AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kurt looked up. “That means at least three more with guns.”
“And plenty of muscle to do the heavy lifting,” Joe added.
“We have to get out of here,” Hayley said.
Joe nodded. “The lady is a rocket scientist. We should probably listen to her.”
Kurt couldn’t have agreed more, but how and to where? Going on foot into the outback wasn’t going to get them very far.
The radio squawked again. “Victor, respond. What’s happening?”
Kurt grabbed the radio and pressed the talk switch. “Victor’s not available right now, mostly because he’s taking an unintended nap. But please stand by, your call is important to us.”
“What are you doing?” Hayley asked, her eyes all but bugging out of her head. “Now they know we’re here.”
“They already know we’re here,” Kurt said. “Thanks to Joe, we took the first round. Time to go on the offensive, at least enough to throw a little doubt into their minds.”
The radio crackled. “Screw with us, and you’re going to regret it,” the voice growled.
“We’ll see about that,” Kurt replied. “Just so you know, I have your friend Victor’s gun, and, unlike him, I don’t miss what I shoot at.”
Kurt figured that would give them something to worry about. He stepped outside and checked the corridor. Seeing it was clear, he motioned for Joe and Hayley to follow.
He figured the group that went to the back of the train was now headed forward at double speed. He had a plan to slow them down. Making a few threats was the first step, finding the breaker panel at the front of the car was the second. He flipped it open just as the radio came to life again.
“Leave the woman, and you get to live.”
Kurt put his hand to the car’s master switch and spoke into the radio once more. “You want her,” he said, “then come and get her.”
With that, he flipped the switch, cutting power and plunging the fifty-foot car into darkness. A wave of muffled shouts came from the passengers.
Kurt ignored them and continued to the forward door, not hesitating for even a second. He pulled the door open and stepped through. Joe and Hayley followed. And all three stood in the gap between the cars out on the coupler.
“I hope you have a plan,” Joe said.
“Don’t I always?”
“I’m not sure you want me to answer that right now.”
Kurt studied the metal plating that covered the knuckle-shaped coupler below them. Next, he looked up, glancing through the dusty window into the railcar ahead of them.
It was an observation car. Warmly lit, half full. The passengers inside were hunkered down in various places, hands on their heads, too scared to move. At the far end, he saw two more of the hijackers.
“Check the sides.”
Joe and Hayley peaked around the edges of the car, looking backward.
“Our friend is still out there,” Hayley said. “He’s got a partner now. They seem to be ambling this way.”
“There’s a guy on this side too,” Joe said, “also coming forward. Probably moving in lockstep with the men inside.”
“Which means my plan is mostly working.”
Joe’s eyebrows went up. “Mostly working? We’re almost surrounded.”
“Exactly,” Kurt said.
Joe looked confused. “I’m not sure I want to know what total success looks like.”
