Bloody Passage - Jack Higgins [65]
It disappeared and Talif was already applying the brakes as we coasted over the final section of track into the dark mouth of the tunnel. Once inside, he braked hard and we ground to a halt.
Steam seemed to be everywhere. Barzini jumped from the footplate and ran to the entrance of the boxcar to help Nino and Simone with Wyatt. Langley came down across the tender in a shower of coal. He said something before he jumped down to join the others but I couldn't hear it because of the hissing of the steam.
Barzini called, "Okay, we're clear!" I tapped Talif on the shoulder and we started to move again.
I opened the gate to the fire box and started to shovel coal and Talif pulled on the cord above his head and sounded the whistle, a banshee wail rebounding from one wall to the other.
"Good, effendi?" he shouted above the noise of the train.
"Very good!" I said.
I could see the other end of the tunnel now. I pushed in some more coal, kicked the door shut and threw down the shovel. As we coasted out into the fresh night air, Talif sounded the whistle again and it echoed far away across the valley.
"Thomas Wolfe would have approved of you," I said.
"Effendi?" He looked completely bewildered.
At that moment the Landrover appeared on a stretch of road to our right. I turned to scramble across the tender to reach the machine gun, too late, for it was already firing.
As I went over the top of the boxcar, the Landrover disappeared from view again and Langley turned from the RPD and grinned. "Ah, there you are, old stick."
"What in the hell are you doing here?" I demanded.
"Couldn't very well leave you to all those tedious heroics on your own," he said. "Two pairs of hands are better than one and all that sort of rubbish. Or it could just be that I've grown to care for you."
"What about Wyatt?"
"Barzini and Nino can manage him between them. I'd only have got in the way." He grinned and stuck a cigarette in his mouth. "Aren't you glad I'm on your side?"
It stank, of course, because whatever else he was there for, it wasn't for the good of my health, of that I was certain. If I'd had any sense, I'd have shot the bastard out of hand there and then, but there was a chance that we might still need each other so, for the moment, I decided to go along with the idea while making damn sure that I never turned my back on him.
The engine started to labor as we moved into the cut Talif had spoken of. It was very steep, the banks towering above us on each side.
"Over the hill and only two more miles to the river crossing," Talif shouted.
There was a dull thud on the roof of the cab. I leaned out on the footplate and saw Colonel Masmoudi dropping in on Langley from the top of the cut.
I turned to go up over the tender to Langley's assistance and Sergeant Husseini swung down from the roof of the cab through the other entrance and kicked me in the face. I should have gone straight out backwards and finished up under the wheels, but the instinctive response of the trained soldier had me already turning so that his boot only grazed my right cheek.
It was almost enough, for I did swing out into space for a moment, although I managed to grab one of the hand rails. I pulled myself in again in time to see Talif struggling in the sergeant's grip. He didn't stand a chance and Husseini simply threw him away from him. Talif grabbed for a rail, missed, and disappeared with a terrible cry.
Husseini was at the controls now, wrenching at the brake lever. I pulled out the Stechkin machine pistol awkwardly with my left hand because I was still hanging on to the grab rail with my right. Some instinct made him turn, eyes burning in that dark face, but by then it was too late. I shot him once in the right shoulder, the high velocity bullet turning him round in a circle. My second shot shattered his spine, driving him headfirst into darkness.
As I scrambled up across