Devils in the Dark

He'd almost finished the delicate adjustments he was making to his mini-ornithopter before he looked up and realized he was alone. Not that he wasn't used to spending time by himself, especially in the past year with Dad being gone, but this was different. He hadn't been truly alone when Mandy had dropped him off in this fancy train car and gone out to enjoy the view from the back deck or be in one of her moods, whichever she was doing. He hadn't been alarmed when Tem joined her out there either – those two did everything together. But that was only a few minutes ago and there had been several other people in the observation car as well as himself. He'd noticed when one or two of them left, but he really wasn't interested in observation at the moment. Tinkering was what he did best, so he took out the ornithopter and his tool kit and tinkered. It felt good to be doing something normal again after the hell of the past week. He was too smart to fool himself, though. Nothing was ever going to be truly normal or right ever again. Not with Mom and Uncle Jim gon- NO! He was NOT going to start crying again! He could handle this! Oh drat, who was he kidding? Jimmy Gordon set aside his jeweler's screwdriver to wipe out his eyes and that's when he looked up and realized he was alone. Really, really alone. All of a sudden, he was the only person in the observation car. Without him noticing, every other person who had been here had vanished.

That shouldn't be. The train had been underway only a short time and he'd been compensating for its motion as he tinkered, but shouldn't there have been more people in the comfy, big window car than just himself? He was so sure there had been . . . .

Jimmy shivered, and not because there were any drafts coming through those shiny, huge windows. Something definitely didn't feel right here. Maybe it was just his imagination running away with him. So much stress, so much sadness . . . a colleague of his at the University of Chicago had a term for it . . . . When Jimmy looked out to see if Mandy and Tem were still on the back deck, they were both still there and oh, yuck, it looked like they were going to kiss again . . . . But still, he'd feel better if he saw someone else nearby. Paranoia, that was the word he'd been looking for . . . . He decided to reassure himself by getting up to see what was going on in the other train cars. Mandy would probably skin him alive, or at least threaten to, if she found him gone, but lately he was getting tired of Mandy treating him as if he was still a little kid. Yes, she had changed his diapers when he was a baby sometimes, but you'd think she'd let them both live that down before they were dead themselves! Oh, not the expression he wanted to be thinking of right now! He reached for the door handle to let himself out so he could explore the dining car instead.

It was locked.

Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!

And Mom and Uncle Jim were murdered . . . .

"Mandy?" he called out, now wanting her here and as protective as an avenging she-grizzly. "Tem?"

Just in case, he put the ornithopter back in his pocket and took out something else as his sister and Tem came charging back into the observation car. Mandy had her best white parasol ready in her hand and was scowling, not realizing what was strange about the scene at first.

"Jimmy! What on earth-"

Tem was faster on the uptake, taking in the whole scene and silencing her with a gesture.

"The people," he whispered. "Where'd they all go?"

"That isn't all," Jimmy told them. "I don't know where they all disappeared to, but when I tried to get out of this car, the door's locked. We're trapped."

Tem frowned, crossed the observation car in large, quick strides and tried the door handle himself. Jimmy attempted to calm himself, slow his breathing and convince himself that everything was going to be okay. His family was with him now, and trapped is relative to a West. Jimmy knew that Mandy and Tem did dangerous things all the time, it's just that he wasn't usually with them then. Or ever, when dangerous assignments happened, come to think of it. This wasn't a good moment to remember that.

Before Tem and Mandy could plan their next moves, the train took a hard sideways lurch, throwing them all nearly off their feet and then entered a tunnel, plunging them into darkness. The observation car lurched again, braking even harder in this artificial night. Jimmy fell to his knees and barely managed to keep a grip on the object in his left hand as he went down. Tem and Mandy stayed on their feet again though, if only just, and in the dim light, Jimmy saw them taking up stances on either side of him. Good. Hey, a little over-protective maybe, but you know, sometimes over-protective works . . . .

"All right, this does seem a little suspicious," Mandy's voice whispered.

"You think so?" Tem asked with a bit of a chuckle.

A little suspicious? Jimmy had always thought his sister and Tem were a little bit crazy in the way that all people older than him were a little bit crazy, but could they really make jokes about this sudden turn of events?

"Well I can't see it clearly any other way . . . ."

Apparently they could. But before either of the two agents could make any more remarks like that, a greenish light began coming in by beams through the observation car's large windows. Beams and little points of green light illuminated them and gave everything within the car a sort of ghostly appearance. The three passengers listened and heard loud clanking noises approaching the train car. Something was moving out there in the semi-darkness, attached to those lights and getting closer.

"What the hell are those things?"

Okay, that was definitely bad. Anything that could get steady churchgoer Tem to swear out loud must be pretty dam . . . er, darn horrible. Jimmy was almost afraid to look, but survival sense and curiosity made him check the big windows. Something sort of human-shaped only blockier was marching on toward the train – several somethings actually, and they glowed with the unearthly green light. Jimmy heard the snikt! sound he recognized from watching Tem and Mandy practice some of their skills at home. Tem had just popped his sleeve gun into his hand. Mandy's parasol was making a clicking sound too. Anyone who messed with his big sister and brother-in-law now was going to be sorry. And him?

Jimmy looked down at the little ball of chemicals in his hand and nodded to himself. Yeah, him too. You can do this! You can do this! You're Artemus Gordon's son, remember? This was going to be just like one of Dad's bedtime stories, only with more actual terror and pain potential and a much smaller chance of snuck-past-Mom molasses cookies at the end.

One of the large windows shattered and a silvery-green metal creature with glowing green eyes lumbered onto the train car from an elevated platform that must be just out of sight. The creature made an odd, loud whirring sound as it lurched toward Amanda, but not for long. The tip of the parasol touched the metal creature and crackled with a miniature lightning that cascaded over the creature's body. It went down and crashed to the floor of the train, not nearly far enough from Jimmy for his satisfaction. From this close a vantage point, it appeared to be some sort of devilish animated suit of armor. The green glow from its eyes had gone very bright when Mandy's electrical charge had struck it, but they were extinguished now.

Another window on the opposite side of the observation car smashed apart and two more of these suits of armor came at Tem. He shot at them both with the tiny gun in his hand. Tem never missed, just like Uncle Jim never missed, but the bullets made pinging sounds against the metal creatures and appeared to have no effect. Electricity might harm them, but Tem's smallest firearm wasn't going to stop them. Fortunately the creatures moved a lot slower and clumsier than Tem did. Tem tossed the gun aside, leapt up and grabbed onto a wall fixture of the train car, swinging both his legs out at one of the creatures with a solid roundhouse kick. It went down with an impressive crash. On the rebound, he used his legs to catch the other creature in a head lock and send it off balance, crashing to the floor too. Neither appeared to be that quick to get up. The one Tem had kicked sounded like it was making a groaning sound underneath the whir. From his low vantage point, Jimmy saw a fourth creature approaching and it seemed to be coming toward him.

C'mon, you can do this!

Squeezing the little ball in his hand as hard as he could first, so that he felt the beginning of its reaction, he threw the ball at the fourth creature's 'face,' where it stuck fast and began an impressive miniature display of fireworks, crackling and flashing with blindingly brilliant sparks and colored pyrotechnic smoke. Hopefully blinded by this, the creature began clawing at its face as Jimmy latched onto one of its legs in an attempt to throw it off balance and his sister charged to his rescue, giving it a hard whack with her parasol. The parasol hadn't had time to regain its electrical charge, but it had a reinforced steel central bar jutting from the handle and Mandy knew how to use it. Steel met steel with a loud clang and the creature went down, still clawing at the ball of light and smoke stuck to it.

With four opponents down, at least temporarily, Jimmy scrambled up from the floor as Tem and Mandy once again took up their protective stances on either side of him. They all looked around for more attackers while keeping considerable attention focused on the fallen ones. More than one of the creatures was moaning in a way that sounded more human than mechanical or demonic.

"Enough," a voice called out loudly in the darkness.

And just like that, darkness vanished as the tunnel section became flooded with electric light. It took only seconds for even Jimmy's imperfect eyes to make the adjustment in the glass-strewn observation car. Now they could all see that their attackers were indeed men wearing odd, all-enveloping metal suits equipped with green lights that had enhanced their monstrous appearance in the dark. The armor must have been bulky, heavy and clumsy to walk in like the plate armor of a medieval knight. Having fallen, these armored attackers could not get back up again, at least not without help. None of them appeared to be trying too hard to do that either. Jimmy breathed a slight sigh of relief, but his sister and Tem didn't relax their battle stances one inch.

From behind a thick column in the train tunnel, two more men emerged, but not in metallic suits of armor, nor carrying any weapons or taking up any aggressive postures. Jimmy recognized one of the men as Agent Hamilton, who had given them the train tickets after the funeral. He appeared to be wearing the same gray suit and the same gray, bland expression. The other man Jimmy had seen in photographs but had never met personally. Tem and Mandy stood up a bit straighter at the sight of the bearded figure, but still were prepared to face another attack at a moment's notice.

"Colonel Longworth," Tem said, addressing the head of the Secret Service.

"At ease, all of you," Colonel Henry Longworth, the bearded man, held up his hand in a gesture of peace. "Forgive me for the rude way in which we had to bring you here, but under the present circumstances we had to be certain not only of privacy, but of the capability of you three before we presented certain . . . options . . . that we have in mind for you."

"This was some sort of test?" Mandy asked in horror, standing amidst their fallen attackers and the shards of glass. Jimmy had never heard her use quite that tone of voice before, but judging from the way she was holding her parasol, it wouldn't have been a good idea for the Colonel – her boss or not – to get within striking distance of it at that moment. Agent Hamilton nodded gravely in answer to the question before Colonel Longworth could speak again.

"It was, and you passed with flying colors in spite of your present state of distraction," Longworth concurred. "Again, I must apologize. We are met in dangerous times and it was necessary, I assure you. It is not my intention to be cruel, especially given your bereavement, but the enemy we face is a merciless one who strikes without warning. I needed to be sure that the agents I assign to deal with that menace are competent to face it. Whether you know it or not, the Secret Service has been taking an interest in your training and careers for some while. It was always my intention to recruit you three for the mission we have in mind for you, but James West's death has forced us to move up the timetable."

Tem's eyes narrowed, and Jimmy shivered a little. Sometimes Tem looked so much like his father it was scary, especially when he looked like his father being scary.

"What do you know about my father's death that we don't?" Tem asked, with the hint of a familiar Jim West growl in the tone.

"Quite a bit. But it isn't my place to give you that information. I need to take you to the one who is supervising the investigation into that matter personally."

"And who would that be?"

Colonel Longworth seemed almost amused at the question.

"My boss."