by C. G Harris
Alex’s grin made me sick to my stomach.
“Keys.” She let go of the safety rail and held out her hand, keeping the Luger leveled at Glasses and his partner. When Glasses didn’t move to do anything, she clarified. “Give me the keys to the door, now.”
Comprehension dawned on Glasses’ face, and he fumbled with a keyring at his waist, singling out a key. She took it, jammed the key into the lock, and after securing the door, stood back and stomped the ring with her foot, breaking the key off in the lock to ensure no one could re-enter the cab once we were gone. The finality sent a chill up my spine. Before anyone said another word, Alex reared back again and planted a boot on Overalls’ hip and shoved him off the train.
I leapt off behind him, rolling with the impact. We had gained some significant speed, and it was more than a little difficult to find my feet before Overalls got up to run away. Turned out I didn’t need to worry. He hobbled several steps on what looked like a sprained ankle, then hopped to a stop. He wouldn’t be running sprints anytime soon.
I caught up to him within a few steps and helped him over to where Alex and Glasses now stood. They appeared no worse for wear. Alex still had her Luger, and Glasses seemed a little ruffled but otherwise uninjured.
Alex reached into her back pocket and pulled out a hand full of zip ties. After securing their hands behind their backs, we sat them down next to the tracks and bound their ankles as well. We were already well out of town, so it would be some time before anyone came looking for them. But when they did, they wouldn’t be hard to find. It was a nice day, and the cloud cover would keep the sun from beating down on their heads. They would be fine until the cavalry arrived.
Alex and I stood back watching the rail cars go by. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. Even though I knew, or at least hoped, I had done enough to sabotage Strough’s Bridge and bring the train down before it ever made it to the town, Alex didn’t know that. She still thought this rolling juggernaut was on its way to destroy half of Bozeman.
I crossed my arms and fought to suppress my grin. Enjoy your moment now because in a couple of hours everything will come crashing down—literally.
The cars accelerated at a deceptive pace. If we had been any later, there was no way we could have run it down and jumped on. The power of something so massive was more than a little impressive, even in the light of the impending tragedy.
I turned to see the end of the line as the last cars came into view. They were not empty coal cars like the rest but rather a group of boxcars, probably full of mining equipment and supplies ordered for the operation.
We stood near the tracks getting a close look at the cars as they passed. When the boxcars finally rolled by, the open doors did not reveal supplies, but instead the faces of hundreds of people.
I tensed and stared in disbelief before staggering toward the train. I jogged at first, then broke into a dead run, arms outstretched to latch on, but the cars were already moving too fast. I was helpless to do anything. Six cars in all, every one filled with people packed like cattle. As I slowed, something else fell into place in my mind. The well-dressed man at the trainyard. The one who hadn’t seemed to belong. I now realized why he had seemed so familiar.
My cousins had done the same thing. When I was alive, they worked in the human trafficking business, and I had gotten tangled in it as well. In the end, I snuffed out their trafficking ring along with their lives, but they had guarded their merchandise the same way. Snakes among the workforce, ensuring their product arrived unspoiled.
As the last car pulled away, and I loped to a stop, all the blood drained from my face. These were human slaves, traded for who knew what. All they wanted was a better life, and I had just sentenced every one of them to death.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I sprinted back to where we had left the engineer and conductor zip tied next to the tracks. Alex still hovered in my way, but I didn’t have time to care.
I shoved her aside and jerked Glasses up by his collar, forcing him to stand on his toes. “Tell me how I can stop that train.”
He looked down at his partner and then back at me again. His face was flushed with fear, and I saw the confusion in his eyes.
I shook him until words began fumbling out if his mouth.
“I don’t know. I-I thought you wanted it to be a runaway. There’s no way to stop it.”
I threw him back down to the ground and thought about picking up his partner, but it would do no good. Even if we could teleport ourselves onto the platform of the locomotive, Alex had broken the key off in the door. No one would get in there without a crowbar or a sock drawer’s worth of C-4.
I clamped my hands to the side of my head and paced back and forth, then faced Alex. I intended to tell her about the people on board and the sabotage that was about to kill them all. I would tell her that I didn’t care about her position in The Agency or mine and that we had to find a way to stop that train. I reached out to grab Alex by the shoulders then stopped. Alex had her hands clasped over her mouth, holding back a bout of sobs. Her eyes were a mess of mascara and tears, and she stared at me with an expression so full of sadness and fear that I had to pause.
“What have we done?” Her voice came out high and cracked. “We ... I just sent that train into a town full of people ... and now all those others. Gabe, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
The tears ran down her face in long lines of anguish, and she bent at the knees as if she could hardly muster the strength to stand.
I hurried over to catch her, holding her up in my arms.
“What are we going to do?” she sobbed. “We have to stop it. I can’t believe I was so blinded by my own selfishness. I’m so sorry. And I forced you to follow me.” More sobs wracked her chest as she buried her face in my shoulder. “Why didn’t you stop me? Why didn’t you send me straight to the Gnashing Fields, if that’s what it took? I would rather suffer in the pools that cause all this ...”
She broke off unable to finish the sentence.
I tensed, bracing myself for what I was about to tell her. I had no idea how she might take it, but we were rapidly running out of time if we had any chance at all for us to save the people stowed away in the boxcars.
I took her by the shoulders and pushed her away from my chest, forcing her to look me in the eyes.
“I have good news, and I have bad news. I won’t bother you with which you want first. You are getting the good. That train will never make it to Bozeman. I came back last night and sabotaged a bridge several miles ahead of the city. The train should derail there and collapse into a very deep gorge before it gets anywhere near a dense population.”
Alex stared at me for a minute, letting the meaning of my words sink in, then she grasped both sides of my head and kissed me. It was not a passionate kiss, but the shock of it almost made me fall backward. When she let go, I had to back step to keep my balance. Then she hauled off and slapped me hard enough to rattle my teeth out of my skull.
My hand went to my face as the stinging pain shot from my jaw to my eye and halfway through my brain. Then she grabbed my head and kissed me again. This time when she let go, I put my hands up in defense.
“I’ve never heard of slap-gratitude, but the second half sucks.”
“How could you go behind my back like that?” She raised her hand again, shaking her head. “Thank you so much for doing it, but so help me if you ever do that again.”
“Okay, I get it. There is still the bad news part of this equation, remember?”
Realization dawned on Alex’s face. She had seen all the people go by as clearly as I had.
“We have to stop that train.”
An idea hit me, and I turned back to the two men still sitting next to the tracks. They looked like they had just witnessed an ostrich playing battle chess with a dinosaur. Fear, a whole lot of confusion, and bucketsful of desperation colored their faces. They wanted nothing more than to be rid of us, but before we let them go, I nee
ded information. If I was correct, we might still be able to help the people on the train. I didn’t think Alex would like the idea, but our options were limited. We just needed a truck, a little hardware, a high pain tolerance, and we would be in business.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
We had to jog a couple of miles to find a usable vehicle at the rail station. Alex hotwired a maintenance truck, and, as luck would have it, there was a frontage road that ran parallel to the train track, allowing us to catch up and even get ahead of the speeding locomotive.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Alex did her best to adjust the fall harness strapped around her legs and torso. We had found two of them in the bed of the truck and made quick use of them. Safety third, that’s what I always say. Alex had the harness situated over her long coat, making it bunch in all the wrong places, but at least she didn’t have to leave it behind. My brown and orange patchwork Gore-Tex fit closer to my body, so the heavy, yellow straps were easier to cinch down and get into place.
“I think we’ll have better luck on the cab.” I clambered on top of the truck, which we had parked a few feet from the tracks, and helped Alex up behind me. The metal loops on the front of our safety harnesses were now connected to a long length of chain, which threw off our balance, so I hefted the other end, testing the weight.
“No, I’m definitely not sure this is going to work. I am no physicist. We might be dragged under the wheels and torn in half. If you don’t want to come, now’s the time to jump off the see saw. It’s going to get rough either way.”
Alex said something, but I couldn’t hear as the train went barreling by in a roar of titanic sound and vibration. Wind buffeted our faces, almost knocking us off the top of the truck. Being parked this close to the speeding behemoth was more than a little intimidating, but it was necessary if we were going to try and catch it—literally.
I started to swing the loose end of the chain in a slow arc, trying to time the rhythm of the cars speeding by. I only had one chance at this. If I missed and the chain fell between the cars or got dragged down to the bottom—I shuddered. It was something I didn’t want to think about.
Alex put her arms around my waist, bracing for the inevitable impact, and shouted in my ear. “I’m with you. Let’s do this.”
I threw the chain, and the links sailed through the air, almost in slow motion. I saw the angle of the hook, the slackened S-curve of the chain, then it caught the mounted access ladder on the hopper car, and everything went white.
I was not prepared for the impact of the train yanking us off our feet. Our harnesses spread the shock out across our entire bodies, but I still felt broken bones, lacerations, and dislocated joints ... pretty much everywhere. We dangled on the side of the speeding train, banging helplessly against the steel wall of the hopper car. Neither of us could reach out to steady the relentless pounding. All we could do was wait while our bodies mended themselves. Joints popped back into place, and bones realigned with excruciating efficiency, while internal organs repaired themselves like overworked clay. It all felt like being a Barbie in the hands of a destructive preschooler. All torn apart, just to be shoved back together in all the wrong ways. As soon as I was able to move, the pain got real. I felt every last injury, and it was as if they competed to outdo each other for my attention. My skull, my pelvis, both legs, and my left arm, plus all my ribs. I couldn’t breathe, and I felt like everything had disconnected from primary motor control.
Alex hung on the ladder next to me, chained to my side. She had one arm wrapped around the rail staring at me, but not seeing me with blood filled eyes. I couldn’t help but look away. I hoped there was no cap on The Judas Agency health coverage plan that allowed us to heal when we were Topside, because we were exercising the limits of its ability right now.
After a few more seconds, Alex let out a groan that grew into a guttural scream, then she wrapped her other arm into the ladder, securing herself to the train as it whizzed across the countryside.
“Better?” I offered a weak smile even I didn’t believe.
“That was the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of,” she shouted over the din of howling metal and wind. “Much less followed through on.”
“Hey, I offered to jump from the speeding truck, while you drove, but you wanted to come along.”
Alex cracked her neck and started loosening the chain on her harness.
“We would’ve crashed long before you got on the train, then neither of us would be here.”
She pulled the loosened chain through the loop at her chest and handed it to me so I could do the same.
“So, you’re saying I had a good idea.”
I made it more of a statement for entertainment sake. As soon as the chain was loose, I tossed it away and watched the heavy length fall overboard in an explosion of dust and dirt next to the tracks.
“I’m saying shut up and move before this train gets to your bridge and we’re out of time.”
Alex turned her head into the wind to keep the hair out of her face then started to climb the ladder.
“I think you’re saying it was a good idea,” I shouted up to her, loud enough to be heard over the noise. “That’s okay, you don’t have to thank me now. We can talk later.”
I started to follow her up, and Alex tapped me on the top of me head with her boot a little harder than was necessary. “Oops. Must have slipped. Be careful not to get boot in your mouth.”
I grinned. All healed up and back to normal. That Topside health plan was pretty amazing.
We made our way back to the section where we had seen the people packed into the boxcars. It wasn’t far. I had purposely waited for most of the train to pass before I threw the yank-o-blaster that attached us to the passing cars. It was a gamble, but I didn’t want to navigate a mile’s worth of empty hopper cars to find the back of the train.
We didn’t bother to enter the cars themselves, instead we dropped down between them and the last coal hopper and examined the coupler that held them together.
“The engineer said to find the cut bar,” I shouted. “Something that pulls the pin holding the coupler. He said it would be under pressure, so it wouldn’t be easy to move.”
Alex pointed to a greasy pole leading from the coupler to the corner of the car. “Is that it?”
Wind buffeted the two of us from below the cars as we reached down to pull on it. The bar didn’t move.
“I’m guessing this is it. Help me jerk this thing up.”
Alex hopped around to the boxcar side, and we both got our hands around the bar and braced our feet against the coupler and pulled. We faced each other, so we were able to each give it everything we had.
As first nothing happened, then the pin moved the slightest bit.
“I think we can get it,” I shouted. “On three, jerk hard. One, two, three!”
We jerked, and it moved a few more millimeters.
“Again. One, two, three ... One, two, three ...one, two ...”
On three, the pin came loose, and the coupler began to open. It looked like the hands of two star-crossed lovers letting go for the last time. The couplers opened slowly as the locomotive pulled the front half of the train away. The brake line stretched below and then let out a loud hissing bang as it disconnected.
“We did it!” I shouted. Relief poured through me.
“Gabe!” Alex pointed down.
That’s when I realized I was standing on the wrong part of the train—the part heading toward its demise.
I leapt for the boxcar side, and Alex’s outstretched arms, just as the air brakes engaged, bringing the huge steel undercarriage to a screaming halt.
It took several seconds for us to stop completely. When we did, the silence was almost deafening, like the whole world had stopped to celebrate our victory. The main part of the train made its way down the track toward its fatal destiny, and no one yet knew about our attempted terrorist event. All was peaceful, and we had saved the day.
I
jumped down off the car, then helped Alex down as well. Adrenaline surged through me. I couldn’t help myself. I turned to wrap her in a big hug and spun her around.
She laughed. “Easy there, Butch Cassidy. Let’s get back to those people.”
We made our way to the first box car together. I couldn’t stop smiling. Even after everything that had happened, we were going to save a literal trainload of human trafficking victims. How could anyone not be happy about that?
I glanced at Alex and saw that she smiled too.
“Shut up,” she said when she caught me grinning at her. “I can be happy about doing something good.”
I nodded and looked forward again. “I’m just surprised to hear you say it.”
I put my hand on the handle of the boxcar door.
“Ready?”
Alex nodded, and I yanked the handle, anxious to see the looks on the people’s faces as they poured out of the car. The door slid to the side with a rumble in its tracks and ... nothing. Alex lost her smile, and her shoulders fell so far I thought they might slide all the way to her elbows.
I took a step to the side so I could peer into the car and saw a pair of men holding guerrilla style AK-47s. The doors to the other boxcars opened as well, and more men jumped out. I should have known. These desperate people were like gold to the lowlifes who controlled them, and no one shipped gold without guards.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
We both put our hands up, more for the sake of the other people than ourselves. Neither of us wanted some trigger-happy Neanderthal to start shooting and hit an innocent by accident. We would heal. They wouldn’t.
“Can we talk about this?” I pointed to the two of us and smiled. “You may not believe this, but we just saved your lives.”
I left out the part about us being the ones who put their lives in danger in the first place. Some details were best left unsaid.