by Barry Reese
Hanna shook her head. “The Colony and the Crown… mortal enemies doing everything possible to keep the other side alive. I hate the lot of you.”
“Now you know what's in that letter,” Overalls continued, “and you know the stakes.” The teenager looked at Jill's stirring body, just to make sure Hanna wouldn't waver when she was out of her sight. “The list even has names of potential Colony agents on it.” She looked back to Hanna. “Your parents really loved Jill, didn't they?”
Hanna's heart dropped.
Jill awoke in a closet that smelled like death. “Some life,” she smiled upon discovering she was tied up in a clothing closet on a train bound for…
“Devil's balls,” she mumbled into the gag in her mouth. She didn't even know where this train was headed. Lincoln, maybe? Denver? Hanna had bought the tickets while she tracked the three cowboys.
“I'm coming with you,” Jill insisted. “Dotson can hold for a day or two.”
“No! I'll go! You keep after Dotson!”
“They hurt you, Jill. Sure it's only a bracelet, but they hurt you. They need to pay for that.”
“Jill, if we go hunting down every cowboy that gets a little handsy with us, we'll never find Dotson.”
“I'm coming with you, or you're coming with me,” Jill said defiantly. “End of story.”
The two women looked at each other with knowing eyes. Hanna realized how stupid her plan actually was in that moment, and didn't know why she thought it would have worked, but the train was pulling into the station now and she had two hours to get on board before it pulled out for Lincoln.
“Besides,” Jill smiled, “that was a pretty gorgeous brace-let they took. And one I haven't seen before Saratoga, so why don't you tell me who gave it to you and what's really going on?”
“A Colony agent gave it to me in Saratoga,” Hanna explained through gritted teeth. “Other Colony agents will help us if they see it, and we're going to need it if we're going to rescue Dotson from a pack of damned werewolves!”
“Why's the Colony helping us?” Jill asked. “If we get Dotson back, my father's company is saved, which means more of his off-the-ledger acquisitions.”
“Your father is a known quantity,” Hanna explained. “The Colony knows what he does, knows who he uses, knows what artifacts he deals in. Think of all the things we've seen over the last fifteen years on your dad's ships: zombies, vampires, werewolves, mummies, ancient relics, alien technology, and on and on. If the Colony really wanted your dad stopped, they would've put a bullet in his head two decades ago. If your father's business goes down, an unknown steps in to fill the void. The world might be running out of whales, Jill, but it's not running out of people who want things that aren't theirs.”
“All this time, Hanna,” Jill said breathlessly, reaching out to caress Hanna's cheek. “you were a Colony agent and you never—”
Hanna pulled away from Jill's touch. “I was never in the Colony, and I never will be. My parents are dead because of them. I'm helping them because they can help you. That's it. Now get your stuff because we're going after those three cowboys. One of them said something about catching a train to Kansas City.”
That was the first and only time Hanna had ever said no to her.
It made Jill kinda hot and kinda pissed, which is why she was so quick to throw herself at Bellingham, she figured. Spying a note taped to the wall by her head, Jill thought maybe that itch was a fortuitous one:
JUST JILL,
BE A GOOD GIRL AND STAY. KITCHEN CAR WILL KEEP YOU SAFE.
B.
Jill sat in the closet and listened. She tried her bonds and found they were loose enough to work her hands free. Score one for Bellingham, Jill thought, knowing it had to be intentional. Pulling the gag from her mouth, Jill spit on the floor. Pushing herself to her feet, she couldn't hear much of anything except for the rattling of the train on the tracks. They were going fast, she recognized instantly. Too fast.
“To hell with Bellingham and his letter. I should go forward and stop the—”
The door was ripped open and one of Hanna's attackers jammed a shotgun into the room. Jill’s hands automatically went to her pistols, but the Mexican with the shotgun tsk-tsk'd her to stillness. “Where's China girl?”
“She's Korean. And what do you care? Want to rob her again before we all die?”
“Are you crazy?” Rodrigo asked, and Jill could see that he was scared. “There's a train full of werewolves out there! And they keep looking at this!” Holding up Hanna's ruby bracelet, Rodrigo looked like he wanted to toss it to Jill. “Edgar's dead because he was holding it!”
“That's what he gets for stealing it,” Jill said roughly, wanting desperately to reach for the guns that hung at her shoulders.
“Stealing it?” a thin voice said from the hallway as Billy pushed himself into the room. “I don't know what game you two are playing—”
“Shut up, Billy.
“No! Enough! What kind of game—?”
“Shut up, Billy!”Rodrigo yelled, raising his left elbow and shattering Billy's nose.
Jill had her opening. Reaching for her shooters, she took dead aim at the Mexican. “Talk,” she ordered. “Now.
Hanna lay on the bed, feeling impatient. This was a stupid plan she told herself for the hundredth time, but didn't know what else to do. Jill had been gone five minutes when the door burst in. Rodrigo rushed in, Edgar stumbled in, and…
“What's he doing here?” she asked, seeing the bellhop standing at the door.
“We thought we might need the key, and—!”
“Just shut up and do it!” Hanna hissed, tossing Rodrigo the bracelet.
The Mexican smiled. “Happy to,” he said, then slapped Hanna hard across the face.
Jill was stunned. “I don't… I don't believe it,” she said, feeling sick.
“I don't care!” Rodrigo shouted back. “Your girlfriend wanted to be on this train for some reason! This train!” he repeated. “The one full of werewolves!”
“No! She wanted… revenge… didn't she?” Jill stammered, not knowing if Hanna wanted them to part (which seemed the case) or stay together (which was always the case). One thing was certain – Hanna wanted to be on this train and not after Dotson. But why? Was she really a Colony agent?
“Figure it out when you ask her,” Rodrigo ordered, pointing his shotgun at her head. “We're going to find her and get the rest of our money. Take her guns, Billy Boy.” Nervously, Billy did just that. Rodrigo moved behind her and jammed his gun into Jill's back. “You go first. That way, any wolfmen waiting for us will eat you first.”
Jill numbly shuffled forward, wondering what game Hanna was playing.
Bellingham and Hanna stood barely more than an arm’s length apart, guns drawn. They had to be this close to hear one another. Fire lapped the bags around them as the train started to burn and rattle ferociously on the tracks. Hanna had been working her way to the caboose but had gotten only as far as the first of two baggage cars when the Haverton agent had entered the car behind her.
“Who are you?” Bellingham asked.
“The woman who will kill you if you don't turn around and walk out of here.”
Bellingham grunted. “I need to get to that caboose.”
“So do I.”
Bellingham nodded. “You're Colony.”
“For today only.”
“I don't suppose you want to make a deal?”
“Nope.”
Bellingham eyed Hanna carefully as the woman kept bouncing off the baggage to her left. His legs and feet were loose, constantly moving and bouncing with the train but Hanna stood stiff, which made her susceptible to the train’s vibrations. “What do you think is going on?”
“Don’t really care what’s behind me for once,” Hanna said, giving her shooters a little wave to show the Haverton she wouldn't go down easy. “I can make my own road.”
Bellingham shook his head. “This train? It’s a revolution against the Crown,�
�� he said slowly. “I knew it the moment I saw Tommy Drummund's dead body in the kitchen car. He was a double agent, Haverton and Colony, but he wasn't a wolf. The Havertons have been compromised. Not all of them are loyal to the Crown. Not surprising, being in this runt of a country,” he grumbled. “There have been rumors of a wolfman cult within the ranks, of a new leader sitting in the shadows. I saw it myself in Chicago,” he said with conviction. “I stopped it in Chicago. That's what led me here. This train is where it starts, Hanna. This is where it needs to stop. The others didn't know I would be here. Someone panicked and the wolves started killing.”
Hanna tried to think of something to say but she bounced off the baggage to her right and almost lost her balance. Damn the Haverton’s sense of balance.
“Someone is culling the herd,” Bellingham continued. “Someone wants the Crown dead. Someone wants the Colony dead. The Queen’s letter is the key, and everyone is going to do everything they can to get it.”
“And you care about the Colony?”
Bellingham shrugged. “I care about the Queen. The Queen wants that letter back.”
“Then why'd she send it?”
Bellingham broke out into an honest smile. “Did I say which Queen wanted it back?”
Hanna shook her head. “All of you and your stupid games. I don't want this life.”
“Well, you're in it,” Bellingham scolded her. He put his guns in their holster as a sign of good faith, raised his hands over his head, and stood to the side. “Jill’s alive. I locked her in the kitchen car because it’s the safest place for her. Built to keep the fire in, but it'll do to keep it out. You gonna kill me, get the letter, or go save her?” he asked, knowing the answer.
He was wrong, and Hanna shot him full of lightning.
They made Jill keep her hands locked behind her head as Billy Boy shoved her forward with the shotgun. Moving through the second recreation car, Jill glanced at every dead body, looking for signs of life. Every car they went through was the scene of a nightmare just ended. Dead bodies were everywhere, in every position, and the fire now raged around them, engulfing the hull of the train. There were a lot of dead werewolves, too, and Jill knew this was Bellingham’s work. The wolves killed the passengers and Bellingham killed the wolves. The train bounced around a curve in the track. It was hard to keep their balance and Jill’s biggest fear was that Billy’s finger would slip and she’d get a brain full of buckshot. Her eyes glanced outside and noticed the bright midday sun. “How can we have werewolves in the middle of the day?”
Rodrigo laughed from behind Billy. “If you get through this – and you won't – go back home to daddy, stupid girl. Look above you. See those track lights? There's moonlight running through them.”
“Moonlight?” she asked, approaching the rear door.
“Someone learned from the Injuns how to trap it,” he grunted. “Not the Nava-Joes, mind you. The real Indians. The old Indians. The ones with Azteca blood in them. My people.”
Jill removed her hands from her head to open the sliding door and the barrel of the shotgun jammed into the back of her head.
“Sorry,” Billy mumbled.
“You don't have to do what he tells you, kid,” Jill said.
“He does if he wants his cut of the money,” Rodrigo snapped.
Billy kept his tongue still, but he didn’t give a damn about the money.
Jill slid the door open and stepped out into the space between cars. Morgan trains were thoroughly modern, and so unlike a regular train where you'd need to step momentarily outside in between cars, there was none of that here. The walls of the in-between areas were collapsible rubber, protecting you from the elements. The stench of burning rubber filled her nostrils and as she reached for the door to Car 15, Jill saw through the glass a half-dead werewolf laying on the ground in the middle of the car. Looking for anything that could help her formulate a plan, she saw that there was an open escape hatch onto the roof, but didn't see how she would have a chance to use it. In the back left corner was a shot out window; Jill thought that had—
Her heart jumped in her throat. This was the car where she’d left Hanna.
“Please be alive so I can yell at you,” she whispered.
The red-coated werewolf was positioned in such a way that one outstretched arm was pointing at the door she was about to walk through, and the other was pointed at the far door. He had guns in each hand, but his head was currently looking in the direction opposite her.
Jill felt the creation of a plan.
She jiggled the handle to alert the werewolf of their presence. Billy bumped into her from behind and again mumbled his apologies.
Jill opened the door and immediately dropped to the floor. The werewolf fired a crossbow. The arrow whizzed over Jill's head and slammed into Billy's stomach. As the would-be cowboy fell to the floor, the shotgun went off, blasting a hole in the roof. Jill ducked behind a bench as the werewolf fired at her, his arrows imbedding themselves into the bench. She was momentarily thankful for the careening train because it made it almost impossible to aim.
The wolfman didn't see Rodrigo coming up from behind, and with his concentration on Jill, the Mexican stepped into the room with his electric pistol raised and blasted the werewolf. Yellow and white energy shot from the pistol and enveloped the wolf's already battered body.
Taking advantage of the situation, Jill lunged at Rodrigo, and knocked him against the far wall. She reached down and grabbed the shotgun from Billy and turned to fire at Rodrigo, but the cowboy had recovered and knocked the gun from her hand. Jill let her body roll to the side and let Rodrigo come close to her. “Maybe I'll just—hkkk!”
Jill ran him through with the hunting knife she kept in her boot. “It does more than cut the sausage,” she said, twisting the knife into his gut. Rodrigo grunted and Jill brought the knife up till it hit his ribcage. Rodrigo spurted blood from his mouth and Jill removed the knife, then slashed it across his throat.
When the cowboy fell, Jill took the ruby bracelet from his spasming body. “I’m coming to get some answers, Hanna,” she whispered to the fire.
Bellingham cursed his decision from the floor of the burning baggage car; he was certain the Korean would go back for Jill. Here he was acting like a damned rookie agent instead of one of Her Majesty's finest officers. “Getting old,” he grunted through the choking smoke. “Getting soft.”
“One hopes not.”
Bellingham rubbed the back of his head and grunted. “Shoulda stayed in the kitchen.”
“Never been the place for me,” Jill said, giving him a hand up.
Bellingham made it to his feet and smiled at her knowingly. “That sounds about right.”
Jill didn't smile.
“Lot of death on that train,” Bellingham said seriously.
“Hanna wanted me on this train,” she said, looking at him for answers, “right?”
Bellingham placed a comforting hand on her arm, “I know this will be hard for you to believe, Jill, but you're not the star of this story.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Hanna didn't want you on this train, Jill,” Bellingham explained. “She wanted herself on this train. You just followed her like a puppy dog.”
Jill scowled. “First time for everything, I guess.”
“Tell me about it,” Bellingham said, rubbing his head.
“Hanna's working for the Colony,” Jill informed him as they pushed forward, flames engulfing the luggage. “And you're a Haverton.”
“Who do you think took me out?”
Jill raised an eyebrow. “Damn,” she whistled.
“I'm going forward into that caboose,” Bellingham told her. “I want Victoria's letter for the Queen. Hanna wants it for the Colony. The werewolves want it for I Don't Know. The owner of the letter isn't likely going to want to give it up, but I have no idea if she's got anyone protecting her now that the Havertons have turned.”
“Don't forget that the train is on
fire.”
“How could I forget?” Bellingham said, waving his hand through the thick smoke with a smile. “I ordered it, after all. Best chance of making sure the werewolves all died.”
“Why?”
“I already told you, it's a—”
“Chicago,” Jill finished. “Still haven't told me what that means.”
Bellingham shook his head. “You really can't figure it out?” he asked, pointing at all of the flames around them. “Chicago? Fire?”
Jill shook her head, coughing roughly.
“The city of Chicago,” Bellingham said. “You've heard of it?”
“Of course.”
“Four square miles of it burned to the ground,” Bellingham said disbelievingly. “Hundreds died. It burned for two days!”
Jill shook her head. “Nope. Sorry. When was this?”
“It’s the most famous fire in American history!” he yelled, dumbfounded.
“When did it—?”
“1871!”
It was Jill's turn to disbelieve. “Stop jerking me around, Haverton. It's not 1871 for another five years.”
Bellingham blinked. “Oh. Really?” He looked around at the burning train as if the answer would be written on the wall. “Ack. I can never get the handle of dates,” he said weakly.
Jill folded her arms. “Screw you, Bellingham.”
Recovering, the Haverton winked. “Come on if you're coming.”
“What makes you think I'm on your side?”
Bellingham didn't turn back. “I know you're not on my side, Jill, but I know you're too stubborn to go stop the train from running off its tracks. That,” he said, turning around, “wasn't part of my plan.”
Jill smiled back at him, feeling something warm stir down deep. “I'm sure the porter is getting it stopped.”
Bellingham shrugged. “I’d put my money on the bellboy.”
“Billy? Billy’s dead.”
Bellingham looked surprised. “Well, then, we’re probably going to crash.”