Vendetta Trail (15 page)

DOMENICO DALLIPICCOLA WAS WAITING AT THE
depot for Ned and Luby to come back and tell him that they had accomplished their mission. When they didn’t come back to claim the money he had promised them, he knew that they had failed. Then, to his surprise, he saw Hawke and Rachel, obviously unharmed, get on the train.

Angry and frustrated, Dallipiccola bought a ticket on the same train. The old adage was right. If you wanted a thing done, it was best to do it yourself.

When he attempted to board the train, though, he was turned back at the gate.

“It’s not time to board yet,” he was told.

“I’ve seen others board this train.”

“They’re first-class passengers,” the gate attendant said. “They are allowed to board early. Don’t worry, you’ll be called in plenty of time.”

Grumbling, Dallipicolla returned to the waiting room to wait until it was time for him to board.

Inside the Palace Car the lanterns were all at their brightest as Hawke, Rachel, and the other first-class passengers pre
pared for the overnight trip across Missouri. Hawke and Rachel entered the car, passing a young mother, who was holding her baby in one hand while trying to put a hatbox in an overhead rack. She stretched as much as she could, but it was beyond her reach.

“Allow me,” Hawke said. He smiled graciously at the lady and reached up to put the hatbox in place.

“Why, thank you, sir.” Then, looking at Rachel, the young mother said, “Your husband is most kind.”

“Yes, isn’t he?” Rachel replied with a smile of her own.

Rachel and Hawke took a seat halfway back on the left side of the car. Hawke had bought a newspaper in the depot and, comfortably settled now, he began to look through it.

As Hawke read the paper, he happened to glance outside, where he saw two men walking between this track and the next track over. They were wearing the same kind of coveralls as the railroad workers, and he started to return to his newspaper when one of them just happened to turn his face so that Hawke could see it clearly.

It was Ned!

He looked again, just to make certain, and saw that it was indeed Ned and the other one was Luby. The same two men who had accosted them after dinner this evening were now walking alongside this very train. Somehow, they had managed to find clothes again, and not just any clothes, but the clothes of track workers, allowing them free access in the train shed.

Damn, Hawke thought. I should have killed both of them when I had the chance.

Hawke stood up. “You stay here,” he said to Rachel.

“Where are you going?” Rachel asked, her voice showing her concern.

“I saw something outside that I need to check on,” Hawke answered. He didn’t give her any more information than that
because he didn’t want to alarm her. He smiled reassuringly. “I’ll be right back,” he promised. “Here, read the paper.”

Rachel nodded, then began reading the paper as Hawke left the car.

Once he was outside, Hawke started walking alongside the train, carefully looking all around. He walked all the way up to the front of the train until he reached the engine, but the search proved fruitless. He didn’t see the two men.

The engineer, the fireman, and the conductor were standing just outside the engine. The engineer had small chin whiskers that stuck, like a red flag, straight forward from the bottom of his chin. He was examining one of the driver-wheel bearings and the other two were looking over his shoulder.

The fireman had little circular scars on his face and neck. Hawke knew they weren’t pox marks but were the result of tiny red-hot embers that, over the many years and miles of railroading, had blown back into his face and neck.

The conductor was the oldest of the three, clean shaven and with a head of snow-white hair. It was the conductor who noticed Hawke first.

“Here, mister, what are you doing out here?” the conductor asked authoritatively. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

“My name’s Hawke, and I’m a U.S. Marshal,” Hawke lied, taking a chance that the conductor wouldn’t ask for identification. “And I’m looking for two men that I believe I saw coming this way. They were wearing clothes like railroad workers, but I have reason to believe that they aren’t workers.”

“Two men? Yes, I saw them,” the fireman said. “And now that you mention it, I didn’t think I had ever seen them before.” He pointed ahead. “They crossed the track just in front of the engine.”

“Thanks,” Hawke said. He crossed the track as well, then started back down the other side of the train, his eyes continuing to sweep back and forth.

He hadn’t gone too far when he saw two men squatting down between the mail car and the first passenger car. He realized that they could be legitimate workers making some last-minute repair or modification to the train. But it could also be Ned and Luby, so he wanted to get a closer look at them to make sure.

“Excuse me, could I ask you two men a couple of questions?” he called.

Hawke’s unexpected challenge caused the two men to jump. They disappeared between the two cars and Hawke started after them. He had gone no more than half a dozen steps, however, when one of them leaned back around the end of the car and raised his pistol.

It was Ned!

Ned fired at him and Hawke heard the bullet fly past his ear.

Drawing his own pistol, Hawke dropped to one knee and fired back. But because he didn’t want to take a chance on damaging anything on the train or hurting any innocent bystander, he purposely shot low. His bullet struck sparks as it hit the rear truck of the car that was shielding the two men. The bullet then ricocheted under, and between the train cars, coming close enough to Ned and Luby to cause them to dash off to the other side.

The conductor, engineer, and fireman Hawke had just been talking to suddenly appeared alongside the engine, looking back along the train in curious wonder.

“What is it?” the engineer called. “What’s going on? What’s all the shooting?”

“Get down!” Hawke shouted, waving at them with his left hand. His right hand still held the pistol he had just fired. “All of you, down on the ground, now!”

Hawke didn’t need to issue a second warning because the three men dived to the ground.

Hawke hurried to the gap between the mail car and the first
passenger car, then hopped over the coupling and crossed back to the side he had started on in the first place. Looking up and down the train, he saw that the two men were now four tracks over. He caught a glimpse of them, just as they were disappearing behind a freight train that was rolling out of the station.

Hawke ran across the tracks after them, but before he could reach them, another train moved between him and the intruders. The engineer of the train was leaning out the window of his cab, searching the track in front of him. The noise of his own train drowned out the sound of gunfire, and he had no idea who the men were, who were running up and down the tracks, or what they were doing. He gave them—and Hawke—only a passing glance, for, by now, he was rolling at a pretty good clip and the track ahead demanded all his attention.

Hawke heard still another train coming and he looked around to see a switch engine bearing down on him, going in the opposite direction as the train he was waiting to pass. If he hopped on it, he knew it would carry him to the end of the closing train, thus allowing the space between him and the two men he was chasing to open up faster. Waiting until the engine was by, he jumped on the ladder of one of the cars being shuffled about and rode it until the other train was clear. When he hopped back down, he had a good long look on the other side of the line of cars, but it was too late.

Ned and Luby were gone.

Frustrated that they had gotten away, Hawke returned to Track Number 8 where the
Kansas City Flyer
stood. He saw the engineer, the fireman, and another man examining the space between the cars where he had seen Ned and Luby.

“Did you get them, Mr. Hawke?” the engineer asked as Hawke returned.

“No,” Hawke admitted. “I’m afraid they gave me the slip.”

“Too bad,” the engineer said.

“Charley, look here,” the fireman said. The fireman was squatted down under the coupling.

“What you got, Wayne?” the engineer asked, squatting down beside him.

The fireman pointed to the rubber hose that was a part of the coupling. “It looks like they were trying to sabotage the train. They were cutting into the air-brake hose.”

“Damn. Look at that, Mr. Bates,” Charley said, pointing it out to the conductor.

The conductor also squatted down to examine the air-brake hose.

“And as you can see, they were being real smart about it too,” Charley said. “They didn’t cut far enough into the hose for it to rupture. But after twenty or thirty miles, what with the swaying and the strain between the cars and all, that line would have opened up and we would have lost all our air pressure. And, like as not, when that happened, it could’ve caused a wreck.”

“Charley, how long will it take us to get the hose replaced?” Bates asked.

“Well, if they cut one of them, then they might have cut others. It’ll take half an hour to an hour to fix this one and another half hour to check all the other hoses,” the engineer replied. “That’ll make us an hour and a half late getting started.”

The conductor shook his head. “No, it’ll make us three hours late,” he said. “An hour from now, 969 will have the high iron coming into St. Louis. If we don’t get started in the next fifteen minutes, we’ll have to wait right here in the station for it.”

“Then I reckon we’re going to have to wait,” the engineer said. “Because I ain’t moving this train one inch until I’m satisfied that it’s safe.”

“I don’t blame you, Charley,” the conductor said. “And I’m not suggesting that you do.”

The three train crewmen looked over at Hawke.

“What’s this all about, Mr. Hawke?” the conductor asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s goin’ on between you and these fellas? And why would they try an’ cut the brake hose on our train? Why would someone, of a pure purpose, do something that could get nearly everyone on this train killed?”

“There’s nothing going on between me and them,” Hawke lied. “I just happened to see a couple of men who were acting suspicious, so I thought I would check them out. That’s all.”

“Well, I’m glad you came along when you did,” the engineer said.

“I’m just sorry they got away,” Hawke said. “I’d better get back to the car now. My friend will be wondering what happened to me.”

“You’re a passenger on this train, are you?” Charley asked.

“Yes.”

Charley nodded. “Well, seein’ as someone is after this train, I’m glad you happened to be aboard.”

“So am I,” Bates agreed. “Mr. Hawke, if you see anything else…suspicious…please don’t hesitate to let me know.”

“You can count on it,” Hawke said. He was grateful that he now had allies, even though they didn’t know exactly what they were letting themselves in for.

When Hawke got back to the car, he expected to face a lot of questions, but was surprised to see that nobody seemed to have noticed his absence. Then he realized that with all the excitement of preparing for the departure, no one had been looking outside. Also the noise of the trains, echoing loudly under the covered train shed, had apparently drowned out any sound of gunshots.

“Is everything all right?” Rachel asked when Hawke took his seat beside her. Hawke knew then that not even she had suspected anything untoward had happened.

“Yes, everything is fine,” Hawke answered.

“Oh, I found another story in here that you might be interested in,” she said, handing him the newspaper, folded in such a way as to highlight the story.

Hawke read the story, then handed the paper back to Rachel.

“That is the same man who tried to attack me, isn’t it?” she asked.

“I would say so.”

“Then why didn’t the story say anything about the knife?”

“It probably fell out while he was in the river. And unless they examine the body very closely, the wound is so small that it wouldn’t be that noticeable.”

“It gives me the willies to think about it,” Rachel said.

“Better him than you,” Hawke replied.

The conductor came walking through the car then.

“Folks, we’ve had some delay. It’s going to be another two hours before we pull out of the station. In the meantime, whenever you’re ready to have your beds made, just see the porter and he’ll take care of it for you.”

When the conductor reached Hawke’s seat, he stopped.

“Do you think we’ll have any more trouble from those men?” he asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” Hawke replied, sighing in vexation. He had hoped to keep the entire episode from Rachel, but the conductor had just let the cat out of the bag.

“I want you to know how much we appreciate what you did, Marshal. There are some pretty steep grades in the
Ozarks, and I’d hate to be going through them without brakes.”

“It’s not something I would want to do either,” Hawke said. “And I’m glad I could be of service.”

Rachel waited until the conductor left before she said anything. “Why did the conductor call you Marshal?” she asked.

“It seemed a convenient cover at the time,” Hawke said.

“And what was he talking about, going through the hills without brakes. What men?” she added, piling one question on top of another. Then, suddenly, she realized what it was all about. “Oh Lord, Mason. Are you telling me there are more men out there after us?”

“Not more. It was our same two friends,” Hawke said. “The ones we met earlier this evening.”

The train started forward with a series of yanks and jerks before finally smoothing out. It rolled slowly at first, then began picking up speed as it left the station.

Inexplicably, Rachel laughed. “They weren’t running around the yard naked, were they?” she asked.

Hawke laughed as well, glad that she was able to see some humor in the situation. “No, they had clothes on.”