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“Why Boise? I thought those bodies were going all the way to Tacoma. ”
“So did I, but no one ever tells me anything until the last minute. It turns out they’re going to be processed at the army post in Idaho, whatever that means. ”
Mercy was quiet for a moment. They faced each other that way while the men inside the car fired their rifles loudly and repeatedly. The violent noises were enough to make their ears ring.
She said, “That don’t make any sense, not if they’re just dead boys being sent home. Maybe the Rebs know something we don’t. ”
“Ma’am,” he said, “If the Rebs know something about this train that I don’t, I’m going to take that right personal. ”
She climbed to her feet. The porter Jasper Nichols was already standing, his posture off-?kilter due to his false foot. He was peering up through the slits of light where the windows were letting in moonlight, starlight, and flashes of artillery fire. She asked him, “How are we doing?”
He started to reply, but a particularly loud report from the Dreadnought’s defense system shook the whole train like the roll of a cracked whip snapping from handle to tip. When it had subsided, he said, “I think we’re fending ’em off. ”
But another round of jagged gunshots landed in a bounding roll along the side of the car, as if to contradict him.
Morris Comstock was nearest to Mercy, reloading his repeater with shaking hands. This time she asked him, since he’d been looking outside to aim and fire and might have a better idea about what was going on. “Mr. Comstock, are they retreating? Are they still leaving the passenger cars alone?”
He said, “I don’t know,” as he slipped another rimfire cartridge into place. “It looks like they’re concentrating on us, but I can’t see any farther than about two cars back. ” Then he double-?checked his gun, climbed on top of one of the gold-?filled crates, and reassumed his position. He said to his commanding officer, “Captain, it might be worth sending someone to check. ”
“Have we had any word from the back of the train?” Captain MacGruder asked.
“No sir. Not yet. Not unless the porter—”
Jasper Nichols said, “My cousin ain’t sent word, so maybe they’re doing all right back there. ”
“Or maybe they’re so hard up for help, they can’t ask for it. Cyrus?” he called to the private first class.
“Yes sir?”
“You in one piece?”
“Yes sir. ”
The captain said, “Make a dash back to the rear, and let me know what’s going on there. Porter, do you mind going with him?”
“No sir, I don’t. ”
“He might need a light, or something, and I reckon you know the train better than we do. Mrs. Lynch, you go with them, too. ”
“Me?”
“Yes, you,” he ordered, not quite c
rossly but impatiently. “Since we’ve got ourselves all reinforced with the—with the contents of this car, we’ve got better plating than the folks in the rear. It’d take antiaircraft projectiles to put a dent in this car, or cannon of a heavier weight than those meat-?baskets will carry. Go make sure the doctor doesn’t need any help, and check up on the passengers, while you’re at it. ”
She asked, “Why is it my job to watch the passengers?”
“Because they trust you more than they trust us. They’re willing to do what you tell them, anyway, and if they hear it from a soldier, maybe it frightens them more than if they hear it from a nice young woman. Just make sure they’re staying low and not doing anything stupid. ”
“Don’t have much faith in civilians, do you now?”
“I don’t have much faith in people. But right now, I trust you, and Cyrus, and that-?there porter to make your way to the rear of this train and bring me back word about what’s going on. ”
He used the interior wall as a brace to shove himself up to a standing position, where he swooned, but held himself upright even against the jostling shove of the train’s rocking. As Mercy, Cyrus, and Jasper gathered at the door, ready to take on the next cars, the captain held up his hand and said, “Private First Class!”
“Yes sir?”
“If Purdue is holed up in that back car, you force your way in there, you hear me? Don’t you let him pull rank, because he doesn’t have one. Tell him I sent you as reinforcements, will you? The time might be coming where I damn well need to know what he’s got back there. ”
