runaway - part 2

If you missed part 1 you can visit the link below:

runaway - part 1

Summary: In Part 1 Zach awakened concussed, ticketless and penniless on the #19 train to Los Angeles. The railroad bull, after clapping him in irons, treated him to a meal in the same car where notorious criminal Bill Doolin and two associates were dining. At the end of his meal, Zach notices that the woman who led him into an Ambush in Alameda is in the same car….

Part 2:

It hurt my pride to tell the Bull what happened in Alameda, even more than eating the steak on his dollar. I've seen that little redhead afore, I said sorrowfully, she gave me a come hither smile in an Alameda saloon and the next thing I knew I woke up on the number 19 train with nary a ticket or a dollar to my name. He only grunted in answer, and I stared down at my plate, ashamed to look him in the eye. She’s probably one of Bill’s angels. He uses pretty women for lookouts and diversions and such.

He snorted. So she gave you a grin and wink and you followed her willy, nilly into an ambush? Damn, your green for a lawman, he said unkindly. I hope you got sumpin you can fall back on ‘fore you get yer dumb ass shot.

Neither of us said anything for several minutes after that. But I kept thinkin' about that little redhead, hopin’ she had nothing to do with Bill at all.

I’m aint gonna lie, seeing her in the Saloon and then again on the number 19 lit a fire in my belly no gal had ever lit before. But the bull got it wrong, I had been a good lawman before that gal lodged herself in my heart with that smile. I wasn’t born yesterday, I know what fools love makes of men. But even as clear eyed as I was in that moment, I knew I would gladly throw it all away if she smiled at me like that again.

The Bull finally broke the silence, I don’t see what you can do about it now anyhow. It aint a crime to be a pretty woman.

Yer thinkin' that cause you don’t know Bill Doolin.

The Wild Bunch haven’t committed any crimes in the great state of California that I ever heard.

Not yet they aint, but they rob trains. And here he is on the number 19 to Los Angeles with Little Dick and Charlie and maybe that pretty little redhead too. If’n I was you, I’d keep a watchful eye on all of them. It’s like I tole that ticket fellar …

But the whistle sounded and the train began to slow. After toiling up that steep grade for God knows how long we were finally approachin’ the Tehachapi station.

Well then, the Bull said with eyebrows raised and his hands palms pressed against the table, this is where we say goodbye, deputy. But as the train came to a halt, my heart sank, the angry hiss of steam as the engines stopped sounding like the Almighty’s judgment crashing down from on high. Bill was still on that train and the Bull hadn't done nuthin'.

Realizing the train had not crested the hill I asked Why are we still on the incline? That wasn’t done when I was a railroad man.

The train is fitted with the latest invention. Air brakes if’n you can believe it. It's perfectly safe. The number 19 does it all the time.

Huh. Never heard of ‘em.

Walking through the diner to the door leading to the platform, we stepped outside into the cold night air. Fancy a smoke? He pulled a pair of El Mundo’s from his pocket.

Don’t mind if I do.

As he lit my cigar, the two engines were towed to a sidetrack and then disconnected. The helper engine was taken to the turntable to wait for the return trip down the grade while the road engine went to take on coal and water. But the train cars sittin’ on that steep incline made me almost as uneasy as seeing Bill Doolin and the pretty redhead on the same train where I was dumped like a penniless duffer.

About halfway through my cigar Bill, Little Dick and Charlie stepped onto the platform. Bill tipped his hat in mock courtesy and Little Dick and Charlie guffawed as they passed. A few minutes later I heard Bill’s voice yell Giddy-up, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Bill robbed the goddamn train, I growled as I dropped my cigar to the ground and crushed it with the toe of my boot. The Bull took another drag on his as if I hadn’t spoken at all. Are you deaf? Bill robbed the train. Does the number 19 carry payroll?

Not today, he answered casually.

Are there any wealthy travelers on board?

The former Governor and his wife, and a couple Los Angeles business owners and their wives.

The former Governor? You better check their car to see if they are alright. I wouldn’t trust Bill Doolin any further than I can spit.

What the hell, he said with irritation, and tossed his cigar on the track as he hopped up the steps to the diner.

Remembering I was still manacled, I yelled, Can you take these off first? but he had already disappeared into the car. I had hoped he would return shortly, and finally be ready to do something about that scoundrel Bill. But as the minutes slowly passed and wind on the top of the grade began to gust, I trembled in the cold, a wishin' I had not put out my cigar.

When I heard a loud squeak, I turned toward the diner door expecting the Bull to rejoin me. But instead, the diner car lurched and began to back down the incline as I stared in open-mouthed disbelief.