Night Train to Murder Page 13

  I started toward him and he backed quickly away. The door hissed open behind him and he stumbled back into the vestibule, making awkward warding-off gestures with his hands, as though he was facing some kind of monster. I stopped where I was.

  ‘What is wrong with you, Brian?’

  ‘Stay where you are,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Don’t come any closer. What the hell are you?’

  ‘I already told you,’ I said. ‘I’m security.’

  ‘But what else are you?’ said Brian. His voice was choked with horror.

  I felt something touch my upper lip. I put my hand to my nose, and when I took it away my fingertips had golden blood on them. The blow to my nose must have connected more solidly than I’d realized. I took out a handkerchief and pressed it to my nostrils, stopping the bleeding. I cleaned my nose and upper lip carefully, put the handkerchief away and looked steadily at Brian.

  ‘Get back in here. Don’t make me have to come and get you.’

  Brian came slowly back into the compartment, never taking his eyes off me until the door slid shut behind him.

  ‘No one else saw anything,’ I said quietly. ‘And you didn’t either. Is that understood?’

  ‘Got it,’ said Brian. He swallowed hard. ‘I didn’t see anything.’

  ‘And you can’t tell anyone else about this. Is that clear, Brian?’

  ‘Who would I tell?’ Brian said numbly. ‘Who would believe me?’

  ‘That’s the spirit,’ I said. ‘Now, stay here and guard this door, until I tell you otherwise.’

  I started to turn away.

  ‘What are you?’ said Brian.

  ‘Undercover,’ I said.

  I went back down the aisle, to where Penny and Sita were chatting happily together. I dropped on to the seat facing them, and they both stopped talking, exchanged a look and burst out laughing.

  ‘Are you all right, darling?’ said Penny, once she could control herself. ‘That punch did look as if it might have been a bit painful.’

  ‘It was only a glancing blow,’ I said, with as much dignity as I could manage. ‘I think he just needed to get it out of his system.’

  ‘Are you ready now to tell me who you really work for?’ said Sita. ‘And don’t try to fob me off with that security crap. It might work on anyone else, but I’ve been around. What department are we talking about? What’s your remit, and who gives you your orders? I know I can’t write about it, but I still need to know if I’m going to trust you.’

  ‘You must have heard rumours,’ I said. ‘About departments within departments, that don’t officially exist.’

  ‘Oh …’ said Sita. ‘So you work for one of those?’

  ‘Of course not,’ I said. ‘They don’t exist, remember?’

  Sita gave me a withering look and turned to Penny.

  ‘You want the truth?’ Penny said calmly. ‘All right, then. Ishmael and I work for an organization so secret it doesn’t have a name. Even we have no idea who they are or what they’re for.’

  Sita glared at her. ‘I know when I’m being patronized.’ She jumped to her feet and strode off in a huff, dropping moodily into another seat some distance away.

  ‘You tell them the truth and they still won’t believe you,’ said Penny.

  ‘We should try that more often,’ I said. ‘Can I just ask: what were the two of you cackling about so companionably?’

  Penny grinned. ‘How much Sita wanted to punch you on the nose, like Brian did. I told her I often feel the same way.’ She glanced back at Brian. ‘Something freaked him out there. What happened?’

  ‘He made my nose bleed,’ I said. ‘Just for a moment.’

  Penny’s mouth made a small Oh! of understanding, and she leaned quickly forward to check there was no blood left on my face.

  ‘Hold it,’ I said. ‘Sita’s up to something.’

  ‘Now what?’ said Penny.

  Sita was back up on her feet again, commanding the middle of the aisle. She glared at Penny and me, and raised her voice to address the whole compartment.

  ‘We can’t let those two order us around! We have no idea who they really are, or who they work for. They have no authority over us!’

  ‘What do you suggest we do about it?’ Rupert said mildly. ‘We’re trapped on the train with them, all the way to Bath.’

  Sita stabbed a finger at him triumphantly. ‘You had the right idea. Pull the communication cord and stop the train. Then just sit tight until the proper authorities can get here and take over.’

  ‘But according to Mr Jones, pulling the cord won’t make any difference,’ said Howard. ‘The driver has orders not to stop for anything.’

  ‘And you believe him?’ said Sita.

  ‘Why would he lie to us?’ said Rupert.

  ‘Why do you think?’ said Sita.

  She smiled at me defiantly and lunged for the cord, but Brian had moved quietly down the aisle and was already in position to block the way with his body. Sita scowled at him, and he smiled back at her.

  ‘Get out of the way, Brian.’

  ‘Sit down, Sita.’

  ‘And what if I don’t choose to take orders from a hired thug like you?’ said Sita.

  Brian’s smile widened. ‘Then I’ll just have to make you do what you’re told, won’t I?’

  Sita went to dodge round him, one outstretched arm straining for the cord, but Brian grabbed a handful of her jacket and hauled her up short. She fought to break free of him, and Brian couldn’t hold on to her, so he threw her to the floor. She cried out as she sprawled helplessly on all fours. I was down the aisle and on top of Brian before he had time to react. I picked him up with one hand and threw him the length of the compartment. He hurtled ungainly through the air and finally hit the floor hard enough to drive all the breath out of him.

  It was suddenly very quiet. Everyone watched wide-eyed as I walked unhurriedly down the aisle to stand over Brian. He was already struggling to get to his feet again, but one look at me was enough to put a stop to that.

  ‘I was only doing my job,’ he said.

  ‘From now on, your job is to do nothing except what I tell you to do,’ I said coldly. ‘So get up, go back to the door and, whatever happens, stay there. Leave the passengers alone.’

  Brian got to his feet, pulled his clothes back into place and looked at me uncertainly. I don’t think he’d ever been handled that casually before. He leaned forward, lowering his voice so no one else would hear us.

  ‘I know what you are now. You’re one of those psychic people, aren’t you?’

  ‘Guard the door, Brian.’

  He brushed past me and limped off down the aisle. He stepped carefully around Sita, went straight to the end door, put his back to it and stared straight ahead. Penny helped Sita to her feet, but Sita immediately jerked free of her and went back to her seat, without looking at Penny or me. Rupert and Howard looked at each other and said nothing. I raised my voice, to make sure everyone would hear me.

  ‘We will be arriving in Bath in about thirty minutes. Anyone who wants to make an official complaint can talk to the authorities then. You can wait that long, can’t you? Now please, all of you … just stay put where you are, and let Penny and me get on with our investigation.’

  ‘Of course,’ Sita said bitterly. ‘Because you’ve done such a great job so far, haven’t you?’

  ‘You’re still alive, aren’t you?’ I said.

  She wouldn’t look at me. Neither would Brian. Howard and Rupert said nothing. Penny moved in beside me.

  ‘All right,’ she said quietly. ‘Now what are we going to do?’

  ‘Damned if I know,’ I said. ‘But we’ve got less than thirty minutes to think of something.’

  FIVE

  Trapped in the Pressure Cooker

  I went back to my seat by the door, carefully ignoring Brian, sat down and stared at nothing. Penny sat beside me, not saying anything, allowing me to concentrate. Further down the carriage, I could see Rupert and Howard and Sita
sitting in their separate seats, not even glancing at each other, all of them lost in their own thoughts.

  It was quiet in the First-Class compartment. A very strained quiet, that no one wanted to break. The train sped on towards Bath, and there was nothing outside the windows but the night. I sat still, frowning hard, trying to find some new way to attack a problem that refused to be solved. I had to be missing something, but I was damned if I could see what.

  I studied the three passengers carefully, taking my time. None of them struck me as a killer, let alone the professional assassin I’d been warned about. But none of that mattered, because none of them could possibly have done it. They were all sitting in their seats, right in front of me, while Sir Dennis was being killed. They couldn’t have got past me.

  Sir Dennis had been a real pain in the arse while he was alive, and being murdered hadn’t changed that one bit.

  There was always the chance that someone was messing with my head. Which meant I had to re-examine the possibility of a hidden psychic assassin. The evidence – what there was of it – seemed to be forcing me in that direction. But I hadn’t observed any of the usual psychic fallout, the odd events and strange coincidences that should have accompanied a psychic exercising his powers. And I was still certain I would know he was there, no matter how well he hid himself.

  Because no psychic had ever been able to hide himself from me.

  But I’d never come up against a really powerful rogue. I looked slowly around the compartment, taking in the apparently empty seats. Could the killer really be sitting there, hiding behind the power of his monstrous mind, watching me flounder about and get nowhere … and smiling? And if so, was there any way I could force or trick him into revealing himself? I thought about that for a while … And a cold hand clutched at my heart as I suddenly realized there was one way. One simple, direct and extremely dangerous way.

  All I had to do was lower the defensive routines operating in the back of my mind, and leave my thoughts open for the rogue psychic to read. He had to be feeling frustrated at not being able to read my mind. He shouldn’t be able to resist taking a look. If nothing else, he must want to know whether or not I suspected his presence. So if I left my mind wide open, and let him in, and he saw the truth of who and what I really was, the shock of finding out I wasn’t actually human ought to be enough to shatter his concentration and make him drop his invisibility, if only for a moment. And then I would be able to see him, and I would know.

  It didn’t matter how powerful his mind was; he was still only human. And I could use my more-than-human speed to get to him before he could do anything to me.

  But if I did decide to drop all my defences, that would mean revealing my secrets not only to the rogue but potentially also to the Division psychics watching over the train. According to Mr Nobody, the Division was fascinated by the Organization and desperate to learn all they could about its field agents. If the watching psychics thought they could get away with it, without being noticed, would they be tempted? Would a gentlemen’s agreement really be enough to keep them out of my mind? And if the Division found out who and what I was, what would they do with that information? Pressure me to work for them, instead of the Organization? Or, since they were a part of the Government, would they feel obliged to turn me in?

  My hands were clutching the seat’s arm rests so fiercely they ached. I was so tense I could hardly breathe. I’d spent decades hiding the secret of my existence from the world. Was I really ready to give it up, just for a chance at taking down a professional assassin? It wasn’t as if he’d killed anyone who mattered. No one was going to miss a corrupt scumbag like Sir Dennis. If I lowered my defences, I could be putting my life in danger, or at the very least throwing my freedom away for nothing …

  No, not for nothing. To prevent a killer from getting away. I couldn’t put my own needs first. That wasn’t the kind of man I was, the kind of man I’d chosen to be. I couldn’t live with myself if I stopped being that man.

  I turned to Penny and quietly explained what I had in mind. She started shaking her head almost immediately and put a staying hand on my arm, but I just kept talking, quietly and reasonably. When I finally stopped, she had her answer ready, carefully keeping her voice calm and controlled.

  ‘This is a really bad idea, Ishmael. Even if the Division psychics do follow the rules and stay out of your head, you can’t depend on the rogue just taking a quick look. What if he decides to attack your mind while he has the chance?’

  ‘I’ll just have to risk it,’ I said steadily. ‘And trust my hidden self to fight him off. I’d back that scary bastard against any psychic. Either way, I have to do this, Penny. I can’t risk letting the killer getting away. God knows how many more people he might kill before he is finally brought down, and I can’t have that on my conscience. So I need you to keep a careful eye on the empty seats while I do this. Watch for even the briefest glimpse of someone sitting where no one should be. You won’t be in any danger; the rogue will be too occupied with me to even notice you.’

  ‘No, wait a minute, please … Think this through, Ishmael.’ Penny was clutching my arm with both hands now, her gaze fixed desperately on mine. ‘Even if you can surprise the rogue into revealing himself, what then?’

  ‘Then I’ll deal with him.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘The same way I deal with any threat,’ I said. ‘I’ll jump him before he can react, and punch him repeatedly in the head until he’s so unconscious even his powers won’t be able to wake him up. Once we get to Bath, we just hand him over to the authorities and let them handle him.’

  ‘But what if, when we arrive at Bath, the authorities aren’t just there for him?’ Penny said urgently. ‘What if the Division psychics pass on what they’ve discovered about you, and the authorities are there to grab you as well? You can’t rely on the Organization to protect an alien passing as human.’ And then she stopped as a new thought struck her. ‘Unless … Ishmael, do you suppose the Organization knows what you really are, and has done all along?’

  ‘I have wondered that, from time to time,’ I said. ‘The Organization and I get along perfectly well not asking questions and respecting each other’s secrets. But you’re quite right; they wouldn’t fight for me. I’m just a field agent, an expendable asset; I’ve always known that.’

  ‘After everything you’ve done for them?’

  ‘That’s just the job,’ I said. ‘That’s always been the job, whichever underground group I’ve worked for. Penny, I have to try this. Because if there is a rogue psychic in here with us, I don’t know any other way to stop him.’

  Penny smiled suddenly. ‘And you wonder if you’re really human. You care about other people, darling. What could be more human than that?’

  ‘Keep a careful watch,’ I said. Because right then I couldn’t trust myself to say anything else.

  I settled back in my seat, trying to get comfortable, if not actually relaxed. I closed my eyes and looked inwards, checking my mental protections were still in place. The old routines, quietly running themselves in a constant murmur at the back of my thoughts, that I couldn’t normally hear. Slowly, deliberately, I shut down my protections, layer by layer, and the murmur grew fainter and fainter until finally it stopped. I tried to ignore how fast my heart was beating and sat very still. I felt horribly exposed and vulnerable – like a goat staked out in a jungle clearing, waiting for the tiger to come and get it.

  I braced myself, though I wasn’t sure against what. I had no idea what a telepathic invasion would feel like. I still had no sense, no feeling, that there was a psychic anywhere near me. There were no strange voices in my head, no unexpected thoughts or impulses, not even a deep-down suspicion that I might not be alone in the dark. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around the compartment. There wasn’t even a flicker of an unexpected presence in any of the empty seats. Nothing to suggest a tiger was lurking in the undergrowth. I started my protective routines running again, slamming
each layer back into place as quickly as I could, sealing my mind off from all outside thoughts and influences. Until finally I could relax again.

  I was breathing hard, and so exhausted I could barely move. A cold sweat had beaded on my face. Penny mopped it away with a handkerchief, looking at me anxiously, and I managed a smile for her.

  ‘I’m back. And I’m still me. No unwelcome visitations inside my head. Did you see anything?’

  ‘No, Ishmael. And I looked really hard.’

  ‘While I didn’t get any sense of another presence …’ I stretched slowly, easing the aches in my muscles as the tension fell slowly away.

  ‘Can we can be sure now that there isn’t a rogue psychic in here with us?’ said Penny.

  ‘I don’t see how he could have avoided giving himself away,’ I said. ‘It’s not every day you encounter an alien from outer space travelling on a London train.’

  Penny looked round sharply. ‘Ishmael! Sita’s on the move again.’

  I sighed. ‘That woman is more trouble than everyone else put together.’

  ‘Of course. She’s a journalist.’

  Sita went striding determinedly down the aisle, to loom over Rupert. He looked up, startled, as she dropped into the seat opposite him and leaned forward, gesturing sharply for him to do the same. Once their heads were almost touching, Sita murmured fiercely to him for some time. Then they both sat back in their seats and looked at me suspiciously. I made sure I just happened to be looking somewhere else. Sita and Rupert got to their feet and went to join Howard. He looked at them coldly when they sat down facing him, making it clear he wasn’t interested in anything they had to say. But once again Sita leaned forward and murmured urgently, and after a while Howard started nodding, if a little reluctantly.

  Penny leaned in beside me. ‘What do you suppose is going on there?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Looks like Sita’s had a new idea. I’d better find out what she’s up to.’