Day of Doom (16 page)

“Great,” grumbled Isabel. “They don’t have any money to pay damages.”

The PA system crackled and a voice

came on.

“All passengers, there has been an electrical system interruption on the train. Please make your way to the dining car, where   flashlights   and   emergency instructions will be given out. All passengers, please make your way to the dining car at once. Thank you.”

“I’m not going to any dining car,” snapped Isabel.

The PA system crackled again. “Any passenger attempting to stay in his seat or compartment will be escorted off the train at the next stop. No exceptions.”

Isabel fumed for a few moments andthen snatched her bag. “I will killwhoever   caused   the   electricalinterruption.” She pointed to one of hermen. “Find out who the person is andwrite the name down for me. And be sureto get the correct spelling.”

“Yes, Mrs. Kabra.”

She stomped down the hall.

“Uh, Mrs. Kabra?” said one of herguards.

She turned and yelled, “What!”

“The dining car is the other way,” theman said timidly.

Isabel Kabra gave a prolonged sigh,marched over to him, slugged him in theface with her bag, and stomped toward thedining car. She called back over hershoulder, “And don’t forget that name! Or

I’ll kill you, too.”

Atticus and Jake were standing in acontrol room on the train, located in avestibule between two cars. Jake hadpicked the lock to get inside, and Atticushad powered down the train’s electricalsystem, except for low-level emergencylighting. He had then turned on the train’s PA system to make the announcement inthe deepest voice he could muster. Finally, he had disabled the PA system sothat no more announcements could bemade, at least for a while.

“So cool, Att,” said Jake admiringly.

“Just a simple case of reverseengineering,” replied Atticus modestly.

“But now comes the hard part.”

“Right. Come on. We need to be nearby while Amy and Dan search Isabel’s   compartment,  just   in   case anything goes wrong. Which it probably will.”

They   waited   until   the   other passengers had passed by them on the way to the dining car before racing down the hall toward Isabel’s compartment.

Dan and Amy were right outside Isabel’scompartment. They looked at each other. Dan peeked inside the window.

“Coast is clear.”

Amy said, “We probably have only afew minutes before Isabel realizes this

was all a scam.”

Dan answered by yanking open the door. “So let’s get it done.”

They moved inside and Dan shut the door behind them. They used penlights to look around the darkened room. Dan dug through Isabel’s suitcase and toiletry bag.

“Yuck,” he said.

“What is it?” whispered Amy.

He held up a long plastic folding case. “Have you ever seen this much makeup in your life? And she has ten pairs of eyebrow tweezers.”

“Haven’t you ever seen her brows? Without those tweezers it would be a big furry   caterpillar   right   across   her forehead.”

Dan put the case back and kept searching.

“Dan, look at this.”

He hurried over to her. Amy had been searching a bag that had been stowed in a storage cabinet next to the tiny bathroom.

She held up photos and shone herlight on them.

“Those are pictures of the Lewis and Clark compass,” exclaimed Dan.

“Exactly.”

The pictures were of both the frontand rear of the compass, just like they hadtaken at the museum, too.

“It was just like the lady at the museum said,” commented Amy.

Dan shot his hand down into the bag and pulled out a phone.

“Why would she have her phone in a bag in storage?” said Dan.

“Maybe   it’s   a  backup  phone,” answered Amy. “Anything on it?”

Dan hit some buttons and his face turned pale. “Yeah,” he said quietly.

“What?”

He held up the phone. On it wereseveral texts. Texts sent to Dan. And theywere all signed
 
AJT.

Amy looked at Dan. He said, “AJT. Arthur Josiah Trent. The texts I thought Iwas receiving from Dad were actuallyfrom that witch.” He looked up miserablyat Amy. “I know you always thought they

were fake.”

“It doesn’t make it any easier for you, Dan. I wanted Mom and Dad alive, too. And I didn’t want Dad to be a Vesper. And I don’t believe he was.”

Dan put the phone back in the bag. “Well, I guess this proves that Dad wasn’ta bad guy. He wasn’t with the Vespers. Henever left Mom in that house. They diedtogether.”

Amy was about to say somethingwhen her phone buzzed.

It was a frantic text from Jake. Isabelwas on her way back. They had to get outof the compartment right now.

They both turned toward the door justas the train hit a big bump. The doorpartially slid open and then banged backinto the closed position.

Dan jumped toward the door andtried to pull back the handle.

He pulled as hard as he could. Thedoor didn’t budge. He turned to Amy, hisface ashen.

“I think it’s jammed. At least on this side. We’re trapped.”

Amy’s phone buzzed again. It was another text from Jake.

Get out now!

But they couldn’t get out.

And  then  they  heard   footstepsgrowing closer.

Isabel was almost there.

And if she found them here, they

were dead.

Amy knew the woman would not

miss a second time.

Another text banged into Amy’s cellphone.

Get Out Now!!!

She frantically texted back.

We’re locked in!!!!

Dan picked up a bag.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m slugging the first person thatcomes through that door.”

Amy looked quickly around the

space. The room was small. No place to take cover. They couldn’t hide in the bathroom. It was too tiny; she knew by the one in their compartment. And she assumed that Isabel at some point would have to use the facilities, too. Although part of Amy was not against scaring the woman half to death when she opened the door only to find Dan and herself wedged inside.

“They’re coming,” hissed Dan. He held the bag higher.

That’s when Amy saw it. A way out.

She raced to the far corner of the

room.

“Dan, look, these compartments are modular. The walls can be moved. To make bigger rooms, I guess for families traveling together.”

“So what?” Dan hissed. “I don’t care about families traveling together. I just don’t want to die.”

She ignored this and said, “That bad patch of track we passed seems to have dislodged this section of wall.”

There was a small gap there.

Dan raced to her side and peered into the next compartment.

“It looks empty,” he said. “They’ve probably gone to the dining car. But it’s not wide enough for us to get through.”

“We have to pull and make it bigger. Come on. Help me.”

She and Dan gripped the edge of the wall and yanked as hard as they could. Amy could feel the wall moving.

Amy worked out a lot and was stronger than normal kids her age. She

was glad of the extra muscle as she felt the wall give even more as it slid along the tracks on the floor.

“Hurry,” said Dan. “She’s almost here.”

“Together, then, one-two-three.”

They each gave a gigantic tug. Dan felt something pop in his shoulder but he didn’t care because the wall slid another

foot.

“Go, go!” said Amy.

Dan threw himself through the gap.

Amy followed right behind him.

They tumbled to the floor but were up again in an instant.

“Hurry, hurry,” said Amy.

They pulled on the wall again, this time in the opposite direction.

They could hear Isabel at her door.

They pulled as hard as they could.

The wall slid and snapped into placeright as they heard Isabel’s door slideopen with a bang and close behind her.

Amy and Dan stood there frozen,trying to catch their breath.

Dan looked at her and whispered, “What if she sees something that tells herthe compartment was searched?”

Amy shook her head. “Just be readyto run.”

He nodded and they stood there,listening.

They heard Isabel moving around thecompartment, talking to herself.

When they heard her release a loudfart, Dan could barely keep from howlingwith laughter.

After a few more seconds they heard

Isabel settle down in her chair right as thelights on the train came back on.

Amy slipped to the door to thecompartment and peered out the window.

“Coast looks clear.”

They slipped out right as an elderlycouple came around the corner.

The man said, “Hey, what were youdoing in our compartment?”

Thinking quickly, Dan said, “Wesmelled gas. We thought there might be aproblem. But it’s okay to go back in.” Hehad to hide his smile as he thought of Isabel and her loud fart.

“Do you work for Amtrak?” asked the woman suspiciously. “You’re not wearing uniforms.”

“And you’re too young, anyway,” added the man accusingly.

“We’re sort of trainees,” said Amy.

“Our uncle is the head conductor. He told

us to look around for any problems after the lights went out. We’re going to report to  him  now. Your  compartment  is completely safe to re-enter.”

“But if you continue to smell stinky gas,” said Dan, “I would check with the woman in the compartment next to yours. That might be the source.”

Sniggering, he and Amy hustled off toward their compartment.

When they were out of sight of the old couple, they sprinted.

They hooked back up with Jake and Atticus, who were pacing anxiously in Dan and Amy’s compartment.

When Jake saw Amy he gave her a quick hug.

“Omigosh, we didn’t know what to

do.”

Atticus added, “Jake wanted tocharge Isabel and her men and sacrificehimself to save you, but I told him thatwould   be   both   irrational   andcounterproductive.”

Amy beamed at Jake. “You weregoing to do that? For me?”

“Well, yeah,” said Jake, lookingembarrassed.

Amy gave him another hug and a paton the back. “Thanks, Jake. My hero.”

“Hello?” said Dan heatedly. “We didget away by ourselves. So if anyonedeserves a pat on the back, it’s us.”

“Did you find anything in Isabel’scompartment that could be helpful?” asked Atticus.

Amy nodded. “We found out that Isabel was sending texts to Dan pretendingto be our dad.”

“I’m sorry to hear you discoveredthat.”

They whirled around and saw her.

Isabel Kabra stood there in the