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Tad and I ran towards the train, and stepped through one of the doorways. I was instantly struck by the flat and lifeless taste of the air.
I turned to look behind me, and saw Vijay and Weston were standing still, staring at me with stunned expressions on their faces. “Get on the train!” I yelled again. “We’re going to ride it down the tunnel to reach Cage.”
“We can’t ride a ghost train.” Weston looked terrified.
I was terrified too, but also desperately worried about what Cage was doing so near Parliament House. “This isn’t a ghost train,” I snapped at Weston. “It’s an ancient transport vehicle, just like the Spirit of New York. We go for boat trips on the Spirit of New York all the time. Riding on this train is no different.”
“This train is older than the Spirit of New York,” said Vijay.
“And you’re older than me, but I don’t see that’s a problem.” I waved my arms in frantic beckoning gestures. “Now get on this train or we’re leaving you both behind!”
Weston and Vijay exchanged glances, Weston sheathed his sword, and the pair of them sprinted towards me. I stepped back to let them through the doorway, and turned to Tad.
“Get this train moving. Turn on the power to the third rail all the way down the tunnel to section 27.”
“Including section 28 where Cage is?” asked Tad.
“Yes. Don’t turn on the lights, just the power to the third rail.”
A series of bleeps came from overhead, the carriage doors slowly slid shut, and I felt the train begin to move. I swayed, sat down on a nearby seat, and the cushioned fabric beneath me disintegrated, leaving me sitting on a metal frame covered by a heap of coloured dust.
I peered out of the window next to me, and saw the walls of the tunnel were going by at a faster and faster speed. The others grabbed on to poles and handholds to steady themselves, and then we must have reached a new section of tunnel where the lights weren’t on, because the view outside the windows went black.
I heard a desperate groan from Weston. “Chaos, chaos, chaos. Blaze is even worse than her father.”
I vaguely wondered why the lights were still on in the train, decided that must be because everything on the train was being powered by the third rail, and asked a more important question.
“Tad, will the train stop at the two walled-off stations?”
“It should only stop at stations that were still open when the subway system was abandoned.”
“Where will the train stop next then?”
“At a station that’s downriver of Parliament House in section 27. Close to the fishing spots.”
I stood up and moved to stand at the front of the train, looking into the blackness ahead of us. The lights of the train were just enough for me to see the rails stretching out before us.
“I swear that I’ll never, ever criticize one of Donnell’s wild ideas again.” Vijay came to stand next to me and stare out of the window. “What happens if the train hits floodwater, or we reach a point where the rails are missing?”
I tensed. Vijay was right to be worried. We knew this tunnel was in good condition down to where we’d entered it, but had no idea what state it was in nearer Parliament House.
I realized we could reach a point where there was something even worse than missing rails. We’d explored a side tunnel that had been blocked by the foundations of a new building. We could smash straight into the foundations of Parliament House itself!
Weston and Tad joined us. “The New York power grid control system is showing the third rail power is on and working all the way to the next station,” said Tad. “That means there can’t be any major hazards on the line, or serious structural damage to the rails or tunnel.”
I relaxed again.
“How can you sound so calm about us riding a two-centuries-old train, Tad?” demanded Weston.
“It’s far less worrying than a lot of other things that have happened to me in New York,” said Tad. “I was scared to death when a falling star caught Blaze. I knew that if I messed up fighting it then Blaze would die.”
Despite their panic, both Weston and Vijay must have noticed something about the tone of Tad’s voice, because they gave him speculative looks.
“Is there a way to stop this train before the next station?” I asked hastily.
“Yes,” said Tad. “I can either turn off the power to the third rail, and the safety system will bring the train to a gentle stop, or I can trigger a danger warning which would bring the train to an emergency halt.”
“Good,” I said. “So, the power to the third rail is on now in the section of tunnel that Cage is using?”
“Yes,” said Tad.
“Can you tell if he’s been electrocuted?” I asked.
“The power grid control system should flag any incidents,” said Tad. “Nothing has been recorded yet.”
“Cage must be strolling along that tunnel without touching the third rail,” I said in frustration. “It’s natural to avoid the rails, because it would be easy to trip over them, but surely he should at least brush against them now and then. Has he moved to another section of tunnel yet?”
“No more lights have been turned on or off,” said Tad. “There’s nothing happening at all.”
I groaned. “Tell me when we’re near section 28.”
There was silence for what seemed like an endless length of time before Tad spoke. “We’re in section 29 now, and passing the point where we entered the subway system.”
A much briefer silence. “Reaching the start of section 28 now,” said Tad.
The lights were on in section 28. Our train swept out of the darkness into brilliant light, and the voice of my gun spoke in my mind. “Primary target detected.”
My gun’s tracking display appeared in front of my eyes. The dots of Tad, Weston, and Vijay were right next to me, and two parallel lines showed the tunnel stretching ahead and behind us. At the extreme edge of my gun’s tracking range, I saw a conspicuous red dot to the left of the tunnel, with a few extra lines around it.
That red dot was Cage. I’d set my gun to have him as its primary target weeks ago. The tracking display was changing bewilderingly fast as our train rushed forward. I was opening my mouth to tell Tad to stop the train, when I saw the red dot move forward into the tunnel.
I could see Cage with my eyes as well as my gun’s tracking display now. A figure in a dark-grey coat was stepping out from the side of the tunnel, moving with Cage’s familiar arrogant stride. He had something sticklike slung on his shoulder, which had to be his sniper rifle.
Cage must have heard the train coming at that moment, because he suddenly turned towards us. I wasn’t sure if I’d really seen the expression of horror on his face as he saw the train, or just imagined it, but I definitely saw him grab for his rifle and aim it at us.
“Down!” I screamed, and instinctively threw myself at Tad. We tumbled to the floor of the carriage together, and I heard three loud bangs mixed with the sound of shattering glass. An instant later, my tracking display showed the red dot of Cage was dodging out of the way of our train.
I lifted myself up, intending to shoot back at Cage, but saw him caught by the front corner of our train and tossed sideways like a rag doll. I glimpsed flashes of blinding white as we headed on along the tunnel.
“Tad, emergency stop!” I shouted.
I was anxiously looking to check that Weston and Vijay were uninjured, when there was a deafening screech, and the train abruptly braked to a halt, sending Tad and me sliding into the front wall.
“Fortunately, that was the sort of glass that shatters into tiny blunt cubes rather than pointy spikes,” said Vijay chattily. “I saw Cage was hit by our train. Are the young lovers all right?”
I felt myself flush with embarrassment at the young lover comment. I’d been a fool to worry about Weston and Vijay getting hurt. They hadn’t just managed to take cover on the floor of the carriage before Cage shot at us, and seen the train hit him, but noticed the way I’d thrown myself on Tad as well.
“The young lovers seem uninjured,” said Weston. “Cage only got a glancing blow from our train, which may not have killed him. Do the bright flashes after that mean he got electrocuted by the third rail?”
I remembered Donnell warning me that Weston and Vijay’s comedy routines could push the line in combat situations, because they used them as a way to cope with the stress. They were obviously doing that now.
“I think the flashes were Cage getting electrocuted,” Tad sounded completely untroubled by Weston and Vijay’s comments about young lovers. “The power grid control system shows a significant incident.”
“Cage is probably injured, but may not be dead,” I said. I actually knew Cage wasn’t dead, because my gun’s tracking display showed his red dot was some distance behind us, and moving in the direction of the Unity Bridge. “Tad, can you reverse this train back along the tunnel?”
“The subway system doesn’t let trains go backwards,” said Tad.
The red dot of Cage went out of the range of my gun, and its tracking display vanished. I hammered a fist on the side of the carriage in frustration, sending a shower of dust into the air.
“Tad, turn off the power to the third rail all along this tunnel, so we can chase after Cage on foot.”
“Third rail power is now off everywhere,” said Tad.
I got up from the floor, went to the nearest carriage door, and discovered it was shut. I shoved at it without success, and a glance around told me that all the other carriage doors were shut too.
“Can you open the doors, Tad,” I asked, “or will we have to climb out of the broken front window?”
Tad joined me at the carriage door, reached up to pull an overhead red lever, and the door opened with a grudging sigh. I jumped down onto the gravel in the middle of the tunnel, and started running back along the side of the train and on in the direction of the Unity Bridge. After a couple of minutes, I saw something black lying across the rails ahead of me, and paused to look at it.
Tad, Weston, and Vijay caught me up. “When our train hit Cage, he must have dropped his rifle on the third rail,” said Tad.
“A rifle but no body,” said Weston grimly. “Cage can’t be too badly injured because he’s gone.”
Vijay picked up the rifle. “And he must have gone very quickly because I can’t see him further down the tunnel.”
Tad grimaced. “If the train just hit Cage a glancing blow, and the white flashes we saw were caused by the rifle falling on the third rail, then he may not be injured at all.”
I didn’t say anything, just began running again. As the loose gravel slid away under my feet, I stumbled and nearly fell, but recovered and ran on, muttering one of the swear words that Donnell disapproved of his officers using.
I’d be able to run a lot faster if the ground under my feet was solid fused rock like the walls and ceiling. Who the chaos had dumped all this gravel in these tunnels and why? I was too busy running to ask Tad the question, and I didn’t care about the answer anyway.
“We’ll reach section 29 of the tunnel soon,” Tad’s voice spoke from next to me. “Shall I turn the lights on there?”
I’d been trusting to my gun to warn me if I was getting close to Cage, and watching my feet to make sure I didn’t fall over. Now I lifted my head and saw darkness in the distance. I could only manage a one-word reply. “Yes.”
Just as the darkness in the distance changed to light, the voice of my gun spoke again. “Primary target detected.”
My gun’s tracking display reappeared. I saw the red dot of Cage was moving among a tangle of lines to one side of the tunnel.
“Cage probably came into the tunnel using the same entrance as us,” I said. “He’ll be trying to leave the same way.”
Weston gasped out words in staccato bursts from behind me. “If he came in ... that entrance ... wouldn’t he have been scared away ... by the fact we’d dug out the snow?”
I threw up my arms in a gesture of ignorance and kept running. The red dot of Cage was stationary now. Why had he stopped? A minute or two later, I saw Cage start moving again, heading directly away from the tunnel at running speed.
I staggered on and finally reached the doorway where we’d entered the subway. “I’ll go first,” I said.
There was a sound of protest from behind me. I wasn’t sure whether that came from Weston or Vijay, but I pointedly waved my right hand in the air in response. “I’m the one with the gun. I’ll go first.”
I went through the doorway, clattered along the familiar, dimly lit corridor, and up the staircase. All the time, I was conscious that Cage was rapidly moving away from me. As I reached the top of the steps, he went out of the range of my gun’s tracking display.
I stepped out into what I expected to be snow but turned out to be heavy rain. I looked around in despair at the barricade, the statue of Thaddeus Carmichael Wallam-Crane, and the dozens of buildings. Cage could have gone into any of those buildings.
“Typical,” said Weston, from behind me. “Just when the snow would have been useful for tracking Cage, the weather had to get a crucial couple of degrees warmer, and it started raining.”
“The rain actually helped us,” said Vijay. “It washed away the snow before Cage arrived. If the snow had still been here, Cage would have seen someone had entered the tunnels ahead of him. He’d have turned back, so we’d never have had the chance to chase him.”
“We had the chance to chase Cage, but he’s got away,” I said bitterly. “He’s got away from me a second time.”
“Yes, Cage has got away, but we’ve captured his sniper rifle, and that’s a victory,” said Tad.
“Yes, that’s a hugely important victory,” said Vijay, brandishing the rifle cheerfully. “If everyone comes back down the steps, I’ll show you something Cage left on the corridor floor as well.”
We all went back down the steps into the corridor, and Vijay waved at a blood-stained cloth lying by the wall. I picked it up and studied the pattern of blood.
“That looks like it was used to bandage an arm wound,” I said. “Judging from the amount of blood, it was a serious injury.”
Weston frowned. “Electrocution wouldn’t cause the sort of wound that bleeds heavily.”
“I think Cage’s arm was injured when the train hit him,” I said. “Perhaps it was gashed by that loose piece of metal at the front of the train. Whatever caused the injury, Cage dropped his rifle on the third rail. When he saw the electrical sparks flying, he didn’t dare to try to retrieve it, just ran.”
“If you’re right that Cage was hit by the loose piece of metal, then his arm may be broken as well as badly cut,” said Tad.
I remembered what Cage had done to me in the boathouse, and thought it would be ironic if we’d broken his arm today.
“Cage must have sat at the bottom of these steps for a moment, rebandaging his wound to try to get the bleeding under control, before going out into the rain,” said Weston. “Do we try searching the nearby buildings for him?”
I shook my head. “Cage wouldn’t risk staying in a nearby building when he knew we were chasing him. He’ll have found his way out of a back door by now, and will be moving on, with the rain washing away any blood trail he leaves.”
Vijay shrugged. “We’d better go back to Parliament House then, and report to Donnell.”
“No. We’re going back into the tunnel,” I said. “Cage entered the subway system here. He hasn’t been hiding up by the graveyard as Donnell expected, but near the boathouse. I want to know why he’s been staying in this area, and exactly what he was doing in the section of tunnel that runs past Parliament House.”
