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“It may be too late for that,” Rodland said. “They’ve surrounded the railway station, and they have all the roads covered. I phoned MI6 for backup, but it could be hours before we get any help. I barely made it here.”
“So what’s the plan?” Jane asked. “Hole up here until the cavalry arrives?”
“You’ve got a better one?”
Caleb slowly nodded. “I just might.” He reached for his phone and started dialing. “We know someone who’s a lot closer.” When MacDuff picked up, Caleb’s words were clipped. “It appears we have a problem. Would you care to have your marines join us at the Highland Railway Yard and attempt to save the day?”
“I never attempt,” MacDuff said. “I always accomplish, unlike some people. Is Jane all right?”
“At the moment. Get the hell up here.” He cut the connection and then turned back to Jane and Rodland. “His marines are a formidable fighting force and they’re spoiling for a fight after what happened at the castle. They may keep some of Bohdan’s men at bay, but Bohdan himself will probably be knocking down that fence and trying to blow up this car to get at us within minutes.” He glanced at Rodland. “I’m the main target. Is there any way you can get Jane out that fence and into the forest if I distract them?”
“Only a marginal chance,” Rodland said. “There are too many. And they’re like hungry crocodiles smelling blood.”
“Then maybe a trade if I can contact—”
“You’re doing it again.” Jane stepped in front of Caleb and said fiercely, “Iwon’tlose you. I won’t go anywhere without you. Think of something else that will get us out of here together. You’re supposed to be damn brilliant, now figure it out. You always have triple plans in mind before you go into any assignment. It’s instinctive with you. I don’t believe you’d do anything less to save your daughter and me. What was your first thought when you sized up the situation?”
“The train.”
Her eyes blazed into his. “Then find a way to use the damn train to keep us safe.”
“Talk about marginal,” he said hoarsely. Then he whirled again on Rodland. “Before he left, I had Fraser set up the engine computer programing on my laptop. It’s comparatively simple since Fraser was anything but a genius when it came to computers. That simplicity might be a help. But you’re definitely a whiz at them, so go get my computer out of my backpack and see if you can make it sit up and do tricks.”
“Ah, computers…” Rodland was already moving toward the seat where Caleb had thrown his backpack. “I already like this plan better.”
“I’m not sure I do,” Caleb said. “But we’ll make it work. Though, as Jane ordered, I’ll just have to figure out how.”
Jane was gazing speculatively all around the train car. “You know, there are all kinds of places to hide in these cars. The passengers were afraid of the reivers and the owners of the trains made certain adjustments to keep them riding the trains. But you’re right, those marines might not be here for another hour or so. We can’t defend ourselves for that long.”
“No way,” Caleb agreed thoughtfully. “We’ll have to leave.”
Rodland shook his head. “We can’t do that. I was just out there, remember? Bohdan’s men have the place surrounded. If we go out on foot, it would be a massacre.”
“Not on foot.”
“Even if we managed to get to a car, the roads are covered.”
“We won’t be using the roads.”
“Then how do you suggest that we…” His eyes widened as the realization hit him. “You can’t be serious.”
Jane took a step closer. “Are you suggesting…that we actuallytakethe train?”
“You asked what I thought of first,” he said simply.
“I didn’t think you meant to steal it. I didn’t think you could. I thought maybe you’d find a way to use it to hide us from Bohdan.”
He shook his head. “Not efficient enough. Why not just take it? This car is already connected to a two-hundred-ton locomotive engine. And there are five other cars connected as well. We’ll pulverize anything that gets in our way.” He smiled at her. “Let’s take it for a spin.”
“Just like that?” Rodland said. “It’s not that simple. Modern rail lines use a central control system.”
“You would know,” Caleb said. “As I remember, you were fairly well versed on the PRAM software package that MI6 was trying out before the London Olympics. As I understand it, it enabled the operator to hack into any of the U.K. rail systems.”
“It was buggy as hell.”
Caleb shrugged. “Any port in a storm. Can you access it?”
Rodland thought about it for a moment. “Maybe.”
