The Struggles of Johnny Cannon (28 page)

I took three steps back from the edge, said a prayer that I reckoned might be my last, and dove over the side of that bridge.

Now, I don't know nothing about science or physics or anything like that, so I can't exactly tell you what happens when a body that's going one speed in one direction comes in contact with a train that's going about fifty times that speed in a different direction. All I can tell you is, when that happens, the little fella gets hurt. Oh, and it's dadgum hard to stay on top of the train.

I slid and rolled along, which spread all that pain on impact to every single muscle and bone in my body, and I almost went sailing off the back end of the train. But my hand, right before I went off, found a chain that was spread tight across the top, and I grabbed hold of it. Nearly jerked my arm out of its socket as I got myself adjusted from hitting a train to riding one.

After a bit, I stood up. I reckoned it was the hands of angels that helped me keep holding on to Short-Guy's gun, so I held it out in front of me and aimed it at Rudy. He was standing too, with his gun aimed at me. He was on the car in front of me, and he was walking my way. Still holding Tammy Jane in his arm.

If it was good for the goose it was good for the gander, so I started walking toward him.

He fired and his bullet bounced off the metal of the train. Either he was the worst shot ever, or he wasn't actually trying to kill me.

Of course, right in that moment, the feeling wasn't mutual. But I wasn't going to shoot him as long as he had my sister.

He came to the edge that separated the car he was on from the one I was on.

“It doesn't have to be like this, Johnny.”

I spit at him, but the wind caught it and it hit me in the eye. Took me a second to recover.

“Give me my sister.”

“I'm not a monster,” he said. “I'm just—wait. Did you say your
sister
?”

I wasn't in the mood for playing no games, so I went ahead and spilled it.

“Yeah, you stupid idiot. I'm Captain Morris's son. Which makes her my sister.” I sort of leaned forward a bit, to try and look more menacing. “So, give her to me.”

He took a step away from me, which wasn't the right direction one bit, and I was about to get up the courage to jump over to the next car, but then we hit a bump. And if you think it's hard to hold steady when a train is moving, you ought to try doing it when it's got the shakes.

I tried to stay upright, but the shaking from the bump knocked me off to the side and I was just about ready to fall off the edge. I crouched down to get my balance back and grabbed hold of the bar that was at the edge of the car. When I did, Short-Guy's gun went flying. There went my upper hand.

I tried to stand back up, but we hit another bump and I had to fall down on my belly. Which wasn't the best idea I ever had, 'cause now I was slipping all over the place. And my hands was starting to slip off the bar that was holding me on.

I looked up at Rudy. He was crouched down, holding steady onto the bar on his side. Tammy Jane was still in his arm, but his gun was gone. He must have dropped it.

My pinky came off the bar. Then the next finger.

Rudy watched me for a bit, then he stood up and jumped into the air. He landed right next to me and he grabbed my hand. With his help, I got back to my feet.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he asked.

I looked at Tammy Jane's face. She wasn't crying no more. She was staring at me. In spite of everything, I smiled at her. It's against the law to frown at a baby. Or at least it should be.

“ 'Cause I didn't want to get taken to your pa,” I said. “Didn't want to get killed. But I sure ain't going to let you give him that baby. He can kill me instead.”

We hit another bump, but he grabbed me and steadied me. He had his foot wedged under the bar so he wouldn't slip. That was pretty smart.

“I'm not going to let him kill her,” he said. “Like I said, I'm not a monster.”

“Well, I ain't so sure if you've heard or not, but your pa is aiming to hold the Morris heart in his hand and all that. And, I ain't good at biology or nothing, but I'm pretty sure you can't live through that.”

“My father will listen to me.”

“Really? 'Cause you been sort of acting like he won't.”

“I was angry. But he's a reasonable man, and he wouldn't do something like that to a baby. I'll explain things to him, and he'll understand.”

The wind was rushing past us, nearly knocking me off my feet, but what had me so uneasy wasn't that. It was the fact that I was sure he was wrong.

“He wouldn't do something like that to a baby?” I said. “Then can you explain why he did that to me back when I was just barely past being one? He ordered the accident to happen, the one that killed my ma and made me lose half my brain. So I ain't so sure he's as reasonable as you think.”

He looked up ahead of us on the track.

“We'll find out soon enough,” he said. “See that tunnel?”

I did. It was a real tight tunnel into the side of the hill, just barely big enough for the train to fit through. Even with the sun barely peeking out over the top of it, I recognized it. It was the one I'd seen from Nicole's Diner.

“When we get to the other side of that tunnel, the train will slow down because it's entering the city, and we'll jump off. We'll meet my father, and if you want, I'll keep your secret. And I'll convince him to let me and Sora take care of this baby. You'll see.”

I wasn't feeling like arguing with him. Mainly 'cause I was staring at where we was headed.

“That tunnel? It's going to be a tight fit with us up here,” I said.

He pointed to a ladder that went down into the gap between the cars.

“We'll climb down there. I've already planned this whole thing out.”

The engine of the train was starting to go into the tunnel, which meant we really needed to get down. He motioned for me to go ahead and start down the ladder, so I moved as fast as I felt comfortable and got my feet onto the top rung. It started getting a lot easier once my bottom half was out of the wind. I made my way down to safety.

We hit another bump. Which wasn't so bad for me this time, since I was on the ladder. But it was real bad for Rudy.

He dropped Tammy Jane.

It was like I was watching it all happen at half speed. She slipped out of his arms and fell right over the ladder. As she came past me, I put both my arms out and grabbed her right out of the air. Which was great, except that it meant I wasn't holding on.

Next thing I knew, I'd done fallen off the ladder and was headed straight for the ground below and the sharp edges of them train wheels.

Rudy's hand grabbed my arm. He was straining to hold on to me without slipping off himself. Probably had his whole foot under that bar up there.

“Get back on the ladder!” he said.

I looked up ahead. The first couple of cars were through the tunnel and we was coming up lickety-split.

I tried to grab the ladder, but kept missing. Plus I was trying real hard to hold on to Tammy Jane, which I wasn't nearly as skilled at as he'd been.

The tunnel was only four cars ahead.

I finally kicked my feet out and got my legs over the rung of the ladder, then I was able to loop my arm through. It wasn't pretty, but I was secure.

“Get down!” I yelled.

He nodded and started to move. But he couldn't.

“My foot is stuck under the bar,” he said.

I looked ahead. The tunnel was only two cars away.

“Pull it out!” I said.

He tried a couple of times, then he stopped. He looked ahead of us. The tunnel was just at the end of the car in front of us.

“So, this is how I pay for the sins of my father,” he said, then he closed his eyes. “Tell Sora I—”

We went through the tunnel.

Me and Tammy Jane and the train went through the tunnel.

But not Rudy.

Rudy went to heaven.

I had my eyes closed, so I didn't see what happened, but that didn't make it any less horrible. Didn't make me cry any less.

It might have been the worst thing I'd ever gone through in my entire life.

When the train got through the tunnel, it got a signal or something to stop in the tracks, and we screeched to nothing.

Once we stopped, I climbed on down from the ladder and got back onto solid ground. I looked at my baby sister again.

She smiled at me. Either that or she had gas, but right then I needed a smile. So that's what it was.

I started walking toward the engine, and that's when I saw that there was a dozen state troopers all coming down from the road. And so was the Three Caballeros.

Pa got to me first, and he hugged me so hard I thought I might pop. Which was exactly what I needed right then.

After a bit, I realized we might have been making Tammy Jane uncomfortable, mainly 'cause she was crying, so I pulled away and handed her to him.

“Rudy's back there,” I said. “He's—” I couldn't say it. It made me gag. I didn't throw up, though, but I came real close.

Mr. Thomassen put his arm around me.

“It's okay,” he said. “It's going to be okay.”

Once they was sure I wasn't aiming to die or nothing, he and Carlos went to go see if they could find the remains of Rudy and maybe get them keys Short-Guy needed, 'cause they was real focused like that. Pa stayed with me as the state troopers asked a billion questions. An ambulance came along eventually, carrying Short-Guy and Willie. Apparently Short-Guy had threatened to arrest them all if they took him to a hospital instead of to where we was, which I was grateful for, 'cause that meant Willie was there for me to talk to. And to do what he did best, take my mind off of things.

When we finally could, he and I went off on our own away from all the commotion, just up the hill a little ways. We stood there in the dark, with the stars over our heads, and we didn't say nothing. Just let nature remind us that we was still alive.

“Hey, look at that,” he said. “The diner is still open. Bit late, ain't it?”

I looked at where he was pointing, and sure enough, Nicole's Diner still had their lights on. But there was only one car in the parking lot. A white Rolls-Royce with maroon fenders.

I knew what I needed to do.

“Go tell Short-Guy to send them state troopers over,” I said.

“Why? What're you doing?” He looked closer at the diner. “Whose car is that?”

“Just tell him,” I said. Then I took off.

I climbed down the hill and up the next one and marched right through the front door of that diner. There was only one fella in there, a man in a white suit with thinning gray hair and tinted glasses. He was sitting at a table smoking a cigar, steeping a cup of tea.

I went over and stood next to him. He startled.

“Johnny?” Santo Trafficante said. “Got to say, I wasn't expecting to see you.”

“I'll bet,” I said. “You was expecting Rudy, right?”

He coughed.

“Who?”

“Don't play dumb with me, Mr. Trafficante. I ain't in the mood. You was expecting Rudy to come in here with the Morris kid. Expecting that you was finally going to get your revenge. Right?”

He stared at me for a bit and his eye started twitching. I didn't stare at it this time. Didn't care.

The kitchen door swung open and one of his goons walked out with a sandwich. Mr. Trafficante waved him back in.

“So what if I am?” he asked. He pointed at the seat across from him, so I sat down.

“Well, if that's what you're here to do,” I said, “which I know it is, then I'm the one that's got to tell you.” I took a breath. Things was about to get sticky. “Rudy's dead.”

He let go of his tea bag and it sank into his cup.

“What?”

“Yeah, just happened. Out there.”

He put his hand on his chest. “How?” he asked.

“Let's just say riding a train ain't the safest way to travel.”

“Oh my God,” he said. “Oh my—why were you—how did you find out?”

“I was following him,” I said. “Saw the whole thing.”

He stared out the window and must have seen the lights from all the patrol cars that was out there.

“What about—”

“The Morris kid?” I asked. I took another deep breath. It was time for me to face the music. Time to finally stop running from who I was and the blood running in my veins. Even if it meant having a Mafia boss as a lifelong enemy that was probably going to kill me or whatnot. Even if it was suicide. I had to finally tell the truth.

“Here's the thing about the Morris kid,” I said. I was suddenly remembering that Reverend Parkins said suicide was a sin. Oh well, I was already jumping off the cliff.

“Fact is,” I said, “I'm the son of—”

The little bell on the diner door jingled 'cause it opened. We both looked over at it.

Willie came hobbling in. He was out of breath like all get-out and was carrying that envelope I'd seen in Short-Guy's car.

“There you are,” Willie said.

“I think you're in the wrong place, boy,” Mr. Trafficante said, his voice gruff like it was coming through a puddle of tears in his throat.

“No, sir, I'm here with my guy,” Willie said, and he came and plopped down next to me. “This fella right here.”

Mr. Trafficante looked bumfuzzled. I felt bumfuzzled. Willie grabbed the tea and took a sip. He wasn't bumfuzzled one bit.

“Willie, what you doing?” I asked.

“Joining you, ain't it obvious?” he asked. “Good Lord, you took off running and you know I can't go that fast.”

“But I didn't—”

“Mean to leave me behind?” he said. He gave me that look that usually meant for me to shut up. Didn't know how it fit into this context.

“No, what I was saying was—”