“Sir, my name is Dr. Gould from Scotland. I can tell you what is going on, but I need you to stay calm, do you understand?” she started.
“What is this about?” he asked abruptly.
“Listen carefully. I am not your enemy, but I know what is happening and I need you to address the delegation to explain, while I try to solve the problem,” she said. Slowly, and calmly, she relayed the information to the man. She could see him growing increasingly terrified, but she kept her tone as serene and controlled as possible. His face went ashen, but he kept his composure. Nodding at Nina, he left to speak to the others.
She rushed back into the room ad tried to rouse Sam.
“Sam! Wake up, for Christ’s sake! I need you!” she whined, slapping Sam on the cheek, trying not to get so frustrated that she would wallop him. “Sam! We are going to die. I want some company!”
“I’ll keep you company,” Wolf said snidely. He had woken from the devastating blow Dima gave him, happy to see the dead Mafia soldier at the foot of the bunk, where Nina was crouching over Sam.
“God, Sam, if there is a good time to wake up it is now,” she muttered, slapping him. Wolf’s laugh evoked sheer terror in Nina, forcing her to reminisce about his brutality on her. He crept over the bed, his face bloodied and obscene.
“You want more?” he sneered, his teeth lined with blood. “I make you scream more this time, eh?” He laughed savagely.
It was evident that Sam was not reacting to her. Nina surreptitiously reached for Dima’s ten-inch khanjali, a magnificent and deadly sharp dagger holstered under his arm. Once in her grip, she had more confidence, and Nina was not afraid to admit to herself that she appreciated the opportunity to get back at him.
“Spasibo, Dima,” she muttered as her eyes locked on the predator.
What she did not expect, was his sudden launch at her. His enormous body came down on the side of the bed to crush her, but Nina reacted rapidly. Rolling away, she evaded his attack and waited for the moment he would hit the floor. Nina extended the knife, placing it right under his throat, impaling the Russian thug with the expensive suit. The blade penetrated his throat and sank right through. She could feel the tip of the steel dislodge the vertebrae of his neck, severing his spinal cord.
Hysterical, Nina could take no more. The Valkyrie accelerated some more, pushing the bile in her up to her throat. “Sam!” she screamed until her voice broke. It did not matter, since the delegates in the dining car were similarly distressed. Sam woke up, his eyes dancing around in their sockets. “Wake the fuck up!” she screamed.
“I’m up!” he winced, groaning.
“Sam, we have to get to the engine room now!” she sniffed, weeping in shock from her fresh ordeal with Wolf. Sam sat up to hold her and he saw the leaking neck of the monster.
“I got him, Sam,” she cried.
He smiled, “I could not have done a better job.”
Sniffling, Nina got up and rearranged her clothes. “Engine room!” Sam said. “It is the only place with reception, I’m positive.” They quickly washed and wiped their hands in the basin and rushed to the front of the Valkyrie. Passing through the delegates, Nina tried to reassure them, even though she was convinced that they were all heading for Hades.
Once inside the engine room, they scrutinized the flickering lights and controls.
“None of this has anything to do with this train’s controls,” Sam shrieked in frustration. He got his phone from his pocket. “Jesus, I cannot believe it is still working,” he remarked, trying to find a signal. The train kicked up another notch, and screams filled the carriages.
“You cannot call out, Sam,” she frowned. “You know that.”
“I am not calling,” he coughed at the force of the speed. “Soon we will not be able to move. Then our bones will start to snap.”
She leered at him. “I don’t need to hear this.”
He punched a code into the phone, a code Purdue gave him to tap into a satellite tracking system that needed no service to work. “Please God, let Purdue see this.”
“Long shot,” Nina said.
He looked at her with conviction. “Our only shot.”
32
Chaos, Part II
Olga was still in a serious state, but she was out of ICU, recovering in a private room paid for by Kasper Jacobs, who stayed by her bedside. Now and then, she would regain consciousness and talk a little, only to slumber again.
He was fuming at the fact that Sam and Nina had to pay for what his service to the Black Sun had caused. Not only did this upset him, but he was furious that the American slimebag Tuft got to survive the looming tragedy, and get to celebrate it with Zelda Bessler and that Scottish loser, McFadden. But what drove him over the top, was knowing that Wolf Kretchoff would get away with what he did to Olga and Nina.
Pondering to an extent of insanity, the troubled scientist tried to find a way to do something. On his positive side, he decided that all was not lost yet. He called Purdue, just as he did when he first tried incessantly to get hold of him, only this time, Purdue answered.
“My God! I cannot believe I got hold of you,” Kasper gasped.
“I have been a little sidetracked, I’m afraid,” Purdue replied. “Is this Dr. Jacobs?”
“How did you know?” Kasper asked.
“I can see your number on my satellite tracker. Are you with Sam?” Purdue asked.
“No, but he is why I am calling,” Kasper replied. He explained everything to Purdue, up to where he and Olga had to leave the train, and had no idea where Tuft and his minions were headed. “I believe Zelda Bessler has the remote to the control panels of the Valkyrie, though,” Kasper told Purdue.
The billionaire smiled in the glimmer of his computer screen. “So, that is what that is?”
“You have a position?” Kasper cried excitedly. “Mr. Purdue, can I have that tracking code, please?”
Purdue had learned, by reading Dr. Jacobs’ theories, that the man was a genius in his own right. “Do you have a pen?” Purdue grinned, feeling like his old giddy self again. He was manipulating the situation again, untouchable with his technology and intelligence, just like old times. He checked the signal from Bessler’s remote device and gave Kasper Jacobs the tracking code. “What are you going to do?” he asked Kasper.
“I am going to use a failed experiment to enforce a successful eradication,” Kasper replied coolly. “Before I go. Please hurry if you can do something to scramble the magnetics of the Valkyrie, Mr. Purdue. Your friends will soon enter a perilous stage that they will not return from.”
“Good luck, old boy,” Purdue bade his new acquaintance goodbye. Immediately, he dialed into the signal of the moving vessel, while hacking into the railway system it ran on. It was heading toward an intersection in the town of Poliskaya, where it was calculated to accelerate to Mach 3.”
“Hello?” he heard on the speaker connected to his communications.
“Sam!” Purdue exclaimed.
“Purdue! Help us!” he screamed over the speaker. “Nina has passed out. Most of the people on the train have. I am losing my sight rapidly and it feels like a fucking furnace in here!”
“Listen, Sam!” Purdue yelled over him. “I am redirecting the track mechanics as we speak. Hold on for three more minutes. Once the Valkyrie switches tracks it will lose its magnetic generation and slow down!”
“Jesus Christ! Three minutes? We will be roasting by then!” Sam screamed.
“Three minutes, Sam! Hold on!” Purdue shouted. In the door of the server room, Charles and Lillian had come to see what the bellowing was about. They knew better than to ask or interfere, but they listened to the drama from a distance, looking dreadfully worried. “Of course, changing tracks runs the risk of a head-on collision, but I don’t see any other trains right now,” he mentioned to his two staff members. Lillian prayed. Charles swallowed hard.