Jess allowed herself a moment's rest as the ambulance pulled away. The accident scene wasn't as bad as she'd expected. It was a three car pile up. She went over to the Lone Star officer handling the case and verified that she wasn't needed any more.
He smiled at her. "Might as well call in Miller-- its going to be a long night."
She nodded. "Take care of yourself Sam."
She headed back towards her bike and stowed her gear.
"Central this is M1-7 at the MCI, I'm cleared for service."
"Copy M1-7, report to the Stuart Street station. Meet motor units on private channel three."
"Copy," Jess said hesitantly. If they were sending more medics it meant something very bad had happened.
She quickly changed channels as she donned her helmet. "Motor units, this is Jess, what's the situation?"
"We've got a report of an overturned train caught between stations." Jess nodded to herself as she listened to Smiley's report."
"Report only?"
"Copy on that, I'm about ten minutes out right now."
"Okay, I'm about five ahead of you, as soon as I have information, I'll pass it on."
"Jess..."
Jess paused as she recognized the tone in Smiley's voice. "What don't I want to know?"
"Central says Hugh's there."
"And..."
"There as in 'in the middle of it' there."
"Well, that's one car that's being treated," she sighed.
"Hon..."
She would have laughed at how she'd rubbed off on the former Lone Star officer if it hadn't been for that tone in his voice again.
"I'm not going to like this am I?"
"We got a civilian on his pager... they're trying to get him on the radio now."
Jess sighed. "I'll let you know as soon as I know anything."
She continued, listening as the others reported in, allowing Smiley to relay the information. She had enough on her mind trying to get through the combination of stopped vehicles and people trying to speed in through and around them.
She parked her bike in front of the station and headed down the stairs. Most of the would be passengers had already left, leaving the station and the tunnel eerily silent.
She tensed and forced herself to take a deep breath. This was not a cave in, it was not the archology. It was just the metro. She slipped the caving light onto her helmet and moved further in.
"M1-7 to Central, do we know which way they were heading?"
"Copy... headed south towards the Pine Street station...."
Jess nodded to herself as she found her way onto the tracks, carefully avoiding the third rail. As she shined her light down the tunnel she adjusted her radio.
"Smiley, I'm in the tunnel. Haven't seen the train yet, but there are some signs of trouble. I'll keep you up to date..."
"Copy. Be careful."
It took her five minutes to reach the scene. "Smiley, this is Jess... we have confirmation. We're going to need cutters, generators and any heavy equipment we can get down here."
She waited for Smiley's conformation then switched back to dispatch. "Dispatch, this is M1-7, confirm situation in tunnel. Have you established verbal contact?"
"... M1...."
Jess shook her head as dispatch's comments turned to static. She shifted her attention to the train, and the victim who'd called it in.
"This is Citywide Fire and Rescue, do you copy." She paused and then repeated the call, adding instructions on how to use the radio as the others arrived with what equipment they could bring or appropriate.
Finally, she had a response, she could hear the strain in the man's voice, a combination of fear, relief and disbelieve.
"Hello?... Can you hear me?"
She smiled to herself. "I hear you!" She looked around and then switched the radio to auto send. She was going to have her hands full. "We're on our way. Do you copy?"
Jess took a deep breath and began work, all the while talking to the young man, trying to find out how bad things were– trying to keep both of them calm. It was going to be a long process getting to him from the looks of things.