Chapter 229

Sarah POV

I saw Ted was trying to get the plane’s widescreen TV working and finally got it to come on with an, “Ah ha!”

She didn’t need to change the channel. Breaking news showed the airport was filled with emergency vehicles, and the main terminal was surrounded by police cars. As it was about two in the morning, the dark sky made everything harsh and somewhat indistinct.

The on-scene reporter was talking rapidly. “. . . say they’re still trying to make contact with the terrorists. We know only that this is the work of the Lupine Liberation Front, an inter-territorial anti-human group whose protests are typically peaceful and grass roots.”

The scene switched from outside the main terminal to security footage that showed several wolves, including some who had transformed, entering with assault rifles and quickly taking control of the crowd by shooting over their heads and ordering everyone to lie on the floor. Their faces were all covered, and when one human ran, he was shot in the back and fell, obviously already dead.

“Best estimates put the number of hostages at over 100. Police tell us the militia group is well-armed and well-organized. In addition to the assault rifles, you can see on the security footage that they brought in several bags that proved to carry explosives.”

The image cut to a blond beta with a tidy hairdo sitting at a news desk.

“Dan, this is Leslie in the studio. The terrorists are deploying those explosives throughout the terminal. Why don’t the police go in now before they have their ordinance in place?”

The screen went back to the outside of the main terminal. Two ambulances pulled up into the shot, and a firetruck was maneuvering around a barricade.

“Leslie, the police tell me going in now would be disastrous for both the hostages and the police themselves. Again, we don’t know what sort of demands these terrorists have or why they felt emboldened to take over a major airport like this. In fact—”

The shot went back to the studio.

“Dan, I’m sorry to cut you off, but I have word we have Alpha Zane on the line with us now.”

Everyone turned to see Zane with his phone to his ear motioning at Ted to turn the sound down on the TV and avoid feedback. I and everyone else scrambled to get their earbuds in so we could still hear both sides of the conversation. I made sure Chloe and Grace, who were getting a little heavy on my legs, had theirs in.

“This is Leslie MacFee I’m speaking to?”

“Yes, Alpha Zane.”

I noticed that Kanaan and his children, who’d had no time to pack, had been given airplane headphones by Agent Nordwind and were listening along.

“Just to certify myself, we last met about three months ago at the tech expo, and you asked me about my daughters.”

“Yes. Alpha, where are you right now?”

“I’m safe, and I’m monitoring the situation closely. I’ll be there at the airport as soon as I know how to be most effective in putting a stop to the situation.”

“And your family?”

“Grace, Chloe, and Sarah Astor are all safe as well. For those who have been following the situation in Orleans Territory, Kanaan, Phillip, and Jackie are also safe.”

“That’s good to hear, Alpha. We were concerned you and your family might have been caught up in this.”

“That may have been their intention, but my family is nowhere near the airport at present. Now, I’m going to leave the line for now to coordinate with the security forces there, but I will be checking in periodically to give everyone updates. In the meantime, know that I will not be authorizing any strikes against the terrorists until we have a better understanding of the situation and a solid plan in place to minimize casualties.”

“Yes, thank you, and do stay in touch as you can, Alpha Zane.”

“You’ll hear again from me soon.” Zane tapped his screen to hang up, then dialed a new number as he joined Travis and Alicia in front of three laptops they’d arranged on a desk they’d pulled out from the wall.

Most of us lowered the volume on our earbuds as Leslie recapped the phone call.

“Planes are being diverted to other airports,” Travis reported. “The police and Territorial Guard have surrounded the terminal and are sure no one can leave it unseen at this point.”

Zane nodded and said into his phone, “Captain Nowak? Yes.” He listened for several minutes. “Right. And how many bomb clusters are you estimating?”

Alicia came over to me and explained that the terrorists had managed to cut all security feeds in the terminal and were only being tracked now by thermal imaging, which meant they weren’t always sure if the body-shaped images were terrorists or hostages. The explosives were being tracked by the minor heat of the electronics involved in their detonators, which was also far from ideal, as any “bomb” might be a bunch of cell phones.

“They want what?” Zane demanded.

We all tuned back into our headphones when Leslie said, “We’re hearing now that the terrorists are demanding, quote, ‘The humans of Cavendish Territory are to be returned to their rightful places, and the following humans are to be executed: Sarah Astor, Sam Shostakovich, Vlad Adamik, and Elain DeChapple.’ They’ve evidently set up a system to repeat this statement on a loop.”

Shotz and I exchanged looks.

“It’s almost a compliment, I guess,” he muttered.

“Do you know who Vlad and Elain are?” I asked, as they both sounded only vaguely familiar.

“Yes, I want to hear the actual message,” Zane told the phone.

“Vlad works with me in the mine,” he said. “Well, he’s my superior, really.”

“Elain DeChapple is an Instagram influencer with about five million followers,” Melissa said. “She focuses on human rights violations.”

“It’s a strange assortment of humans,” Alicia said.

“They’re all highly visible, which I think is the only point,” Lainey said. “We’re not really going to execute any humans, so they’re just picking humans most people would know.”

“Right, that accent means he’s not from Cavendish Territory,” Zane was saying. “Have we got audio on any of the others?” He listened for a moment. “What?”

“Dan, I’m sorry to interrupt you again,” Leslie said, “but we’ve gotten a video from one of the hostages.”

We all, including Zane, turned to the TV, where shortly an image appeared of a man with a bloodied nose reading from a piece of paper. The barrel of a gun to his head was in frame.

“We of the Lupine Liberation Front will give Alpha Zane Cavendish and his league of traitors to wolf-kind four hours to begin actions that show they take us seriously, or we will kill a human every ten minutes, starting with this one.”

The images cut to a little blond girl clinging to her mother, her curls damp with sweat. The mother put up her hand to shield her daughter’s face, and around them we could see other humans, most of them with blood on their faces, huddling against a wall. Some were furious, some terrified, some crying, and some dazed.

The news went back to Leslie in the studio, and I met Shotz’s eyes.

“I have an idea,” I said.