Terror Again - Prologue. TA Prologue

“What is the emergency code for a major incident on the train?” I asked the shocked steward.

“It’s, Mr Mahoney to the Train Manager's office” the steward replied, and I pulled out a handkerchief from my pocket, pressed down the speak button on the PA system, and I calmly made the call.

Once this was done, I carefully retrieved the manager's keys, and I closed and locked the door. “Now my dear, you have had an awful shock, so I suggest that you go to where ever you staff rest and take a nap. No doubt, the police may want to speak to you when they arrive” I said to the steward, and she nodded her head, slid past me and walked towards the back of the train.

Moments later two men appeared, looking like they had been running, “Who made the emergency call, and where is Derek” the first man asked.

“I made the call after the steward told me what it is, and Derek is no long with us, he has been murdered” I whispered, so that none of the passengers would hear me, both men looked shocked, and stared at the door, “In there?” the second man asked.

“Yes, my name is Captain Struan Kenrick, I am an Army field medic and chopper pilot. He is dead, his throat has been cut, now can we go to a place where we cannot be heard, as I need to let you know about a few things” I said to the two men, as I turned and headed back to my cabin, and walked in, with the two men following me in, and closing the door.

I checked on Saw, and it looked like he is finally asleep, which I was glad about. “My name is Peter, and this is Daniel, we are the night managers, we are usually still asleep at this time of the day, but we woke up when we heard the call over the PA” one of the men said.

“Well I guess that means that you are now both in charge, since Derek is no longer alive, now to let you know what is happening so far…” I said and I explained the newspaper that we read, what we overheard from the hallway, the stabbing of my brother, informing Derek about the newspaper article, and that he was going to report it to the police right away.

I also mentioned that when the steward screamed and I went to investigate, and I looked inside, there was no sign of the newspaper, or the satellite phone, just his keys, which I had retrieved to lock the office door, and I handed the keys to Peter.

“So, we have two armed and dangerous men onboard, somewhere in this second section of gold class” Daniel said, “What do you mean this second section?” I asked, “Well, this train contains three sections of Gold Class cars, with three accommodation cars, and had 9 cabins per car, a lounge car and a dining car for each section, and there is one section of platinum class closer to the back of the train” Peter explained.

“Can a passenger go anywhere on the train?” I asked, “No not quite, from the two engines at the front, there is also the generator car, and staff accommodation car, which is always locked, to prevent passengers going anywhere near that area. As you are aware, you are two cars from the lounge car, so there is one more car, and then there is another generator car, which is locked, past that are the stores, and kitchen for the back section of the gold class, the dining car, lounge car and three more gold class cars.

The third and final generator car is next which is also locked, and beyond that, is the kitchen, dining car and lounge car for Platinum class, and three cars of platinum cabins. Finally, there is the luggage car, storing all of the excess passenger luggage, and a second lot of staff accommodation.

So, you see it is virtually impossible to walk the full length of the train, unless you have a set of keys to get access, and all external doors are locked before the train departs, so no one can slip off the train, while it is in motion” Daniel said.

“Can you broadcast on the PA from another location and is there an internal phone for the train drivers?” I asked, “Yes, there is a duty managers office in the front car of the first section of gold class, and another at the front car of the last section of gold class, and there is two-way radio and an internal phone system to the drivers” Peter explained, “I see, well I suggest that we leave my brother to rest, and I ask that you lock this cabin so he cannot be disturbed, and you take me back to the rear manager's office,” said.

Scribbling a note on the pad, I left it in clear view on the table, “Sawney, I’ve gone with the manager to a rear section of the train, I asked that he lock the door so no one can get to you, be back soon, Struan”, once the door was locked, I followed Peter and Daniel was behind me, as we made our way towards the back for the train.

Once in the Night manager's office, with the door closed, I asked Peter to contact the drivers by internal phone. “Ken, this is the senior night manager – Peter, we have a serious situation, I am handing you over to Captain Kenrick, he is an Army officer, and he has been caught in the middle of all this” Peter said in the phone before handing the phone to me., and I explained the whole situation.

“Wow, that is quite something, we have never had a murder on the Indian Pacific before, so what now?’ the driver replied.

“Where are we now and how far away are we from Cook?” I asked.

“ We are approaching Watson siding, and we are running behind by about 45 minutes at the moment, so we are about 40 minutes from Cook” Ken replied, and suddenly something that I remembered came to mind, “Gents, if I remember right, there are two old fashioned jail cells at Cook, so if we were able to detain the two men, do you think we could put them in there until the police arrive?” I asked, and Ken laughed.

“Why not, they have done the crime, so they can do the time the old-fashioned way” Ken replied, which Peter and Daniel heard and smiled. “Ken, do you have a secure line to contact the police up at your end?” I asked.

“Only by VHF radio, we have protocols for emergencies, so I will put out a call, requesting police and the RFDS at Cook siding asap” Ken replied

“Ok do that, and can we make an unscheduled stop at Watson Siding, to slow us down some more and give the police and RFDS time to get to Cook?” I said.

“You got it, later,” Ken said and he ended the call. The two managers were still chatting about how to go about capturing the two men when the internal phone buzzed.

“Ken here, Derek had managed to contact the police before he was killed, and they will be in landing in Cook in approximately 40 minutes, so no need to delay us any further, and I informed them of the death of the train manager, and that one passenger has been injured by the two men, who are still loose on the train” Ken reported.

“What about the RFDS,” I asked, “Well they will take a bit longer, as they have to come from the nearest base, which is Kalgoorlie, which is a 3 ½ hour flight, but they were dispatched at the same time as the police, so they will be at Cook in about two hours, while an Angel Flight plane is coming from Ceduna, to collect the body of the train manager,” Ken replied.

“Ok, thanks Ken, we will let you get back to work” I said and I ended the call.

“Right now, to deal with this matter with the two villains. Peter can you announce the PA system, informing the passengers, that we will be arriving in Cook, in approximately 45 minutes, and that due to a medical emergency, on arrival all passengers are requested to remain in their cabins, and keep clear of the passenger lounges until the RFDS has arrived to take the sick passenger to hospital.

We need to do a full sweep of the train, to work out exactly where these two men are, and hopefully, they will return to their cabin, and I suggest keeping all the staff in the dark about this until the two men are caught, so we don’t risk the word getting out to them, that they are being watched. Hopefully, the police can swoop in and grab the two villains unaware, and then we can get my brother to the hospital,” I said.

Peter made the announcement, and once done, with a VHF portable radio each, Daniel led me back to the alternative cabin, unlocked the door for me, and waited till I was inside and I had relocked the door, while Peter headed towards the back of the train. Sawney was thrashing about a little, and I realised that he has a fever, and I began to towel down his upper body to try and keep his temperature down.

“Peter to Daniel, all of Platinum and section three of Gold is secure, over” I heard on the radio, which was turned down low.

“Struan to Peter & Daniel, can you check the passenger list, and see if we have a qualified doctor onboard please, as my brother has a fever, over,” I said softly into the radio.

“Received and will do, over” Daniel responded.

Twenty minutes later, there was a light knock on the door, “Sir, this is Peter, I have a passenger, who is a surgeon” I heard the voice say, unsure that it was Peter, I said nothing and went into the bathroom and softly I spoke into the radio, “Struan to Peter, what is your location, are you outside my cabin, over?”

“That is negative, I am in the kitchen in your section, over” came Peter’s reply.

“Then you better get here quick, as someone is outside the cabin, pretending to be you” I replied nervously.

“On my way, Peter, I am one section away Daniel said.

“I’m on my way too, hang tight” Peter responded.

I flushed the toilet and stepped out of the bathroom, and there was another knock on the door.

“Sir, I have the doctor for you” came the unfamiliar voice again.

“Doctor, what do we want a doctor for, go away and leave my wife and me alone”, I said in a gruff voice, to try and disguise it.

“Oh, sorry sir, wrong cabin” came a reply.

I put my ear to the door, to try and listen to any voices, “That bitch, she lied to us, let’s go and sort her out” I heard a voice say.

“No, we have no time, we will be in Cook soon, so we need to hide until the train leaves again, and I wish you had not stabbed that bloke, as it …” was all that I heard till the voice faded away.

A few minutes later, I heard more voices, then over the radio, “We are outside your cabin, but no sign of the two men” Peter said, and I unlocked the door, and opened it, and the two managers quickly slipped inside and locked the door behind them.

“Where the hell can they be, they didn’t pass me, on the way here,” Daniel said.

“Did you check all of the public toilets and showers?” I asked.

“Damn, no I didn’t”, Peter said.

“Yes, I had, and I locked them all afterwards, so they can’t hide anywhere from my direction, and the door beyond the kitchen I locked, with instructions that they remain locked and no one is to go through the doors.

“Section two galley to Managers over” came a call on the radio.

“Go ahead Galley this is Duty Manager Daniel speaking” Daniel responded.

“Sir, one of the female stewards just went through the door that you locked, and didn’t relock it after, but I made sure to relock it again,”

“Understood, do you know the name of the steward, over?” Daniel asked.

“Yes, it is Kelly, she has only been with us for two months, over”.

“Understood, we will deal with her later, and not a word to any other staff about this incident, over,” Daniel said.

“Yes sir, Galley out” came a response.

“With what I just heard now, and what I heard the two men say through the door before you arrived, I think that this Kelly is a plant, by these two villains” I commented.

“Right Dan, you and I need to go back off the train and search everywhere, moving forward as we go, and locking everything behind us, that should push the two men forward, back to their cabin,” Peter said.

As soon as the two managers left, I relocked the door, and continued to cool my brother down with cold water towels, hoping that this nightmare will be over soon. As the train began to slow down about half an hour later, “Peter here, we think we have everyone back in their cabins, and all doors are now secure” a heard over the radio, and I didn’t want to reply, so I just pushed and released the button once, which I made the radio outside click once.

“Understood, see you soon,” Peter said. When the train was about to stop at Cook, I heard Daniel on the PA system, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be keeping all external doors locked, until the medical emergency is over, pleased remain in your cabins, and keep all passenger's lounges clear, thank you for your assistance” Daniel said, and we waited.

What seemed like an hour, was fifteen minutes, and Peter spoke on the radio, “Struan, this is Daniel, we have the two men and the steward, Kelly in police custody, and the RFDS are not far away. We found a doctor, and I am bringing him to you now” Daniel said.

“Ok thanks” I replied. Half an hour later the RFDS plane had finally arrived, and Sawney was given antibiotics, and medication to fight the fever, before he was loaded onto the plane, and with me and our luggage with him, we flew towards Adelaide, to get medical treatment for my brother, now that the terror attack on the rain was over.

Two weeks later, Sawney was finally released from the hospital in Adelaide, and Euan had flown to the city to collect him and fly him back home to his farm. Meanwhile, with the remainder of my leave spend at Sawney’s bedside, I flew up to Darwin, and settled into my living quarters on Robertson Barracks Army base, before beginning my posting, as the new 2IC of the 1^st Aviation Regiment, with a promotion to Captain.