Дэвид Балдаччи - Long Road to Mercy

They ate dinner in the dining car. Blum had a glass of wine, while Pine stuck to beer. Both women went to sleep in their clothes, Pine in the top berth and Blum in the bottom. The swaying of the train allowed Pine to fall asleep fast and not wake up until around six.

They reached Pittsburgh at midnight and Chicago at around nine the next morning. They left the train and went to have breakfast at a place in the train station, a cavernous building on the west side of the Chicago River.

Pine and Blum had six hours to kill before they would board the Southwest Chief.

While they were eating, Blum was watching a TV monitor that was bolted to the wall. “Oh my God.”

Pine looked at the TV. Oscar Fabrikant’s photo filled the screen. The chyron at the bottom read: AMERICAN SCHOLAR FOUND DEAD IN MOSCOW. APPARENT SUICIDE.

Pine and Blum looked at each other.

Pine said softly, “He didn’t kill himself.”

“How do you think they found him?”

“They must have learned we had met with him. Maybe from the two fake cops.” Pine smacked the table. “I should never have let him go. He was a dead man at that point.”

“You couldn’t have really stopped him,” pointed out Blum.

“He could have come with us.”

“But we can’t collect everyone we run into and try to protect them. We’d all end up dead. But it’s so awful.” She shivered.

Pine eyed Blum. “I think it would be better if you stayed here, Carol. Get a hotel room and lie low for a few days.”

“I use my credit card to get the room and they’ll be knocking on my door in an hour.” She pointed to the screen. “And I don’t want to end up on there with the scroll saying I killed myself.”

“But you could find a place that would take cash.”

Blum shook her head obstinately. “I’m not leaving you to do this alone, Agent Pine. Like you said, we’re a unit, a team. I think we work well together.”

Pine eyed her.

“You don’t think so?” said Blum, frowning.

“I took an oath, you didn’t. I signed up for the danger part, you didn’t.”

Blum waved this off. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I know I’m not a special agent like you, but I did join the FBI, and I promised to do my job the best that I could. And I’m going to live up to my promise. Besides, I shepherded six kids to adulthood without losing any of them. So I can help you, too.”

Pine smiled. “You already saved my life once. Back at the airport.”

Blum leaned across the table and tapped Pine’s hand. “And if the need arises again, I will do so once more. We’re two badass women in a man’s world. What stronger incentive could we possibly have to stick together?”

Pine’s smile deepened. “Actually, I can’t think of a stronger one.”

The Southwest Chief Train No. 3 headed out from Chicago with its twin P42 locomotives and nine trailing train cars pointed toward the southwest United States. It carried fourteen crew and 130 passengers. It had a max speed of ninety miles per hour, which it would hit on long stretches of the route. However, its average speed over the slightly more than twenty-two-hundred-mile trip to LA would be only about fifty-five miles per hour, when one factored in the thirty-one stops over eight states.

Pine and Blum settled into their seats as the train rocked and rolled out of the downtown Chicago area.

“Do you think anyone else at the Society for Good is in danger?” said Blum.

“I can’t rule out anyone,” said Pine. “I hope they’ll have taken note of what happened and lie low.”

“Do you think it makes sense for you to call anyone at the FBI? Anyone you might trust? I mean, if there is a nuke in the Grand Canyon, they would want to know about it.”

Pine didn’t answer right away. “This whole thing doesn’t make sense, Carol. If Roth is a weapons inspector and he found out about a nuke in the Grand Canyon, what would be the first thing he would do? Or Ben Priest, for that matter? I mean, I don’t think either of them are traitors.”

Blum looked puzzled. “They should have gone right to the authorities.”

“Only they didn’t. And an Army chopper carries away the Priest brothers. And what looked to me to be feds were going to take Simon Russell somewhere and torture him. Then we were nearly killed by two guys at the airport. And what looked to be our military raided Kurt Ferris’s home.”

“You’d think our people were the bad guys.”

“I don’t know if they know about the nuke and are just trying to contain any leaks so as not to panic the public. But right now our government is snatching people right and left and doing some really weird shit. The rule of law has apparently gone out the window.”

“My God, we might as well be in North Korea or Iran.”

“Or Russia,” added Pine. “Because they’re involved as well.” She paused, looking puzzled. “I didn’t think the Russians and the North Koreans were such great allies that they’d maybe work together to place a nuke on American soil. Are they looking to start World War III? If so, they’re not going to win. Not that anyone would against us.”

“But how in the world could the North Koreans, or the Russians, have gotten a nuke down there with no one aware of it? I mean really?”

“I guess they could have taken it down there in parts, over time. And assembled it in a cave off the beaten path that no one knows about. It’s not like you have to go through a security checkpoint and magnetometer to hike down.”

“Do you think the latitude and longitude lines mark where this cave is?”

“Yes.”

“What are we going to do when we get back to Arizona?”

“I’m not sure. But we have a long train ride to figure it out.”

Pine left the compartment and walked down to the train car that sold snacks and drinks. She bought a beer and some chips and sat by herself in the observation car.

She fingered her phone and then decided to make the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sam, it’s Atlee.”

“Atlee, I didn’t recognize the number.”

“Yeah, I’m traveling. Using another phone. How are things?”

“Fine. Good. You coming back soon?”

“Yeah, I’m on my way, actually. How was the concert?”

“What?”

“Carlos Santana.”

“Oh, right. Hey, it was great. The dude can still bring it, that’s for damn sure. I took a buddy. Wasn’t as much fun as if you had gone instead.”

“Now, that’s what I like to hear. Hey, Sam, you hear anything else about Lambert or Rice?”

“No, just that they went to Utah.”

“Any replacements for them yet?”

“No, not yet. We’re having to pick up the slack for them until the new guys arrive. How’s your investigation going?”

“I’m making progress. Turned out to be a little more complicated than I thought.”

“Well, I hope you catch whoever killed the mule. I still can’t believe someone could be that cruel. I mean, what did that mule ever do to anybody?”

“Yeah, I know. You on duty the next few nights?”

“Yeah, I am. Hey, if you wanted to go out somewhere when you get back, I can see if I can switch with someone. It might not be possible because we’re shorthanded.”

“No, it’s not that. I, uh, I thought I might hike the Canyon one night.”

“Okay, let me know when, I’ll make sure we hook up down there.” He laughed. “I’ll bring you a beer.”

“Right, sounds good.”

“You’re not hiking alone, are you?” he said suddenly.

“Well, I’m a big girl. And I’ve done it solo before.”

“Doesn’t make it smart.”

“I never said I was smart, Sam.”

Later, Pine and Blum went to the dining car to eat. They had to sit with two other people and didn’t get a chance to talk during their meal.