Frozen In Time - Rescue

Part V - Forming a plan

Back in the main engine room, Jackson had drawn a rough sketch of Big Alice with Melanie's help on the table the group stood around and was quickly laying out for the others what his contact had told him.

"They said here," he indicated, drawing a circle around a small area several cars in front of Big Alice's engine, "Wilford had been having his own maintenance people work to build something. No one was sure what it was. But my contact went to observe it as it was taking up a great deal of time and workers assigned to the project. Wilford was not going to risk pulling people away from their assigned duties unless it was important."

"A forge." Melanie quickly ventured. "He was building a forge."

Jackson nodded to her. "Quite correct, Ms. Cavill. And this has been going on for some time. So Wilford's plan to take your blacksmith was not a spur of the moment decision. He has been panning this for weeks. In fact, I would venture that detaining Ms. Alex on Big Alice was more of a distraction while he made for his real target."

"Hephaestus." Layton put in.

Jackson's pointer remained where it was, centered on the new forge area. "Indeed. However, now that he has what he truly wanted, he has made no move to return Ms. Cavill's daughter to her. To end her 'punishment'."

"He's holding a card." Layton suggested. "And a very valuable one. He knows as long as he keeps Alex, we'll move much more carefully. Slower."

Jackson nodded. "That is a logical assumption. The girl does not serve any other real purpose for him that I can discern at this point."

"Stated about as coldly as I am sure Wilford looks at the situation." Layton commented, only giving the man a brief glance in return.

But Jackson immediately straightened his back at the comment as he turned his attention to the train's leader.

"I was requested to be a part of this group as an advisor." He stated empirically. "Not an emotional support animal."

"Honestly, there are days, I have trouble seeing the difference."

"Booooys!" Came a stern warning from Melanie. She had no idea what rubbed these two the wrong way sometimes with each other, but she found it tiresome on more than one occasion. Turning to Frank, she offered her own opinion on the situation. "Whether or not Wilford intends to harm Alexandra isn't the point. What matters to me is that my daughter is back on Snowpiercer where I know for a fact she is safe. We also want Hes back, not because of some materialistic value he is to the train, but so we know he's also safe. As such, we need to devise a plan to get both of them back on our side of the border." She stated, looking around the table. "Gentlemen and ladies, I am open to suggestions."

"We could try a route outside the train." Bennett offered. "Go out a cold lock on our side and get in through one on Big Alice."

Till jumped in quickly to veto the suggestion. "The speed of the trains is too fast right now. Any brakeman will tell you, one good bump and you're off the train."

"We could slow them down." Bennett revised his plan. "Offer Wilford some bogus reason we need to slow Snowpiercer for a short time. Enough to allow someone to make it to a cold lock on Big Alice's side."

"But we still would need someone on Big Alice's side to open the cold lock door on the inside to give us access." Melanie pointed out.

Almost as a single unit, everyone at the table turned to Jackson.

The man quickly read their meaning. "I could most certainly ask my contact to act in that capacity. But might I offer an alternative suggestion?"

Layton gave him a suspicious look. "Such as?"

"While I feel Mr. Knox's suggestion has merit, I believe Mr. Layton has had a valid point from the beginning. As that Mr. Wilford is not a man given to clandestine actions, liking things to be more...flamboyant...it is unlikely he is overly familiar with more covert manners of dealing with things."

Layton simply stared at the man for several seconds. "Could you, just once, talk like a normal person?"

Jackson pull himself up once again. "Very well." Jackson went back to addressing the group as a whole. "I feel that Mr. Knox's suggestion that we attempt a 'sneak attack' of our own on Big Alice has merit, as it is not the sort of thing Mr. Wilford is likely to expect. However, I would suggest we sneak 'off' the train, not 'on' it."

Layton kept a solid stare fixed on the man. "That wasn't much better. But at least I understood you this time."

Melanie decided it was best she took over any further talks with her assistant. "So if we aren't using any covert maneuvers to get on the train, Frank, how do we accomplish that part of the plan?"

Jackson turned his attention solely to her now. "I will need a few moments to arrange that." He stated. "However, in the meantime I suggest you and Mr. Knox, along with the rest of those gathered, make plans on how to accomplish the second half of the mission, presumably for now, how to get out of a cold lock on Big Alice and get safely back on Snowpiercer. I believe the mention was made the trains would need to be slowed. It would be best, in my opinion, to begin laying the ground work for that now. Perhaps some message to Big Alice stating that at a certain time in the future, the trains will, for some established reason, need to be slowed down. Preferably to a speed that would allow anyone outside to safely transverse the trains."

"Engine maintenance issues could do it." Bennett offered quickly. "He knows we have to run scheduled diagnostics on Snowpiercer. But he would likely be familiar with them and our schedule. So it would have to be something out of the ordinary. Something he isn't expecting or has time to check. We should need about an hour to get someone out of the cold lock and onto the run on the top of the trains. Then all they need to do is get to Snowpiercer's cold lock and get back inside."

Melanie turned back to her assistant. "All right. We have a good start on the plan of how to get back. The question remaining is how do we get over to Big Alice undetected?"

"Again, I will need a short time frame to make proper arrangements, but I believe I have a plan that will work."

"All right." Layton stated. "Go make your 'arrangements', and we'll all meet back here in...?" He turned a questioning look to Jackson.

"Three hours should be sufficient."

Layton nodded to the others and the meeting quickly broke up.