Joselyn sees two uniformed cops patrolling the station on the other side of the tracks. “Give me a moment, I’ll have to go back up and over the top so I can tell them what’s happening. I’ll be right back.” She leaves me standing on the platform as she heads back toward the ticket area.

I turn again and look for Thorn, but I don’t see him. I am beginning to think that he caught one of the Metro trains and disappeared before we got down here.

I look back toward the ticketing area where Joselyn was headed and notice that she’s still on the platform, and she’s not moving. She is stopped near a pillar, standing there motionless, not saying anything and not moving.

I start to walk in that direction and suddenly Thorn steps out from behind the pillar. He has one hand on her arm and the other in his coat pocket. The way he holds it there I can tell he’s handling some kind of weapon.

“Never mind that your friend’s seen us,” said Thorn. “This way.” He held her arm, gripping it hard above the elbow, and pulled her behind him, retreating toward the far end of the platform.

Thorn had already seen the two cops on the other side. He got up close in Joselyn’s ear from behind. “Don’t say anything,” said Thorn, “just motion with your hand. Tell him to stay away. Do it or I’ll kill you right here. Trust me-I can shoot you and nobody’s even going to hear it.”

Joselyn moves her right hand out, her palm facing me, away from her waist, her fingers open and extended, and while Thorn grips her arm tightly, she waves me off, a sign that I should keep my distance.

All I can do is stand there and watch as Thorn, with his hand around Joselyn’s arm, retreats toward the other end of the platform.

Suddenly I hear the rush of air coming from the open tunnel behind them. A train pulls up and stops at the platform. The automatic doors open and a flood of passengers disembark while others wait to get on. In the press of bodies, the invasion of a new army onto the platform, I lose sight of Thorn and Joselyn. Then I see his head. I move a few feet toward one of the open doors of the train in case he tries to get on.

He sees me and stops. Before he can move again, the doors close and the train starts to move. Thorn realizes that his best chance to escape has just pulled out of the station. Instead he backs up toward the open tunnel, pulling Joselyn along behind him. As I stand there and watch, he pushes her off the platform, down onto the tracks, and then jumps down behind her.

In the rush and commotion of the train pulling out, I look across to the other side. The two uniformed cops are gone. When I look back at the tunnel, both Thorn and Joselyn have disappeared into the darkness.

I run for the end of the platform, lean over, and try to peer into the tunnel, but I can’t see a thing. I hear footsteps shuffling in the gravel along the bed near the tracks, somewhere off in the distance.

I jump down and enter the darkness. It takes a minute or so for my eyes to begin to adjust. I can make out warning signs, red lights facing in this direction in the distance. I start to make my way deeper into the tunnel. Every few seconds I stop and listen for the shuffling of feet on the gravel. And I keep moving. I worry that if I get too close and a train comes, Thorn may throw Joselyn in front of it and try to escape amid the screeching steel wheels and chaos that follows.

I look down. There are two sets of tracks. One on this side and one on the other, three rails for each set. Two of them are safe, the third one, off center and just inside the rail nearest me, carries high-voltage electricity for the train. It is deadly. Touch it, even wearing a rubber-soled running shoe, and you’re toast.

As soon as they were enveloped in darkness, Thorn pulled the silenced Walther PPK from his coat pocket and held it firmly against the side of Joselyn’s head as he pushed her through the tunnel. He kept her moving as fast as he could.

He had no idea how far it was to the next station. His plan was to kill her with a single silenced shot to the head the moment he saw any light at the end. That way he could emerge alone into the station, where he could take the escalator up to the street and disappear. He wasn’t sure what he would do about his passports or his luggage. That he would have to think about, and figure it out when he got there.

As all of this was running through his mind, Thorn looked up and saw a bright light in the distance. For a moment he thought it was the next station coming into view. Then he realized it was a train coming his way.

I see the lights approaching. I jump the two rails next to me, skip over the other rail, and then clear the opposite set of rails carrying traffic in the other direction. I want to get to the far side of the tunnel before the train lights me up for Thorn to take a shot. With me on one side and him on the other, the train will be between us, at least momentarily. If I can move fast enough, running down the other side of the track, I can be on top of him before he realizes it.

I wait until I feel the rush of the wind, the pressure wave in front of the train as it fills the tunnel. Then I start to run full tilt down the other side of the tracks. I hear the squeal of the wheels on the steel rails as the headlight flashes in the darkness. The noise of the train drowns out everything except the pounding of my heart in my ears.

As the train reaches me, I sprint as fast as my legs can carry me. My feet kick up gravel. But Thorn won’t be able to hear a thing, not with the sound of the speeding train in his ears. The lighted windows race by, like a falling ladder. The instant they pass I am once more immersed in darkness. But the sound of the retreating train still covers the noise of my feet on the gravel.

I jump the two rails closest to me, then the outside rail and the other set, and within a few seconds my back is pressed against the side of the tunnel, into an alcove formed by one of the large steel reinforcing ribs that arches overhead and supports the tunnel. I strain my ears, listening for the sounds of feet shuffling on gravel.

Then I hear it. I can’t tell how much distance I have made up, but it doesn’t sound right. Suddenly I realize why. Joselyn and Thorn are no longer out in front. They are behind me, coming this way. I can hear Thorn talking to Joselyn, telling her to keep moving.

I realize what has happened. They had stood stationary, probably pressed against the wall of the tunnel as the train approached and then went by. All the while I was running past them on the other side.

Thorn must have been looking back for me, using the lights of the train to try to scope me out in the darkness. Instead, I am already past him.

Now they are closing in on me. I can’t tell how close, maybe no more than ten or fifteen feet away. I can hear Joselyn breathing heavily as he pushes her along. “Keep moving, bitch!” He shoves her and she stumbles forward, landing on her hands and knees almost at my feet. She looks over and sees the bottoms of my pants legs. There is an expression of shock on her face when she sees me. Then she looks away.

My body presses against the side of the tunnel. The only thing between Thorn and me in this instant is the arching steel I beam.

Joselyn gets to her feet, takes two steps, and just as Thorn clears the I beam she begins to run. Her sudden action must have startled him, because it takes him a second before he realizes. He focuses all of his energies on the pistol in his hand. He raises it and takes aim just as I reach out and grab his wrist with both hands, forcing the muzzle of the gun up.

Thorn pulls off the round. The pistol coughs and the bullet ricochets off the ceiling of the tunnel.