So, Walter waited for the briefing to be over and for someone to come and relieve him and as he did, he thought about how the city had already changed and how it would continue to do so. When the news first came out that Trident had been hacked and all the money was gone, like many people Walter didn’t really believe it at first. Then he assumed that the bank could just be bailed out and things would go back to normal; he had never imagined that things would end up like this.
In one way, it was just like any other disaster. The main problem with New York City was its people, not the lack of money. Walter knew that would start to affect them soon and in serious ways, but for the time being the people reacting to the incident were the ones causing the trouble. Being a cop meant putting a lot of things on the line, but who you were as a person was top of that list. Dangerous situations normally revealed a person’s true colors and New York was discovering just how dark many of its people’s colors were. Walter could only hope that the new initiative they were about to implement didn’t highlight this further. He wanted to save his city and its people, but he knew that couldn’t be done if the bad overpowered what good was left.
Chapter 15
“Walter, we need you. We’ve got civilians trapped underground on the subway. Some people clearly didn’t get the memo not to use the stupid things during the blackouts.”
Walter Davies sprang into action. Following the briefing given by Captain Banes he had been helping reassign officers across the city, focusing on the key areas where vulnerable people were amassing and in danger. This was not on the original bulletin though. They had been advising people not to use the subway for days now, they’d have shut it down if they could get a hold of any of the operators, the things running on an entirely automatic schedule nowadays.
“What?” He questioned, pushing some papers to one side and standing up next to his fellow officer. “You can’t be serious. Where?”
“Just a couple of blocks from here, near the 51st Avenue station.”
“Right,” Walter checked his weapon was secure and started walking toward the doors of the precinct. “How many guys can we spare?”
The man who had brought Walter the news was a detective about five years his junior called Matthew Naylor. He nodded in response as it dawned on him that meant he was going out on the case, folding up his sleeves and striding alongside the Lieutenant. “I’ll grab Dicky and Harris. Meet you at the front.”
Walter nodded. Lewis ‘Dicky’ Dickinson and Harris Ledger were another two officers who he had never worked closely with prior to a couple of days ago. Like Matthew Naylor, they came from the 122nd on Staten Island, the only three who had made it across the bridge before the fifteen car pile-up had closed that part of the city off from the rest. A huge tanker had rolled on its side and made the bridge impassable, those remaining on Staten Island were left to their own devices. Walter wasn’t sure what was happening over there now, they’d had no reports on how people were coping.
The three officers were reliable men at least. They were dedicated to their jobs just like Walter was. By the time he reached the front door of the precinct, Naylor, Dicky and Harris were all ready and waiting.
“Any idea how many people are down there?” Walter asked as they stepped onto the street, all aware that the quickest way to reach the 51st Avenue entrance was on foot now. “Or what they were doing getting on in the first place?”
“People have still been using the tunnels to get around,” Naylor replied. “Gangs mainly, but civilians have witnessed them doing it and just assumed that it’s safe. No word yet on how many are down there right now though.”
“How did we find out about this?”
“Someone down there called it in,” Naylor explained. “Sounds like there was a sudden blackout and the train jumped tracks, colliding with another stationary carriage.”
“Any injuries?”
“At least three people trapped onboard, the rest got out through the emergency exits. The caller mentioned children though before the line cut out. We haven’t been able to get any further intelligence.”
“Right,” Walter nodded as they all jogged toward the entrance, the four of them cut a rather imposing swath through the street as they moved. Everyone on the street stepped out of their way, melting quietly back into the shadows.
“Evacuation procedures apply,” Walter gave the orders. “Get the children first, then the women and so forth. Try and keep off the tracks. We don’t know if the damn things are going to go live again. I don’t want any nasty shocks down there. We get in and we get out. Clear?”
“Clear,” came the response echoed by all three men, the group now standing at the top of the steps down to the subway station.
“How far in is the train?”
“Don’t know,” Naylor shook his head. “We’re heading due east though.”
“Alright. Lights on boys, let’s go.”
Holding up his Glock with the attached flashlight switched on at the base of it, Walter began his descent into the subway station in search of the derailed train. The lights in the station were predominantly off, the rolling blackouts now leaving New York in darkness
