escalator steps three at a time, weaving her way upward past some very startled people. Cade followed at a somewhat more sedate pace, taking only two steps at a time and easing past the other riders. The terrorists wanted media coverage and they had hostages as leverage, so they weren't going anywhere right away. At the front doors, Mandi was waiting for him. "You sure you're up to this?" she asked. "What's the hurry?" asked Cade. "They'll be there. Where do we get news credentials and hardware on short notice?" As they started across the sidewalk to the street, Mandi said, "That's Alan's job." "Might want to give him a ring and see what he's doing about that." "I already know what he's doing about it. He's doing whatever he has to." As it happened, that's exactly what Alan was doing when they walked into room 835. The two newsies from Channel Nine and the three from WNN were already there, arguing about who'd be going in to talk to the terrorists. Alan handed the video camera he was examining to Cade like an unwieldy football and asked, "Do you know how to operate one of these?" "I aim it at the bad guys while I press the trigger button." "You've got it." John came into the room and asked, "What's the plan so far, people?" "They'll act like reporters," said Alan, nodding at Mandi and Cade. "If they can disarm the situation, they will. If not, they'll continue to act like reporters and we'll try something else." A man came trotting into the room to hand Alan a couple of laminated press badges. He stood by as Alan examined them, then he led the real newspeople out of the room. Handing one of the badges to Mandi, Alan said, "You're Mary Winston, intrepid reporter for WNN." Handing the other badge to Cade, he said, "And you're Grant Parker from Channel Nine. This will be called a cooperative news effort." Turning to John, he said, "If anyone was watching, they saw the real Grant and Winston rush over here." Nodding, John said, "Okay, then. Check the gear and confirm the feeds to WNN and Nine. There'll be some deliberate static in the first few seconds and an excuse will be made about adjusting the signal, then we'll switch the feed to an in-house loop. While our terrorists are watching themselves being interviewed on TV, anyone outside will be taken back to whatever was on before." Chapter Six