A kilometer onto the bridge the autopilot disengage light came on.

"Isn't that too soon?" asked the oldest boy.

"Of course," said Lars, taking manual control of the car and reducing the speed. Fortunately the other drivers were doing the same. "We're supposed to be on autopilot all the way into Copenhagen. Something's very strange."

The road hazard channel came on automatically.

"…two hundred meter section of the bridge is gone. All traffic must stop. Repeat, all traffic stop."

The overhead lights for their lanes turned from green to red. The traffic came more or less to an orderly stop.

"How are we going to get off this thing?" asked his wife.

Lars put a finger to his lips.

"Repeat: Terrorists have blown up part of the East Bridge. A two hundred meter section of the bridge is gone. All traffic must stop. Repeat, all traffic stop."

The first message had been in English. The second in Swedish. The message repeated the required number of times to cover most of the old EU languages.

Then, in English: "Please maintain calm. Authorities will approach you from both ends of the bridge and direct you. Please do not move your car until asked to do so." Again the message repeated in the different languages.

They were stuck on the bridge for a little over three hours. Hours later they learned about the lives that had been lost in the part of the span bombed by the terrorists. A day later they learned that the terrorists were a Dutch anti-Catholic group with ties to similar groups throughout the world. Their target had been the Archbishop of Amsterdam. He had decided to take a helicopter.