Page 90 of A Slipper in the Smoke
The man bent over his desk and hastily began punching buttons. “I’m not going to stop you,” he said. “My sister died in one of the outer ring factories. Reckon you lot might be on the right side of it all.”
Snowdrop smiled.
Maybe this will be easy after all,Elena hoped, even though she knew this part was probably the easiest one.
“Stationmaster to Petragrad 19:11,” the guard spoke over the radio, “I’m diverting your train into tunnel B-3. There is a minor disturbance on the main track.”
“Roger that,” spoke another voice, one laced with an accent so familiar and faraway that it made Elena’s insides ache, “revised ETA?”
“The delay should take no more than, ah…”
Snowdrop held up her fingers.
“Ten minutes,” the guardsman confirmed.
“Roger that, stationmaster.”
The radio went silent.
Snowdrop turned back to the guard. “We’ll need to tie you up,” she said. “Just in case you…”
“Yes, yes, I won’t struggle.” He held out his hands. “Don’t be too rough.”
Clover came forward to tie him up, muttering about how he wished all their hostageswere so compliant and making quick work of the knots. That done, he scooted back down the steps to the others, where they dropped onto the train tracks and scuttled forward in the pitch black.
“What are the chances the guards on the Narvarran train are on our side?” asked Clover.
“Slim,” said Dandelion.
“Veryslim,” Elena agreed.
The train was the most unknown factor. They had no map of it, no knowledge of the number of guards. They only knew that Princess Sofia was travelling solo, without her parents. There would be a driver on board, probably two. A maid, most likely. At least four guards.
Too many to overpower them. All they had was the advantage of surprise.
That didn’t fill Elena with joy.
Several turns later, lights appeared in the distance. They turned off their own. The Narravan train stood still on the abandoned platform, bronze and gleaming.
Elena held her breath.
“Two guards on the platform,” Snowdrop whispered, her voice so quiet she was barely talking at all. “Two drivers in the front, too.”
“Can we get to the drivers first?”
“Yes,” she said. “Bear right. Stay out of the guards’ vision. Buttercup, cover us.”
Buttercup aimed his pistol. “Understood.”
The remaining three rebels took to the right, Elena sandwiched between them. Snowdrop approached first, waiting for another train to rumble somewhere in the distance, allowing her the distraction to tear open the door and aim her pistol at the drivers. Clover shot up behind her, aiming at the second.
Elena could only catch a glimpse of their pale, terrified faces as Snowdrop cocked her gun and placed her finger to her lips. “No one has died yet tonight,” she said, “and I would like to keep it that way. The choice is now in your hands. Back away from the controls.”
Neither driver objected. Dandelion scuttled forward to bind and gag them, and left two of the bots—the winged, cat-like one, and the one shaped like a bee—to watch over them.
“You move, they’ll strike,” he told the drivers.
Elena doubted that was true, but by the look on the drivers’ face, neither of them was going to risk it.
