A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2)(3)

We loaded up into our car, eyes and guns at the ready. No one kept us company today but the fancy couple. The grigori had reached the end of his journey, or he’d chosen another car. The Dallas police didn’t show up, so we were good to leave.

It was the most boring day of my life.

Jake gave me ten minutes to stretch my legs, so I wandered through the train, giving Harriet Ritter and Travis Seeley a good look as I passed them. They smiled at me. They looked glossy and well rested.

Two cars away, I happened upon another gunnie, who grinned at me when she saw my Colts. I asked if I could sit for a moment.

“Have a seat, and welcome. I’m Sarah Byrne.” Sarah was in her thirties. From her clothes and her possessions, she was down on her luck.

“Lizbeth Rose,” I said, shaking her hand. “You working?”

“No such luck. I’ve been getting over an injury.” She had a scabby cut on her cheek, must have been bad when it was fresh. “You?”

“Yeah, I’m with a crew new to me.”

“You all need any help? I’m free.” She looked eager.

“I’ll tell our crew leader.”

“Maybe I know him?”

“Jake Tutwiler.”

“No.” She looked kind of relieved for just a second. Not a good sign.

“You’re heading away from home,” I said.

“My sister married a man in Jackson. I’m going to visit. I have to switch trains twice more.”

Two seats ahead of us, a man who’d been fighting with his wife, not too quietly, hauled off and belted her one.

Next thing I knew, I was right beside him and I was putting my gun in his face. “Not here,” I said. “Don’t you do that.” The wife was just as shocked as he was, and she looked down, wouldn’t meet my eyes. He blustered and blew, but he shut up. A Colt is a powerful argument.

When I was sure he wasn’t in a hitting mood, I said good-bye to Sarah.

“I got to get back to my crew,” I said. “Nice talking to you. Always good to meet someone else in the business.”

“If your crew leader needs an extra hand, I’d sure like to get work before I go to my sister.”

“I’ll tell Jake,” I said.

I did tell Jake about Sarah Byrne. He just grunted, but after a minute he said, “Good to know.” This trip had already produced some surprises. It might produce more. Maybe an extra gun and pair of eyes would be a good precaution.

We spent another night in a cheap motel in a little town, don’t even remember the name of it. After being jiggled around all day in the train, we slept like logs. Charlie snored so loud, Maddy and I could hear him from our room right beside the men’s.

I was getting used to Maddy. I liked her. She wasn’t an exciting person, but she was agreeable, and she was determined to do her job. She’d decided our cargo held the crown jewels the Russian royal family had smuggled out with them when they’d been rescued. I tried to figure out why anyone would hire us to guard them, and why they’d send the jewels to Dixie, of all places. But Maddy had her fantasy. She pointed out that Tsar Alexei’s first wife had been from Dixie. So it all made sense, to Maddy.

Jake, our leader, talked a lot about his boyfriend. Charlie talked about anything and everything. Rogelio was a silent brooder.

Third day, we crossed into the country of Dixie. We were approaching Sally, our goal, a little town in Louisiana. I wanted to get off that train so bad I was itching, and the others were the same. We had fallen out of our best readiness because we were too warm and no one approached us and we were sick of guarding the crate, which didn’t tick or ring or do anything but sit there.

Everything was boring until the train blew up.





CHAPTER TWO


The sound seemed to come out of nothing: the shriek of metal twisting, a deep rumble, the squeal of brakes, the yells of passengers. It was like death became able to scream.

Charlie was standing up when the train left the tracks, so he died first. He leaped up when the screeching began, somehow feeling it before the rest of us, so he had nothing to hold on to.

Lunch baskets and suitcases and books, every kind of thing, hung in the air along with Charlie as the north windows became the floor. Charlie flew through the air higgledy-piggledy, falling across a row of seats to crash into a window. I’m sure he died as soon as he hit the window, which shattered and cut into Charlie’s neck… though that neck had most likely broken first.

I saw it clear and separate, each little thing.

And then the hundreds of things happening came together in a blur of noise and sight when our car hit the ground beside the tracks and skidded on its side, along with the car before and the car after.

Maddy and I, we’d been sitting on the same seat. We ended up in a heap on what was now the lowest point, the north side of the train. The crate came with us. I grabbed hold of it when we began to tumble. I landed on top of Maddy, so I got the better of the deal. I heard her cursing. Not only was she alive, she was mad as hell.

Jake and Rogelio were almost hidden in the pile of items that had landed every which where—purses, suitcases, maps, a box of candy. The two men lay still. I feared the worst. Then I saw Jake’s arm move, the fingers flex.

After a long minute of trying to understand what had just happened, Maddy and I scrambled to get untangled. When I was sure the train wasn’t going to move any more, I rose to my feet. I wasn’t sure what or who I was standing on. “Up you go, Maddy,” I said, my voice a far-off buzz to my own ears. I didn’t know if she could hear me or not.