Chapter 17 - THE REAL TARGET WAS ALREADY MOVING
The freight train was twelve miles south and coming north.
According to Eli, one car carried sealed government communications hardware being transferred between facilities.
“Mercer can’t use it,” Sarah said.
“He doesn’t have to,” Eli replied. “He only has to steal it and sell access.”
“Access to what?”
Eli looked at me.
“People who pay for secrets don’t always need the secret today.”
Cole arrived with six deputies.
Six.
Out of twenty-one.
That told us everything about his department.
“We can block the rail crossing,” he said.
“No,” Eli answered. “Mercer expects that.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Quarry spur.”
Lauren nodded. “There’s an old switch line near the north pit.”
Mercer planned to divert the train.
We moved.
Two patrol cars, Mia’s uncle’s tow truck, and an ancient pickup with a cracked windshield.
Not exactly a task force.
It would have to do.
We reached the switch five minutes before the train.
The mechanism had already been changed.
Locked toward the quarry.
Sarah climbed out.
“I can release it.”
“You know rail switches now?” I asked.
“No. But I know stubborn machinery and angry men.”
“Apparently that’s enough.”
She almost smiled.
Then gunfire hit the dirt around us.
Mercer’s men came from both sides of the cut.
Cole’s deputies returned fire.
Mia dragged Lauren behind the tow truck.
Eli tried to move uphill on his bad leg.
I shoved him down.
“You’re done being heroic today.”
“Jack—”
“I mean it.”
Rex and I moved low along the ditch.
One attacker fired from behind a signal box.
Rex barked, drawing his attention.
I closed the distance and knocked the rifle away.
The second man ran.
Then the train horn blasted close enough to shake my chest.
“Sarah!”
“I’m trying!”
The rails began humming.
She pulled at the manual release.
Nothing.
Cole joined her.
Together they forced it.
The switch snapped back toward the main line.
The train roared past seconds later.
Mercer had lost his prize.
Or so I thought.
Eli stared at the final cars.
His face changed.
“Where’s the communications car?”
I looked.
None of the cars matched the number in the notebook.
Sarah checked the manifest copy.
“It should be there.”
A horn sounded behind us.
Different direction.
From the quarry.
Lauren whispered, “Oh my God.”
Mercer hadn’t planned to divert the train.
He had already stolen the car and attached it to another engine.
A black locomotive emerged from behind the hill, pulling one sealed gray railcar toward the old river bridge.
And Colonel Mercer was standing on the rear platform, looking directly at me.
May you like
--- If you enjoyed the story, bookmark my site: https://vibe.treeiq.biz New stories are posted daily, so check back for updates.
