Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel

by P. S. Power

  These men all had that too, but flowed from place to place. Like the Kung-fu practitioners she knew, and less like the Karate men. It was a difference of style, but it influenced mindset, over time. These were people that thought about flowing around things, rather than confronting with force, but also had built themselves up to a tremendous level.

  That there would be this many of them on one train was telling. At least one of them had been on for all the killings too. No one with magic would spend that much time making themselves into musclemen though. It wasn't what was considered sexy here, for men even. No, these would be low magic users that were compensating. That or they had incredibly tiny penises. Since they didn't have porn here, that she knew of, most of the men probably didn't really let that concern them. So it would almost certainly be the magic thing.

  It also probably meant that they were in on the whole thing too. There to manage things, when the magic stopped?

  That was going to be something to keep in mind then. She knew how to fight, and was in shape, true, but she was still a woman. In raw power, she wouldn't be able to compete with these guys at all. If it came to that she needed to be better armed than they were. That meant having blades around, since the rest of what she had was going to stop working, she was willing to bet. She even had a rough idea where that would be taking place.

  It was tempting to just grab Beth and Clara, and get them out of there. They were the ones that would be sacrificed, she didn't doubt.

  That just made sense. Why would dull, regular looking Clara be brought along? Bought out for a lot of mets, to a train where women kept dying? Before it had seemed odd, but now she got it. Clara was the designated sacrificial lamb.

  Beth and her would just be there to sweeten the deal.

  That meant that Sally was in on it too. If she was right, which she thought was the case, but couldn't tell, since magic was too busy surging all over the place. It happened fast, but it was getting stronger. The Telestator had barely worked at all for instance, and sounded rough and like the connection was bad. Like a horrible cell phone commercial. The train ran, but moved slowly, at about ten miles per hour.

  No one spoke of it, which was also pretty telling.

  The only good thing was that Gwen could tell where they were going, and even roughly when they'd get there. She marked it out on the map, and wrote a note on it, next to the little pencil x that was put there. When she handed it to her friend, who was very tense, and edgy, she did so along with a rubber, so that it could all be erased.

  That got Bethany to nod. It was done once, and almost as if considering not doing it, she showed Cordell first, before making it all vanish. Gwen wouldn't have, but she wasn't engaged to the man either.

  He looked worried, but Gwen didn't care. They all should be, about then. In three days they'd be in a place devoid of working magic, and then the killing would start, along with chanting and who knew what else. That meant they'd die, most likely.

  She sighed, and worked through what to do. It was going to be harder than she'd thought, since she knew who'd done it, and all that. She thought so at least. The really hard part was waiting however, and making certain that she was ready for what would be coming. Killers weren't people to play with. Not casually at least.

  That night, she bought everyone dinner, paying far more than she had to, for it all. She'd ordered a cake, to help celebrate her friend's engagement. That had taken nearly two days to have ready, since the kitchen on the train had to get more flour for it. It was a huge thing, considering they only had about a dozen people to eat it, including the crew. That part, adding them into the "celebration" was part of her plan. She was all egalitarian that way, after all.

  Then, just before they were going to sit down for the meal, she went to the front of the vehicle and waved at the engineer.

  "Hello! I was wondering if you'd mind stopping the train for a bit?" She looked around, not seeing any handles or levers, just a pad that had about twenty little silver buttons on it. "Special Service matters. Nothing dire. We have a cake for my friend and I don't want it to fall. I was told it's delicate? So, I'm pulling rank. It will only be about an hour or so, tops?" She let herself seem hopeful, but the man just looked at her, like she was insane. That or stupid, but Gwen was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, since she liked to think that she did the first one better than the second.

  "A cake? We're barely making forward progress as it is. I doubt that we'll jar the thing at all."

  She had a choice to make then. Well, three, actually. The first was to beg. She hated the idea, and doubted she'd do it right. She could also bully the man, which would leave a bad taste in her mouth. There had been a lot of bullying in her life and when it had been her turn to do it, Gwen had always felt really bad later. She tried door number three instead, pulling fifty mets out and handing them to the man. It was enough to outright buy a person after all.

  "My friend deserves a nice evening, and I want that to happen. That means a stable platform for her meal, and a cake that's light as a cloud. I'll tell everyone I ordered you to do it, so you can't get in trouble. Now, please?" She needed him to do it, since she doubted she'd be able to figure it out in time. That was, after knocking him out, she didn't think that hitting buttons at random was going to really work. Nothing was marked, on the little control pad, after all.

  The man looked at what was in his hand and then started tapping on the little pad of nubs. Happily, it seemed. She couldn't tell what he was doing at all, but they stopped.

  "An hour though, no longer. And you tell everyone that it was your doing?"

  "I'll make sure they all know. Thank you! You're the best engineer ever." Her voice was a little funny, and she noticed that the world was at a distance from her. She wasn't the one speaking. Gwen hadn't been at all.

  Katherine was. She got ready to fight, only to find that she was actually still in control, except for her mouth. Gwen walked away quickly, back toward the dining car, wondering how she'd beat the girl in her head in time. It also occurred to her that she might secretly be in on the plan, but there was a strong feeling of exasperation at that thought.

  "You're welcome. Don't get me killed. I want my body back, someday." Then the girl whose body she was in went silent. Gwen was about to be mad, and make some threats, but the bribery thing had worked, and wasn't something she would have thought of at all, on her own. Who did things like that? Rich, mostly spoiled heiresses. So basically Katherine Vernor?

  She made her way back to the dining car, looking at the cake on the way through the kitchen, calling out to the chef, who was a slightly older woman.

  "We'll be stopped for an hour, so present the cake during that time? We can dish it up on the move, but I don't want your hard work spoiled." She smiled and pretended that it was a real thing, only to find the woman, who was rather thin, but matronly, agreeing with her.

  "Finally, someone with sense. I figured that I'd just go and dump half of it on the happy couple, but we can do this too. Should we do it before the meal? A bit strange, but given the time window..."

  Gwen clapped a few times, happily. "That would be perfect. Yes, bring the cake, then I have a little announcement. Then we can have dinner and be back underway before anyone knows it. Give me a minute to get to my seat?"

  The plan would have everyone out to help with the cake, or at least within ear shot. Except the man that actually ran the train. As far as she could tell, he wasn't really in on anything, so that was fine. She settled carefully, wearing her uniform still. So was Beth, but almost everyone else had dressed up for the event. Clara was in her best dress, and so was Sally. It made it seem nearly like a real party.

  The cake came out looking like a cross between a wedding cake and a cloud. It was lovely, and had shaved and sweetened coconut all over the outside. It took two of the large men to carry the thing, that being Sam and the new power lifting man, and was guided by the cook, who had put on a fresh white smock for the presentation. The
other men lingered in the door, smiling.

  Professionally, as if they were really all there just to deliver a cake and well wish the happy couple. It was charming in a way, and better service than about half the men had delivered so far on the trip. That part was telling too. All the good workers seemed to be the ones in with the plan. It was a shame, since she really wanted to arrest the creepy waiter that had been cheating her the whole time.

  Instead she clapped, and Martin stood, then offered his right hand to Bethany.

  "This is lovely! I don't know that I'd have expected it just for getting engaged, but thank you all." Then he sat, since Beth wanted her hand back. Under the table she was clearly getting her PC out and ready. Gwen wasn't going to bother with her own, having something else in mind, if the magic was working enough. If not, she had three knives on her. That would be intense, and probably fail, if the bad guys were armed at all.

  She stood and looked at everyone.

  "Thank you all for coming. I wanted you all here for two very important reasons. One, of course, is so that everyone can wish Bethany and Martin a happy engagement. Congratulations!" She managed to sound excited by the idea and almost everyone else clapped, even the horrible douche of a waiter, Jonathon. He didn't mean it though, she could tell. He was just softly sneering and looking at her like he was trying to figure out how to best part her from her money.

  It decided her as to how she was doing the rest of this though.

  "I also worked out who the murderer of those women is. If you men would grab him?" She pointed at Jonathon Darling, who looked suddenly panicked. Sam and the other large and powerful men set on him gamely enough, looking confused. Which made perfect sense really, and had a lot of the people seeming nearly just as baffled.

  "Now, beat him for a bit?" They actually did it, too, with the new muscle man being the one to work over the other man's mid-section. He didn't even hesitate, which said a lot about him, since he knew that the waiter was innocent, Gwen didn't doubt. Darling gasped out a few words though, which got her to smile.

  "I didn't kill anyone!" Then he shut up, being hit again.

  "I know, but you've been ripping me off for a week and I don't like you. No, the guilty party is, well, almost everyone else. First-" She pointed her hand at the big man that had been doing the punching and blasted him, and then Sam, hard enough they both bounced off the wall, after crushing Jonathon against it. Then she got the other large man, and waited to see who'd move first. No one did though. "Good, Martin, would you help us tie them up? We'll need some rope."

  No one moved, until Clara half stood, and started to take the white cloths off the nearby tables. It would work, if they twisted the linen, Gwen thought. The two of them worked on that while everyone else stared at her uneasily.

  "Sorry about that. Those three were the biggest threat really. Fighters, I think. I'd love to see what they can do sometime. When, you know, that won't involve them getting away with murder. Right. Now, I'll walk us all through this, because it's the tradition where I come from. It's also the tradition for the guilty to deny they're part of it all, and then confess, after they realize that my impeccable logic has won the day. Is everyone ready?"

  No one moved, except for the people doing the tying and Beth, who smiled.

  "I have it too. I just want you to know that. I mean, it's my job, after all."

  Gwen didn't doubt it at all, but this was her little show. She'd gotten a cake for it and everything.

  "First, let's start with why? This part is a guess, but I think that it's because of Erin Debussey. The terrorist actions and all that? Maybe even me, in part. The way I was ripped from my own world and brought here? That isn't as important as the idea it inspired. Removing radiatives from the world, by blocking them out, much like how an expert would break a curse, right Carter? That part was yours wasn't it? And when you insisted on it, Regina, your girlfriend, started to work against you?"

  The man made a sour face and shook his head.

  "No, it was her idea all along. She's brilliant, but feckless. She thought she saw another fellow with brighter prospects and lured the poor sap in without him even knowing about it. The only good thing was that she'd forgotten her own idea. It was pillow talk, you know, just a random thing that she'd come up with. I find it fitting, taking it from her now. A bit of a whore, really." He turned and looked at Sally and then Clara and blushed. "Sorry ladies, I mean no offense."

  Sally laughed. "None taken I'm sure. I didn't know you were part of this. I'm not really a prostitute. I was just brought in to get the girls."

  That got a strange look from Carter, though Gwen worked it out quickly enough.

  "Ah, she actually did what I paid her to do, because otherwise I would have known she was lying to me. So she kept her cover. Makes sense." She looked over at Clara and winced a bit. "In case you didn't get that, she'd bought you so that these others could kill you. I take it that the hand on the knife was yours, Mr. Hadley?"

  Cordell and Clara were just finishing the job of tying up the powerful looking men, and the rest of the staff looked ready to freak out, but weren't trying to fight at all. She didn't really know who else was in on it all, but figured at least a few of them would be. That could be worked out later, when they got to a place that Bethany could mind strip them all.

  The salesman sighed. "I'm supposed to deny it, aren't I? Well, I can't. It was me. I wasn't alone in it, but the plan was mine. I suppose it's off to the gallows now?"

  Beth turned and pointed her PC at the man, but Gwen shook her head.

  "No. I mean, you'll get your day in court and all that, but it wasn't all your idea. You're smart enough, but you steal ideas, as a rule. You take what other people come up with, and make it into something cheaper, or more easily sold. Really it's a shame that you're going to prison, since that's a really useful skill to have. I'd love to see what you could do with some proper funding. There's someone else behind all this however, and they have a long reach. I don't suppose anyone will just give me the name? It will save time and probably be more comfortable all the way around. We've gotten rather good at getting people to talk lately." It was meant to be menacing, but the people around her just acted like she was playing. Like it was all a joke.

  Hadley even made a small, derisive sound at her, and then started chewing something. At first she didn't get it, until he coughed again.

  "Fuck." She didn't know what to say, but it was clearly a suicide pill. Jumping forward she clipped Carter on the jaw, and spun to hit Sally in the head with about half a blast of energy. It cut off partway through, magic going out like it had been, so didn't send the woman flying.

  Beth covered the others, but it was too late for a lot of them. Half the staff was down, choking on their own pink spittle. It was either the color of the poison, or more likely, blood had mixed into the froth. They weren't putting their hands to their mouths, which meant what? Fake teeth? Like in a bad spy novel?

  They had Carter Palmer and Sally Kiers left though, and she wasn't letting them get away that easily. A short and merciful death, choking as they painfully died. They had information, and it wasn't going to be lost, not if Gwen could help it.

  She looked at Beth and made a hand motion, not knowing if the tool even existed in this world. Gwen said a single word, but didn't know if it meant anything.

  "Pliers." From the lack of expression on the woman's face that didn't mean anything at all here. Not that a Westmorland would know about. "They might have poison, hidden in hollow teeth. We have to pull them, so they can't kill themselves easily."

  The cook, who was still both alive and scared looking, got it first.

  "Graspers? The engineer will have some. I can get them?" She seemed to want to be out of the room, which was either a good way for her to escape, or the natural reaction a person might have to a bunch of dead and dying people that had been her co-workers not five minutes before. Gwen took a gamble and nodded at the woman.

  "Do that, please. Hurry
. They're waking up."

  The woman ran and the train wasn't big, so she was back in about two minutes, holding a very familiar looking thing. Needle nose pliers.

  "Perfect. Martin, help me pry open Carter's mouth. I don't know which tooth it is, so we may have to pull them all." The man tried to set his jaw, in order to bite down, so Gwen kicked him in the groin, hard. It was enough of a distraction at least. She had to knock him out again, as he lay on the floor, but found the right tooth, after only taking out the back six on the bottom. She showed it to Beth and then Cordell, so that he'd know she wasn't just hurting people for fun.

  Then she moved on Sally, who started to scream.

  "I don't have a fake tooth! No one said anything about that! I was just hired for the job." Then she tried to sob, until she was knocked out too.

  Beth looked at Gwen and seemed tense.

  "I can't tell if she was telling the truth or not. The fields here are too choppy. Maybe in state?"

  "We can't risk her killing herself. Get her jaw open."

  No one else moved, except Clara, who looked hard suddenly. She did it, and not all that gently either. That was fair enough, given that the woman had been setting her up for death. Gwen tried for the same tooth that had been fake in Carter, which cracked off easily.

  "Got it in one." Holding it up, the others seemed a little upset, but she couldn't tell why? The woman had the fake tooth too. Had it been that she'd lied about it? Or that the others weren't certain it hadn't been the truth?

  Gwen didn't know and for the moment, didn't care. "Bind them, we need to have someone watching them all the time. Suicide capsules in fake teeth aren't the only way to die, and most of our information has already died. That speaks of something pretty major, doesn't it? We need to get to the bottom of this. Beth, can you get this thing turned around? I don't know how that's done. Can it go backwards?"