Cold Snow: A Legal Thriller (26 page)

"It's a matter of safety, too!" he shouted back. "If a bear appears would you rather it get all of us or two of us?"

Sarah had no response, and looked down at her feet.

"Okay," he said, looking around at his three allies. "We're going to change teams. Hart's the biggest, so he can go with Anthony and help him walk."

Hart looked resentful, but Alex glared at him, attempting to send the message that he was needed for this.

"That leaves me to go with Sarah. We'll stay the night here and move on in the morning."

"I don't think any of us are going to get any more sleep," Anthony said. "We've only got fifteen miles to go. Why don't we just head out now?"

Sarah looked highly exasperated but said nothing.

"Are we all okay with the teams?"

Everybody reluctantly nodded.

"Good. Let's move."

With Anthony's leg bandaged, they struck camp in five minutes, and set out, once again, along different trails--Hart and Anthony into the woods and Alex and Sarah across the creek.

The land they crossed was even more beautiful at sunrise--as the sky lightened behind the heavy clouds, a land they had never seen before was illuminated, and the world changed colors as if it could not decide before finally settling on those which it knew and dearly loved.

Unfortunately, late in the morning, the fog settled in again, and visibility became very poor. It began to mist again just after noon, and soon they were constantly having to double back to check that they were going in the right direction.

Eventually, they found themselves heading for Duck Mountain in the distance, at the base of which the rails of the Trans-Shield Express ran. Alex allowed himself a whoop of celebration at this, and even Sarah looked happy that their goal was in reach. At last he turned to her.

"You know what this means, right?

"Sort of..."

"It means we made it!" he shouted gleefully, and spontaneously embraced her. "We did it! We're going to Sawtooth!"

Sarah was slightly confused--it was unlike Alex to show this much emotion--but she returned the hug and released him. "I know I signed on for this just so I could leave..." she said, "but it's good to be here anyway."

"Forget about that," Alex said, still grinning broadly. "Once we're there, we can put Woodsbrook behind us. Sawtooth lets kids like us--unwanted, outcasts, rejects--become our own. Nowhere else but there do we get new lives."

"You make it sound pretty nice," Sarah said. She could not help smiling as well.

"Are you kidding?" Alex replied. "It'll be home."

Ordoñez and Levache were standing in a clearing full of thawing snow. Ordoñez looked around angrily and knelt to examine the ground. Either way he was going to lose the trail--if it rained any more that it was, the snow would melt, but if it didn't snow soon, it would melt also. It would take all his tracking prowess for this.

"Ordoñez," Levache began, "perhaps if we--"

Ordoñez looked around and stood up slowly. "Francois," he said quietly, "which of us is doing the tracking?"

"I merely have a suggestion--"

"
This is my job
! And I have told you not to interrupt my work! When we find the boy, then you can kill him! Then you can speak and I will not interrupt you! Hunting the target is not exactly easy work, even when alone!"

Levache was filled with cool rage. "You requested my help, Ordoñez," he seethed. "I am the killer. I have never missed a shot...whereas you, I believe, have missed quite a few."

Ordoñez opened his mouth, then closed it again, then realized that both of them were clutching the firearms in their pockets. "You won't kill me," he said at last. "How the hell will you get out of here without me?"

It was Levache's turn to be struck dumb. He let go of the gun, and stood silently. Ordoñez returned to his work, each plotting a thousand ways to kill the other.

Alex and Sarah stood watching Duck Mountain for some time, until finally he suggested that they keep moving. It was no longer a question of who would win; Hart, who would have to carry Anthony, would be severely hampered.

They walked for a while in a kind of trance, falling into a rhythm of steps, each thinking their own thoughts.

The sky opened up. The clouds that had been holding back a deluge of water gave in, releasing the greatest torrent of water either of them had ever seen.

Sarah instantly dove out of the way, under a tree, with her coat over her head. She swung her arm wildly, motioning unsubtly for Alex to find some cover too.

He didn't. As Sarah looked at him as though he was insane, he stood and allowed the rain to fall on him, looking out into it, widening his arms to catch more of it.

At last he had his fill of the rain and walked over to the tree under which Sarah was sheltering. She predictably blew up at him.

"What the hell were you thinking!? Can't you see how hard it's raining? What's the matter with you!?"

"Unlike some people," Alex began--grinning, he had been waiting for Sarah to ask this--"I never saw the problem with the rain. It's just water. It's natural. It's beautiful...and yet people flee before it. Why?"

Sarah opened her mouth to retaliate before realizing that Alex had asked a real question. "Umm...I really don't know."

"Exactly. It'll take a mind much greater than mine to fathom the rain...but the clouds. What's the matter with them?"

Again, Sarah thought but could not answer.

"Under the blue sky, everything looks one way, But under the clouds, it looks another way...under the rain, it looks yet another way...even at night the world shows a different face."

They sat for a while, watching the downpour which showed no signs of abating. Alex was suddenly struck with an impulse to ask the question he had been holding back ever since he had seen the two of them looking at each other.

"What do you think of Hart?"

Sarah looked surprised. "Why?"

"I'm just, um, curious."

Sarah eyed him suspiciously. "He's nice. He definitely knows the wild. He's not bad-looking either. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"You don't...y'know..."

"I don't think that's any of your business," she replied, glaring fiercely.

"It's just...to keep you safe..." Alex said weakly.

"I thought," she snapped, "that you took him along so he could reform!"

"That doesn't mean he's reformed yet!" Alex said, at equal volume. "Hart lives and dies by combat. He'd smash your face in if you shortchanged him. It's the only way he knows how to solve any of his problems."

"People change, Alex," Sarah said, looking off into the rain. "Just like...just like that land you're always talking about."

"People don't change."

"I'll bet that isn't even why you care!" Sarah shouted, slightly louder than she would have liked. "If I didn't know you better...I'd say you were jealous."
Alex looked away pointedly so she could not see him turning red. "Yeah," he said at last. "Good thing you know me better."

They walked in silence for the last ten miles of the journey. The entire time, nothing eventful happened, save for one sighting of another black bear ambling along a hill a distance to their left. At last, as the sun was setting, tired and limping slowly, they arrived at the limits of a tiny town calling itself Express Village.

It was obvious, just by looking at the place, that it had grown up around the railroad. It was easily the smallest town they had been to so far; it contained nothing more than a smattering of buildings and homes, all of which probably belonged to station employees. There were some places to eat and sleep, but only to accommodate those waiting for the train to resume movement. In fact, if the Trans-Shield Express was not in the middle of a long stretch between major destinations, it would not stop here to refuel, and the town would not exist at all.

They walked into the thick of these few buildings, and looked around for the other team. Suddenly, Alex heard two shouts coming from near them.

Hart strolled out of a building near them, and Anthony came behind him, limping unsteadily and leaning on his good leg. Alex turned toward them, and felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach--he had lost.

They met in the middle of the street, and Alex bowed. "Congratulations, Anthony. You win."

Anthony looked insulted. "Are you kidding? I didn't win!"

Alex was puzzled. "But...you got here first, didn't you?"

Anthony looked at his feet. "I didn't. Hart practically had to drag me half the time."

Hart laughed. "You're too modest."

"I'm not! I didn't win. I didn't walk the distance."

"Well, I didn't either! Sarah and I got here second!"

Sarah stepped forward. "If that's the way it is...I guess nobody wins."

Soon they didn't care. Anthony pointed and they all turned around. They saw their salvation: the way out of the long and arduous journey, the end of their travels, the end of dodging bullets. A long line of many steel train cars sat idly at the station, and passengers sauntered off it to find lodging for the night.

What nobody saw was two men, waiting on the station steps, concealing guns under their overcoats. It was almost Francois Levache's turn to work.

CHAPTER 19

The Trans-Shield Express

From the moment they saw the train, all they wanted to do was find a way in. They were all much the worse for wear, not to mention hungry and extremely exhausted. The four of them ascended the station steps, slowly, so that Hart and Sarah could help Anthony limp along beside them. Alex walked ahead with their remaining money clutched in his hand, and approached the ticket booth, trying not to look like a thirteen-year-old.

"Hi," he said, dropping the bills on the counter. "Four one-way tickets, please."

It was lucky that Hart had dug out his savings before they left, otherwise the tickets would have been beyond their reach. Alex looked at their remaining meager funds: a single twenty-dollar bill, and a pair of ones.

The ticket attendant eyed them suspiciously. "Do you take me for an idiot?"
"No," Alex said, drawing himself up in a confident manner. "I take you for an intelligent and attractive woman who is going to give me four one-way tickets."

"We don't sell tickets to unaccompanied minors," the woman said. "Now go back home."

Alex sighed deeply; he was in no shape to argue. He slammed the rest of their money in front of the small window. "Make something up," he said.

Ordoñez and Levache, leaning against an opposite wall, each celebrated silently. Orson was playing into their hands--but they could only make an attempt when the train was isolated.

Fifteen minutes later, Alex, Sarah, Anthony and Hart strolled into a cabin near the front of the train. It was small, but comfortable-looking: the walls were paneled in wood, the carpet was crimson, and six bunks were lined up along the walls under large windows. The room was lit by lamps on several tables by the bunks. Alex stretched, yawned, and dumped his backpack on a bunk, the others followed suit.

"I'm going to look for the dining car," he said, and left the room, slamming the door behind him and making his way through the hallways, toward the back of the unmoving train.

They went to eat at different times, Alex taking the longest and returning with Sarah. When they entered the cabin again, intending to sleep, they found Hart and Anthony lying in their own bunks and an unknown couple lying on the two left uninhabited. The woman looked surprised as they entered.

"More of you? It's weird enough that they let one child onto the train. Are the standards relaxed now?"

Alex did not particularly care what either of them had to say, but anybody calling him a child got to him easily. "Do you mind telling me who you are before you go around insulting me?"

The woman was taken aback. "I'm not trying to insult you! What made you think that?"

"I am not a child. I happen to look like one."

The man and the woman exchanged odd glances and evidently decided to forget the whole exchange. "I'm Melissa Owen," she said brightly, "and this is my husband, Fred."

The man inclined his head and returned to the book he was reading.

"I'm Stephen Jerome," Alex said, and cut across Sarah before she could protest, "and this is my sister Anna."

"What brings you to this train?" inquired Fred Owen.

"It's a very long story," Alex replied, "but suffice it to say that it was Xavier here," he gestured toward Anthony, "that suggested we come here after we were...wandering...for maybe a month."

Fred and Melissa looked very suspicious but saw from Alex's demeanor that they weren't going to get anything else from him.

"Xavier!?" Sarah mouthed incredulously.

"How about you?" Alex asked.

"We're railroad enthusiasts," said Melissa. "Trying to hit all the major ones. We just got off the Trans-Siberian a few weeks ago. Did you know that the TSE uses the same cars and track it did seventy years ago?"