The Amtrak Wars: Blood River

by Patrick Tilley

  ‘By capturing us.’

  ‘No!’ cried Steve. ‘I went along with the idea to buy some time – so as I could get things sorted out! But when I got into this mess I had no idea you were in Ne-Issan. I couldn’t see much hope of rescuing you but … when you didn’t turn up at the trading post Mr Snow was so, well – distressed, I agreed to give it a try.’

  He glanced at Clearwater then said: ‘If you want to know the whole truth, she’s the reason I came riding to the rescue. I didn’t really care what happened to you but since the Old One was due to die and the clan couldn’t function properly without a wordsmith …’ He threw up his hands. ‘My only concern now is to make sure you’re delivered safely to Wyoming.’

  ‘And you’re not planning any more betrayals on the way.’

  Clearwater opened her mouth to protest but Cadillac silenced her. ‘I have every right to ask such a question! If the cloud-warrior is ready to betray his blood-brothers how can we be sure he will not turn against us?!’

  Steve’s eyes met Clearwater’s and held them. The blue of her pupils had softened. ‘Ask this lady here. She knows what the truth is. I came back to the overground because – don’t ask me why – this is where I feel I belong. With her.’

  Her gaze did not waver. ‘Your words bring warmth to my heart, cloud-warrior. But what will become of your kin-sister?’

  ‘Can’t say. But while we were crossing towards Long Point, her voice entered my mind. It was she who told me to stay with you. She no longer fears those who are trying to control our lives.’

  ‘So you have chosen to throw in your lot with the Plainfolk.’

  ‘Isn’t that obvious?’

  Cadillac laughed derisively. ‘A typically devious reply from the man who can never answer with a straight “yes” or “no”! In a few days – with luck – we’ll know if our coup against the wagon-train was successful. If it is, then last year’s slaughter of our clan-brothers and sisters will have been partly avenged and we will have earned ourselves a safe haven for the winter.

  ‘But do you know the real reason why I planted those explosive charges aboard The Lady? To put an end – once and for all – to your double-dealing! To force you to choose sides by leaving you only one side to be on! If those charges have gone off as planned, many will die and that murderous machine will be permanently crippled.

  ‘There will be questions, investigations, accusations. And in the end, the finger will point at the one person with the means, the opportunity, and the necessary degree of ruthlessness and duplicity to commit such an outrage. Not some stupid lump-head who doesn’t know one end of a rifle from the other, but you, Brickman.

  ‘So you can kiss goodbye to the idea of keeping a line open to your powerful friends in case things don’t work out the way you’d planned. You’re with us from here on in, whether you like it or not.’

  There was no doubt about it, thought Steve. He had seriously underestimated Cadillac. The young Mute was a lot sharper than he’d thought. But then – why wouldn’t he be? How foolish not to have realized that he was now pitting his wits against a mental mirror image of himself!

  He appraised each of them in turn, trying to guess how well he had defended his corner. Since that last climactic, blood-soaked day at the Heron Pool, his relationship with Clearwater had moved onto another level. Although less feverish, the physical relationship was still as strong as ever but other, more disturbing elements now lurked in the depths, like the cold lake-creatures that had brushed against his naked body during his moonlight swims, sending shivers down his spine.

  At times, when the brilliant blue was veiled with grey, her eyes became those of a stranger, filled with a mysterious, brooding malevolence. Not directed at him personally, but at the world – or perhaps at the world he represented.

  But not now.

  Now they were the eyes he had seen in that perfectly-formed face half-hidden among the ranks of M’Call warriors on the night he had bitten the arrow. The eyes that had lain in wait for his, capturing his heart and mind, drawing him into a web of intrigue, deception and high adventure. A dangerous, mind-twisting game which, if the Talisman Prophecy was fulfilled, would end in the death of one nation and the birth of another.

  He sent Clearwater a silent message and on receiving the reply he sought, he focused his attention on Cadillac. Any anger he felt was concealed beneath a note of grudging admiration. ‘I’ve gotta hand it to you, Caddie. I didn’t think you had it in you. Even if the idea of taking out The Lady had occurred to me I don’t think I could have used Jodi and Kelso as bomb-carriers. Still … now that it’s done and you’ve both explained why, there’s no hard feelings.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it.’

  ‘No, I mean that. When you think of it as an abstract problem you came up with the ideal solution. In fact – and I hate to say this – it was pretty damn brilliant.’

  ‘I had a good teacher …’

  Steve caught the irony but he could see that the new Cadillac lapped up compliments just like the old model. He laughed. ‘I doubt if I can teach you anything now. But you’re wrong about one thing. It’s true about me trying to keep a line open to the Federation but it wasn’t because I was planning some kind of double-cross. I was hoping to use the connection to our advantage and give Roz time to get her act together but … you’ve decided to do it the hard way.’ He shrugged. ‘I can live with that. So why don’t we wipe the tape and start again from the top?’

  Drawing his knife, he slit open one of the small veins on the inside of his right wrist and extended his hand towards Cadillac. The Mute made the same ritual cut then they gripped each other’s forearms in a Roman-style greeting.

  Clearwater cupped her hands round their wrists, pressing them together so that their blood mingled. ‘Now you are truly brothers. Let there be peace and friendship between you. Offer love and loyalty to your clansmen, dedicate your life to the service of Talisman and save your anger and hatred for the enemies of the Plainfolk. Do you so swear?’

  ‘On this, our blood, I swear,’ said Cadillac.

  Steve repeated the oath with appropriate solemnity. It meant as much as the Tracker Prayer he’d mouthed daily for fifteen of his eighteen years. But it was an arrangement he could live with until the time came to get even …

  With his air component and medical team wiped out in two swift hammer blows, upwards of a hundred dead and with scores of injured crewmen who could only be given basic first aid, Hartmann had no alternative but to withdraw southwards.

  Abandoning the two shattered wagons plus three which had been completely gutted by fire, Hartmann reformed The Lady and headed back across the Cedar River towards navref Des Moines. On learning the bad news, CINC-TRAIN wired back the necessary approval and ordered The Lady to head for the Monroe/Wichita interface.

  The choice of Monroe instead of the wagon-train’s home depot at Nixon/Fort Worth was significant. It made sense to disembark the casualties at the nearest divisional base where they could receive skilled medical attention but it was also to be the end of the line for Hartmann and his execs. Monroe/ Wichita was the terminus for the northern spur of the Trans-Am Expressway and the last paragraph of CINC-TRAIN’s signal listed everyone from Hartmann down to and including Trail-Boss McDonnell who were required to board the first available south-bound shuttle.

  Those named had no illusions about the kind of reception awaiting them at Grand Central, and the atmosphere aboard The Lady on the homeward journey was as grim and bleak as the winter landscape that fought them remorselessly, every inch of the way.

  Jodi Kazan, on recovering from McDonnell’s knock-out blow, was found to be in deep shock; a condition that was later diagnosed as catalepsy. She seemed incapable of speech, did not respond to questions, and did not react to her surroundings or any other external stimuli, such as when food was placed before her. Unable to stand unaided, she lay vacant-eyed on her bunk. When placed on a chair, she remained in the position chosen by whoever put her there,
like one of those stiff-jointed mannikins used by artists.

  CINC-TRAIN, who had been told of her role in the attack on the wagon-train, ordered her to be confined to a punishment cell until handed over to the Provost-Marshal’s office at Monroe/Wichita.

  When The Lady reached the interface, the Base P-M came aboard personally to place Hartmann and the other fall-guys under close arrest, and Jodi, now wearing a defaulter’s black jumpsuit with a big yellow X front and back, was hooded and shackled and put aboard the same shuttle.

  The injured crewmen, mostly burn cases, were off-loaded together with the bodies of those who had died en route and the victims of the two initial explosions who had been identified. Those blasted or charred beyond recognition had been buried in a mass grave cut by the remaining ’dozer on the banks of the Mississippi.

  A new, stripped-down team of execs came aboard to run what was left of The Lady back to Fort Worth, closely followed by six grey-uniformed Assessors. The legal eagles took over the aft command-car and immediately notified their presence by screening a preliminary list of crewmen required for interrogation. By the time The Lady reached Fort Worth, everyone on board at the time of the disaster had been thoroughly questioned and some, judged to be implicated in the overall failure to apply the proper on-board security measures, finished up in the slammer.

  With the aid of drugs, an AMEXICO medical team – who were no strangers to mind control – managed to neutralize the mental imperative Clearwater had planted in Jodi’s brain, and restore her to some semblance of normality. The failure to carry out the order to destroy herself and The Lady had triggered complete mental and muscular paralysis; a self-inflicted punishment that without remedial treatment could have eventually killed her.

  Once programmed, Jodi was like a computer which throws itself into a loop trying to obey an instruction it is unable to execute; a condition known as ‘lock-out’. The only way to break the cycle is to pull the plug on the machine before it goes round the bend and burns out the mother-board.

  Karlstrom, the head of AMEXICO met the President-General to discuss how the investigation should be handled. They decided that Hartmann and those arrested with him should appear before a Board of Assessors, but because of the sensitive nature of much of the evidence, those selected to conduct the proceedings would all be disguised members of the First Family who knew of the existence of AMEXICO and were also familiar with the Talisman Prophecy and the concept of ‘Mute magic’.

  Karlstrom agreed to take the role of President of the Board, and the P-G also nominated Fran Delano Jefferson – a young relative of his, who was Steve Brickman’s controller. The nomination raised Mother’s eyebrows but when the P-G explained what he had in mind, Karlstrom found himself wishing he’d thought of it first.

  Jodi squared her shoulders and snapped to attention as the young, dark-haired woman entered the interrogation room. Her hood had been removed when her escort left the room but she still wore wrist and knee shackles and was chained to a floor loop. The woman who was dressed in a grey jumpsuit – the uniform worn by the Legal Division – sat down at the desk in front of Jodi, activated the video and adjusted the angle of the screen. She keyed in a call-up code and read the top line on the screen. ‘2086-5341 Kazan, J.R?’

  ‘Yes, sir-ma’am.’

  ‘Take the weight off your feet.’ The dark-haired woman smiled sympathetically as Jodi sat down on the moulded cushionless swivel chair fixed to the floor behind her. ‘I’m sorry about the chains but it’s regulations – you understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir-ma’am.’

  ‘You can drop the “sir”,’ said the dark-haired woman. ‘Maybe I’d better start by introducing myself. I’m Nancy Reagan Delaney.’ She smiled. ‘Could be coincidence but maybe they picked me because you and I both come from the same base. Anyway … because yours is a somewhat complex case, the Legal Division has appointed me as your defence counsel.’

  She smiled again as she noted Jodi’s surprise. ‘I know. I had a similar reaction. Code One offenders are not normally allowed to enter pleas of mitigation. But as I said, you’re considered to be a special case.’ The woman glanced at the screen. ‘Your record – up to the time you went over the side – is exemplary and I want you to know that I intend to do my utmost to see that after due process, the Board moves for an acquittal.

  ‘But before you say anything, I must warn you that I will not be allowed to be present during the hearing. My plea on your behalf – which I hope to construct from these interviews – will be presented for the consideration of the court before you come before the Board of Assessors. So tell me, Jodi – are you prepared to confide in me on that basis?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. I realize my situation doesn’t look too good but I have nothing to hide.’

  ‘I’m pleased to hear it.’ Delaney scrolled through the data she’d called up on the screen. ‘In my book, anyone who’s earned five stars and the kind of commendations I see listed here is a True Blue who knows exactly what they’re doing and why.’

  For the first time since boarding The Lady, Jodi started to feel like a human being again. She felt immensely reassured by the woman facing her but at the same time it was a strange experience. Delaney could almost have been her kin-sister. She had an oval face and short lustrous dark hair – except Delaney’s was parted on the right and swept neatly back over her ears whereas her own unkempt locks had been shorn off, leaving her with a boot-camp crew-cut.

  She also had a wider fuller mouth and larger, violet-blue eyes whereas Jodi’s lips had thinned out from years of playing hard-ball with the hairy-assed Trail-Blazers under her command, and her deep-set eyes were the colour of weathered granite. And of course, her own face was hideously scarred down the left hand side whereas …

  Delaney placed her forearms on the desk and laid her hands one on top of the other. ‘Let me tell you what my biggest problem is … Commander Hartmann and the Trail-Boss of The Lady have both made statements in your defence. They believe you did not knowingly, and with intent, carry explosives onto the wagon-train.’

  ‘It’s true, ma’am. I didn’t.’

  ‘I want to believe you. But apart from the two pilots, you and Kelso were the only people to get within an arm’s length of the two Skyhawks you flew out on. Now we know it couldn’t have been Steve Brickman or the two Mutes that were with you because we have a tape of you telling Commander Hartmann they’d been killed some days previously. So since it’s obvious that Kelso wasn’t in a position to do anything, it must have been you. Why don’t you just admit to the charge and get this business over with?’

  ‘Because I didn’t do it, ma’am! I wouldn’t do anything to harm my trail-mates. I joined The Lady when Commander Hartmann became wagon-master and I’ve served the –’

  Delaney cut off the rest of the sentence with a slicing movement of her hand. ‘I know all about your record. But strange things happen when people become renegades. Their attitudes change – sometimes quite profoundly. It’s something in the air. They become … contaminated.’

  ‘I didn’t become a renegade, ma’am. I was found by renegades. The group never undertook any hostile action against units of the Federation and anyway, for most of the time I was with them, I was recovering from the injuries I sustained when my Skyhawk –’

  ‘Yes, yes, I know all about that. You still haven’t explained who, if it wasn’t you, planted those explosives charges. On Kelso, in one or both of the Skyhawks that landed, and how you came to be carrying another charge concealed on your person.’

  ‘I didn’t know they were there, ma’am I swear it!’

  ‘So you keep saying. I’m trying to help you, Jodi, but you’re not helping me! You resisted an order to remove your clothes – and even tried to draw a knife in an effort to delay the discovery of the explosives you were carrying. Two witnesses, senior officers – fellow Trail-Blazers you profess to care about, have testified that you were only a split second away from destroying the forward command car – killi
ng them and probably everyone else in the saddle!’

  The accusation brought tears to Jodi’s eyes. ‘I didn’t do it, ma’am. At least I didn’t know I was doing it. They must have made me –’

  ‘They …?’

  Jodi’s mouth fluttered open. ‘B-b-beg pardon, ma’am?’

  ‘Don’t play games with me!’ Delaney slammed her palm against the desktop. ‘You said “They made me do it”. Who are we talking about, Jodi?’

  The expression on Jodi’s face reflected her mental anguish.

  ‘Brickman’s still alive, isn’t he? And so are his Mute friends. You, the loyal Trail-Blazer, the True Blue – or so you would have us believe – lied to Commander Hartmann, didn’t you? He trusted you – like McDonnell and the rest of the crew – and you betrayed them. Am I right?’

  Jodi hung her head as her eyes flooded with tears. ‘That’s the way it looks ma’am, but …’

  With a tired gesture, Delaney tapped out the command to clear the screen then sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Jodi. I don’t think there’s anything I can do for you. It’s obvious what happened. You and Brickman saw the patrols from The Lady and realized the game was up.’

  ‘No ma’am, it wasn’t like that,’ murmured Jodi.

  Delaney ignored her. ‘It was only a matter of time before you were found and brought in. You knew the punishment meted out to renegades. There was nothing to lose. You lied because you were a willing party to Brickman’s plan to destroy The Lady.’

  ‘No! It’s not true!’ cried Jodi. ‘He didn’t have anything to do with it! Neither did I – at least, not knowingly. She must have made me do it – the same way she made those Skyhawks destroy each other!’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Delaney had cleared the screen, but their conversation was still being secretly videotaped. ‘Tell me about that.’

  Jodi recounted how she had watched with growing horror as the second Skyhawk in the first formation blasted the lead aircraft out of the sky then turned on his colleagues, shooting one down before crashing into the other – with fatal results for all concerned.