Дэвид Балдаччи - Long Road to Mercy

At half past midnight, the train stopped in Lawrence, Kansas. Two passengers got on and none got off. The train headed out five minutes later.

Barely five minutes after that, the train began to slow.

“Another stop?” mumbled Blum, who had been dozing in her bunk.

Pine sat up and snagged her phone, where she’d downloaded the train schedule.

“Not until Topeka about thirty minutes from now.”

“Then why are we slowing down?”

Pine already had her gun out. “Good question.”

A minute later there was a screech of brakes, and the train decelerated so swiftly that they were flung against the wall.

That was followed by a jolt.

And then the mighty Southwest Chief came to a dead stop.

“What happened?” said Blum, rubbing her shoulder where it had struck the wall.

“I think we hit something,” said Pine. She climbed down from her bunk and slipped on her shoes. “You got your gun out?” she whispered to Blum.

“No.”

“Then get it out.”

“You don’t think...?”

“I don’t know for sure, so the answer is yes.”

Pine pulled the curtain aside and looked out the window. It was too dark to see anything out there.

She heard the sounds of footsteps rushing down the train corridor. She slid open their compartment door and saw a train attendant hustling by.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Not sure, miss. Stay in your compartment. They’ll give everyone an update over the PA when they know for sure.”

He rushed on and disappeared from her sight.

Pine heard the whoosh of exterior doors opening. A few moments later the train’s interior lights blinked twice and then went out, plunging them into darkness.

Pine heard several screams coming from other compartments.

She snagged her Maglite from her duffel, told Blum to stay put, and went back out into the corridor.

While it was true that trains occasionally hit things, she didn’t like the odds here. It was too much of a coincidence.

She moved down the corridor slowly, shining her light around and occasionally pointing it out the window into the Kansas night. She could see nothing, however. And no announcement came over the PA. And the lights stayed out and the train did not move.

Other than that, things were great.

Pine stiffened when she heard it.

The sounds of a child crying.

The train suddenly gave a jerk, but then almost immediately stopped once more. The movement nearly knocked Pine off her feet.

The cries picked up again.

Pine ran toward them, reached a door, and hit the open button. The door slid to the side with a hydraulic hiss, and she moved into the next sleeper car.

She shone her Maglite down the corridor. At first, Pine saw nothing.

Then the beam caught and held on a small figure.

It was a little girl, no more than six years old, who was standing in the middle of the aisle holding a tattered doll.

She looked stricken and was crying.

Pine put her gun away, moved the light away from the girl’s face, and hustled toward the child.

“Are you okay?” she asked, kneeling down by the child. “Where are your parents?”

The little girl shook her head, snuffled, and wiped her nose with her doll. “I don’t know. My mommy went to the bathroom. And... and then it got all dark. I went to find Mommy. But... but I don’t know where she is.”

“Okay, we’ll find her. What’s your name?”

“Debbie.”

“Okay, Debbie. We’ll go find your mom. Do you know which way she went?”

Debbie looked around. “I don’t know. It’s so dark.” She began to cry again.

Pine took her hand. “Okay, I came from this way, and I didn’t see anyone. So, I think your mom must be down this way. Let’s go see.”

They walked down the passage to the end. There was a restroom here.

“What’s your mom’s name?”

“Nancy.”

Pine knocked on the door. “Nancy? Are you in there? I have your daughter, Debbie.”

“Mommy! Mommy!” cried out Debbie. She pounded on the door.

Pine opened the door and glanced inside. It was empty.

She looked down at Debbie. “You’re sure she went to the bathroom?”

Debbie nodded. “That’s what she said. We didn’t have one in our room. She told me to stay there and she’d be right back. And then it got dark.”

“Let’s keep looking, Debbie, I’m sure she’s nearby.”

They passed through into the next train car, where they saw two elderly couples groping around in the dark.

“Do you know what’s happening?” one of the men asked, as he clutched the hand of the woman Pine assumed was his wife.

“The train might have hit something,” said Pine. “Have you seen a young woman pass through here? I have her daughter here. They got separated.”

One of the women said sympathetically, “Oh, you poor thing. But we’ve seen no one. We just came out of our compartment.”

The other man said, “I did hear someone pass by a bit ago. But I didn’t see who it was.”

“Thanks. You should go back to your compartment. You don’t want to fall down and hurt yourself out here.”

Pine and Debbie continued on into the next train car. Now Pine was getting worried. What if the mother had gone the other way and had come back only to find her daughter gone? She would be panicking by now.

There came a sound behind them. Pine whirled around, her hand going to her holster, but then relaxed as Blum stepped out of the darkness.

She tensed a moment later as she realized that Blum was not alone.

Someone was behind her. A short man, because Blum had neatly blocked Pine’s view of him.

Now he stepped to the side.

Sung Nam Chung had a hold of Blum’s neck.

He tightened his grip when he saw Pine’s hand again go toward her gun.

“That would be unwise, for your friend’s sake.”

“I’m sorry, Agent Pine,” said Blum. “He got the drop on me.”

“What’s... happening?” asked Debbie. “Who is that man?”

“Just somebody I know, Debbie,” said Pine.

“Is... is he hurting her?”

Chung reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol.

Debbie cried out and shrank back. Pine stepped in front of Debbie, putting her body between the little girl and Chung’s weapon.

“She’s just looking for her mother. She’s not part of this. We’ll come with you. But she needs to stay here.”

Chung did not seem amenable to this.

“She’s just a kid,” added Pine. “She can’t do anything.”

Chung looked Pine up and down, then gave a curt nod.

Pine turned and faced Debbie. “Okay, I think your mom is probably just up in the next car. But I want you to wait right here until either your mom comes to get you, or one of the train people do. They’ll be in uniform. You know what they look like, right?”

Debbie stared up at Pine and nodded. “You’re... you’re going to leave me?”

She clutched at Pine’s arm.

“Just for a little bit. We need to go somewhere with this man.”

“Is he a bad man?”

“Debbie, I just want you to stay right here, okay? Will you be brave and do that for me?”

Debbie finally gave a tearful nod.

Pine glanced down at the doll in Debbie’s hand. “What’s your doll’s name?”

“Hermione.”

“Like from Harry Potter?”

Debbie nodded.

Pine knelt down and gave her a hug. “I’ll be back to check on you.”

“Promise?” said Debbie.

“Promise.”

Then Pine stood and faced Chung. “Let’s go.”

They walked back to their compartment without seeing anyone else, though they did hear people talking in their rooms as they passed by.