Dan peered at the door that led to the sleeping car. The narrow entrance meant that the hijackers would be able to come through only one at a time, but if he missed—​or even if he hit—​the bullet might carry on to strike an innocent bystander. Shouting came from the baggage car—​two men, in a language Dan didn't recognise.

"You OK, Doc?" Dan said, not taking his eyes off the door.

"A little shaken, but unhurt," came the reply.

"What are we up against back here?"

"Five men in the lounge car, armed with shotguns and rifles. They have about a dozen hostages, so I doubt all of them will come here if they heard the noise. But I am more concerned about the men in the baggage car." He told Dan about the boss and the big man, and the boss's desire for a mysterious object called the Eye of Drov.

"Any idea why the guy wants it?" asked Dan.

Before the Doctor could answer, a gunshot rang out from the baggage car.

Miss Prendergast called, "Doctor Fung, Mr Barrister, get over here now!"

Dan stared at the Doctor, who nodded. The Doctor handed the rifle to Sanford, then he and Dan hurried to the forward end of the car.

"What's going on?" the Doctor asked.

"No idea," Miss Prendergast replied. "I figure this is more your department than mine."

Dan and the Doctor peered around the open door that led to the baggage car. A giant of a man lay slumped in the vestibule. He had to be the one who spoke the secret language that no one was supposed to be able to speak.

In the baggage car itself, a sheet of flickering green light stretched from floor to ceiling, dividing the car into two. On this side of the light, the man whom the Doctor had identified as the boss of the hijackers paced like a caged tiger, kicking aside boxes and suitcases. Sometimes he kicked or punched the light, but it blocked him, as surely as if it was armour plating.

On the other side of the light, a man crouched behind a wooden crate—​possibly the same one Dan had seen being loaded onto the train yesterday evening. Sparks flew from one of the long edges of the crate's top, moving along it like a slow-burning fuse. Only when the sparks turned the corner onto the side of the crate did Dan see that they came directly from the man's hand. He had to stretch over the top of the crate to reach the end, which gave Dan a look at his face.

"That's our missing spy!" he whispered to the Doctor.

"Then for once, I am unsure as to whose side we should intervene on," the Doctor whispered back.

"Let them fight it out, then we'll nab whoever wins."

"That might well be the wisest counsel."

The boss roared at the spy in Mandarin—​something about preparing to meet one's ancestors. The spy ignored him, instead prising the top of the crate open. The boss kicked one of the car's side doors. The sheet of light intersected it, so if he could open it, he might be able to go around the light. The car shook, and wood splintered.

The spy reached inside the crate and lifted a heavy golden band carved with curling symbols, and with an oval-shaped ruby set into it. That had to be the Eye of Drov. He put it on his head with the gem facing forward. He closed his eyes, then made a series of elaborate gestures, reminiscent of an Indian temple dancer, and spoke in a strange, flowing language. The ruby glowed, and the carvings seemed to move.

The boss howled, as if in pain, and pounded his fists on the sheet of light. The spy showed no sign of having heard him, or even being aware of his presence. He fell silent.

The ruby went dark.

The sheet of light vanished.

The boss stumbled, then leaped at the spy. He collided with him, and blood spurted from the point of impact. The spy began to scream. There was a blinding flash of red light and a loud pop. A gust of wind pushed Dan from behind. When it passed, he smelled burnt wood and oil. The boss, the spy and the crate had all gone.

Dan and the Doctor ventured into the baggage car. The electric light in the roof flickered. Where the spy and the crate had been was a perfectly circular hole in the floor. Through it, the railroad track was visible. Directly above it was a similar but larger hole in the ceiling. In the wall of the car, a smaller hole had formed.

In front of the hole in the floor were a pair of patent leather shoes. Dan crouched to study them, then clapped a hand over his mouth. The owner's feet were still in them, presumably sliced off by the same mysterious force that had made the holes in the floor and wall.

"No blood," said Doctor Fung, pointing to the shoes. "I might speculate that the Eye of Drov had cauterised the wounds, but the internal structures seem largely intact. So I am forced to conclude that my initial hypothesis about this man's nature is correct."

Dan recalled how the boss had shrugged off being hit on the head with one of his henchmen's rifles. "There's no blood, because he never had any."

"Or none that belonged to him."

Dan turned to the vestibule, where the big man still slouched. His breathing was ragged, and his head jerked from side to side, as if he was having a bad dream.

"You think he might be a vampire too?" Dan whispered.

"He bled after his accident in the lounge car," the Doctor replied. "And I have never heard of a fat one."

Miss Prendergast put her head round the door. "Where'd they go?"

"I am afraid your guess is as good as ours, my dear," said the Doctor.

She scowled—​whether at my dear or at not getting an answer, Dan wasn't sure. "Help me cuff this guy, will you?"

"What about the other man?" said Dan. "The one you shot?"

"Dead, and good riddance."

Doctor Fung kept Dan's revolver pointed at the big man while Dan and Miss Prendergast shoved and prodded him enough to bring his wrists together for her to fasten a pair of handcuffs around them. He snored and grunted throughout this process, but gave no sign of being about to wake up.

Miss Prendergast retrieved the henchman's rifle and passed it to Doctor Fung. "You keep guard over this guy while Mr Barrister and I go and arrest the others in the lounge car."

Dan and Miss Prendergast synchronised their watches, then Dan got off the train and onto the track. He went to the rear of the train and got back on. He waited out of sight by the entrance to the lounge car.

At precisely 11:30, he opened the door and aimed his revolver at the nearest henchman. A moment later, Miss Prendergast came in through the car's other door.

"Police! Drop your weapons!"

Even though the henchmen outnumbered Dan and Miss Prendergast five to two, they complied. Henchmen, Dan had noticed, tended not to cope well with unexpected situations when the boss wasn't around.

"We need somewhere to lock these goons up until we get to Dodge City," Miss Prendergast said.

"The observation car would be the best bet," said one of the train crew. He took one of the henchmen's guns, and then he, Dan and Miss Prendergast escorted the henchmen to the observation car.

"How did you stop the train?" Miss Prendergast asked.

One of the henchmen replied, "We flipped a signal to danger, then when the train stopped, a couple of us jumped into the cab to keep the engineers from driving the train off."

"You sure it's just a couple of you in the cab?"

The man narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"What weapons have they got?"

"Same as us."

They left the crewman guarding the observation car, then ran along the track to the locomotive. The train actually had two of them, but the rear one was dark. The hijackers had herded all the crew into the front one. As Dan had hoped, they surrendered as soon as they saw Miss Prendergast and him pointing guns at them.

The chief engineer accompanied Dan and Miss Prendergast on their return to the observation car, to check the train for damage. "Mother of God," he exclaimed when he saw the holes in the baggage car. "What happened here?"

"Some kind of explosion, I think," Miss Prendergast replied.

"We're not going anywhere like that. If we get up to even five miles an hour, it could rip the car apart."

"We need to get these clowns to Dodge City, so I can hand them over to the local police."

"Normally, that'd be about an hour from here, but now..." The engineer shrugged. "Can you drop them anywhere nearer?"

"I guess anywhere that's got enough room in their cells would do for tonight. Apart from these two, we've got five in the observation car, one wounded in the baggage car, one dead, and two..." She paused, obviously unsure how to describe the boss and the spy, and settled for, "Missing."

"There should be a call box about a mile up the track," said the engineer, "assuming these hooligans didn't banjax it."

"We didn't banjax no call box, mister," said one of the henchmen. "We just took some bolts out of that signal back there to make it stick at danger."

"We're going to be stuck here until we can figure out how to get the baggage car off and reattach the locos to the rest of the train," the engineer said. "Are you going to be OK guarding them until the cops get here?" he asked Miss Prendergast.

"Sure. You won't be any trouble, will you, boys?"

"No, Ma'am," said the hijacker who'd spoken earlier. "No trouble at all."

She waved her pistol at him. "Then move."