Frozen In Time - Rescue
Part XVIII - A New Threat
Once back on the train and assured her daughter was also safe and all right, Melanie had gone straight to the medical car, waiting there for several hours for any word on her assistant's condition.
It wasn't until she heard directly from Dr. Pelton that Frank Jackson was going to recover that Melanie finally allowed Layton to take her back to their cabin.
For the next several days things seemed to settle down between the two trains. 'Settle down' in as much as neither side was talking to the other.
The silent standoff ended when Layton, under Melanie's urging, finally contacted Wilford and began negotiations to re-establish the trains uneasy peace and resume trade. Despite what Wilford termed 'the unfortunate occurrences', Layton agreed with his second-in-command that each side still depended on the other for survival. And so the dealing began.
Part of the negotiations required Wilford to peacefully relinquish his hold on Snowpiercer's border area, which after much talking back and forth, he finally agreed to.
But, of course, with stipulations.
The main 'stipulation' Melanie bristled at at first. Wilford wanted a fair trade of technology between the trains. The main part of which Wilford maintained was that Snowpiercer's blacksmith had to make parts for both trains, not just Snowpiercer.
Getting Melanie to agree to this wasn't the hard part. Where Bennett and Layton had to push with the First Engineer, was that Wilford insisted that Alex be the one to bring the parts and install them.
He all but pleaded a case of missing the girl. Stating he couldn't even go by her bunk on the train, knowing she wasn't there. That others on the train also missed her and wondered when she was coming back.
Listening to the heart-felt pleas, Alex stood next to her mother and rolled her eyes at the intercom Layton was using to speak to Wilford over.
"More like he's tired of having to drive the train himself now." She mumbled to her mother.
Layton finally agreed to allow Alex to go back to Big Alice, but only once Alex herself agreed, telling Layton Wilford wasn't likely to try anything again as the last attempt cost him several guards who defected to Snowpiercer. Another 'rumble at the border', as she described it, would likely only cost him more. And he was getting what he wanted in the exchange. Her back on Big Alice, not because he was so devastated by her not being there, but to help run the train.
And so a few days later, with new parts in tow, Layton, Melanie, and Alex headed for the border crossing. Although no fool, he tried to make a show of good faith by leaving Roche, Till, and several guards, back at the secondary door. This was, after all, suppose to be a friendly meeting.
Arriving at the border, Layton was surprised to see Wilford had, in fact, come alone.
With one exception.
Standing at his side was a statuesque woman with light brown hair done up in a stylish wrap in the back of her head. Although she wore little makeup, it didn't diminish her own attractive features one bit.
Melanie carefully looked over the newcomer, noting quickly she was dressed in the same style of uniform that Alex often wore as an engineer on Big Alice.
Noting the other group's interest in his companion, Wilford offered a smile as he introduced her.
"I don't believe most of you have had the pleasure of meeting my Second Engineer?" He stated.
"Second Engineer?" Layton asked. "I thought Big Alice only had two engineers. Yourself and Alex."
"Well now, that wouldn't be very prudent, would it, Mr. Layton?" Wilford answered in an almost amicable manner. "Especially since my First Engineer seemed to have taken up somewhat permanent residence on your train as of late."
"Alex was staying with us for her own safety." Layton put in.
"Safety!?" Wilford stated. "Safety? Why, that child was never safer anywhere on this whole frozen planet than on Big Alice."
"I'm not here to discuss personal issues, Wilford." Layton stated. "Alex is where she is by her own choice. We discussed your request for her to come back to Big Alice to do work, and she agreed. But her preference at the end of that time is to return to Snowpiercer." Layton stated, turning briefly to the girl, who gave Wilford a short, curt nod.
Wilford seemed to consider the exchange for a moment, then, sensing a losing battle for the moment, moved on. "Yes. Well, in the meantime, there seems to be an issue over the security of the border."
"What security?"
"As I am sure you are already aware, whereas the door can be closed, it can not be locked from our side. Apparently Alexandra's...playing around with the circuits," he added, giving the teenager a small grandfatherly nod and a smile, "...misaligned something."
"What concern is this to Snowpiercer?"
"The concern, Mr. Layton, is to Big Alice. WE, after all, are the ones with our door left open day and night to...intrusion."
"That's hardly our concern."
"Of course not!" Wilford almost laughed. "Especially when it puts YOU at the advantage."
"So what is it you want exactly?"
"The problem appears to be in the circuits between the trains. I am here, peacefully, asking that my Second Engineer, Ms. Elson, be allowed to come onto your train to try and find the issue and correct it."
All through the negotiations, Melanie could hardly take her eyes off the woman standing next to Wilford. Something about the woman's eerie silence bothered her. While Wilford had been talking, she had carefully been looking over each member of their delegation with a steel cold gaze. She swore the woman's expression never shift so much as an inch one way or the other.
Except when it came to her.
When the woman's eyes found Melanie's, she swore she could almost feel the gaze harden even more. It wasn't hatred so much as a stone cold disapproval. As though she had found something seriously lacking in Snowpiercer's First Engineer.
"This is also a benefit to you." Wilford added when no one seemed to move on his request."
"How so?"
"Consider it a good faith exchange. While Alex is on Big Alice making repairs with the parts your blacksmith has so kindly provided, you will have Ms. Elson on your train."
"Sounds like a hostage exchange in the making to me." Layton commented.
Wilford laughed softly at the insinuation. "Always so suspicious." He replied, turning to Melanie. "Sometime, my dear, I do wonder how you put up with him."
Melanie quickly snapped out of her silent appraisal of the woman at Wilford's side. "I personally agree with him." She answered. "It sounds like you...don't trust us, Joseph."
"Well," Wilford quickly reigned in his annoyance at the allusion, "be that as it may, while Alex is on Big Alice, my Second Engineer will be on Snowpierer, trying to correct the problem with the door."
Layton turned first to Melanie, then to Roche, seeing what their opinion of the situation was.
Melanie turned to her daughter with an unspoken question, which Alex picked up on immediately.
"She's who he says." Alex replied in a less than enthusiastic tone. "She works in the engine room sometimes. Mostly does maintenance work."
If the woman thought anything of the teenager's assessment of her skills, she gave no show of it as her expression remained as frozen as ever.
Following her daughter's confirmation of the woman, Melanie offered a quick, curt nod to Layton, while Roche seemed to take more time coming to a decision.
"She stays with escorts the entire time." Roche finally replied. "No side trips. If what she wants isn't in the engine room, she will be brought back here immediately. No requests to look somewhere else for the solution."
Wilford gave the man a friendly smile. "I think you'll find Ms. Elson eminently qualified in her position. She seems to feel with a great deal of certainty the problem resides in your engine room. Isn't that so, my dear?" Wilford asked as he turned to the stone statue at his side.
"Of course, Mr. Wilford." Was all she replied in a tone as cold as her stare.
"As am I am sure that no harm will come to Ms. Elson while she is on your train." Wilford added.
Layton wanted to add he wasn't the one mistreating people on his train or had instigated an all out kidnapping of any of Wilford's people. But events of the past had already been hashed out amid several heated calls between the trains. And for the sake of the uneasy peace, Layton had agreed to let the matter rest for now.
"Ms. Elson will be perfectly safe on Snowpiercer." Layton replied in a level tone, then bit his tongue to stop himself from adding anything else.
Melanie had given her daughter a quick hug before she left to return to Big Alice. On the other side of the door, Wilford tried to shower the girl with his usual show of attention and affection. But Alex for the most part stayed a good three feet away from him, clearly indicating her current feelings for the man
For her part, Wilford's Second Engineer confidently walked over to her waiting escorts on Snowpiercer's side of the border. Once the groups parted ways, Roche immediately had three guards placed with her on the subtrain, assigning them to stay with her at all times. Once they were situated in the car, Roche got into the second car directly behind it with Layton and Melanie.
All seemed normal as the trip began up the train, but Roche soon began to notice the car in front of them had picked up speed and was outpacing them.
"What's going on?" Layton asked, his voice rising slightly as he noticed the same thing.
Melanie was already working on the controls of their car. "Someone's over-ridden the circuit that sets the speed of the cars."
"Could Elson do that without any of the guards noticing?"
"If she's an engineer, it isn't that complicated." Melanie answered. "You take off the main panel and flip a switch, basically."
Layton turned to Roche. "And the guards just let her do this?"
Roche was about to step up for his men when Melanie answered for him. "She's Wilford's right hand, Layton. I'm sure she came over here with a plan from the start to get to whatever it is she truly wants on this train."
Layton was watching her work in the panel. "Can we catch her?"
Just as he made the statement, he felt the car give a lurch and speed up.
"She's got a few seconds head start. But we should be back up with the other car in a few moments. Whatever she's up to, she still has three guards to deal with. That's bound to slow her down."
"They're three of my best men." Roche quickly put in. "Whatever her game, she's not going to get far with it."
Layton was barely staying in his seat as the car sped forward. While on the subtrain he had no way to communicate with anyone else about what was going on. But he quickly braced himself back in his seat as Melanie brought the car to a near sudden stop when they suddenly came up behind the other subtrain car, stopped on the overhead track it was attached to.
Jumping out of their own car, the three quickly, but cautiously approached the car. As soon as they reached it, they found all three guards had been rendered unconscious.
Whatever the fight had been, it was quick and decisive as every guard was still in their seat with the restraint belts fastened.
What was all too obviously missing from the car was it's fourth passenger, Ms. Elson.