Jebediah looked to Roger. “Roger, go—”
Jebediah was interrupted by an ear-piercing cacophony of ripping, tearing, grinding, crushing, and cracking. The entire roof of the train car, having been mostly separated by the explosives, was being ripped off. As wreckage rained down on the foursome, they desperately shielded themselves from injury. The roof came loose with one final, resounding crack and tear of wood.
In the sky, with six beams of light coming down off of it, hovered a massive air craft, six engines instead of four. The roof of the train car dangled beneath it, clenched in a gigantic metal crane. The crane and roof bobbed widely to the left and right until the airship let it go, dropping the roof to crash and crunch on the ground aside the tracks, kicking up dirt and gravel. Pulling up the crane, the airship hummed louder and began to move in closer.
“Roger! Get ready!” yelled Jebediah, as he started to fire his shotgun up at the invaders. Only his gun fired though. “Roger!” he yelled again, with no answer. Finally he turned to see Roger, standing, his gun at his side. Looking down at Jebediah.
“Roger! What are you doing?! Get down!”
“There's no need, Jeb,” Roger said.
Jebediah stared up at him, quick realization settling into his eyes. “What are you saying?” Roger didn't reply. He just stared back at Jebediah.
“Kids! Stay back! Get ready to run to the next cars!” Jebediah yelled, pushing them as he backed up into the corridor at the front of the cabin. The sound of someone dropping onto the roof caused Jebediah to look up. The dark silhouette stood in the light beam for a moment before dropping down next to Roger. Standing there, still missing his hand, was the mechanical man. Jebediah continued to back up.
“Jeb, you're being stupid. There is nowhere to go,” Roger said. He spoke slowly and calmly as wind, dust, light and papers flitted around his body. The mechanical man stood there, the dark glass goggles in his metal mask reflecting the light from the airship, turning them into glowing discs. “I've been ordered to not harm you,” said Roger, “but I will kill you if necessary, and I will take the two regardless.”
Jebediah stood his ground, slightly crouched, his body tense and ready to spring. He was breathing heavily as his eyes remained locked on Roger.
“Do you think that I am joking, you idiot?” called out Roger again. “I will kill you personally, along with everyone on this train! There is precious little stopping me, so don't let your stupid, pathetic pride push me over the edge!”
Jebediah glared back, teeth bared. Anna placed her hand on Jebediah's shoulder. “Mr. Ames. I think you should let us go,” she said.
Jebediah stood there, not moving, furious breaths pulsing in and out of his nose. “I'm... sorry,” he said quietly.
“I know,” said Anna. She looked at George and he nodded. They both rose to their feet and walked around Jebediah, who continued to hold his shotgun tightly. They walked up to Roger and the mechanical man who waved up to the airship. A cable descended with a large flap of leather with metal buckles on it. The mechanical man put one of the leather jackets on Anna, closed some polished metal buckles, and waved up. Anna then slowly rose into the sky and past the bright lights. Two jackets then came back down. The mechanical man put George in one and himself in the other and they both went up. It was now just Jebediah and Roger.
“It's been you the whole time!” yelled Jebediah.
“Yes. I'm sorry to say, it has. I won't say it wasn't fun. You and the entire department, running around like chickens with your heads cut off, trying to find me! And every time, every time, hahahaha, you looked to me for help! There were times when I nearly burst out laughing right in your face! Never! Not once! Not once did you suspect me!”
Jebediah's face was red. A vein on his forehead throbbed. His eyes were wide with fury. “How?!” Jebediah yelled. Roger cocked his head to one side inquisitively. “How did they know where to find us?! You never left my side! How could you have possibly told them?!”
“There are many things that not even the mighty United States government is aware of — things you aren't even aware you aren't aware of. How arrogant it is to assume that just because you can't do it, that others can't either.” Roger replied with an arrogant smile.
Jebediah gritted his teeth and gripped his gun more tightly, causing it to flex. “You betray your country! You betray me!” he roared.
“Oh spare me!” Roger yelled back, angry. “As though this country has ever done anything good. As though you would ever lift a finger to help me! You are not my friend and your precious country is a monster — a monster that deserves what's coming to it! A monster that demands fealty on pain of death while it happily abandons anyone it no longer finds useful! I spit on your precious country and await the future with a broad smile and an open heart!”
“What!? What's coming?!” replied Jebediah as one of the leather jackets appeared in front of Roger.
“A glorious fire!” replied Roger as he began putting on the jacket. “One that will burn away the ossified sediment of society that encases the world!”
Jebediah stared back through furious eyes. “I will find you! I WILL FIND YOU!”
Roger waved up to the ship then looked down to Jebediah. “Let me know how that goes!” he said as he was taken aloft.
The sounds of the airship increased in frequency as the engines accelerated. Jebediah ran out into the open space of the car, wind and wreckage blowing all around him. The spotlights from the ship immersed him in a pool of bright light. He shielded his eyes as he looked up, squinting, trying to ascertain details. The airship's engines reached a crescendo just as the spot lights turned off and some forward lights activated. As he stood there, the sound of the train's brakes being actuated signaled the slowing of the train. Jebediah ran out the front of the car and climbed onto a ladder, ascending to the roof of the train. He stood there, in the starry night, framed by the darkened hills and valleys, staring off into the distance, watching as the faint light beams and shadowy frame of the airship disappeared into the distance.
---
The sun stood high over the St. Claire gardens. Amos was outside in his oversized sun hat, his hands clasped behind his back, overseeing the work of half a dozen men. Sheng sat just outside of the carriage house, facing the manor, painting the scene on a large easel. Underneath the iron archway at the entrance, with somewhat tattered and dusty clothing, stood Jebediah. He breathed in deeply and then began walking toward the house. As he walked past, Sheng looked over and saw him, immediately looking concerned. As Jebediah got closer, Amos turned and saw him, who glanced at the house then back at Jebediah, following him with his eyes. Jebediah reached the door and, after swallowing hard, knocked on the door. Margie opened the door and Jebediah bowed.
“Good day, Miss. Flynn. May I come in,” said Jebediah.
Margie's mouth hung open slightly, her voice weak at the sight of him. “... Yes. Yes, of course.”
Jebediah walked in and found Cassidy and Gideon walking out of the kitchen.
“Mr. Secretary?” said Gideon.
“Jeb,” said Cassidy, her face white. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Jebediah stood there, silent as Cassidy walked up to him. He fidgeted in place nervously with the expression of someone who is fighting back tears before collecting himself and stiffening into an upright posture. “The train was attacked.” Cassidy froze. “One of their flying machines found us at about one in the morning and ripped the entire roof off the car.” He paused and swallowed. “As I'm sure you have ascertained from my presence, they took George and Anna.”
Cassidy stared at him, wide-eyed and almost entirely without expression. The two just stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity.
“I am so—” Cassidy punched Jebediah across the face, sending him falling back onto his rear.
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Cassidy screamed, standing over him, shaking her fist. Cassidy started to stomp about angrily, her arms vibrating with f
urious rage. Every motion of her body indicated an intense energy to do something, with nowhere to focus that energy. She turned to face Jebediah again, who was getting up. “They could be here! They could be safe! But no! I had to listen to you and your stupid goddamned ideas! You would take care of them! You would keep them safe!” Cassidy paced back and forth.
“It would have been just as likely—” Jebediah started.
“No! No!” Cassidy yelled, pointing at him. “Do not even try that!” She turned to face Jebediah and began to walk toward him quickly. “I'm going to fucking kill you!” she yelled before William suddenly appeared in front of her, his hand on her chest. She stared into William's aged eyes, surrounded by deep wrinkles but still clear and crystalline blue. He looked back with a sad and sympathetic expression, shaking his head slowly. A terrible frown dominated Cassidy's face as tears began to fall down her cheeks. After a moment, she broke and walked quickly into her office, walking behind her desk.
Margie, William, Amos, Gideon, and Jebediah followed her in. She stood behind her desk, gripping the edge so fiercely that she was deforming her hand. Her head was arched downward, her red hair cascading down around it.
“Miss. St. Claire,” said Jebediah.
Cassidy let out a thundering war cry and lifted her massive, oaken desk right off the floor, flipping it onto its front. All of the papers, decorations, glassware, and books that had been on the desk fell to the ground with a clatter and crash. She stood there, breathing heavily. She turned to Jebediah, her red hair going everywhere. “How did this happen?”
“I was betrayed.”
“By whom?”
“By Roger?”
“Roger? You're little pet!?” Cassidy's eyes darted around as she thought. Her face distorted as waves of anger ran through her body.
Jebediah turned to Gideon. “Gideon. Could you run to the hotel and tell them to cable back to Washington? Tell them what happened.”
“Forget that!” yelled Cassidy angrily. “I have a telephone. Just use that.”
Gideon looked to Jebediah. Jebediah nodded and Gideon started to walk toward the phone behind Cassidy's desk. Margie held his shoulder.
“There's another telephone in the hallway just past the kitchen. I think you should use that one.” Gideon nodded and they both walked out of the room.
“Roger will pay for his actions, I promise you that,” said Jebediah.
“No,” growled Cassidy. “He's mine.” Cassidy stood there awhile. “Margie. Do you know where Joe and Levi are?”
“No, but I think I can track them down.”
“Good. Yeah. Get them here. Get, get... get everyone here. I just want... people,” Cassidy said, searching for words amid a hurricane of emotions.
“Your army will arrive soon,” Margie said with a smile.
“What do you plan to do?” asked Cassidy, glaring like a caged beast from behind strands of hair.
“I'm not sure yet,” replied Jebediah. “I must admit to feeling a bit paralyzed.”
“You better have more than that, or I'm going to fully paralyze you. And that is not a joke,” Cassidy said with deadly serious eyes.
Jebediah nodded, the gravity of the situation apparent on his face. “I would have never thought that an enemy operative could have penetrated so far into our agency. I don't know who to trust.”
“That is obvious,” replied Cassidy snidely. “They've gotten everything they wanted. While we have just lashed out blindly.” Cassidy stood there, thinking. She cleared the hair away from her face. “We have to chase them. I want them to be afraid.”
“How?” asked Jebediah. “We don't know anything about them.”
“You have to know something. You have intelligence. You came out here. You found me. You know something!”
Jebediah stood, blinking quickly as he desperately searched his memory. “No. I don't.”
Fury overtook Cassidy's face. “RrrrrrAARR! Get out!” She roared. “How can a man with decades of experience in this be so goddamned useless?!”
“Cassidy, please!” Jebediah pleaded. “You have to understand how we attain intelligence. Frequently, we don't know where it came from or who said it. All we know is that it was said. That's why we came out here, to you, in the first place. We had no leads! None!”
Cassidy's face was stern and angry as she looked out the window. She turned back to Jebediah. “We have one lead.”
---
The young man lay in the jail cell bed. The sounds of keys and doors opening jostled him awake as he looked up. Standing outside the iron bars were Cassidy, Gideon, and Jebediah. The jailer opened the cell and Cassidy stepped inside. The young man was slight and scruffy, barely filling in his clothes. He looked nervously at everyone.
“You are going to tell us everything you know,” Cassidy said, sitting on the bed across from the young man.
“I told you all, I don't know nothing! I really don't!”
“I know that. What I'm betting on is that you know something without realizing it. And if you provide us with something useful, not only will I let you go, I'll give you a job.”
The young man stared back at Cassidy with a confused look. “A job?”
“Yes. Freedom and a real, honest job, and everything that goes along with that: a life, a future, money. I will give you that. What's your name?”
“Tom, Thomas, Ma'am. Thomas McGill.”
“Well, Tom Thomas McGill, I don't care what you know, I'll teach you. I will find a job for you. But you have to give me something useful.”
“Well wha-what's useful?!” the young man inquired, growing increasingly excited.
“I don't know. So you had better just start talking. Tell me your life story. Tell me every detail of the past two years of your life. Tell me everything.”
The young man's eyes darted between everyone in front of him with a partially sad, partially happy, partially panicked expression on his face, as though he didn't know how to feel. “Can I... have some water?”
Cassidy nodded. “Yes. You can.”
---
The sun was down and the gas lamps were again casting a warm glow on all the streets of San Francisco. Bright light beamed out from the small windows to the city jail, emanating from the various lamps and candles therein. Inside, the smell of coffee permeated every corner and everyone except Jebediah was holding a mug. Tom McGill was continuing to babble on excitedly.
“... And even then, I never felt any ill will toward him. I don't blame him much. Men have to do what they have to do to be happy, is all. Still, I wish he had stayed. But that's nothing I suppose. I tried to find him down in Houston but just found his debts. I wanted to pay them off, because I feel like a man is responsible for where he came from, but I didn't have the money. I don't think they held it against me. I got moved out here like I said, just out east a ways and met up with the tall negro, Cal, from down in Houston.”
“Did Cal also have ties to New Orleans?” asked Jebediah.
“Oh shoot yeah. Most of his family lived out in there? Ex-slaves or so he said. Nice guy he was. Mean cook.”
“All roads seem to lead to New Orleans,” Jebediah said to Cassidy. Cassidy nodded.
“You're absolutely sure you have no idea where Cal could be?” asked Cassidy to Tom.
“Sure as I can be. I hope he's alright. The world can be a might dangerous place for a wandering negro.”
“Do you all want to hear more about my momma?” asked Tom.
Cassidy smiled. “No Tom, thank you though.”
“It's no trouble. No one's ever been interested in me. It's nice to have someone want to hear my story.”
“And hear it we have,” said Gideon.
Cassidy rocked back and forth slightly on the bed, her hand against her mouth. “The New Orleans connection is pretty weak.”
“Oh!” Tom ejaculated, sitting up straight. “I remember the name of the man who got me the job down in New Orleans! Bill Hitchcock! He was a lawyer or some such. I knew
I'd remember it! Talk to Bill Hitchcock. He's the one who got me started on all this way back when.”
“What else do you remember about Mr. Hitchcock?” asked Cassidy.
“Nothing. I never met him. He got some paperwork all in order for us and got us our train tickets to Houston.”
“Well that at least gives us a name,” said Gideon.
Cassidy nodded again. “And it's certainly worth your freedom,” she said to Tom. Tom smiled and his entire body shook excitedly. “Jeb, can you put a call out to New Orleans. See if anyone out there can find this Hitchcock guy?”
“I'll be doing that as soon as we leave,” Jebediah replied.
Cassidy turned back to Tom. “Ok, Tom. You're free. You've got a job. Just stick around and keep yourself available in case we need more information.”
“Of course, ma'am! I won't go nowhere! I guess this is my home, now!” Tom said in an almost giddy tone.
“It certainly is. Feels good, doesn't it?” Tom nodded. “I want you to report to my factory tomorrow morning, the big brick building, has St Claire in big black letters on it, north-east of here by the docks, at nine o'clock. Ask to see Barnabas Woodridge. Tell him our deal and he'll find you a job. Other than that, here's ten dollars. Go get yourself a meal, a room, and bathed up.”
Tom took the ten dollar bill slowly, and stared at it with wide eyes. “Th... Thank you, ma'am. I can't thank you enough.”
“No need,” Cassidy said, slapping him on the shoulder. “You earned it with your ability to speak about yourself non-stop for seven hours. Now get out of here.” Tom nodded, stood up, and nodded to everyone like an excited school boy before running out of the jail. Cassidy rose and stretched. “Not much else to do today, I guess. I'm heading home.”
“Yes. Gideon and I will both head back to the hotel. Speaking of which,” Jebediah said, turning to Gideon, “could you procure us a carriage?” Gideon nodded and walked out. Cassidy walked out of the cell and over to a mostly closed door. She knocked on the door and pushed it open a bit, revealing a pudgy, bearded man sitting at a desk reading a book.
“We're heading out. Thanks for the time,” she said.
Cassidy St. Claire and The Fountain of Youth Parts I, II, & III Page 22