Unearthly Snowbound

by Waggoner, Robert C.

  That broke the silence as everyone gave off a laugh that had not been heard since the storm hit. The president laughed the hardest and said she might make the dog a vice president of social events. That brought on additional laughter and soon a release of stress was felt in the room.

  Finally the president said, “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s return to business and find out what we are doing from here.”

  Chuck looked at Greg and Greg nodded for him to speak. “I’m sorry to report we didn’t find any fuel for the train. I’m sure we can find it in Chicago as I know every inch of the station and the yard. I suggest we proceed and I will take my place in the front engine.”

  Greg said, “Ok, that is the plan. We go to Chicago and let’s do the snowmobile patrol as we did last time.”

  Greg told them he would meet with the colonel and set up the patrol.

  After Chuck transferred to the front engine and Greg had called the colonel, he went back to his car for a much needed break. Soon the train left for Chicago with the next major city being Toledo. Greg did some math about how long it would take from Cleveland to Chicago. It was three hundred or so miles to Chicago and at fifteen miles an hour, he guessed about one mile every two minutes. His thoughts were interrupted by stopping of the train and the red phone going off. He picked it up and listened. The colonel said his patrol spotted some semi-truck across the tracks and some shots were fired at his patrol. Greg said he would check with Chuck and get back to him. ‘I will ring you up as soon as your patrol comes back. First I must report to the president and then have Bubba calm the passengers. After that I will call you and decide then what to do about the blocking of the train.

  Greg hurried to the president’s car. He found her at the conference table talking to Janet and Carol. The secret service men were all over the place inside and outside the door. He used the phone and talked to Chuck. Chuck said, “We are aware of the situation.”

  Chapter 16

  Chuck was looking ahead through the train’s bright lights reflecting off the silver sides of a semi-truck across the tracks. Chuck said to the engineer, “I see no problem with us moving through the truck, do you?”

  “No I don’t and furthermore, it might teach them a lesson,” he said with a grin on his face.

  “I think we should back up a ways and hit it at about thirty miles an hour,” Chuck said in a grim voice.

  Back in the president’s car a round table discussion on the situation was flying back and forth. Hilary sat listening as did Greg. She knew he was waiting for a report from Chuck and thinking what to do. She had full confidence in this man. She thanked her lucky stars he was with them. She also noticed the bickering between the CIA director and the FBI director. Since Greg was elevated to supersede them both, a fight for the leftovers was taking place between them. Hilary thought she needed to keep a close watch on both. Power hungry people without underlings were like two roosters with only one hen available.

  Greg cleared his throat and Hilary tapped her coffee cup with her spoon. Greg said, “A semi-truck is no match for a train. The longer we sit here the worse it will get. My thoughts are to proceed and with the snow engine train with the large snow blade in front should do the trick.”

  No one said a word as silence surrounded the table. Hilary said, “Greg, it’s your call.”

  Greg turned to the wall phone connecting him to Chuck and waited for a connection. After Chuck picked the phone up, Greg asked him, “Chuck what you recommend we do about the obstruction in front of us?”

  Chuck said, “We back the train up and hit the truck at about thirty miles an hour and proceed to Chicago.”

  “Make it so and let me know the results if you can after we pass through the wreckage.”

  Greg rang up the colonel in the troop car and informed him of the plan. “When we pass the intersection if fired upon, return the fire sending a message loud and clear.”

  “Yes sir, will do and I will give you the results after the passing.”

  Greg hung up and said as the train moved backwards, “I don’t think we will feel much here when the train makes contact, but just in case we should sit on the floor with our backs against the wall.”

  Hilary and the two bounty hunters retired with Jasper to her back bedroom. The others took their places as Greg told Bubba over the phone what was to happen and have the passengers take heed. He called his room and told his wife what was expected and she said she would take care of the kids and not to worry.

  What seemed like a long time backing up, but actually only ten minutes had passed when the train stopped and moved forward. Greg could feel the acceleration and sat down on the floor with his back against the wall. Because they had been traveling so slow, to Greg the acceleration felt strange as it seemed like the train was flying down the tracks headed into a black tunnel to never return.

  A slight bump was felt and the train kept moving at a steady thirty miles per hour for a few minutes. Some echo of rifle fire was heard, but only faintly. The train slowed down and the phone rang from the front engine. Chuck was on the line and with a chuckle told Greg, “Well, that was easy, we ripped through it like paper and all we could see was some silver in our lights tumbling through the snow. We could hear some rifle fire, but nothing hit our engine that we know about. I will check it out when we stop the next time.”

  Greg thanked him for the report and dialed up the troop car. The colonel reported some rifle fire but as far as he knew, no hits were taken. We let loose with about twenty seconds of machine gun fire and what resulted I have no idea.”

  Greg rang off and said he would meet him in the dining car in about an hour if he had the time.

  Greg said all was clear and sat back down at the conference table thinking about what the next encounter might be and where.

  Back at the crossing, Blackie, ironically with the same name as the assassin in New York, and his gang of escaped cons looked on at the disappearing train’s red light on the last car. Through the howling wind and blowing snow he said out loud to himself as nobody could hear him due to the blizzard conditions, “I’ll be damned. Now if there was ever something a guy needed is that train. With that train I could rule the East and nobody could stop us.”

  He motioned for the other boys to head back to the shop where he had set up headquarters.

  They had broken out of the State prison and what began as a gang of about one hundred had dwindled down to the twenty or so hard core types like Blackie. Upon escaping they took over a bus from the city and ejected the occupants onto the street. Blackie was driving and he headed for the Chrysler-Jeep dealer for some four wheel drive vehicles. Only five were left on the lot, but that was enough for the case harden gang to make their way around the city. They found enough chains for all five jeeps and then he knew fuel must be located for them to travel with. From the dealers shop he found a phone book and the local address of an oil dealer. They commandeered a fuel truck and went back to the shop.

  The shop was not far from the train station and that is when they heard and saw the lights from the train. Blackie thought the train would stop because of the semi-truck, but when it crashed through the barrier and the machine guns firing at them, he realized it must be a government train with troops aboard. No doubt the train was headed to Chicago and that is where he intended to be before the train arrived. He called his boys over and out of the twenty before the troop train rained bullets on them, fifteen were left.

  He said, “Boys, we need to get our hands on that there train. With it we could rule the country going around and stealing all the gold and silver, diamonds and you name it. What say we pack up and head to Chicago and give that train a real homecoming present of dynamite?”

  The rumble of lets go sounded around and they made plans to hit the road.

  Greg in the dining car talking with Chuck, Bubba and the colonel and he asked them what did they make of the incident back at the train crossing. The colonel spoke first saying, “My guys said when they app
roached the intersection someone started firing at them. Their aim was way off due to the weather conditions I’m sure.”

  Chuck added, “I think the trailer was empty and they thought we would come out and try to move the truck. The truck posed no problem for us and when I looked back I could see the yellow fire from the guns. We’re now back to fifteen miles an hour and the next big station is Toledo.”

  Bubba gave Greg a report on the passengers by saying, “The passengers are fine and they feel secure with the bullet proof windows and stuff like that.”

  Greg said to them all, “I’m damn worried these guys might think we are headed to Chicago and try to make it there before we do. My thinking is these are not ordinary bad guys, but maybe remnants of some state or federal penitentiary.”

  Greg took out a calculator and started figuring how long and how far different speeds would it take to get to Chicago. First he asked all of them what if these guys had four wheel drives and took the interstate to Chicago, what would the earliest they might arrive at the Chicago station? They all agreed that about thirty miles an hour is all the gang could muster under these conditions. It was three hundred miles to Chicago and that under the best circumstances would be about ten hours.

  Greg asked Chuck, “What if increase our speed to thirty miles an hour and not stop at Toledo?”

  Chuck leaned back in his chair and thought a minute and replied, “My thinking is we would increase the risk of a derailment if a switch is not right or something like another train is occupying the same track as we are.”

  “Colonel, what do you think?”

  “I’m going to say leave it up to Chuck and whether we should gamble or not. I’m not so sure those guys can reach Chicago with all the stranded vehicles and snow drifts in their way. But on the other hand, I sure agree with you that if those bad guys got their hands on this train, we would be in trouble and so would the rest of the population in the Eastern part of the country.”

  Bubba said he would go along with Chuck.

  Greg looked at chuck again and said, “Well partner, we been through a lot already, how about it, are you ready for another ride to hell?”

  Chuck smiled and said, “I’m too old to worry about myself, but there are a lot of passengers and not to mention the President of the United States.”

  Greg said through a tight lip mouth, “I will confer with her right now and Chuck when you get back to the front engine, call me at her car.”

  Greg got up and left them sitting there.

  Bubba said, “I’m sure glad it’s not me having to make that decision. He’s one tough dude and he’s made some good calls already and I will run with him anytime.”

  Greg stopped off at his car where he found his kids reading more history. He sat down and talked with them and said, “Kids we are going to speed up the train to Chicago and I want you to transfer to the other side of the room in case we have a problem. The wall will protect you in case of us having an accident.”

  Greg Jr. and Sandy looked at him with worry on their faces. Sandy said, “Daddy, I’m scared and I want mommy to come and stay with us. She is helping the passengers and it would be nice if she came and stayed with us.”

  Greg gave her a hug and said he would have mommy come real soon and he would be back here in a little while too.

  Greg made his way to the president’s car and knocked on the door. Janet let him in and said the president was taking a short nap and she would go get her.

  Greg sat down heavily and looked the car over. This was the first time he really looked at the president’s car. The conference table sat about ten people. Greg's chair was next to the door leading out. Behind the head chair where Hilary sat was a three quarter wall in redwood paneling. The walls of the train a pale yellow color made up in velvet looking material. Down the hall, he remembered was a bathroom and next to the bathroom was a small library with a desk and computer sitting there with a dark face on it. Next to the library was a small bedroom done up in blue for a special guest. Now it was occupied by Janet and Carol her new protectors. Fully one third of the car was in a bedroom/office arrangement. He wondered what it looked like. Probably feminine colors and frilly things adorned the bed and dressers. A nice blend of violet and blood red gave off an exciting look. Thick light red carpet occupied the entire car?

  He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Next Greg was thinking about his mission and what if he was wrong. At thirty miles an hour hitting a parked train could totally kill them all. If the crash didn’t kill them the weather would. Was the risk worth it? He thought he could leave the final decision to the president, but he knew she would throw it back at him. He was the final stop and god helps him if he was wrong.

  Hilary came into the room looking wrung out. Greg guessed if he looked into a mirror he might see the same look: drugged through a knot hole, is what some yokel might say. Hilary sat down and her aid poured a cup of coffee for the both of them. She raised her cup to him and he toasted her back. He was beginning to like this woman and her demeanor was catching. She put people at ease rather than make them nervous. On the other hand, he’d seen signs of raw power behind this remarkable woman. His wife exuded the same type of power. Like most powerful intelligent women, her proclivity in fairness showed through with her relationships with her staff.

  Greg, with a quiet voice said, “Madam President, this is our current situation. The encounter with the terrorists at the crossing leads me to believe we are dealing with some desperate and dangerous men. I have no facts to present my case to you with, only a gut feeling. It is my opinion that we haven’t seen the last of these guys and I feel they are headed to Chicago like us. They saw the fire power and the strength of this train and it would be quite a catch for some terrorist to capture this train and use it for unlawful means; particularly against the citizens of this country. I’m suggesting we increase the speed and arrive in Chicago before they do. We need fuel for the journey west and Chuck tells me we need at least one to two hours to fuel up the train. I suggest we increase our speed to thirty miles an hour and our travel time at that speed would be about ten hours.”

  “The downside of course is if we run into something. We can’t see anything at that speed before we collide with something like an abandon train. It’s a gamble and I need you to affirm or deny this action.”

  Hilary sat there and run all the possibilities through her mind. If we hit something solid like a train, she thought, it is the end of us all. She knew there was a transponder of some type to warn of something on the track. But, would it give them enough time to stop the train or would they derail and all freeze to death in a very short time? She thought of all the passengers and their hopes for the future and the future of the government with it. She knew very well the need for a two site government with communication between them to match this terrible weather if America was to survive.

  She sat her cup down and said to Greg, “We are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. You’ve been right every time so far and if you think this is what needs to happen, they so be it. I will write and sign an order for you to increase the speed and may we be blessed with good fortune to arrive safely in Chicago. Now to another matter I want to discuss with you after you give the engine the order to increase the speed.”

  Greg picked up the phone and told Chuck to pick it up and set the speed at thirty miles per hour.

  Greg turned back to Hilary “What is on your mind Madam President?”

  She then spoke to him about her fears of the two directors Melvin and Robert having no power left and even though she included them in most discussions, their power base disappeared. “I fear a power struggle might occur after Chicago. I haven’t seen them and neither has anyone else for a long time. My agents tell me they are in one of their rooms talking. I’m telling you this to make you aware of it and to keep an ear open and your eyes too.”

  Greg said he would and rose to leave to be with the family. The president rose too and with a warm smile sai
d, “Thank you for your diligence in these tough times. I’m relying on you a lot and you have responded in kind. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Greg left and went to his room where he found Becky and the kids telling stories. He immediately relaxed and joined them in their cozy little room.

  Chapter 17

  A very different feeling inside the train was feeling now that it was traveling faster than before. Greg and family tried to relax and talk about the future. Greg told them about staying for some time in an underground community in a mountain in Colorado. Becky had a map out showing the States and the kids had no idea where Colorado was located. All the kids knew was there was a lot of snow in Colorado from the TV they watched. Greg told them how lucky they were to go there where it was safe and out of the weather.

  Greg lay on the bunk and listened to the wheels running over the joints in the tracks. A soothing sound and the rocking motioned of the car soon put him into dreamland. One Christmas his parents bought him a Lionel Train for Christmas. Now he was laying on the floor of the living room watching the train go around the Christmas tree listening to the sounds it made. From that day forward he wanted to be a railroad engineer. His mother was calling him and he didn’t want to get up and answer her call. Finally her mother came into the living room and stood over him yelling his name: “Greg, get up, it’s time for dinner.”

  Greg’s eyes opened and saw his wife standing over him saying his name. “Greg, the president wants to see you when you have some time.”