsteps.
Several.
Devlin quietly moved Chantelle behind him.
“You really do this a lot, don't you?” she whispered.
“Do what?”
“Put yourself between trouble and strangers.”
His jaw tightened.
“Don't confuse necessity with kindness.”
The footsteps accelerated.
Liam said, “Move.”
The group hurried toward an illuminated maintenance platform.
Chantelle helped the mother with the little boy.
Then an elderly passenger stumbled.
Chantelle stopped.
Devlin grabbed her arm.
“Keep moving.”
“He fell.”
“My men will get him.”
“He's scared.”
“So are you.”
She looked straight at him.
“Exactly.”
She pulled free and went back.
Devlin swore under his breath and followed.
Together they helped the elderly man upright.
A transit access door appeared ahead.
Liam forced it open.
One by one, the passengers entered the maintenance corridor.
Devlin waited until the last civilian crossed.
Chantelle looked at him.
“You could have gone first.”
“So could you.”
“I don't have four bodyguards.”
“Neither do most people.”
The door slammed behind them.
Liam checked his phone.
“Signal.”
“Call transit police,” Devlin ordered. “Tell them civilians are inside.”
Liam stepped away.
Chantelle leaned against the wall.
“Can I go home now?”
“No.”
Her head lifted.
“Excuse me?”
Devlin held up her cracked phone.
She hadn't realized he'd taken it again.
On the screen was a photograph.
Chantelle sitting beside him on the train.
Taken minutes earlier.
A message appeared beneath it.
SHE WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN. NOW SHE IS.
The exhaustion vanished from Chantelle's face.
“Who sent that?”
Devlin looked toward the dark corridor.
May you like
“Someone who just made a serious mistake.”
---
