Frozen In Time - Rescue
Part VIII - Big Alice
Jackson froze in his position, keeping a tight grip on the cart in front of him as he looked over the group before him. Mostly they consisted of Layton's closest guards, including Roche and Till standing right next to him.
"Well," he stated mostly to himself, "this is an unexpected upset to our plans."
Putting on his best game face, Jackson moved to stand beside the laundry cart. "Is there a problem, Mr. Layton?"
"Not yet." Came the stoic reply. With a slight tilt of his head, Layton signaled to Roche, who, holding a long wooden pole, walked over to the cart and began none to gently poking about on it. But finally giving it one last poke, Roche walked back over to stand next to Layton.
"Well?"
"Just like he said." Roche answered his leader. "She's well hidden. I even know what I'm looking for and I would swear she wasn't in that cart."
Layton carefully turned his eyes to Melanie's assistant, who through the whole procedure had not made one move.
"So what's the plan then, Mr. Jackson?" He asked. "I would like to know at least that much."
Jackson gave a deep sigh. "Ms. Cavill did not want to..."
But Layton quickly put up a hand. "Spare me the part about how she didn't want to go along with this but you talked her into it." He stated. "Just tell me how this is supposed to go down."
Jackson paused for a moment, then began laying out their plan to Layton, letting him know it was very similar to the original proposal he had made.
"The only change in the plan was going to be that once she was on Big Alice, I was to come and tell you so we could begin to effectively work the plan from Snowpiercer's side." Jackson explained. "Making sure the trains slowed enough to allow the three of them to get out of the cold lock and get back to Snowpiercer."
Layton gave a tired sigh, then walked over to the cart and crouched down next to it, giving Jackson a gesture to open the back of the cart. With a slight hesitancy, Jackson did as he asked, opening the seam and showing Melanie carefully secured in the compartment.
A worried stare met Layton as she tried to offer up an apology. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go agai..."
But Layton quickly stopped her with a hand and a sigh. An equally worried look met her's. "We'll talk about it later. Right now we just need to move forward with this." He paused for a moment, none of the worry leaving his eyes. "Are you absolutely sure this is what you truly want to do? Till is standing right here. She can take your place and the plan can proceed..."
"She's my daughter, Layton." Melanie offered up in a pleading tone.
"I get that." Layton replied. "But that doesn't mean someone else can't go get both of them off that train."
"You know I am the best choice for this." Melanie quickly countered. "You know WHY I am the best choice."
Layton reached over and took hold of one of her hands. "I just don't want anything to happen to you. Not just because of what you mean to this train, but what you mean to me."
Melanie gave him a small smile. "You're not going to get rid of me as easily as shoving me over to Big Alice in a laundry hamper, Mr. Layton."
Layton gave her a small smile and a quick kiss on the forehead. "You just be safe." He told her, then added with a bit a mock seriousness. "And we're still going to have a talk about your going against orders."
Melanie gave him a quick nod as he pulled back. But Bennett quickly took his place, equally taking her hand in a firm hold, his expression none the less worried than Layton's.
"Are you sure about this?"
Melanie gave him a quick nod also.
Bennett gave a small sigh as he held her stare for a few moments. "OK. We'll wait for Frank's signal to slow the trains. At that point..."
"We should all be headed back to Snowpiercer." She finished for him with a small smile.
Bennett quickly leaned in for a kiss, then pulled up as he stepped back from the cart.
While Jackson resealed the compartment, Layton and the others left the area so nothing would seem amiss. Once they were out of sight and only the regular guards remained, Ruth allowed the other workers to enter the border car and began getting them lined up to swap out the carts with those waiting on the other side of the door, likely wondering what the delay was about. But eventually everything was arranged as it normally was and the guards reopened the door leading to Big Alice's own border area.
Layton watched from his covered position with the others as Jackson, last in the line, quickly passed the cart off to the worker from Big Alice. He carefully looked for some sign or signal Jackson would give the other worker. But from his perspective, absolutely nothing about the exchange differed from the carts before it.
As the exchange finished and the guards resealed the door, Jackson made to leave the area. But just before he left area of the border car, Layton quickly stepped up to block his path.
Speaking in a low tone, Layton did everything but back the man to a wall. "If something...if ANYTHING...happens to her, I promise you that it will be YOUR head I stick on the end of a pole and displaying at the border, Mr. Jackson! Are we clear about this?"
The man gave one of his customary gentlemanly nods to Layton. "As it should be, sir."
Without any further discussion, Layton turned with his delegation and left the area.
Jackson turned and gave Ruth a small, worried stare before turning and following them.
On the other side of the border, just as predicted, the carts went through inspection. Although it was, in Melanie's opinion, cursory at best. The guard who checked her cart barely tapped the sides and only stuck his pole down the very center to check for counterban before allowing them to move on.
Riding in the cart, Melanie did her best to stay utterly silent. She didn't even make any attempt to communicate her presence to the person pushing the cart, as Frank had warned her not to do in case something in the exchange at the border went wrong. If it did, then the only thing she could do then was stay with the cart and wait to be returned to the border in the next exchange. He had told her her only signal would the cart stopping and the person leaving it for a few moments after getting some of the laundry out.
The ride wasn't by any means uncomfortable, just boring to her. She hated inactivity. But suddenly she felt the cart come to an abrupt stop and a deep male voice demanded to know what the person pushing the cart was doing in that area.
"Special delivery." A shaky voice responded. "To the forward cabins. Clean sheets and some additional blankets."
True to her assistant's information, the guard's interest seemed to suddenly focus on the blankets.
"Clean blankets? Snowpiercer rarely sends blankets. Why the change?"
The shaky voice answered him as nervous as before. "They were requested, sir."
"By who?"
"By those in the forward cabins."
"Wilford's 'special' friends then." The guard replied in disgust and quickly began rummaging with one hand through the cart's contents.
Melanie pushed herself as far away from the searching hand as she could. But it suddenly stopped as the guard seemed to find what he wanted. Pulling back from the cart, he extracted a large, soft blanket out of the cart. For good measure he also grabbed several sheets.
The person pushing the cart quickly protested. "Sir! They'll be noticed missing. I'll have to explain!"
"Then tell them Snowpiercer got the count wrong. They can't blame you for what someone else forgot," The guard suggested, then shoved the person on their way. "Now get going before I report you for stealing."
The poor cart worker stumbled slightly from the shove, but then quickly regained their feet and scrambled off down the hallway.
A few more cars down, Melanie felt the cart suddenly stop, then start again, then stop once more. She wasn't sure what was going on until she heard the person mumbling seemingly to themselves. "Door, door, door. Where are you, door?"
Melanie had given Jackson as close a description of where one of the tunnel door's was as she could, and how to open the panel so they could check for it before she came over to Big Alice.
But a sudden "Ah!" brought the cart once again to a stop. Seemingly checking something in the back of the cart, Melanie felt the seam along the back opened. The worker never looked at her or spoke a word, but simply stood back up and walked around the side of the cart and unloaded several sheets and blankets and took them off down the hallway a short ways.
Knowing this was her signal, Melanie scooted her body out of the compartment and got to her feet. She quickly looked around.
There was no one else in the corridor. Not even the laundry worker. Frank had said she would have only a short time to find the door.
Quickly turning to the corridor wall, Melanie ran her hand along the panel. The door was incredibly well hidden, and she had no doubt Wilford had never even in seven years suspected any of the tunnels existed.
At first she had built them into the train's design exactly for the reason she told Layton. Because she could. It was sort of a private joke to her on Wilford that she figured she would show him later. How easily she had built a whole series of tunnels aboard his first train without his even knowing. But now she was grateful she never got the chance to tell him. The tunnels ran in different areas of Big Alice, but not through the whole train. At best they would provide her with a safe place to hide should it become necessary.
Turning nervously to the corridor, Melanie was sure she could hear the worker coming back. What did she do if they got back before she could find the panel to open the door? Would the person sound an alarm to save themselves? Help her? Ignore her?
Melanie turned back to the wall and carefully searched it again. Even to her, the panel was well hidden.
As she ran her hand over the wall, a hand suddenly reached past her and pushed on a nearly invisible panel on the wall, causing it to open to reveal an operations panel hidden inside.
Melanie started to turn to see who was behind her, but a rough hand on the back of her neck kept her held in check.
"No turning around." A gruff voice told her. "5847490A." Immediately followed, causing much of the tension in her body to relax a little. This was one of her contacts.
"Just get move along and be on your way." The male voice told her in the same commanding tone.
Melanie quickly entered the code to open the panel. "Thank you for helping me." She replied.
A derisive noise came from behind her. "I help myself." The man replied. "And if I didn't owe Manny and his brat something, I wouldn't be helping you. Now get on your way."
As soon as the panel slid open Melanie found herself none to gently shoved inside.
The panel quickly slid closed behind her, delivering her into total darkness. For several moments she simply stood where she was, listening for any sounds. But the metal panels and the sounds of the train covered any sound from the other side of the wall. Something Melanie reasoned worked both ways.
She carefully counted out enough time she felt it took for the man to have moved on. Reaching into one of the pockets on her suit, she pulled out a small flashlight and looked around the area to orient herself. Shining the light on the walls, she moved a few meters down the tunnel until the light suddenly illuminated a small, indented marking on the wall.
To anyone else, the markings would have appeared almost random. But Melanie quickly ran her fingertips over the markings, deciphering the information they contained. From the markings she learned her location and quickly started off down the tunnel. If nothing had changed, she should be headed directly toward the engine And if her memory served her, Alex's bunk should be in that general location.
Walking through the tunnels Melanie did everything she could to conserve the power to her flashlight. She often didn't need it as she remembered the tunnels. But it was more than a little disquieting walking through the pitch blackness without so much as a single landmark to guide her. So what time she did allow herself to use the flashlight, she moved as quickly as possible. She estimated it took her a little under thirty minutes to make the journey. Alex's bunk was where Jackson's contact had stated they last saw her and that she had also been seen working in the engine and driving the train. So it appeared Wilford wasn't confining her. Just not allowing her to return to Snowpiercer.
Continuing down the corridor, Melanie watched for the next set of clues she was looking for to help her reach her daughter. She would alternating shine the flashlight on the ceiling and then on the walls, looking for her next landmark. But finally, flashing the light down the corridor along the ceiling, she found the next step in her plan. Walking quickly, Melanie placed herself under a vent panel set in the ceiling. Quickly shedding the light on the walls, she made out the footholds that had been soldered onto the wall panels to allow someone quick access to the ventilation system. The tunnels, unfortunately, did not go near Alex's bunk area. They bypassed that area and a small, but accessible tunnel went to the engine room. Something Melanie had incorporated into her plans if needed based on Alex's current location.
But the vents went all over the train.
Getting into the ventilation system only took a matter of minutes. Once there, she kept a virtual map going in her head of where she was as she made several turns in the vents. Finally she reasoned she was literally in a vent just above her daughter's bunk.
When she had first visited her daughter's area on Big Alice, the vent directly over her bunk was one of the small, random pieces of information she noted as she took in the space, storing away anything that could be of use later.
This time it had paid off.
Pulling several tools out of a small pocket in the top of her outfit, Melanie set to work on the latches of the vent. But to her surprise, someone on the outside suddenly worked the latches on their side and the vent fell open.
Melanie couldn't have been happier than to see the smiling face of her daughter looking up at her, a quietly whispered "Mom!" on her lips.
But Melanie quickly shook her head, and the girl instantly fell silent. Moving about, Alex made room for her mother to easily slide out of the vent and onto the mattress of her bunk.
As soon as she got sitting upright in the bunk, Melanie found her daughter all but throwing herself into her arms in relief.
"They told me you were coming." She whispered quickly. "I've done everything I could to make sure I stayed in my bunk as much as I could so I didn't miss you."
Melanie pulled her back and took hold of her arms. "Who told you?" She asked quickly.
Alex looked perplexed at the question. "The people who were helping you get to me and Hes."
Melanie studied her daughter's face for a moment as she thought through the information.
"Is that not right?" Alex finally asked.
Melanie shook her head. "I'm not sure. We can't trust anyone Alex. I think it's best we simply get out of here as quickly as possible. Where is Hes? Do you know?"
Alex shook her head. "I haven't seen him since Wilford kidnapped him."
"Do you know where the forge is?"
Alex nodded as she looked up at the vent. "We can probably get there through the vents."
"Do you think you can do that? Travel through the vents?"
Alex gave a soft laugh. "Mom, I'm smaller than you. I'm sure I'll fit."
Melanie quickly pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and a pen, which she handed to Alex. "Make a rough map of where we are and where the forge is directly." She instructed her. While she knew the train, Melanie was betting on her daughter knowing any changes that may have been made since Big Alice left it's own station seven years ago.
Alex quickly made a sketch and handed it back to her mother. While crude, Melanie could still make out where the forge was and could figure out through the vents how to get there. She quickly folded up the paper and stuffed it, along with the pen, back in her suit's pocket.
"All right." She whispered. "We're going to get Hes, then get off this train as quickly as possible."
"How?"
"Through a cold lock near the border."
Alex quickly shook her head. "But mom, the trains speed..."
"Bennett is working that end of it." She told her. "They've already started telling Wilford they need to slow Snowpiercer for repairs. As soon as they get to the proper speed, we'll need to be in that cold lock."
Alex quickly nodded.
"All right. Let's go."
Alex watched her mother nimbly slide back up into the vent. Starting to follow her, the girl stopped suddenly and reached up under her pillow. Grabbing the small white box, she covertly stuffed it into a pocket of her own engineer's outfit and followed her mother.