aside from the bald fact of the cadmium poisoning, I reluctantly concluded, it would take someone better trained than me to spot it. All I could do now was wait for the other shoe to drop.
Two nights after the journey’s midpoint, it finally did.
I had just taken off my shoes in preparation for bedtime when the divider opened and Bayta hurried into my compartment. “The Spiders say Dr. Aronobal is calling for you,” she said tautly.
“What’s the problem?” I asked, grabbing my shoes and starting to put them on again.
“They don’t know,” she said. “They just say she needs to see you right away. She’s in the second/third dispensary, staring at the medications in the drug cabinet.”
“Maybe she’s thought of something relating to the murders,” I suggested, finishing with my shoes and standing up. “I’ll be back soon. Feel free to eavesdrop via the dispensary’s server.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, frowning as she started for the door. “I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re staying here,” I corrected, getting to the door first. “Aronobal asked for
Her face had gone very still. “You think it’s a trap, don’t you?”
That was, in fact, exactly what I was thinking. “I just think she might feel more comfortable talking to me alone,” I lied.
I reached for the door control, paused, and instead dug into my pocket. “Here,” I said, handing Bayta the
She took it, her eyes going even darker. “Frank—”
“Besides, if there’s a problem and I have to fight, I’d rather you be here and not right in the middle of things where I have to worry about you,” I cut her off. “I’ll be back soon.”
I escaped into the corridor before she could come up with a suitable retort.
The corridors of the compartment cars were deserted, most of the other passengers probably having turned in for the night. The first-class coach car just beyond had the same settled feel about it, though there were still a few reading lights showing.
I went past the dining car and its usual contingent of late-night diners and drinkers, then trekked through the storage, shower, and exercise/dispensary cars into the next coach car. I walked through it and into the first-class entertainment car, where reflected flickers of light showed that a few viewers were still finishing up their dit rec dramas and comedies, and entered the next coach car. One more, and I would finally be finished with first class.
After which would come the long walk through second class and then finally to third. After all this, I told myself darkly, Aronobal had better have either one hell of a significant breakthrough to offer, or else have one hell of an innovative ambush to spring.
I was nearly to the end of the last first-class coach when I heard a quiet voice call my name.
I looked around. The only passenger anywhere nearby who should even know my name was
And then, as I watched, his eyes opened. “Go back,” he said, his voice soft and raspy.
I felt a sudden tightness in my chest. Qiddicoj’s open eyes were slightly unfocused, his long jaw slackened, and even in the dim light of the compartment I could see his rose-colored nose blaze had gone a little darker.
Which meant that it wasn’t Qiddicoj who was speaking to me.
I took a deep breath. For the past three weeks I’d been wondering whether the Modhri had a presence aboard our train. Occasionally, way back in the back of my mind, I’d also wondered if he might have something to do with our rash of mysterious murders.
Now, at least the first of those two questions had been answered. “Hello, Modhri,” I said. “I’ve been wondering when you would pop up.”
“Go back, Compton,” the Modhri said again. “He’s in your compartment car.”
“Who is?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
“He was hiding in one of the shower stalls,” Qiddicoj’s voice rasped, a sense of urgency creeping into his voice. “He waited until you’d passed, then moved forward. He has a device with which he hopes to gain access to your compartment.”
The tightness in my chest went a little tighter. The double compartment, where I’d left Bayta waiting all alone. “Who is he?” I demanded. “What does he look like?”
“I don’t know,” the Modhri said. “He’s wearing a hooded robe that obscures his features and his build.”
So our baggage car intruder hadn’t flushed his disguise down the toilet after all. The thrifty type. “What does he want?” I asked.
“How should I know?” the Modhri retorted. “Perhaps the deaths of us all. Do you wish to stop him, or not?”
I cursed under my breath. If this was a trick to get me to miss my appointment with Aronobal, the doctor could likely be facing some death of her own.
But Aronobal wasn’t my responsibility, and on a personal level I didn’t really care what happened to her. Bayta was, and I did. “You have any walkers up there?” I asked.
“I have an Eye in the bar and one in the first coach car,” the Modhri said. “That’s how I saw the intruder making his way forward.”
There were a dozen other questions I needed to ask, starting with how this intruder thought he could get though a Spider-designed lock and ending with why the Modhri was giving me this warning in the first place. But those questions could wait. “Let me know if he starts back or goes to ground somewhere,” I said.
I was ten cars back from our compartment car. I retraced the first nine cars’ worth of steps at a dead run, slowing to a quieter and more energy-conserving jog for the last one. A well-dressed Juri in that first coach car watched me as I came through, his eyes bright and preternaturally aware. Almost certainly he was the walker the Modhri had mentioned, and I raised my eyebrows in silent question as I passed him. He gestured toward the car ahead in silent response. I nodded, and slipped through the door into the vestibule.
I crossed the vestibule, taking in huge lungfuls of air as I did so to try to restore my blood oxygen level after my mini-marathon run. I got to the front and reached for the door control.
And paused, my memory flicking back to the trip wire the intruder had left for me in the baggage car. This guy was a professional, and professionals didn’t set themselves up for key jobs in the middle of exposed corridors without taking precautions against unexpected company.
Which meant there was probably a booby trap waiting on the other side of the door.
It wouldn’t be a trip wire. That was fairly certain. I was the unexpected company he would be most worried about, and he would assume I wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.
On the other hand, given the lengths he’d already gone to in order to keep anyone from seeing who he was …
It was a gamble, but I had no time to think it through any further. Squeezing my eyes tightly shut and holding my breath, I hit the door release.
And as I charged through, a burst of cold air threw a choking cloud of dust squarely into my face.
I bellowed with feigned surprise, the sharp exhalation serving to blow the powder away from my nose and mouth. A simple talcum powder, I gathered from the taste. Simultaneously, I threw up my left forearm over my face, hopefully hiding the fact that my closed eyelids had protected me from the blinding effects of the powder. I staggered a couple of steps forward, feeling wildly around with my right hand as I watched the floor in front of me beneath the concealment of my left arm.
He fell for it like an egg from a tall chicken. Three seconds later a pair of feet entered my truncated field of view as he hurried toward me, clearly intent on putting me down for the count.
Instantly, I shifted my hands and body into fighting stance. I caught a glimpse of a billowing cloak and a dark- filled hood, then caught one of his outstretched arms at the wrist, levered it at the elbow, and turned his forward motion into a backward arc to slam his back hard onto the corridor floor.
With the average opponent, that would have ended the fight right there. But this one was tougher than average. Even as his shoulders hit the floor he was twisting his torso around, swinging one leg in a horizontal sweep straight at my ankles.
I managed to get one leg out of his way, but I didn’t have the time or the balance to get the other one clear,
