Out Of The Past
Part XV - A Visit And A Warning I
"May I come in?" Was the sole greeting.
Josie stared up at the woman, trying not to appear intimidated. "That depends. Past a name, I don't know who you are."
The woman more or less ignored any formal invitation as she brushed past Josie and stepped into the cabin. But she almost immediately turned back to her. "I am many things on this train, Ms. Wellstead. What I am currently am is suspicious."
Josie immediately took a step back. "Suspicious? Of what?"
The woman moved with her, always keeping no more than a few feet between them.
"At the present? You."
"Me? What have I done?"
"You tell me, Ms. Wellstead." The stranger asked, keeping Josie under her hard, cold stare.
Josie quickly pushed past the woman, wanting to put more distance between them until she could figure out what was going on.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. And I do not appreciate you barging into my cabin this way and...interrogating me."
A small, close-lipped smile came to the woman's face. "An interesting choice of words." She said. "You asked who I am? I suppose one of the functions I fulfill on this train, Ms. Wellstead, is Mr. Wilford's interrogator."
"And WHAT exactly is it I am being interrogated about?" Josie quickly fired back.
The woman seemed to simply stand studying her for a moment. "Tonight you were reported as being found in a restricted corridor." She finally stated.
Josie looked stunned for a moment. "How did you know that?"
"Mr. Wilford's Jackboots report any suspicious activities to me when he is not available. They reported finding you in the restricted area. My questions is, what you were doing there."
"I...got lost." Josie tried to answer with some confidence. "Is that a crime on this train?"
"It depends. How did you come to be there?"
"I told you. I was lost."
"Do you make it a habit of 'getting lost', Ms. Wellstead?"
"I like to go for walks. It clears the mind."
"There were clear signs posted, warning anyone who might get...lost... that that was a restricted area."
"I told you. I was trying to clear my mind. I don't remember seeing any signs. And I certainly didn't see anything...restrictive about the area. It looked like any other corridor to me. Why was it so dangerous for anyone to be there?"
The woman fell silent again for several moments, as though judging her response before saying anything. "There are certain...factions on this train, Ms. Wellstead, who are not supportive of Mr. Wilford. They are considered members of an organized rebel group who, if they are captured, are interrogated for information on others in the group, and then executed. There are no exceptions to this order. The area you were in was an area we have narrowed some of their operations down to."
"And...and you think I am one of these...rebels?" Josie asked, putting as much disbelief into her tone now as she could.
The woman returned an even colder stare. "I think they may have tried to contact you, Ms. Wellstead. It is how they recruit new members. Others on the train they have tried to pull into their group have reported this. They make contact, but not enough that the person knows anything about them. They only refer to themselves by letters. Never names. So none of them can be identified. If you prove useful to them, they'll get you into the group one way or another. If you learn to much, and they suspect you will betray them, they'll kill you without a second thought."
"They sound like a group of malcontents. Why would Wilford be so interested in them?"
"Because they are anything but 'malcontents', Ms. Wellstead. They are intelligent, well organized, and they have caused Mr. Wilford a great deal of trouble on Big Alice. Stolen food and medical supplies meant for all the crew, not just them. They are unscrupulous and little more than a pack of rats running around this train. If these people have been in contact with you, you are to tell me now. It is critical Mr. Wilford is aware of this. If they have tried to contact you, and you are not one of them, then you would be willing to help us set a trap for them."
Josie paused, unsure what to say. She had no idea that Wilford was aware of any group of rebels on his train. And she didn't want to admit to this woman knowing anything about them. So she did the only thing she could think to do.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She lied. "No one has tried to contact me since I came on board. Most of my time I spent either in the infirmary or in the Headwoods lab, which are both under constant surveillance."
"But you have also been in this cabin for some time, Ms. Wellstead." The woman coolly pointed out. "Which is NOT under constant surveillance."
Josie had to practically bite her tongue not to make some comment about the listening device she had found with the voice's help. But she also had no idea who really placed the device. So instead she simply reiterated her stance on the matter.
"No one has tried to contact me. And I do not appreciate you barging into MY cabin and accusing me of being disloyal to Mr. Wilford. He has been very kind to me and I would never betray him in such a way. If I knew anything of any... rebels...on Big Alice, I would go to him immediately and tell him anything I knew."
The woman seemed to consider her statement for a few moments. "Very well, Ms. Wellstead." She finally stated, then turned to leave. But she stopped briefly at the door to the cabin as she turned back to her. "If the rebels do try to contact you, see to it you tell Mr. Wilford immediately. They try to pass themselves off as the righteous ones on this train, but they are nothing more than a pack of thieves stealing from the hardworking people on Big Alice and putting other lives in danger. Remember that."
Exiting Josie's room, Eliah headed quickly back to the engine room. She was suppose to be driving the train, but had risk a few minutes away to assess how Wellstead would stand up under someone directly questioning her about the rebels on Big Alice. She felt the other woman's answers were genuine, as Josie did not know who she was in reality, and therefore had no reason to lie to her. But in her experience, safe was always better than sorry, and too many others depended on her decisions for their very lives. So she had to discern for herself where the woman's loyalties may fall should she come under suspicion herself from Wilford.
Stepping into the engine room, Eliah made as fast a path as she could to the helm chair. But as she approached, she quickly checked herself. She could already see someone was sitting in the helm chair. And she also knew only one person on Big Alice who would dare such a thing.
Turning in the chair to face her, she could already read suspicion in the man's expression. Years of experience had made her an expert on recognizing it.
"Eliah, my dear." WIlford greeted her in a falsely friendly manner. "I don't often come into the engine room to find it empty. This is so...unlike you. Leaving the helm unattended. Where have you been?"
Eliah only paused for a moment, making a split second decision how to deal with the matter. "It was a personal matter, sir. But we were in the flatlands. I didn't see a problem in leaving the helm unattended for a few moments. And I wasn't far away should a problem arise."
Wilford said nothing, continuing to fix a hard gaze on her. Most people would likely quickly crumble under that stare. Eliah found it annoying that the man thought so little of her continence that he believed a simple stare would cause her to break. However, she also knew it served her to allow him to think so.
After several moments past in silence between them, and when she felt he was close to giving in himself, she gave a deep sigh and crossed her arms in front of her, a clear sign of self-defensiveness Wilford seemed to like to see. She felt he saw it as almost a white flag being waved.
"I went to see the Wellstead woman." She stated in a slightly irritated sounding tone.
Wilford paused before he said anything, something Eliah knew as his own warning sign. He was not pleased with what she had done.
"Why?" Came the single, sharply worded question.
Eliah did not need to consider her answer this time. She already had it well prepared, knowing at any moment the Wellstead woman may slip and say something to Wilford about their meeting, bringing him straight back to her.
"I don't like her." Came her own short, curt response.
"Explain."
"She's an enigma on your train. We don't know where her loyalties lay. She could be doing nothing more than learning everything she can about how you run this train, pretending to be the agreeable sycophant until you send her back. Then she becomes their greatest source of information against you. I think you give her far too much leniency while she is onboard Big Alice."
Wilford stared up at the woman for some time without saying anything. But when he did speak, his tone was anything but pleasant. "So you took it upon yourself to go see her...without my knowledge...or my permission...," Wilford was out of the chair now, taking several determined steps towards her, "to do what? Interrogate her as to her motives?"
Eliah never even got a second to move to avoid the hand that struck her hard across the face.
"You STUPID woman!" Wilford billowed at her, leaning over her as he grabbed her arm. "Do you have ANY idea what you have done?"
Eliah held her ground. "She is a danger on this train. We needed to know what her motivations were."
"YOU don't need to know anything!" Wilford all but screamed at her. "YOU need only to concern yourself with driving this train and the occasional maintenance as it falls within your very limited scope of skills. The people on this train are NOT your concern, Ms. Elsom. And I would thank you to remember that in the future."
More than being afraid, Eliah found the whole display confusing. Wilford often relied on her perception of others on the train, often using her to interrogate those he suspected of treason to find out information. She had also been used many times in interrogating her own people when one of them was caught.
Those were the times she hated the worst. Due to her position under Wilford, she had to act the part. It was the reason all who worked with her understood that being captured was the worst thing that could happen. And knowing the end result would be the same, often chose for a quick end rather than one with no hope of escape and only days or weeks or unending pain. In those situations, she was solely grateful that her position allowed her to give them that escape, slipping a small pill to them during the interrogation. A promise this would be the last time. But that was all she could do. She could not offer one ounce of compassion, pity, or comfort to someone whom she had fought beside, and who could possibly be in this position because they had protected her.
She had convinced Wilford that throwing the body back in the train was a good method of dissuading the rebels. Let them see what became of those who opposed the leader of the train. The body always disappeared, and no effort was afforded to stop or capture anyone taking the body. Those who did could simply claim to be family or friends. But it served it's purpose for both. Wilford agreed it was an effective warning to the rebels. And it allowed Eliah and her people to say a final farewell to their fallen comrade. And for her to offer what apology she finally could for their pain and suffering.
Thankfully, such times were far and few between due to her training of her people. They had eyes and ears in almost every department onboard Big Alice, and little happened that they were not aware of. Even some members of Wilford's own Jackboots ran with the rebels on Big Alice.
Eliah quickly straightened herself as she turned once more to face the man.
"I only sought to protect you, sir." She explained. "And I saw this woman as a threat."
Wilford gave a small laugh in her face. "A threat? What possible threat could Ms. Wellstead be to me?"
Eliah spoke carefully this time. "As I tried to point out before, Mr. Wilfrod, perhaps while she is here, all she is doing is gathering information to take with her when she leaves. Has she not been asking more and more to do just that? Go back to Snowpiercer?"
A finger quickly inserted itself between them. "You," Wilford stated slowly, "leave Ms. Wellstead to me. By the time she leaves here, she will have willingly told me anything I want to know about Snowpiercer. All in an expression of her gratitude for not only what I have done for her thus far, but for offering her a safe place to return to when she sees how her former train has abandon her."
Eliah gave him a confused look. "Not that I would question you, sir." She started carefully. "But why would she do such a thing? Her lover is on that train..."
"Seeds, Ms. Elsom." Came the cryptic interruption.
"Sir?" Eliah was already well versed in Wilford's sometimes erratic thought patterns. But this one was a bit too far off track even for him.
"It's all about planting seeds." Wilford went on. "Seeds of doubt. Seeds of mistrust. And Melanie...she is going to be the key to all of it."
"Melanie Cavill?" Eliah asked, trying to make it sound like pure skepticism instead of curiosity.
But Wilford seemed to have heard something else in her tone as he studied her for a moment, then slowly draw back.
"Don't you have a train to drive, Ms. Elsom?" He asked coldly.
Eliah didn't bother to even answer as she quickly stepped by him instead and headed for the helm chair, grateful to bring the unexpected encounter to a close.
It wasn't until she heard him leave the engine room that she let out a long slow sigh of relief.