The Case of the Misplaced Hero, Page 5

girl.

  "What are they saying?"

  "The captain says that his orders outrank the colonel's authority, and he wants you released into his custody."

  "Really?" said Thorny. "What are his orders? They don't involve shooting me or anything, do they?"

  "No. The captain says he is to secure all of the train wreck victims and the contents of the train, because it is a matter of national security. Ah, the orders are straight from the Supreme Committee! The passengers are of diplomatic importance."

  The colonel turned red and pounded the desk, and shouted and then turned to his soldiers and shouted more.

  The soldiers stepped forward, hands on weapons, but the captain just said something soft and sweet, with a shrug and a gesture. The soldiers backed off and the colonel did too, his face red.

  "What did he say?"

  The girl sat -- rigid and bright eyed -- with her mouth a little open.

  "The captain invited them to have a drink," she said, slowly at first, but then her voice became eager. "And he said the colonel can have him arrested when High Commissioner Vshtin arrives to take charge. Vshtin is coming here!"

  Unfortunately, her rising voice drew the attention of the disgruntled colonel.

  "What are you saying to each other?" he said sharply.

  "Nothing," said the girl.

  "She was only translating what you were saying," said Thorny.

  "That is none of your business!" said the colonel. And he went over and grabbed the girl by the arm.

  "Hey!" said Thorny, and he tried to get up gallantly to defend her, but someone shoved him back into his chair. It might have been gravity. He called to the captain. "Are you going to allow that?"

  The captain squinted and did not move. The colonel turned on him.

  "You have no say," he said. "She is not a passenger from the train. You cannot wave your orders at me. She is in my custody, and you will not interfere!"

  The captain shrugged his great shoulders, and threw wide his hands.

  "I have enough trouble," he said.

  "You will have more if he proves to be a spy!" declared the colonel and he shoved the girl ahead of him into the next room. The captain lumbered over to Thorny and leaned in to look close.

  "I am Captain Rozinshura," he began.

  "Captain Rosey-posey! What a coincidence. They call me Professor Thorny!"

  "I think you are drunk, Professor Thorny," said Rozinshura gravely. "I must fix this."

  Episode 11

  Alex Takes the Direct Route

  Alex was exhausted from jogging down that meandering road. He had no idea how far he'd gone, or how far he had to go. He heard a car rattling along behind him, and he was glad for the excuse to duck into the bushes and catch his breath.

  The car looked like the same one that he'd seen earlier, heading up the mountain. It had fewer soldiers -- just one driving, and one on the running boards -- but now it was packed with civilians. Alex only caught a glimpse of a man clutching a silk top hat, and a woman in furs, as it bounced past.

  Alex didn't expect to see silk hats or furs in this apparently remote location. But the peasant woman had said something about foreigners and a train wreck.

  He started to climb out of the bushes, when he lost his footing and tumbled down... and further down and down, through bushes, bouncing off trees, and finally came to rest at the bottom of a steep grade.

  He crawled to his feet. He was at the edge of another road. Great. Should he climb back up to the road he knew went where he wanted to go? Or follow this one? And if so, which direction? Up hill looked like it would intersect with the road he had been on. But he also knew he had to go down hill to get to the base of the falls.

  Just then he heard a car, and he stepped back into the bushes. The same car went bouncing by. This wasn't a different road. It was the same road. It was zigzagging down the side of the mountain.

  Which meant he could save a lot of time by not zigging and zagging himself, but cutting straight down through the bushes instead.

  And, it turned out, he could save even more time by tumbling rather than climbing down, which he discovered by accident. By the time he got to the bottom, he looked like he'd been through a train wreck himself. He hoped that would help him explain his presence, his lack of papers, and his confusion at questions. He had a scrape on the forehead that could pass for a head injury.

  The town was a little bigger than he expected, and he staggered past a couple blocks of houses before he got to the large open square in the middle. There were people gathered there, to one side. Soldiers and peasants hurried around. Nobody paid him much mind.

  As he mingled with the crowd he asked a shivering young woman in a maid's uniform if she'd seen anybody matching Thorny's description.

  "Oh, he must be the one they arrested!" she said.

  "Arrested? Why?"

  "They don't need a reason," she said. "Not the security forces."

  She nodded across the square at two soldiers in long gray coats. Most of the soldiers had scruffy, ill-fitting brown uniforms. The men in gray looked more slick.

  "I wouldn't ask after him, if I were you. They'll probably arrest you too."

  Given that Alex had no papers and no explanation of who he was or where he was from, he thought she might be right. All the same, he asked where they had taken Thorny, and she pointed to a big building across the square, the local inn.

  Episode 12

  Scouting Headquarters

  The headquarters was an inn, and that meant it wasn't a secure facility, didn't it? It might be hard to find Thorny inside the rambling building, but there were lots of windows and exits for getting out.

  Alex wandered over to the inn, aimlessly, as if in shock. Nobody stopped him. The security man went in the front door, and Alex thought that door was probably watched.

  The side door was locked, but there was a narrow gate which led to an enclosed stable yard behind. Alex drifted in. The stable yard was surrounded by a wall and looked like a good place to get trapped. However, there were barrels and boxes lined up against the walls. If they couldn't make it to the gate, they might be able to climb out and over, if Thorny wasn't too drunk.

  The stables themselves probably had an exit too. Alex started to wander in that direction.

  "You, come here!" called a thickly accented voice.

  Alex turned slowly and pretended to have trouble focusing on the voice. It was a soldier with an apron on; a cook.

  "Come," said the cook. "You need to be with others, or you get lost."

  He herded Alex into the kitchen, but there he paused to pour something into a mug.

  Alex took advantage of the moment to look around. The room had a lot of doors, and alcoves. Another good place to get trapped, but one of the alcoves had windows - that might be a place to duck into if he couldn't get out the door.

  "Drink this," said the cook, handing him the mug. "It brace you up!"

  The drink tasted like a cross between yogurt and turpentine but, as the cook predicted, it was bracing. Alex realized he was shivering from his damp clothes. The cook saw it too, and grabbed up an old jacket and threw it over Alex's shoulders. The jacket smelled of the stable, but it was warm. It was also a rusty brown... a uniform jacket of the ordinary soldiers.

  The cook was already herding him out of the kitchen and through the building. Alex got a quick look at the layout as they moved to the front door. There were not that many people, which could be good for sneaking around, but also could be bad. He'd be really noticeable if someone saw him.

  It would also be easy to get lost in the tangle of hallways. It took several twists and turns to get to the front entrance. That was a narrow room, with stairs going up, and arched doors opening to rooms on either side.

  Alex pretended to stumble so he could get a better look into one of the side rooms. A rustic tavern, empty except for a tweed jacket hanging on a post. The jacket was wet, and had leath
er patches: Thorny's jacket. Alex started to head in that direction, but the cook stopped him.

  "Come, come. This way," he said gently, and he turned Alex toward the front door.

  That was when Alex saw into the other room, which looked more like a parlor. There were the gray-uniformed security men, and in the middle of them sat a girl. She was bundled in peasant clothes, her head covered with a scarf. Her shoulders were hunched with tension, but she held her head high, with dignity.

  She turned toward Alex, and he realized she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

  Alex decided right then he was going to have to rescue her too.

  But then the cook pushed him out the door and led him firmly across the square to where the crowd of train wreck victims milled. A pair of slightly disheveled but well-dressed young gentlemen watched him. The taller one scowled at the cook, but the younger one smiled and said to Alex;

  "Nice try, old boy. We didn't even get through the door!"

  Episode 13

  Inciting the One Percent

  There were maybe two dozen people milling around in front of the small school building where the wreck victims had been sent. All of them were well-dressed, though some were just well-dressed servants.

  A kid in a maid's uniform sat on the step to the school, trembling and hugging herself. A middle-aged woman in a fur stole and fashionable little hat -- with a huge, but broken, feather in it -- patted the maid on the shoulder.

  The two young men who talked to Alex were standing nearby, the tall one pacing angrily, the shorter one looking amused.

  "They're neglecting us," said the taller young