Page 20 of With a Vengeance

Right on schedule, a toot of the horn and a slight slowing of the train heralds their approach to one of those stations.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

But instead of stopping, the Phoenix keeps moving. Past the platform where several nighttime passengers linger. Past the bored porters and empty newsstand. Past another train idling on the opposite track. At the window, Lapsford watches it all go by. “Why didn’t we stop?” he asks, panic setting in as the Phoenix clears the station and begins to pick up speed.

“Because this is an express train,” Anna says. “There are no other stops, no delays. Just a straight shot to Union Station in Chicago.”

Lapsford remains at the window, fixed on the station receding in the distance, as if trying to will the train to reverse course. “But it has to stop at some point, right? To refuel?”

“It’s a diesel-electric locomotive,” Judd says from the other side of the car. “Fast. Efficient. It can easily make it to Chicago without refueling. With only one man at the controls, if need be.”

“Well, I refuse to stay here a second longer,” Lapsford says,peeling himself away from the window and puffing out his chest. “I demand you stop this train and let us off.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Anna says.

“If you don’t do it, I will.”

Lapsford looks past her, and Anna knows exactly what’s caught his attention.

The emergency brake.

A flat rod of bronze ending in a looped handle, it hangs discreetly in the corner of the car, opposite the piano. The others notice it, too, and Anna watches as they tense, preparing to spring for it.

Before she can warn them not to, three of the six make a dash for the brake. Lapsford, Herb Pulaski, and Sal. They elbow each other, jostling for position as they scramble across the lounge. Almost caught in the melee, Anna feels herself being pulled out of the way by Seamus.

By then, Lapsford has beaten the others to the brake, surprisingly nimble for someone his size. With a smug look of satisfaction, he hooks his fingers around the handle.

Then he pulls.

9 p.m.

Eleven Hours toChicago

Ten

Nothing happens whenJack Lapsford yanks the emergency brake. Not even after he pulls on it a second and third time. The train keeps barreling down the tracks, moving closer to Chicago with each passing second.

This isn’t a surprise to Judd Dodge, who knows better than most how the emergency brake works. While the others had braced themselves for a sudden, screeching halt, he remained standing in the center of the car, knowing a lurching stop would never come.

“Why the hell isn’t anything happening?” Lapsford asks as he frantically pulls the brake a fourth time.

Judd shakes his head and sighs. “Because pulling the emergency brake doesn’t stop the train. It just alerts the conductors that something is wrong. If it’s determined the train does need to be stopped, they alert the engineers in the cab, who engage the brakes.”

Next to him, Lapsford looks around the lounge. “But the only conductor is—”

“Me,” says the large man who’s been hovering behind Anna Matheson the whole time. Now he pushes his way into the centerof the car, commanding everyone’s attention. “Only I’m not really a conductor.”

“Allow me to introduce you to Seamus Callahan,” Anna says. “His older brother was Sean Callahan. If that name is familiar to you, it’s because Sean Callahan was one of the thirty-six men who died alongside my brother. What you caused didn’t just hurt my family. It hurt scores of families.”

The man glares at them, lingering a moment on Judd in a way that makes him nervous. All coiled muscles and dark eyes under hooded lids. Even though Anna swears she has no intention of killing them, Seamus Callahan looks like he wouldn’t mind at all if they were dead—and that he’d happily do the honors.

“I know a dozen men who would gladly be here instead of me,” he tells them. “Unlucky for you, I’m here. And I’m sure as hell not about to tell the engineer to stop this train.”

“Then I’ll tell him myself.”

This comes from Lapsford. The idiot. Still fooling himself into thinking they can get away with what they’d done. Judd, on the other hand, knows it’s hopeless. Even if Lapsford does manage to stop the train, there’s nowhere for them to run. Outside is nothing but dairy farms and fallow hayfields. And now that the FBI has proof of their crimes, it will only be a matter of time before they swoop in and round them up.

“Be my guest,” Anna says, another sign to Judd that any attempt to stop the train will be useless.

---