THE NUMBER TO CALL IS. . .

Four psychopaths who think of themselves as the American wing of the People's Revolutionary Party have been robbing banks in New York and now turn their bloodlust onto the small town of Silver Springs, Alabama, which is holding a muscular dystrophy telethon. These four kinkos invade the TV station and hold the audience, the personalities, the wheelchair kids, the TV crew captive--and, through the magic of television, they're terrorizing the nation! Soon, of course, even the President is trying to decide whether or not to send in a commando team, since the local and state authorities can come up with no plan. The nuts include leader Frederic, a spoiled rich boy trying to overcome the memory of a domineering business-tycoon father; Smithy, a one-armed black with a horridly melted face and superpowerful prosthetic claw; Sonny, the huge blond collegiate type; and lesbian Elaine, also known as Wishbone, a tough-lipped killer. Their demands? The usual: the release of several political prisoners around the U.S. and $20 million ransom, plus a fueled passenger jet with crew. The story leapfrogs from atrocity to atrocity as Frederic orchestrates torture of children, rape of a beautiful woman by horrifying Smithy-the-melted, some murders, and so on, all of it broadcast around the world. Dregs of the psycho-terrorist barrel.