Where In The World Are The Killers?

Fast Track to Murder

On the Trans-Siberian Express...

"Uh, Anders, I gotta admit, my head is still killing me from the Christmas party," Carmen moans, resting her head against the cold glass of the window, "and the lurching of the train ain't helping..."

"Almost a full 48 hours later and Lars's cocktails are still doing a number on people," Anders snickered, "even I have to say that I had a hangover the morning after..."

"But catching criminals is the best cure," she replies, "so I can't wait to get to Mongolia to stop SOMBRA from building its satellite!"

"Ah, Carmen, how can you talk of rushing away from here?" Dupont asks from the other side of the team's carriage, "we're on the longest railway line in the world! We have a unique chance to see its beauty!"

Carmen groans, "Dupont, you've been at this for hours. Do you have to talk so loud? And so often?"

"I'm sure that, unlike you, Anders appreciates the wondrous journey we're hav- Mon Dieu!"

The cry of surprise was echoed by the rest of the team as the train began shaking violently. Everyone grabs their seats and holds on tightly to stop themselves from falling to the ground.

"What the heck is going on with the train?" Carmen cried.

Anders grabs the back of Ahmet's shirt to stop him from falling out of their seat, "was there a break in the track or something?"

SCREECH!

Everyone was tossed back against their seats as the train jerked once more before slowing to a stop with a loud screeching from the wheels.

"Why has the train stopped?" Carmen wondered, pulling herself to her feet, "listen to that, I think something's happened in another carriage!"

"You're right," Anders agrees, hearing a strange creaking sound from the carriage connected to theirs, "Carmen, we should check it out!"

Carmen and Anders exited their seats and headed straight for the door connecting their carriage to the next one. They crossed the short hall into the lounge carriage and were met by a disturbing sight. Hanging from a beam of a light fixture on the ceiling was a man strung up with a tie around his neck and his body swayed with the remaining momentum of the train. As they approached the body, Anders noticed a blue napkin from the train bar laying on the floor underneath it.

"What the heck! A man hanging from a ceiling lamp!" Carmen exclaimed.

Anders climbed onto one of the chairs to be somewhat eye-level with the body, "he's got a wound on his head! This was clearly a murder!"

"We stumble across a dead body each time we take a step closer to SOMBRA," she growls, "I don't know if this murder is also connected, but we're not leaving here until we have answers!"

"Oh, thank Lenin!" a man dressed in a train employee uniform breathed with relief as he entered the carriage from the opposite end, "you're the officers, aren't you?"

"We're agents of the Bureau, Anders and Carmen," Anders introduces, gesturing between himself and his partner, "and you are?"

"I'm Nikita Rukhin, the ticket inspector. I stopped the train as soon as I found Ilya Tretyakov's body," Nikita informed them.

"You knew the victim?" Carmen inferred.

"Tretyakov is, or was," he corrects, "a famous diamond magnate. And now he died on the train! Such a disorderly thing would never have happened during the Soviet times."

She raised her eyebrow, "the Soviet times, huh? Alright, Mr. Rukhin, Agent Anders will want to talk to you in a minute, so don't go far!"

Nikita nods before ducking back into the carriage he had just left to wait for them.