CHAPTER VI
Night Journey
The man standing alone in the midst of the swirling, bustling crowd at Metropolis Station looked ordinary enough, but he was most certainly anything but common. Clark Kent, or, as he had once been called, Kal-El, the son of Jor-El, and the sole survivor of the planet Krypton, stood casually with his hands in his pockets like any other bored business traveler waiting for a train. Secretly, however, he used his superior visual powers to scan the crowd in minute detail. Where were Lois and Margo? The evening sun was sinking fast, and the air was getting colder. The train would be leaving any minute. At last he saw two tiny figures hurrying towards him out of the crowd. He recognized them long before anyone else would have as his fellow Daily Planet reporter and her sister.
"Sorry we're late, Mr. Kent," Lois said curtly as she and Margo joined him on the platform. "We had some . . . catching up to do."
"I'm just glad you'll be catching this train," Kent replied hurriedly as he helped Lois and Margo into the car. He followed after a second later, just as the conductor shouted "All aboard!" With a ponderous groan, the Metropolis Flyer began sliding out of the station and gradually picking up speed.
The trio made their way to their adjoining compartments in the sleeper car and made sure their luggage was properly stowed and in order. Margo and Lois would share a berth, and Kent would have the compartment next door all to himself.
"This train's an express, so we should be in New York no later than noon tomorrow," Kent said enthusiastically. "Pretty swell, huh Lois?"
"It's all right, I suppose," Lois answered, as if she'd seen far better. "Don't they have trains back in Smallville?"
"Not like this," Kent gushed. "Say, I hear they've got a first class dining car on this train. Whaddaya say we grab a bite to eat? I'm starved."
"Sounds like a wonderful idea, Clark," Margo offered, "I'll join you."
Lois followed without much enthusiasm, but within minutes they were all seated in the dining car and diving hungrily into their meals. It had been a long, busy day for everyone, and the food was indeed very good.
While Lois and Margo chatted idly over their dinners, Clark Kent scanned the dining car, looking and listening for anything out of the ordinary. Soon enough, he found it. At the opposite end of the dining car were two men who seemed to be watching them intently and whispering furtively to each other. Whenever Kent glanced in their direction, they hurriedly looked away and pretended to busy themselves with a menu or a newspaper. Kal-El used his superior hearing to zero in on their conversation.
"You sure she's the one, Butch?" said one man.
"Pretty sure, Spike. She looks like the dame in the pictures the boss gave us," answered the other.
"Who's that guy and the other broad with her?"
"Who cares? They make any trouble, we'll bump 'em off too."
Clark Kent instantly became alert, but he feigned just the opposite. He yawned loudly and stretched elaborately. Lois Lane glared at him.
"Sorry Lois," Kent said apologetically. "Golly, I'm tired all of the sudden. It's been a long day. Well, I guess I'll turn in. I'm beat! If you'll excuse me. Goodnight Lois. Goodnight Margo. See you in the morning."
Lois and Margo said goodnight in return and watched him go. After Kent had left the dining car, Lois turned back to her sister.
"That man!" Lois said, rolling her eyes in disgust.
"What's wrong with him?" Margo asked.
"Oh, I don't know. He's not a bad reporter, but honestly, he acts like the biggest rube sometimes! 'Gee Lois, this train sure is swell, huh?' she said in sarcastic imitation. "You saw how he trips over his own feet all the time, the big lummox!"
"Oh I don't know, Lois," Margo replied. "I think all that bumbling is an act. I think he's hiding something."
"Like what? You think he has a secret like Lamont?"
"I'm not sure," said Margo thoughtfully, "but he doesn't seem like a bad sort. He's very kind and handsome."
"If you like him so much, why don't you make a play for him?" Lois snapped. She regretted this remark almost instantly, realizing that Margo's heart belonged to Lamont Cranston, whom they were going to New York to find--possibly at great risk to themselves. "Look, I shouldn't have said that--" Lois began.
"No, no, it's all right," Margo assured her with a sad smile. "I'm taken. Besides, I think Clark only has eyes for you."
"For me?" Lois replied as if Margo had just suggested something outlandish, or at least something Lois had never considered before. "What makes you say that?"
"Trust me, Lois, a girl knows these things. He blushes like a schoolboy whenever you're around--that's not an act. He speaks to you first. He looks at you first. He wants you to call him by his first name, but you won't, so we have all this silly 'Miss Lane, Mr. Kent' business. It's all so standoffish, so formal! Give him a chance, Lois. He's crazy about you."
Lois Lane pondered this statement in silence for a few seconds, but before she could reply, her conversation with Margo was interrupted by two men approaching their table.
"Miss Lane? Miss Margo Lane?" the first man said. Margo noticed his shifty eyes and thought he needed a shave.
"I'm Margo Lane," she said.
"We're with the railroad line. We're terribly sorry, but there seems to be some sort of problem with your tickets. If you'll come with us, we'll go see the conductor and straighten this out right away," the man said.
"Now?" Margo asked."It's awfully late, and my sister and I are tired. Can't this wait till we get to New York in the morning?"
Margo stood up to leave but the man suddenly grabbed her arm and held it--tightly. At the same instant, Margo felt something cold and hard in the small of her back. The second man took up a similar position behind Lois, whose eyes went wide, as if she too suddenly felt a gun barrel at her back.
"No it can't, sister," the man whispered fiercely in Margo's ear. "Now be a good girl and come along with us, and that rod I got don't go off, see? Now get goin'!"
"Well, all right, since you put it that way, I suppose we'd better," said Margo considerably louder than she would have otherwise, hoping to attract the attention of some other diners. The few passengers still in the dining car, however, failed to notice anything amiss in the conversation.
The foursome marched out of the dining car, through the passenger cars, and into the baggage car near the rear of the train. Margo and Lois shivered in the dimly lit, unheated compartment.
"What are you going to do with us?" Margo demanded.
"Well that depends on you, sister," the first man said. "Y'see, there's a big ravine comin' up in about a half a mile. I'm gonna open this door, and you and your sister can either jump out into the ravine on your own, or Spike and me can blast ya and dump your bodies into the ravine. Either way, you'll be dead. What's it gonna be?"
"Wait a minute," Lois said, stalling for time. "The police will be suspicious if we're the only ones dead at the bottom of that ravine. They'll be even more suspicious if we're down there with two bullet holes in us."
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it sister," the man called Butch said. "We go that all figured out too. Y'see, a pal of ours cut down a big tree so it would fall across the track just about the place where that ravine is. You go over the side, the train hits the tree and jumps the track. The cops'll think you got tossed out of the train in the wreck. Cryin' shame, ain't it?" He asked with a vicious grin.
"You'd wreck an entire train and endanger innocent people just to get at us? You monster!" Margo Lane said.
"Listen, baby, it's nothin' personal. It's just business," Butch said calmly.
"Hey Butch, ya better get the door open. The ravine's comin' up soon," the man called Spike said.
"All right," Butch said. He slid the door to the baggage car open. The roar of the train rattling over the rails at full speed and the wind rushing through the open car were deafening. Butch grabbed Margo, spun her around roughly in the open doorway of the car, and with a vicious shove, sent her tumbling out into the darkness. Lois followed a moment later. They awaited their doom.
End of Chapter VI