The police boats were swirling, their searchlights skipping across the water, as people were running on the bridge just outside our window.

Terrorist attack!

“Bring the girls out here,” I yelled to my wife, Belisa, from our porch overlooking the Thames River.

“What?” she said. “Shouldn’t I bring them back into the room and distract them so that they don’t get scared?”

“No,” I answered. “We’re not sticking our heads in the sand, and neither will they.”

When my 13 and 11-year-old daughters came outside, I whispered into their ears: “There’s a terrorist attack happening right here, right now.”

Shouts from the police boat of “Go back inside!” and “Take cover!” echoed off the water and filled the flat we were staying in.

“Okay, time to leave and get back to our hotel,” I told Belisa.