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

Cade left his coat and gun with John, and for appearances' sake, both Mandi
and Cade were taken to the doorway of 831 to let the terrorists see them putting
on Kevlar vests as they received platitudinous encouragements.
When they were finally sent into the room, Hamad Marjeel stopped them at the
doorway and one of his men quickly frisked them for weapons and checked their
gear before allowing them to pass. The man then shoved ahead of them into the
room to take up a position at one side of the bed.
Marjeel and the other two men appeared to be in their twenties and thirties
and wore western clothing. All were clean-shaven and only their weapons and
attitudes made them look more like terrorists than a trio of off-duty yuppies.
As Mandi and Cade emerged from the room's short hallway past the