by Mike Ryan
“Relax.”
“Relax? You’re seriously telling me to relax? You’re telling me we should jump onto a moving train. Matt, I haven’t jumped onto a moving anything since I was ten years old. And that was a skateboard that was moving two miles an hour. I fell off and cut my elbow. Ever since then I swore I’d never jump onto anything that’s moving ever again. Maybe I’d try a skateboard again but not something traveling over two hundred times faster than that was. Maybe jumping onto a train is your idea of a good time but it’s certainly not mine,” Lawson quickly sputtered.
“Shelly, calm down. I’m not asking you to jump on the train. I’ll do it.”
“How can you be so calm about it like falling off doesn’t even enter your mind?”
“Cause it doesn’t,” Cain responded.
“Are we sure you’re human and not a robot or something?”
“Well I can’t guarantee that,” he kidded.
“You’re unbelievable. I am not gonna be the one to tell Heather that you died cause you did something horrifically stupid like trying to jump onto a moving train and oops…he missed.”
“Shelly, get a hold of yourself. Look,” Cain said, pointing to the screen.
“What’s that?”
“That’s the Rhine Bridge at Kehl. It connects France and Germany. The train will be re-entering France using that bridge tomorrow morning.”
“And?”
“There’s steel beams overtop of it. I can sit on top of it and drop down when the train comes through.”
“Oh. Well as long as it’s easy,” she replied with an eye roll.
“The speed limit on the bridge for trains coming through is a hundred miles an hour. It’ll probably be even a little less than that.”
“And if you miss?”
“If I miss, which I won’t, it’s a thirty or forty foot drop into the water. I can withstand that easy. People have been known to withstand drops into water up to a hundred feet,” he said, trying to lessen her worries.
“And what if you hit one of those steel beams on the way down?”
“Uhh…”
“Exactly.”
Cain continued researching both the train and the bridge. Lawson though couldn’t stop thinking about what could go wrong.
“And what if you are able to jump onto the train? What if you jump on the train and hit your head and knock yourself out? Or you cause that clot to burst or cause massive bleeding or something. You’re as good as dead if that happens,” she warned.
“Well I wasn’t planning on jumping head first.”
“I have to run this by Conlin.”
“You can run it by whoever you want but it’s not gonna change what I have to do.”
Lawson immediately called Conlin and informed him of what they found with Global Industries, Bisset, and the train tickets bought by Global. Conlin had no reservations and agreed with Cain that it was the best way to catch them by surprise. He fully supported whatever action Cain recommended. Cain was his best agent. If he thought it was the best course of action, Conlin was not going to stand in his way. Lawson briefly fought it, throwing out a few arguments against it, but knew she didn’t stand a chance of changing anybody’s mind. She knew Conlin would side with Cain’s viewpoint but just wanted it on record that she opposed it and it helped her to vent to argue against it. As soon as she hung up, Cain had another plan for her to consider.
“What about if we do it like the old west?”
“What?” a bewildered Lawson asked.
“You know. I could ride alongside the train on horseback and leap from the horse onto the train,” he sarcastically said.
“Don’t mock me.”
“I mean, I could always hold up the train while I’m on it. Rob everyone of their valuables. Maybe after that we could find a stagecoach and steal some mailbags or cattle ranch payrolls.”
“Are you through yet?” Lawson asked, not amused at his sense of humor.
“Uhh…yeah, I think so.”
“Why can’t we just board the train like normal people again?”
“Cause you said they were probably monitoring who comes on the train,” Cain answered.
“What do I know?”
“And you were right. They know we’re closing in and they probably have people monitoring who boards. So we have to find another way on.”
“I really hate this job sometimes.”
Cain started making plans to attempt his train jumping, though he didn’t get much assistance from Lawson. She was still trying to think of some alternate scenarios that would be a little safer and still be effective.
“Are you gonna help with this?” Cain wondered.
“I’m thinking.”
“Is that gonna take all night?”
“I’ve got it,” she enthusiastically told him.
“What?”
“What if we were able to make the train stop and we swooped in from a helicopter?”
“And you don’t think they’ll notice a helicopter landing next to it?”
“Well don’t you think the engineer is going to notice a guy standing on top of a beam as he goes through it?”
“I’m not really concerned about the engineer,” Cain said. “Won’t have time to stop by that time. And I wouldn’t be standing. I was planning on laying down.”
“Whatever. Well if the train stopped while on the bridge, we could get the helicopter to drop you onto it from just a few feet.”
“As soon as they see that helicopter come close they’ll know I’m coming,” Cain warned. “And how are you gonna get the train to stop?”
“I don’t know. Put a car on the tracks or something.”
“And what if the train doesn’t see it and crashes into it? A lot of innocent people could get hurt or killed.”
Lawson sighed, knowing her pleas were falling on deaf ears. “I could call it in that there’s something on the tracks.”
“Then who knows where they’ll stop.”
“How are you going to get in? A lot of trains don’t have windows that open you know,” Lawson noted.
Cain looked up pictures of the train that Proulx was on. Getting in would seem to be problematic until he noticed that the last car of the train had a ladder to the roof of the train. He pointed it out to Lawson who just rolled her eyes.
“Seems like you’ve got an answer for everything,” Lawson said.
“No I don’t. Just seems that way,” Cain said, turning to her and smiling.
“So what comes next?”
“Time to hop a train.”
Chapter 7
Conlin had arranged for the use of a personal helicopter, flown by a pilot that had been used by them before in a few situations. The pilot wasn’t the law abiding type but was an excellent flyer and could be counted on to keep his mouth shut. For an extremely high price of course. Specter was willing to pay him good sums of money for one or two jobs a month. All he had to do was fly the chopper and be quiet. And with the money they were paying him, it was good enough for him. Lawson was in the passenger seat in the helicopter as Cain was in the back getting ready.
“Tell me again why you feel the need to have these death wishes?” Lawson asked. “Why couldn’t you just climb up?”
“One, I’ve never climbed a steel bridge before,” Cain replied.
“Is there another reason?”
“Yeah. I left all my bridge climbing equipment at home,” he sarcastically added.
“Funny.”
“Seriously. We don’t just carry bridge climbing equipment in our duffel bags you know. Can’t really pick that stuff up in a moments notice.”
“But we can find a chopper and a pilot on a moments notice,” she stated, looking at the pilot. “Where’d they find you anyway?”
“Doesn’t really matter, does it?” the pilot asked. “Long as I can fly this thing.”
“You got a name?”
“Not really important, is it?”
“Wow. You can tell this
guy’s worked for us before,” Lawson noted.
The pilot chuckled as they were approaching the bridge. He quickly looked back at Cain as they got closer.
“If you get on the landing skids I’ll get you right next to that sucker,” the pilot told him.
“Get on the what?” Cain responded.
“The things under the chopper that you stand on.”
“Oh. Right.”
“I can hover right next to that thing. It’ll be just like rolling out of bed.”
“I can’t look,” Lawson chimed in.
Cain carefully maneuvered his way onto the landing skids so he had both feet firmly planted onto them.
“You got your earpiece in right?” Lawson asked.
Cain felt his ear to make sure it was in securely. “It’s in.”
“I’ll see you down the line I guess.”
“You know it,” Cain said, taking off his chopper headset.
The pilot looked back at Cain and gave him a thumbs up as he hovered the chopper’s landing skids right against the steel bridge. He got that chopper so close to the bridge they were almost touching each other. Cain stepped off the skids and onto a steel beam, quickly maintaining control of his balance. He laid flat on the beam and untangled the rope that he had across his midsection and wrapped it around the beam to connect himself to it. He figured an extra security step to ensure he didn’t fall off was warranted. Once Lawson and the pilot saw he had secured himself to the beam they slowly pulled away.
“Remember, the train should be by in about an hour. Don’t let a strong wind gust knock you off or something,” Lawson told him.
“Thought that was what the rope was for?” Cain replied.
“I can see why they chose you for this,” Lawson told the pilot.
“You should see me on the tough assignments,” he said with a laugh.
The helicopter flew further up the line to make sure the train was still running on time. They flew off in the distance of it so they could keep it in sight without getting so close that anybody on the train would think they were stalking it. They followed along with it for about half an hour.
“There she is,” the pilot stated. “Right on schedule.”
“Train’s not gonna get away from us is it?” Lawson wondered.
“Not a chance sister. Average speed for this chopper is about 145. I can push it even further if need be. Don’t worry about it though. We’ll be fine.”
“Matt. Train should be there in a few minutes,” Lawson told him.
“No worries,” Cain responded.
“Maybe for you.”
As the train approached the bridge it slowed it’s speed to about seventy five miles per hour. Cain was still laying flat on the beam and could tell the train had decreased it’s speed.
“He should be able to make that at that speed,” the pilot noted.
It was a twelve car train. Just before the train hit the bridge, Cain removed a knife from his pocket and cut the rope binding him to the beam. He quickly put it back in his pocket so there was no chance of cutting himself as he jumped and landed. As soon as the first car hit the bridge he got to his knees, steadying himself on the beam with his hands. When the middle of the train passed beneath him he jumped onto the middle of the train, his feet touching the top of the train first, but the force of the jump and the speed of the train caused him to lose balance, knocking him to his hands and knees.
“There you go,” the helicopter pilot stated. “He made it.”
Lawson breathed a sigh of relief knowing that part of the assignment was over. Saying it was the hardest part wouldn’t have been quite right as he still had four bodyguards, a girlfriend, and Proulx to take care of. Cain was able to balance his weight and got to his feet, standing right in the middle of the train. He started walking towards the back when he noticed a pair of hands on the ladder on the last car.
The helicopter pilot peeled the chopper back to let the train get ahead of it and noticed the man coming.
“Matt. You’re about to have company,” Lawson said.
“How many?” Cain asked.
“Just one.”
Just as the words left Lawson’s lips, the man’s head poked up from behind the cover of the train. Cain kept walking in his direction, getting one car closer to him. As the other man got on top of the train, he stood on the last car and removed a gun from his jacket. He pointed it at Cain and fired a shot. Cain ducked as the man fired though it would’ve missed him anyway. Cain planted himself face first on the train and removed his gun. The man started making his way toward Cain. Cain put the gun in front of him and steadied it with both of his hands on the weapon. He fired a round that missed. He tried to steady the gun a little more to improve his aim. His next shot also missed the target. The man kept walking toward him and was only three cars away by that point. Cain closed his left eye as he concentrated on hitting the mark. As soon as the man stepped onto the next car Cain fired his gun. This time the bullet hit its intended target, ripping through the man’s left leg in his shin. The bullet went through his leg, shattering bones with pieces of flesh and blood flying off his body. As the main laid there in excruciating pain and holding his leg, he became an even better target to hit since he wasn’t moving as much. Cain fired another round, hitting him in the left shoulder. The man screamed in anguish as he relinquished the gun from his hand, it flying into the wind and off the train. Cain regained his feet and hopped the next couple of cars until he reached the injured man. He was still breathing though he was in an incredible amount of pain. Cain put his hand on the man’s back to check on him. The man hit Cain in the leg with his right hand though it didn’t do much damage.
“Ever wonder what it was like to be Superman,” Cain angrily told him.
Cain punched him in the face, temporarily stunning the man, before he got down to his knees. He put both his hands on the man’s arm. He was about to push him off the train but was concerned that if someone saw him fall off the train that the train would be stopped. The easiest and probably best thing for Cain to do would be to just kill him there and leave him lie there until they got to the end of the line. Cain stood over the fallen man and removed the knife from his pocket again. The man saw what Cain was doing and yelled and pleaded for him not to do it, though he wasn’t in much of a position to defend himself.
“No! Please!” the man screamed.
His pleas fell on deaf ears as Cain calmly drove the knife into the man’s chest. The man picked his head up briefly before the life was quickly taken out of him. His arms fell limp as he perished from the blow. Cain removed the knife from the man’s chest and wiped the blood off on the sleeve of the man’s arm. He shook his head, not really pleased that he had to take the man’s life. He knew it was necessary and had to be done but he didn’t take any pleasure from it. He continued walking along the roof of the train until he reached the last car.
“I can see why they picked him. Your man’s good,” the pilot said as they watched the events unfold.
“No he’s not,” Lawson responded. “He’s the best.”
Cain climbed down the ladder, not sure who or what he’d run into. He was ready for anything though. He entered the train but was slightly surprised that no one was there to greet him.
“How’s it going down there?” Lawson wondered.
“OK so far,” Cain answered.
Cain started walking through the train but was quickly halted as he peeked into the next car in front of him and saw two beefy looking men guarding a door. There was no doubt about who they were or what they were doing. He put a sound suppression device on his gun assuming he would have to use it.
“Found Proulx’ room,” Cain said. “Two guys standing outside his door.”
“What’s your plan?” Lawson asked.
“I don’t know. What makes you think I got a plan? I’m open to suggestions.”
“Can’t you just shoot them from where you are?”
“Soon as they hit the g
round whoever’s inside knows I’m here. I figure my best chance is to surprise all of them at the same time.”
“Why don’t you walk up to them casually and ask them for a light or a cigarette?” the pilot chimed in.
“Might work,” Cain replied.
“Do you even know how to walk up to someone casually?” Lawson remarked. “Have you ever done that before?”
“Not my usual style or preferred choice is it?”
Cain intently watched for a few more minutes to get a better read on the situation. He finally noticed the door open and a woman walked out. It looked like Bisset though her hair was a little longer than the pictures they’d seen of her. Cain thought he might be able to use her to get inside. He wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to accomplish it though. He’d still have to go past the guards somehow. He was beginning to think he’d just have to take his chances and go right up to them. Hopefully they wouldn’t shoot first and ask questions later. A few minutes went by until Bisset returned. It looked like she brought back a couple bottles of alcohol. Cain noticed that the guards seemed to be a little restless, kind of bouncing back and forth in their stances. The one guard tapped the other one on the arm and said something, motioning with his thumb like he was going to leave. A second later the one guard left and Cain knew he had to seize the moment. There was no telling how long the guard would be gone, maybe only seconds.