Ultimate destination: Paris

A little information you might need for the story: In the north of Holland, the railtracks are dominated by "Wadlopers". Wadlopers are small diesel trains driving on the smallest non-electrical tracks of the country. The maximum speed is 100 km/h. The Thalys is the highspeed train from Amsterdam/Cologne to Paris. It's a twinbrother of the famous French TGV. The maximum allowed and commercial speed is 300 km/h. The speed record of the original TGV is no less than 515.3 km/h. A draw-bar (coupling-rod) is a thing for connecting two trains of different types. It's used in cases of a breakdown or transporting special trains. The SNCF is the French national train service.

"Take care of yourself, will you?" Andrea said. She gave her husband, Karel, a kiss and said him goodbye. They were just married and were the happiest couple in the world. Just two months ago they were in Paris for their romantic honeymoon. In those two weeks they discovered every street of Paris. She didn't like the job of her new husband at all. She thought that being policeman was a very dangerous job. She waved to him when he mount his bicycle. She couldn't do that too enthusiastly, because she was pregnant. Karel went to the police station. Not much later, she left the house for a walk to Stavoren station. She had an appointment in Leeuwarden with the maternity centre. When she arrived at the station, exactly 11.38, she boarded the Wadloper. It wasn't crowded in the Wadloper when it departed from Stavoren at 11.47. Actually, It never is crowded. She could sit wherever she wanted. The sound of the motor grew when the train accelerated till seventy kilometres an hour. It drove through the typical Dutch scenery with cows and some sheep. In the compartiment was also a strange man who was obviously very nervous. He had big plastic bags with heavy things in them. He wore dark sunglasses and a leather jacket and looked untidy. He lighted a cigarette in the non- smoking-carriage and began to smoke. Some people looked astonished, others annoyed. At that moment he stood up, took a gun out of his coat, and shot several holes in the roof.

When Karel arrived at the police station, he stored his bicycle and entered the building. He greeted the sergeant and went towards the changing-room to put on his uniform. When he was ready, he stepped in a police car and met there his fellow policeman for that day. He depressed the accelerator pedal and they drove away, for their normal patrol.

"Nobody moves! This is a siege! Don't move. I'll take charge now in this train" He shot once more and looked around. Everybody was scared and looked toward the hijacker. A child and a few grown-ups began to cry. When he was content about everything, he went towards the cabin. The driver in the cabin who had heard the shots called traffic-control and warned them that people were shooting in his train. The hijacker knocked on the door and commanded the driver to open the door. The driver opened the door and the hijacker let himself in. He held his gun behind the back of the driver. "Let me talk to the passengers by the intercom, now!" he ordered. The driver handed him the microphone and switched the intercom on. "Hello, folks. As you certainly noticed, this train has been hijacked. Please, keep everybody calm and stay on your seat. Further information will follow. Thank you." He said, more easily than the looked. He gave back the microphone and said to the driver: "If you ever call Control again, I'll paint the windows with your blood. You understand?" The driver nodded quickly. The hijacker took the radio and said into it: "Hi there. The hijacker of train 698 speaking."

Steven, the traffic controller, answered the radio: "Are you sure? Shooting in your train? I'll send the police to the next station, OK, Barry? Barry? Oh Shit, hung up!" And to the others in the control room: "We have a shooting in train 698 to Leeuwarden! Call the police and say that they wait at Workum!" Steven looked at the big screen with a simplified map of the tracks and the location of the trains. He estimated the distance between the train and the station. About 2500 metres. "That is close!" he thought, when he received the next call of the radio: "Hi there. The hijacker of train 698 speaking."

Karel drove in the small town of Koudum, talking to his fellow. "Had you see the football game yesterday? It was really a bad play. How they tackled Onbry, ha, his whole left leg was broken." "No, I hadn't see it. I was out with my..." The radio made some noise and said:"Karel, Jurgen? Are you there? You two have to go to the Koudum station. There is a fight in the train to Leeuwarden. You have only two minutes before the train passes! We don't have any more information, sorry and good luck." Jurgen and Karel looked toward each other. Then Karel adjusted the gear and pressed the pedal hard."We have to catch that train, Jurgen! Andrea is on that train! She went toward a maternity centre in Leeuwarden."

Steven was flattered and angry at the same time: "five million and a Thalys? Are you out of your mind? In one hour! We'll never make that! What? Our problem? Sure! And what if we don't pay? Oh... OK, OK we'll do our very best." Click. "Shit, that fool wants five million and a Thalys at Leeuwarden within one hour. Else, he'll kill all the passengers by driving into the station!" he said to the others in the control room. "Hurry, stupids, go and fix that money and that train, NOW!" The people went to the telephone or their seat. Steven thought "What the hell does he want with the damned T.G.V.?"

"But you can't ask that! They could never have a Thalys at Leeuwarden within one hour!" Barry, the driver said, almost pleading. "Oh, yes, they will. You'll see" the hijacker said, and just wanted to leave the cabin, when he realised hisself something and said "Oh yes. Would you please make this local train a fast train?"

Karel drove dangerously throug the villages. Finally they came close to the station. Just when they came near the platform, the train passed by by 90 kilometres an hour. "Shit, we missed the train." He smashed on the wheel. When he tried to calm down, Jurgen reported to headquarters.

"Steven!" somebody shouted "We've a Thalys in Meppel." "What the hell does a Thalys' in Meppel?" "Some businessmen from Japan hired it. We've already informed the driver and he is his on his way to Leeuwarden, without the Japs. But you can be sure they'll charge us" "So what!" Steven said "We've got the Thalys now anyway" and somewhat less loud, sighing "And now the hijacker's new orders..."

The door opened "Hi, I'm back again. May I use your radio, please?" the hijacker said, even more friendly. He took the microphone himself and spoke "Here are my new orders. I want you to connect this Wadloper, with the Thalys in Leeuwarden. How, that's your problem again, use a draw-bar or something. But couple it. And by the way, what about my money?" The radio said "Connecting the Wadloper with Thalys! What! You're really out of your mind, you know! But your money, eh, it is on it's way, just a couple of hours and..." " Not in a couple of hours! Five minutes! If you don't, then, you know what. I want the money at platform three, which must be completely empty, just like the other platforms and the entire area around the station. Put the money in three trunks near the second refuse bin at the platform. When I arrive, I like to connect immediately with the Thalys, understood!?" "Yes, I do, but it is impossible! We don't have..." click.

Andrea looked around the compartiment. Most of the people just sat and looked out of the window. Small children sat on the lap of their parents. What else could you do? Sometimes the hijacker went to the driver, and returned a little later. He looked around and watched everybody intens in the eyes. But she had already noticed that he looked more often toward her than the others. The hijacker had told that he supposed that they were released at Leeuwarden, if the police and the Dutch Railways gave him his money, of course. Suddenly somebody asked "Sir? May I go to the toilet? Please?" The hijacker looked at the girl and answered with his deep voice "Yes. Go, but hurry." The girl walked fast to the door through the gangway and looked scared instantly at the hijacker. Andrea looked again at the hijacker. Age about middle forty. He was sweating a lot, but looked quite calm. Suddenly the train slowed down. Andrea looked outside. They were now in the outskirts of Leeuwarden.

Karel drove like a wild man on the N-through road towards Leeuwarden. The other cars blew their horns as a reaction to the fast speeding police car passing left and right."Easy, Karel, slow down. We'll make it anyway. Karel, Slow down. Yes, that's better. You know how to get to the station, don't you?" "Yes, I do! How do you think I feel now, now my wife's on the hijacked train?"

Leeuwarden Station was completely cleared and everybody waited in the stationbuiling, for Wadloper 698 from Stavoren. The driver of the Thalys sat in his cabin and looked forward toward the empty tracks. Behind him sat the man who had a dangerous job: he would connect the two trains together. There Wadloper 698 was. Slowly the Wadloper approached the station. It passed several points and signs. It slowed even more and was now close near the Thalys. The man got of the train and took the heavy coupling-rod with him. The driver of the Thalys looked right into the eyes of the driver of the Wadloper. They looked at each other, wishing each other goodluck, without saying a word. The Thalys' driver looked at the man beside the driver, the hijacker. The driver never realised that hijackers looked like this. At that moment he heard the heavy "click" and felt a shock in the train. They were now coupled.

"You, go to the other cabin" he said to the Wadloper's driver, and via the radio to the Thalys "Listen carefully to the radio. I'll give you my orders via the radio, yes?" He looked out of the window and looked for the suitcase and some sniper. No snipers. Fine. He smiled. Everything went according plan. He went back to the compartiment and said "you, there. Come over here." He pointed at Andrea. She looked nervously around, and at the hijacker again. Slowly she stood up, knowing everybody onboard looked at her. "Hurry up! You're going to take those suitcases from the platform and bring them back to the train, and yourself too, of course. If you don't..." he showed his handy gun. "I'm pregnant, I really can't..." "Doesn't matter. Just take those trunks." He opened the door for her and looked at her. She was certainly a pretty woman. He could smell her perfume.

Karel drove the car to the car park and braked quite hard. He got out the car and climbed onto the car's roof. He could just see the Thalys standing along the platform. A door of the Wadloper opened. Somebody got off the train. ANDREA! Hell, it's her train and now she is even used. Just when he would shout at her, his mouth was covered by the hand of Jurgen. "Don't. If she hears you and runs towards you, she might get killed. Don't shout." The hand released his mouth. Karel looked at Jurgen. "Give me the telescope, will you?". Jurgen handed him the telescope and Karel looked at Andrea. She boarded back in the train again, with the suitcases, and the doors closed.

"Give me that suitcase" He grasped one suitcase from Andrea's hand and laid it down on the floor. He opened the trunk and there it was; 1.6 million guilders. He stared for a moment with a smile and looked in the edge of the suitcase. He broke the inside and felt with his fingers behind the material. His smile disappeared. "Shit" he said "A radio transmitter" He showed a little electronic thing with blinking lights. "Bastards! You will pay for this!" Andrea shrank back and walked hastily towards her seat. The hijacker grasped the radio at his back and said to the Thalys' driver "Drive, just as fast as possible" "He pressed some other keys and said "I want to Brussels, by this train! That is without changing!"

"To Brussels? What are you doing? You've got your money now, let the passengers go!" Steven said. "But you fooled me! By putting that thing with my money you have signed the will of all these people. I'm going to kill all these passengers. And you can't stop me anymore. And if you don't shift the points now, I'll kill you now!" click. Steven said to the person next to him "Go shift the points. Let him go to Brussels. And please God, don't let the Wadloper crash. It isn't suitable for speeds more than hundred kilometres per hour."
Not much later the train, the Thalys and the Wadloper were set in motion. They were on their way to Brussels South.

"Hey, Were are we going? You're supposed to set us free now! Let us go" people in the train began to complain. "Easy!" the hijacker said "They fooled me, so I've to fool all you too." "But you can't do that!" The man next to Andrea stood up and made a grab at the hijacker's neck. A crack followed and the man fell onto the floor. The hijacker put his pistol back in the holster, and said "Let this be a warning for everyone. I don't like to shoot people. But sometimes I've to. So, stay in your seat and don't talk." He turned round and walked to the driver. Some people began to cry, some stared out of the window, trying to think of something else. Andrea looked at the blood, slowly dripping out of the man's head.

Karel was already back on the main road again. "Keep following the railtrack" Jurgen said. The through road laid along the railroad track, so they could follow the track very easily."What an amazing help, Jurgen. Thank you" Karel reacted. "We have to stop that train. When the train crashes in Brussels, we'll have an enormous amount of dead. It's the biggest station of Belgium." Karel shuddered and pressed the accelerator pedal some deeper. A little later they had the train-combination in sight again. When they were driving beside the train, despite all the other, slower cars, he asked Jurgen to look for Andrea. Jurgen took the telescope and searched for her. "There! There she is. She is still alive!" Karel looked angry at Steven. Steven pointed at the fourth window of the Wadloper. "She's talking to a man. Eh, a white man, dark sunglasses, blond hair."

Andrea looked at the cars on the road. They were a lot slower than the train. The train itself was a lot faster than usual, too, she realised suddenly. She felt that somebody took the seat near her. She turned her head and saw the hijacker. He sat in the seat of the recently deceased man and looked at her. She didn't move her head, but looked everywhere, but his eyes. The hijacker smoothed her hair with his left hand. Now she looked at his face. "You're pretty, you know" he said. Andrea took the hijacker's hand and put it away. She was scared. "What?" he said "don't you like me to stroke you?" "Not really, no" The dialogue was broken off by a car that blowed its horn. Andrea and the hijacker looked through the window. A police car drove beside the train, a lot faster than the other cars. In it was Jurgen and, better yet, Karel! "Shit, police!" the hijacker said. He stood up and walked towards the train cabin. He took the radio and told the Thalys' driver to speed up. "I can't. The automatic train control will stop us immediately when I try to..." he answered. "Switch it off, now, or this train doesn't have any passengers anymore, understood?" The answer was the soft feeling of acceleration.

"Shit. They're speeding up!" and we're close by the location where the track and road separate." Jurgen said. "We have to follow that train. How?" Jurgen pointed at the sign along the road saying: " 's Hertogenbosch Heliport" "That is just what we need, come on, take the next junction" They drove to the Heliport, leaving the train alone. Karel parked the car in the gravel of the car park, and ran to the building. Jurgen followed him. "Hi, We're from the police. I want to rent a helicopter, and fast!" The man behind the desk asked "Don't you have your own?" "We can't wait for that, hurry up!" "You have to sign this ..." "Forget it, we'll fix that later" "OK, walk through that door and get into the blue chopper, I will be right there." A little later they were five hundred metres higher and flew by three hunderd kilometres an hour. After half an hour the train was in sight again. But Brussels was too, so the train was near its suspected destination, but it didn't slow down.

The hijacker called the Thalys' driver and said he had to give the requests to the Belgium Railways. The transmitter was too weak to reach the Netherlands now, and the Belgium Railways have a diffrent radio system. The Thalys has both. It's a circuitous way, but insurmountable. The Belgians had to lead the trains to the TGV-track. This is a special track, only for High Speed Trains, like the Thalys to Paris... It was never before so hard to catch a train.

"They take that special track over there" Jurgen said "You see? It's the TGV- track, leading to Paris and further. We really have to stop that train. I'm sure they'll accelerate to 300, and the Wadloper won't hold, specially not when it's pushed like, now! They'll crash down!"

Andrea looked at the empty station, Brussels South. Usually it's very crowded here, but now they have cleaned the whole station, special for their train. A little smile appeared on her face. She felt that they were accelerating again, but this time more than before. The Wadloper began to shake and flutter. The wheels under the train made strange and scary noises.

"We have to shoot the hijacker" Jurgen said. "Yes, of course, but how?!" "We've to lure him to the cabin and shoot him if he is there." "But the driver, you'll hit him too" "We've to stop the train or everyone is killed." "Yes, you're right, but... [sigh] OK let's do it" "pilot, please fly along the track, just a close as you can." They began to fly lower and flew in the front of the heavily shaking Wadloper. "Pilot, can you change the frequency of the radio to the train-frequency, please?" He did so and Karel said, as calmly as possible, but still angry, into the microphone "Hi, hijacker there! Have you had a nice meeting with my wife, hey?"

Everybody looked scared at the floor, where all the noise came from. The train bumped and scratched along the track. Suddenly the train radio began to sputter. Because the cabin's door was open, everybody heard the voice talking. The hijacker heard it too and looked at Andrea. "So, you're the wife of that stupid cop, hey!? Come on" He grasped her arm and pulled her towards the frontcabin. There they saw the helicopter flying in front of the train, above the track "Karel, I love you!" she whispered. Of course, Karel couldn't hear it.

"Shit, Andrea is with him. I, I can't shoot" Karel stammeled. "You have to! IF you hit Andrea, she'll be only wounded." "Hm, are you sure?" "Yes, I am. Shoot!" Bang. The bullet destroyed the front window and flew through the hijacker's stomach and wounded the driver. The hijacker fell onto the ground and grasped with his right hand the arm of the driver. The driver was dragged down with him and the right hand of the driver dragged over the control panel. He touched the acceleration lever and the Wadloper's motor began to roar and the exhaust vomited black smoke. The hijacker died on the ground instantly.
But the glass of the window was blown through the cabin by the wind, and Andrea was hurt by the glass: Her left arm was torn. "Shit" Karel said "she's wounded. But he's dead anyway. Pilot, would you please say to the Thalys' driver he can stop." He did, but suddenly a motor or something under the Wadloper broke off and fell between the rails. The Thalys drove over it and the motor damaged several things under the Thalys. "Shit," they heard the Thalys driver calling "I lost my brakes. That thing destroyed my brakes! I just can't stop anymore!" "What!" Jurgen said. Karel looked through the helicopter's front window. There were the suburbs of Paris with, far away, the top of the Eiffel Tower. Andrea asked "Driver, how can we stop this train?" Hindered by the pain, he answered "We can't stop. The, the Thalys is, much heavier than we are. If we brake with our own brakes, we would crash immediately. But you have to, to turn back that handle which I adjusted when I fell. We accelerate now." Andrea reached for the handle to push it back, but she didn't need to. A loud explosion sounded under the train. The sound of the motor stopped. The motor has exploded. It was overworked by the extreme speed and due the adjusting of the handle.

"Hell fire, what're you doing down there?" Karel shouted in the radio."There was an explosion beneath the train. And there is a fire in the back of the train. You HAVE to stop!" The Thalys driver said through the transmitter "Hey. I've only flames in front of me! I can't see a thing. I'm going to the cabin in the other side of the Thalys. It's a lot safer over there. Bye!" "Hello, Hello here the SNCF. You've to stop your train. You're approaching the train station of Paris Nord" the radio sounded again "Yes, thank you, but we're used to stations by now!" "No, no. You don't understand me. It's a deadline station! You CAN'T go any further!" Jurgen looked at Karel and he looked back. Karel asked to Andrea:" Andrea, what's the current speed?" A little later she answered "250 kilometres an hour!" "Shit! That's much too fast! And there is a gradient for a kilometre that will speed you up even more. Damned!" He thought about what they could do, to stop the trains. He looked at the train in bird's-eye view. The fire was spreading and became worse. "Yes" he shouted "I know what to do. We have to tackle that train. Let the Thalys derail and it'll slow down dramatically. There is only one person in that train." "How," Jurgen asked "How the hell would you make that train derail! It's driving more than 250 kilometres an hour. And if the Wadloper goes off the track, you really got a problem." "Place a bomb. Let the Wadloper pass it and ignite it when the Thalys passes." "OK let's do it" Jurgen said, and took the radio to call the French army.

Half an hour later, the French military engineer had installed the explosives between the track in front of the train. They are still connecting the wires, when the train was within sight. "Hurry up. It's coming." They connected provisionally the wires and hurried themself away from the track. The approaching Wadloper sounded its horn. The heavy sound deafend the noise of the train itself. The yellow part of the train passed the engineers and one second later the red of the Thalys.

The Thalys' driver really appreciated the message that he received. It said that he must count on a big crash of the train. He connected himself with his belt to the doorpost. He checked the belt. He hoped this crash was not related to his wages, or even his job. He was now in the second wagon of the Thalys. That was the first passenger-carriage. It was constructed in a way, that in a case of a crash the wagons would stay upright. He hoped it would work. That was the moment the bang sounded somewhere under the next wagon. A fire appeared under the train and a crack sounded. The carriages in the middle of the Thalys were blown upwards and toppled over. Some of the wagons hit the portals along the track and were smashed back. But the train was slowing down heavily. The people in the Wadloper were pressed deeper in their seats. Some in the gangway fell due the sudden deceleration. But to spoil the success, the drawing-bar between the train, started to make cracking noises, suffering under the heavy forces pulling on it. Finally it cracked and broke. The two trains were now not coupled anymore. The Thalys still slowed down, but the Wadloper was now riding less fast, but still by a good 150 kilometres an hour. Without any brake or something like that. It was now rolling towards Paris Nord, with still only ten kilometres in front of it.

Karel looked out of the window of the chopper and sought for another way to stop the Wadloper. They were now above the centre of the city with its narrow streets and heavy traffic all the time. He saw a truck approaching a roundabout. Just behind the corner a small car was driving. The lorry sounded its horn and brakedIt was within an ace of an accident. But...But that was an excellent idea! A heavy truck could brake the Wadloper, which was not more than twice as heavy. He shouted to the pilot "Land this chopper near a lorry, a heavy one! Near the railroad track. There's one!" He pointed at a truck, one you often see in American films. The helicopter decreased its height and followed the truck. They landed on the road before the truck, creating an enormous trafficjam. Karel got out and ran towards the truck. He showed his police badge and said in his best French: "Get out! I claim this truck. I'll drive now!" Fortunatly, the driver understood what he said, and got out, against his will. Karel got in and turned the wheel and adjusted the gear. The motor roared with a heavy sound and Karel drove away, much too fast through the crowded streets of Paris. He was now approaching the railroad. The street was laid along the track and was separated by a fence. Karel drove through the fence and drove along the tracks. The SNCF didn't stop the regular train services. The track was now, near the station, extended by several other tracks, so the trains passed him left and right and he was kind of a ghost driver. Along the track people were watching him and making photos of him. He looked in his driving-mirror and saw the Wadloper coming closer to him, by a high speed. He depressed the pedal deeper and drove to the right track. The Wadloper was now approaching the back of his truck. A heavy shock let him know that he was now pushed by the train.

The fire in the train became worse. The smoke was coming from under the door to the platform. Through the window in the door, you could see the flames licking the wall and the glass. People were coughing now. Suddenly the glass in the door broke and the fire came in the compartiment.

Now he released the acceleration-pedal and activated the brake. The lorry began to lurch. But slowly, very slowly, they slowed down. But a hundred-fifty metre ahead was the dead line station, Paris Nord. He braked even harder. The pointer of the speed indicator was now passing eighty. He now passed the begin of the platform. Seventy-five. They were now under the imposing roof on the station. Seventy. The people on the platform ran away and made some photos. Karel blew the horn and gestured that they must leave that platform. At the end of the track was a solid buffer stop. Sixty-five. Suddenly Karel accelerated and drove to the track beside him. The Wadloper wasn't slowed down now anymore. He braked and the Wadloper passed him. He could see the passengers in the Wadloper. They were firmly holding the small tables in the train.

"That, ugh, is what slowed us down!" a woman shouted. She pointed to a lorry beside the train. Everybody looked out of the window with tears in their eyes, caused by the emotions, and the smoke. "Hey, ugh, that is Karel!" Andrea said "My husband. He's going to save us!" Then she heard the sound behind her of a new seat that caught fire. It was quite hot already in the coupe.

Now all the people in the train were standing and looking at him. "Please, sit down" he gestured. But they didn't understand. That would be a hard jolt for them, but he had to do it anyway. Then he accelerated and rammed the Wadloper. The Wadloper shook. Again. The lorry rammed the train in the last fifty metres of the station, driving by sixty kilometres an hour. This time happened what Karel hoped for: The Wadloper went out of the track and scratched along the platform. It slowed down. The side of the train emitted sparks. By a speed of twenty kilometres drove the train into the buffer stop. Stopped, at last...

Karel tried to open the door of the truck. It was jammed by the distorted cabin. He rattled the door and the door opened. He jumped out of the truck and ran towards the Wadloper, which was canted a few degrees. He reached the first door and hammered this one too. The people at the other side of the door tried to open the door too. Finally, it broke off and fell. The people jumped out of the train onto the platform, helped by Karel. The last ones carried the driver out of the train. And the very last one was Andrea. She jumped into his arms and they embraced. While the paramedics arrived and the firefighters started to extinguish the fire in the Wadloper, Karel too started to weep. Together they walked towards the square in front of the Gare du Nord and sat down on a bench, telling each other about what happened. They were back in Paris again...

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