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"Just take it as a warning to watch your words, and keep your eyes open" His own eyes narrowed down to slits, then opened again as if realizing hoicked that expression made him look He told her, "We’re not safe here, Mrs Lynch None of us are We’re a target about a dozen cars long, fixed on a track that can be butchered with a few sticks of dyna by assu the best of people"

"Spoken like a spy," she said flippantly

"A spy?" He sniffed a little laugh "If that’s what I was doing with er paycheck No, I’m just as advertised: a scientist, in service to my state and my nation"

In response to this Mercy asked, "How so? What’s your job here, on this train?"

The teaspoon went into action again, swerving around in the space in front of him He wove it like a wand, as if to distract her "Oh, structural things, you understand It’s ine run steady, and that there aren’t any glitches with the --that was the sort of problem you’re meant to catch?"

The scientist sneered "Problem? Is that what you’d call it?"

"Train bodies aren’t my specialty What would you call it, if not a problerumbled

"Sabotage! That’s quite a claim"

The teaspoon snapped doith a clack "It’s no clai that coupler, obvious as can be They break sometimes, sure--I’ve seen it myself, and I know it’s no rare event--but this was altered Broken Intended to fail"

"Have you said anything to the captain?" she asked

"He was the first person I told"

"That’s strange," she observed "I would’ve thought that if a spy or criminal was on board, the captain would have had all the soldiers out searching the cars, or asking lots of questions"

He made a face and said, "What would be the point? If there’s a spy, he--or she--isn’t going to talk just because someone asks about it, and there probably isn’t any proof All we can do is keep a closer eye on the train itself, and the couplers, and the cars" His voice trailed off

Mercy had the very acute feeling that he did not actually er cars Whatever he cared about was not riding along in a Pull towed in one of the other, more un to think of the car that held the corpses), or the cars iine itself

He sat there, teht Mercy interrupted his reverie by saying, "You’re right All we can do is keep our eyes open Watch the cars Make sure no one--"

"Really," it was his turn to interrupt, "we ought to watch each other"

Then he collected his diluted coffee and retreated from the table, back into the next car up

For all that Mercy instinctively loathed the ree with him there And, as a ht to keep a very close eye on Mr Malverne Purdue indeed