Trapped on the D.C. Train! (4 page)

“But who?” Marshall asked.

“I think it was that blind guy and the woman sitting near him,” KC said. “Only he isn’t really blind. And she wasn’t really sleeping! They were watching us the whole time! And they’re gone, too!”

“How could they make the train car disappear?” Marshall asked. “This is crazy, KC!”

“I know it’s crazy!” KC said. “But it happened. The car is gone! They must have … wait a minute! There was a guy messing around on the platform, remember? He could have unhooked the car when the train stopped the last time!”

“Yeah, the lights were out for about five minutes,” Marshall said.

KC nodded. “That’s when they did it!” she said. “And remember when we looked out the window and saw people running next to the train while it was stopped? I thought one of them looked familiar. I think he was the guy on the platform outside the vice president’s car. And the other one could be the man who was fixing
something in one of those electric boxes on the wall. They made the lights go out so the engineer would stop the train!”

“So they … so we … I’m so mixed up!” Marshall said. He tried again. “Where are they, I mean the guys who did it? And where’s the vice president and the secret service agents?”

“I don’t know,” KC said. “The car must be behind us somewhere.”

“So then why are we hiding?” Marshall asked. “We have to tell someone!”

“No!” KC said. “There might be other people in on it! Anyone on this train could be after us!”

“What do you mean, after us?” Marshall asked. “They don’t even know who we are!”

“Me, Marsh,” KC said. “They might want to kidnap the president’s stepdaughter!
They figured out that Aunt Kitty was really the vice president, so maybe they also know who I am. Especially because I was dumb enough to shove my hat back and show my hair in front of those two conductors!”

“If the conductors kidnapped the vice president,” Marshall asked, “why didn’t they grab
us
a few minutes ago?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t take any chances. Those conductors seemed nice, but they could both be imposters!” KC said. “Somehow they learned that the vice president takes this train a lot. They planned the whole thing, maybe with help from those guys in the gray work clothes. They stopped the train and unhooked the car with the vice president in it!”

“Gee, I don’t know,” Marshall said. “Maybe you’re just—”

“Don’t you dare tell me it’s my imagination, Marshall!” KC said. “A train car disappeared. Is that my imagination?”

Suddenly the door handle rattled. Someone was trying to get into the rest-room. Then KC and Marshall heard a knock on the door.

“Anyone in there?” a man’s deep voice asked.

KC jumped when she heard the voice. She shook her head so Marshall wouldn’t say anything.

The knock came again, then the voice. “Hello? Anyone inside?”

KC thought furiously. Should they answer or not? That could be one of the kidnappers outside the door!

“Yeah, I’m in here,” Marshall answered in a gruff voice. “Gimme a few minutes, man! I’m feeling sick!” Then he made a noise like he was throwing up.

Outside the door, the voice said, “Okay, cool. Good luck, dude!”

KC waited a minute. Then she gave him
a high five. “Nice going, Marsh,” she said.

Marshall grinned. “Anytime.”

“But we can’t stay here,” KC went on. “If I’m right about those two conductors, they’ll be looking for us.”

“You mean the fake conductors, right?”

KC nodded.

“You could call the president,” Marshall suggested. “He’ll get the FBI to stop the train and rescue us!”

“I can’t call him,” KC said. “My cell phone is in my backpack. It was on my seat in the vice president’s train car.”

“Oh,” Marshall said. “So maybe we can borrow someone else’s phone. Just go tell one of the other passengers who you are, and they’ll let you—”

“Marsh, we can’t talk to anyone!” KC said. “We don’t know who the bad guys
are. I think that blind man and the sleeping woman were in disguises, pretending to be just passengers. They’re part of the plot.”

“So what do we do?” Marshall asked. “Sooner or later, someone will want to use this bathroom.”

“I know,” KC groaned. “I’m thinking.”

Marshall closed his eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he said.

“Okay, here’s what we do,” KC said. “We have to hide somewhere really good. We stay there till we get to Lancaster, then we get off with everyone else. We’ll find a phone, and I’ll call the White House.”

“Okay, but where do we hide?” Marshall asked. “There aren’t a lot of choices, you know.”

“I have one idea,” KC said.

“Will I like it?” Marshall asked.

“You’ll love it,” KC said. “We’ll hide in the snack car.”

“Where?” Marshall asked.

“I saw some tall cubboards behind the counter,” KC said. “They should be big enough for us to squeeze into. We’ll stay there until we get to Lancaster.”

“But what about the woman who works there, what’s her name?” Marshall asked. “What’ll we tell her?”

“Mandy. I don’t know where she is, but I think the snack car is shut down,” KC said. “Remember that sign?”

“Yeah, it said she’d be back shortly!” Marshall said.

“So we’d better hurry up,” KC said. She unlocked the bathroom door and cracked it open a half inch. She saw a few passengers
in their seats, but no one was looking in her direction.

KC stepped out of the bathroom and Marshall followed her.

They tried to look as if they weren’t worried about anything. But KC’s stomach was trembling and her hands felt cold.

They passed an old man sitting near the aisle. He was reading a newspaper and not paying attention to the kids walking past. White hair poked out from under his hat. His coat covered his lap and feet.

Next to him was a college student. He was listening to music. His head bopped to whatever tune he was hearing.

KC and Marshall reached the snack car. It looked the same. The tables had no cloths or napkins. The sign was on the counter.

“Perfect,” KC said as she zipped behind
the counter and ducked down. “Marsh, come on!”

Marshall joined her behind the counter. KC was on her knees, opening cupboards. Most were filled with stuff like napkins, ketchup, paper cups and plates, and plastic knives, forks, and spoons.

“Here, this one,” KC said. “Just a few folded tablecloths.”

“Can we both fit?” Marshall asked.

“We have to!” KC said. “Wait till I shove this stuff aside.” She climbed into the cupboard. When she sat with her knees folded, there was plenty of room. “Come on in!”

Marshall crawled into the cupboard, facing KC. The toes of their sneakers were touching. KC reached out and pulled the door shut.

“Now we just wait,” she whispered.
“When we get to Lancaster, we’ll mix in with some other people and get off.”

“How will we know when we’re there?” Marshall asked.

“We’re there when the train stops,” KC said. She wiggled around to get more comfortable.

“But what if the lights go off again, and the train has to stop before we get to Lancaster?” Marshall asked.

“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” KC said.

They both sat silently in the cupboard. It was dark inside, and there wasn’t much air.

“We should have picked the cupboard where they keep the candy,” Marshall said.

“The conductors will announce it when we get to Lancaster,” KC said.

“They will?” Marshall asked.

“When I took the train to Florida, the
conductors let us know every time we came to a different station,” KC said. “They just walked through the cars telling people to get ready to get off.”

“But those were friendly conductors,” Marshall said. “If you’re right about these two conductors, they’re kidnappers!”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that, either,” KC said.

Marshall let out a little moan.

“KC, what if you’re wrong?” Marshall asked. “What if the vice president wasn’t really kidnapped? Couldn’t the car have gotten unhitched by accident?”

KC wished she could stretch her legs. She was getting cramped sitting in this small, dark cupboard. “Then how do you explain the other weird things that happened?” she asked.

“Like what?”

“Like that blind man and his dog disappearing, and that woman who was sleeping across from him,” KC said. “Where are they? And what about that guy who was messing around between the two cars, just a
few minutes before our car got unhooked? And who were those people we saw running outside the train?”

“Well, maybe the vice president and Robert and Janet escaped,” Marshall said. “They’ll call the Air Force or something!”

“This isn’t a movie,” KC said. “This is … listen, what’s that?”

KC pressed her ear against the cupboard door. Then she leaned forward to whisper to Marshall. “I think someone is out there. I heard a voice!”

“… president’s kid is gone,” one voice said. “The boss isn’t gonna like this.”

“But why would the girl run?” the other one asked. “She doesn’t know we’re after her.”

“They figured it out,” the first voice said. “We’ll find them. Let’s check every seat and
every bathroom. Look in the luggage racks above the seats. We’ll meet back here, okay?”

“Got it,” the other voice said.

KC waited a few minutes before speaking. Her heart was thumping so loud she was sure Marshall could hear it. “Did you hear them?” she whispered finally.

“Yeah,” Marshall whispered back. “They know who you are, and they know we know they know!”

“We can’t stay in here,” KC said. “When they don’t find us anywhere else on the train, they’re bound to check these cupboards.”

“If only we could get inside the engine car,” Marshall said. “We could lock ourselves in and tell the engineer what’s going on.”

“Marsh, the engineer could be in on it, too,” KC said. “He could be the ‘boss’ that
guy was talking about! The engineer was the one who stopped the train when the lights went out.”

“Do you know what Spider-Man would do?” Marshall asked.

KC grinned in the dark. She knew Marshall was trying to joke around because he was scared.

“He’d throw out some web and jump up on the ceiling,” Marshall went on. “Then, when the bad guys walked under him, he’d drop down and—”

“Marsh, that’s a great idea!” KC said. “We could hide inside the ceiling! It might be hollow!”

“How do you know?” Marshall asked.

“The top of the train is rounded, but the car ceilings are flat,” KC said. “So there must be space up there.”

“We can’t reach it,” Marshall said.

“We’ll stand on the counter,” KC said. She opened the cupboard door enough to see that they were alone in the snack car. “Come on, Marsh.”

The kids crawled out of their hiding space. KC stretched. It felt good to unfold her legs.

“Stand by the door so you can see through the window if they’re coming,” KC said.

“Which door?” Marshall asked. “There are two!”

“Both!” KC said.

She climbed up on the counter. Now that she was closer, the square ceiling panels looked like they could be moved. But she wasn’t tall enough. Even with her arms and hands outstretched and standing
on tiptoes, KC couldn’t touch the panels.