INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series) (37 page)

As they both pushed through the crowd, they could only see the people who were all casually wondering around, as if they were just sent there to make things more hell for them. Alan also tried to act normal, but it was hard in this high voltage situation.

They soon reached the centre where a classic two sided clock was kept, always. It was shining with the main dial, which as well maybe gold plated, and below it was a tiny room covered with glass, where some authorised people sat using computers.

Alan stepped there near the glass room, stopped and looked around. What he could only see was the faces or the heads of people, but maybe Donovan’s men were also in there, mixed with this entire people, maybe now they were staring at him, smiling, joking, about his ignorance, and his plan that was never going to work out.

Oh! Stop it, he said in his mind. But when Alicia said ‘Stop what?’ he understand that he actually uttered that word physically.

He then shook his head and said ‘Nothing’ as he started scanning the faces of everyone here. Well not everyone was possible but as much as he could. But they all looked the same, some relaxed, some eager, some in a hurry, but no one looked weird or what you could term as suspicious.

This was time consuming looking at everyone and everything, finding Donovan’s men like this was literally impossible.

Alicia pushed two more people out of her way and came near Alan. ‘What do we do now, Mr. Smith?’

Alan didn’t even had time to say that ‘It’s just Alan. Not Mr. Smith’ he felt irritated but kept quiet about it.

‘I don’t know. There got to be someone here, who could take us to the kid. There is surely someone. We’ll just have to find him’ said Alan keeping his eyes fixed on nowhere in particular.

‘It’s impossible to find his man, among all these people, well where are the uniforms, we didn’t see any outside. Did you?’ said Alicia.

‘No, and that’s because they were in their normal dresses and we were not really looking for them’ said Alan.

‘And how do you know, that there will be his men among the crowd, there may not be anyone here, right? Maybe we’re just over thinking ourselves. And --’

Alan interrupted. ‘In that case, we will have to find them ourselves. Come on then; let’s check out the other platforms’ said Alan who nearly had to shout because of the noise that was gulping their words.

They walked past the clock and some security areas as they soon reached the other end where a US flag  hung at the very end of the main hall and it was said to be there after the 9/11 attacks.

They moved away, came out of the main lobby, and found themselves wondering on the third platform. Here there was a small bookshop and another stationary shop just by the side of it. They could see a train waiting in the tracks of the 4
th
platform just on the other side of the third.  It seemed like the train was ready to leave and was maybe visiting Connecticut or so was written on it.

Alan still walked through the lobby following the platforms yet ignoring them. Alicia also walked behind him, as she thought it would be better not to talk and irritate him. And this was not the best time to worry about anything or talk.

The first and the second platform were just parallel to the 3
rd
one as they also crossed this one and came near the fourth one, the train area.

‘Mr. Smith, we will not be able to find the boy just like this’ said Alicia at last. ‘We should inform the uniforms and call for some more backups for canvassing the terminals’

‘Backup won’t work...we have to do this alone. It’s the best possible way we can help out the boy’

‘We can’t find the boy anyway’ said Alicia.

‘That doesn’t make me feel any better’ said Alan. ‘Look the kid cannot be in the middle of the station like, say - here, he’ll be somewhere, where not much people will go, some place hidden. So you see it’s going to be a hard job finding a hidden child’

‘Yes I know that, and that would’ve been fine unless we were this short on time’ Alicia clarified it.

‘Oh, would you keep quiet for god sake!’ now Alan was annoyed. ‘Did you just come down here to talk me out of this?’

‘It’s true, just look at your watch’ she said. But Alan didn’t feel brave enough to look at it. ‘Call Kevin and Ryan, tell them we failed, they should move on with their plan now’

Alicia hesitated, as she was not sure if Alan really meant it or was he just testing her to get her reaction.

She waited for a few more seconds but Alan’s face looked serious enough to convince her that he really meant it.

She took out her phone and started dialling Ryan’s number. But just then Alan grabbed her hand and said ‘No don’t’

Alicia was confused now. ‘But you just said that -- ’

‘I did, but that was before this’ Alan swiftly replied.

‘Before what?’

‘Stop talking, just look’ said Alan and pointed at a man who was perhaps 70 yards away from them.

He wore a black suit, black tie, black Ray ban shades, and black shoes, like men in black, only that his shirt was also black instead of white. They could also see a Bluetooth attached to his left ear.

He looked strong and well built, and was turning his head, and wilding gazing everywhere. He wasn’t relaxing or didn’t have any intention of catching a train or something, he just stood there or sometimes moved from one side to another. Clearly, he was checking out the region for some reason.

‘Who’s he?’ asked Alicia.

‘Donovan’s men’ answered Alan keeping his eyes fixed on that man. He didn’t want loose his sight.

‘How do you know that he’s Donovan’s men?’

‘Look, wearing suit, and looking like an agent, that’s what Donovan’s men looks like. Didn’t I tell you that they normally doesn’t look like thugs, they’re more gentlemen than even us’ he said. ‘And see, that he’s just keeping watch on everyone, like a security guard, he isn’t keen on getting up on a train, is he?’

‘So he’s working for Donovan?’

‘Got to be’

‘That means he’s just making sure that no one, like cops or anyone are here to get the child’

‘Yes, the child is somewhere here and he’s just making sure the area is clear’

‘So he’s playing the role of a bodyguard’ understood Alicia. ‘There could have been more of them in the main hall, maybe we missed them in the crowd’

‘In their suits, they’re hard to miss because normally they will stand out from the crowd...but yeah maybe we missed them’

‘But are they informed about something, that some police are going to check the region’

‘How would I know?’ said Alan. ‘But I don’t think so. But I think they’re just doing a routine duty, keeping an eye on everyone’

‘Got to be’ said Alicia and waited for some more seconds. The man was still there standing looking everywhere. Soon they heard an announcement that a train was going to arrive at the 3
rd
terminal within some minutes or so. Alan understood that if a train arrives now naturally the area would get crowded, so they might lose this man in the middle. That was why he ushered Alicia to get a little closer. They kept a distance of 40 yards then stooped hiding behind a pillar.

‘What if he’s also a normal citizen waiting for this train to come?’ said Alicia. Her head was full of theories. ‘It’ll be really awkward if we go and try to confront him and then it turns out he’s not our man. Then what?’

‘That’s why we don’t confront him right away’ said Alan. ‘And trust me, even if we do, he’ll not turn out that way’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘Look at the waist portion’ Alan pointed. ‘There is a little bulge which is rather hard to notice but it’s there, you see. And I can bet that it’s a holster carrying an automatic gun or something ready to fire anytime’

Hearing that Alicia shook his head, appreciating Alan’s observation skills in her mind. She just said ‘Well that’s a relief then’

‘Just stay focused’ said Alan. ‘The terminal is about to get more crowded, you don’t wanna lose sight of him’

Some more minutes passed and they stood patiently, Alicia once looked down at her watch and made a helpless face, by which Alan understood that they were bleeding time. He didn’t need to ask that. But he ignored her and turned back to that man.

‘Where did he go?’ said Alan as in the split second that he turned at Alicia, he lost the man.

‘There he’s walking there, straight through the left side of the platform’ said Alicia as Alan also found him this time, the man walking casually  just like anyone else .

‘Come on, let’s follow him’ said Alan . They also walked with a little more pace as they knew they could cover up the few yards of area between them anytime, as the suited man was walking rather too slowly and casually.

But still the increasing crowd was a distraction for them, Alan kept an eye on him as Alicia kept her eye on Alan and followed him briskly. They felt a little hot and tired, as the sun was out now again and people were sweating. But they couldn’t afford to stop and sooth themselves as they got to end this thing first.

‘He’s increasing his speed’ Alan notified Alicia which means that they should also start walking faster.

He was reaching the end of the platform and now he was looking straight and was drastically increasing his speed, but still normal people would not say that he was in a hurry.

‘That side’ said Alan as the man turned left after reaching the end of the terminal. If he had gone straight again then he would have found the Hudson terminals.

They soon reached that end and turned to that bend. Alan asked Alicia to stop as he first peered his head a little and looked if anyone was there. But no one was there, it was just a totally deserted long corridor with both the walls properly tiled but they were not looking so clean. Sunlight was coming in from the other end but the middle was dimly lit with some poor quality LED lamps.

Only the man was there, walking steadily along the way. Alan and Alicia could not follow him in there right now, if the man turns back for any reason he would certainly see them and they would have no place to hide or take cover. It would be game over for them. There seemed to be no room here to enter and hide themselves save those filthy toilets on the left, which was better left unused.

The gap between them was gradually increasing and the suited man was getting far away from them. Still they couldn’t take any action yet. Alan still thought it was better to wait and watch.

‘What we going to do now?’ Alicia asked who never had any patience about anything.

‘I don’t know. But one thing is for sure that we can’t follow him in there, right now’

It would be really risky, thought Alan. It was better to see where he goes than to enter the corridor now.

‘Then we might lose him don’t you think?’ said Alicia.

‘But still if we go inside and he understands that someone is following him, then he will turn back and shoot us down. That’ll be no good for us’

‘We have guns too, we can shoot him back’

‘But shooting is not our main priority, it’s saving the child that is important here’ replied Alan. ‘And if we kill him right now then we will never know where he would have gone, and where they kept the child’

‘That’s right. But he’s getting away anyway’

‘Wait a minute’ said Alan. ‘Where’d he go?’

‘Who?’

‘The man’ said Alan. As he saw now the corridor was empty, when he lost sight of the man for a moment. ‘He was here walking just a few seconds back, now he’s gone’

‘Did he just vanish?’

‘He got to be there. For one second I moved my eyes and he vanishes’

‘So how’re we gonna find him back?’

‘Only one way, we should check out the corridor first’ said Alan and now stood in front of the corridor as no one was there now, and there was no fear that someone might turn back and shoot him. He tried to estimate the length of the long corridor but of course, that was not really possible at this moment. ‘Maybe he went out from the other end of the corridor so if we walk fast then we might be able to catch him’

‘Let’s go, then’ said Alicia. They soon slipped inside the corridor and followed it with a steady pace. They wanted to break into a run but that might make a lot of noises in this empty place, so they stuck to walking. They also found a nasty smell coming from the toilets, but they ignored them and walked along. Alicia was eyeing the other end, but suddenly Alan grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

‘What?’ asked Alicia.

‘Stop, look here’ said Alan. He also turned back and showed a door of the same colour as the walls on the right side which they crossed and came. Anyone would have missed that door.

‘A door?’ Alicia repeated.

‘Yes’

‘What for?’

‘Look the man vanishes after he went here through this side, I watched him walking up to this place. And here’s a door, maybe he’s inside’

‘Oh, that’s great then’ said Alicia.

‘Wait, let me check it out first’ said Alan as he moved closer and tried pushing the door a little , and hoped that it wasn’t locked form inside. To his relief it opened as he pushed it and also without making that cracking noise that, some doors usually make.

He made a small gap and kept his eye in the middle. But inside it was dark, so there was nothing really to see.

‘I can’t see anything’ said Alan standing straight again. ‘We need to go inside and check it’

‘Are you sure it won’t be dangerous?’ asked Alicia.

‘Donovan is dangerous. Maybe he doesn’t look like that but he is. So if his men are in there, then you can of course expect the place to be dangerous. But that would mean that the kid would also be in there’

Alicia understood and said ‘Then we will have to’

Alan increased the gap a little more, that would be enough for them to enter. They soon entered and closed the door behind them as quietly as possible.

‘Remember the floor is made of iron’ cautioned Alan. ‘So walk slowly, you don’t wanna make any unwanted noise’

‘I got it’ nodded Alicia.

It was a balcony kind of place, there was another floor below this one. He came at the edge of it and looked down to see , if there’s anyone below this floor or what was there. He saw a man there sitting wearing a pitch black jacked with a burning cigar stuck between his fingers.

He could see no one else. There was also a yellow coloured light below, but he could also not see the main bulb , or from where  the light was coming. There were some crates nearby and he sat on one of them.

Alan also noticed a long , iron , spiral staircase which leads down from the balcony. And anyone from below could come up through it.

‘There is a man there’ said Alan.

‘Do we need to go down?’ asked Alicia.

‘If we do then we will have fight that man,  and I don’t know how many of them are here’ said Alan. ‘First check out the rooms, what do you say?’

Alan moved towards the first door they could see, just a few metres away from the door they came through.

‘It’s dark inside’ said Alan checking it form below.

‘That means no one is inside’ whispered Alicia.

Alan moved towards the second one, and it was also dark inside. The door was also made of wood, so they didn’t want to make any unnecessary noise trying to open it without any reason.

‘Then no one is there in any of these rooms. They are all dark’ said Alan quietly.

‘But look there’ Alicia said in a controlled voice and pointed to the corner most room which was on the other side. ‘You see, there , I think it is a crack in the door and I see some light in there’

‘Okay then maybe someone is in there’ said Alan. ‘Let’s check it out’

Alan walked steadily avoiding any noise and then he reached that door. Just on the opposite side of the door, they came in through.

Alan came and stood in front of the door, the crack was not big enough to see everything that was inside, and still Alan kept his right eye on the crack and tried to see what was inside, straining his eye. As usual, he couldn’t see anything properly, but he stood up, he saw everything he wanted to see.

‘We got him’ said Alan.

‘What?’ said Alicia surprised to hear this.

‘The kid is in there’

‘Really?’

‘Yes’

Alicia instantly stooped down and looked through the slight narrow crack in the middle. There was a dim whitish light glowing inside and a couch type of thing, which looked old and hard, was kept on left side. On it sat a big man, she couldn’t make out how he looked or anything but she could clearly see a large gun lying beside him. On the other side sat Jake with arms crossed and looking down.

‘Yes, he’s there’ Alicia stood up.

‘Told you’

‘So what’s the plan now?’

Alan thought for a moment then said ‘We can’t just open the door and bring him out ok, there is a man guarding the boy inside and  he’s armed . If we do that he will shoot us, and all over’

‘Okay?’ Alicia knew that Alan had something more to say other than that.

‘Then we will have to think about some other way’

Alicia thought that Alan had already sorted out a plan about how to save the kid. Now Alicia will have to think about some way, which is –

‘Of course’ suddenly said Alan in a controlled voice breaking her thoughts.

‘What?’

‘Here’ said Alan and came near the corner wall turning back. ‘Here’s the power switch. The main switchboard’

‘So you wanna turn of the lights?’

‘Exactly’ said Alan with a happy face that was hard to see in the dark, already. ‘Here is a handle, you see this, this is the main thing, you grab it and pull it down, all the lights are gonna go off’

‘But that would alert everyone here. They will start to wonder what happened’

‘They’ll not. At least not so fast. They’ll think that it’s just a power fault. But this man inside this room guarding the boy will come out to see what happened for sure, and you know what to do next’

‘But doing that we’re gonna get trapped’ whispered Alicia back.

‘You never get trapped in the dark. You escape’. Alan held the handle tightly then tried pulling it down, at first it was a little jammed but it eventually had to surrender to Alan’s strength.

The lights went off, they were accustomed to the dark already so they didn’t feel it much, but they hoped that the man inside would feel it.

Instantly one of the men shouted from downstairs. ‘What the hell?’

‘Who killed the power?’

‘It’s the cable fault or something, maybe’ the other one said. Restlessness took over the atmosphere. ‘Current doesn’t goes off at this time, you faggot. Someone must have killed the lights’

Someone yelled back. ‘Godammit! Check it out’

By now, Alan could understand clearly that there were more than two people here. Maybe three or four , he calculated hearing his voices.

Suddenly they heard another cracking noise just beside them. The man soon came out from the room with his gun in his hands, murmuring words to himself, just like they expected him to.

Alan could never have missed this chance. He knew that the man was heavily built and Alan was nothing in front of him, but still what else could he do now. He would have to do what he thought he should do.

He quickly jumped on the back of the man, grabbed his throat and gave three hard punches on his baldhead with bony hands. It would surely hurt ,Alan thought. Then he pushed him and the man fell on the ground.

But it was not long before the man again started standing up, Alan was ready, he knew only three punches could not knock out this man, whole. Alan this time pulled his legs as he was about to stand, making him loose his balance and fall again. The man cursed himself, but now the man grabbed the shotgun that was with him. With the other end he gave, a solid blow targeting Alan’s face but Alan ducked a little which made the hard gun hit his shoulders. A pain arose in his shoulder joint, which was starting to numb his hands and the triceps.

Alan staggered back and now the big man was on his feet, he took Alan, gripped his throat and pushed his head firmly against the wall. Alan choked but he managed to say ‘Get the kid, Alicia’

Alicia didn’t had to get the boy, the boy himself came out to explore the exterior of the room and to see what was going on. As Alicia noticed that, she overtook both the men who was involved in a solid dual and went over to the boy so that he doesn’t wonder of somewhere and get caught again. But before Alicia could catch him, the boy moved back a little.

‘Who are you guys?’ the boy said with a kind of face Alicia couldn’t see.

‘We came to save you’

‘Are you cops?’

‘Yes, we are’

‘Then it’s okay’

Alicia caught him now and the boy didn’t try to resist.

‘I got him, Alan’ Alicia said.

Now the other’s voice below were more alert.

‘What the hell is goin’ on, why don’t someone switch on the lights?’ one of them yelled.

The other one replied ‘Something is going on upstairs , I hear noises’

Someone else again ran near the stairs and said ‘I think we got a intruder in here’

‘What?’

‘Upstairs’

‘They must have come to take the boy!’

‘Oh, yes! Correct!’

‘I’m gonna kill anyone I find in front of me – ’

‘Let’s go man, they’ll escape’

‘The doors, lock them first’

‘Yes!’

Some more yelling followed as some of them hurried to the stairs as soon as one of them acquired a torch, a high-powered one. They were also armed with guns with them.

‘Come one Alan, they are coming upstairs’ Alicia was suddenly aware that she didn’t say it in controlled voice, she actually yelled this.

Alan’s head was still getting pushed against the wall, his face was becoming hot so was his head. Alan turned back with a great force and gave two solid kicks on his stomach, but the man had enormous muscles in his stomach, he didn’t even feel the blows, he held on, trying to crush Alan’s head against the wall.

This time Alan gave another kick again, and surprisingly the man let him go, growling in pain and anger. A minute later Alan understood that he must have hit his crotch, that’s why he got an effect, which was more than desired. The man fell in a kneel down position, Alan swung his legs to land another crushing kick in his temple, and the man fell down on the ground for the third time now.

‘They’ll lock the doors’ said Alicia. ‘We need to run’

‘Who was that, I heard someone’ someone shouted.

‘Yeah, it’s a lady. I think it was’

‘What ?’

‘Yeah’

‘Open the damn flashlight’

‘Where’s the switch’

‘I can’t see, man’

‘Oh. Damn’

All of them were now upstairs as three to four men blocked their way.

‘Just open the flashlight and kill anyone you see, except the kid!’ another man who had a gruff voice and was closer to them said.

‘Come one’ said Alan softly as they all ran and nearly came face  to face with one of the men, who was now fumbling trying to switch on the torch, but Alan suddenly snatched the light from his hands and in turn banged it on his head.

He pushed him against the railing and tried to throw him off the floor, and he did succeed, the man fell down with his torch, making a terrible wail. The man was seriously injured for sure.

‘He killed him’

‘Yes’

‘Shoot!’

One of them who had the gun fired some random shot without getting to fix the aim, and fortunately, all the shots missed Alan and co.

The shotgun which that big man was carrying was now in Alicia’s possession as she also tried shooting them down , and squeezed back the trigger for three times till the very end.