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“They are moving the cube now,” Lulu’s said through Doug’s earpiece. “They are walking it to the train station. We’re heading there now but you’re the only two guaranteed to be there in time.”
“Crap,” Bryce uttered as he rushed out the Chinese restaurant.
Doug was holding their bag of food they just paid for. “What about the food?”
“Forget the food!” Charlene screamed.
Doug dropped the bag and ran out the door after Bryce. “Should we try and slow them down?” Bryce asked.
“Negative,” Lara responded. “We don’t want to spook them and get a shootout in public. We need to tail them to somewhere more private. Let’s just find out what train they are taking and get on it.”
Doug had caught up to Bryce who had slowed to a more inconspicuous pace as they neared the train station. “Tailing them could be a problem,” Bryce said. “Handler could recognize me.”
“Have the idiot do it,” Lara stated. “You can get on the train when we find which one it is.”
“The bug on Handler is getting… well, buggy all of a sudden,” Lulu said. “We can’t rely on it getting the info for us. All we need is Doug to make sure we know whether it’s the Northbound or the Southbound… and he better not screw it up or we’ll strangle him.”
Doug and Bryce reached the train station. “How many are we looking for?” Bryce asked.
“It sounds like they are in a group… five or six maybe,” Lulu said. “They should be there soon.”
Doug and Bryce looked around. “Over there.” Doug tapped Bryce on the shoulder and pointed to a group of five women, Handler at the back carrying a metal case.
“I’m getting out of sight,” Bryce whispered. “Buy tickets, and follow them onto the train.”
It seemed simple enough to Doug. His first problem, though, was when he used a console to buy tickets and it asked for which train and “both” wasn’t an option. He went through the process twice to buy tickets for each and entered the boarding area. Doug got as close as he could to both platforms without committing to either. He then waited for Handler and her group and thought he should look like he was reading something to be inconspicuous. He pulled out the Chinese menu he had in his pocket and looked through it. At this point, Doug was too nervous for anything to look appetizing.
Handler and her group came in. Doug glanced up at them once and then watched them in his periphery as he stared at the menu. They went for the Northbound train. Doug waited a few moments after they passed by him. “Northbound,” he whispered into the receiver at his collar.
Doug walked onto the platform and saw the car they entered. He entered one car behind it. “Did you hear me? They’re on the Northbound train and so am I.”
There was no response.
“Guys?”
Again, no response.
“Guys!?”
A few people in the car were no staring at Doug. Still, there was no response.
“Oh, come on!” he cried and pulled out his phone. No signal. “Crap!” Doug turned to a man near him reading the news. “Could you check if your phone is getting a signal?”
The man pretended not to hear him.
“Jerk.”
“Doug? Doug? Doug!!!” Bryce looked up to see Charlene, Lulu, and Lara running towards him. “What the hell happened to him?”
“Maybe there is interference in there,” Lulu suggested.
“You didn’t see which train they got on?” Charlene asked.
“No. I couldn’t see from here. I actually thought this was something Doug would not screw up.” Bryce nervously ran his hand through his hair as he looked at the clock. “They both leave in about a minute. I guess we can run up and check–”
“No time.” Lara bought tickets off a console. “We’ll just split up.”
They all grabbed the tickets and ran to the boarding area. “Stupid gratuitously flying trains,” Lulu growled.
The train began to move, and Doug felt nauseous. He decided to sit down a moment and collect himself. It was now all up to him, but the money concerned him less that the thought of screwing everything up for his friends.
The train had moved vertically until it was completely above the city. Doug took a glance out the window at the streets below. There was no turning back.
You just have to grab a metal briefcase from five women and get away, Doug told himself. No big deal. You can do this. He started to worry that others might be meeting them at the next stop. He thought about just grabbing the case as soon as they got off and boarding whatever train was leaving the soonest, but they’d probably be able to follow him on if he didn’t time it just right. Still, it was the best idea he had.
He looked towards the entrance to the next car over where Handler and her group were. Doug thought about going over there to try and keep an eye on them, but there was nothing he could do now. He decided it was best to just sit where he was and try to relax while seeing if he could get in contact with the rest of Hellbender.
Handler and the four other women walked into his car. Doug tried not to look at them, but he glanced up once to see Handler was staring right at him. He went back to looking at his shoes, but Handler walked over to him and stood over him while Doug pretended not to notice.
She held a small device in her hand. Suddenly there was a high-pitched squeal in Doug’s radio that caused him to jump to his feet while yanking out the earbud. Doug stared at Handler who smiled back him. “Hello, Doug.”
“Um… who’s Doug,” he said in a quivering voice.
Handler laid her case down on a nearby seat and opened it. She pulled out the cube and tossed it to Doug. He caught it and immediately felt the sense of dread the device exuded. “We know you know something about the cube,” Handler said, “and we want your help with it.”
Doug looked around. Most everyone else in the car was pretending not to notice anything was going on. Jerks. He then looked at Handler’s friends who were all smiling like this was all some big joke. “I really don’t know anything… like at all.”
Handler laughed. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. Now why don’t you sit down and relax while we kill everyone on this train.”
Now people were paying attention. Doug thought maybe he misheard something. “Huh?”
There was a loud crash and the train jerked as if something struck it. Doug was knocked to floor by the force. He then heard gunfire and screaming in other parts of the train as the four women with Handler pulled out short swords and guns. He looked up at Handler in horror. “What the–”
“Haven’t you heard? We’re psychotic,” she laughed. “This is just something we do.”
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