Midnight Runner - Jack Higgins [88]
"Now what?" Billy demanded.
"I'll cross to that rear wagon and you stay here. When I get there, shoot Casey in the head. Knock him off the roof for me. Kelly's looking the other way. He won't see."
"Then what?"
"I'll entice Kelly down. It's a chance we'll have to take that he'll behave as I expect."
"Okay, you're the boss."
Dillon stepped out on the walkway, started across the swaying cars, and reached the rear door of the explosives car, the ladder up to the roof beside it. He turned and waved to Billy. Casey was trying to light a cigarette, the AK across his knees as he sat there. Billy took careful aim and shot him in the head, the muted crack of the silenced AK drowned in the noise of the train. Casey keeled over, slid down the slightly curved roof, and went over the edge, rifle and all.
Dillon looked back to the body at the side of the track, waited until the train went round another curve, then he mounted the ladder and peered over the edge. Kelly squatted there on the other roof, unaware that Casey had gone.
Billy had stepped back inside the guard's van out of sight. Dillon eased slightly down the ladder and called, "Kelly, help me." He went down the ladder all the way now and stood waiting, his AK ready.
The voice, muffled by the train noises, was difficult to hear, but Kelly looked round and Billy watched, ready to shoot him if necessary. Kelly got up, slung his rifle over one shoulder, crossed to the end of the front car, and jumped to the second. He stood there, swaying, then came on.
"Casey, where are you?" he called as he reached the edge.
"Dead and gone, but you've got me, your old friend Sean Dillon." Dillon trained the AK on him. "Come on down or you're a dead man, too, and if I don't get you, my friend will," and Billy stepped out of the guard's van.
"Holy Mother of God, you, Dillon! It can't be."
"I said get down here."
Kelly did as he was told. Dillon took the AK from him and threw it down to the side of the track. He opened the door to the inside of the car as Billy joined them.
"Get in there," and he shoved Kelly in. "Open the outside door, Billy."
Billy did as he was told, and the interior was flooded with light. "Right, show me what Keenan did."
"Jesus, Dillon, he'll kill me." It was an instinctive and stupid reply.
Billy decided to take a hand and played the bad guy. "It's a waste of time, Dillon. Just let me throw him out."
"But he'd break his neck," Dillon said. "I mean, we're doing about forty miles an hour."
"So what?"
Billy rammed the muzzle of his AK into Kelly's stomach, forcing him back to the open door, and he cracked.
"No, Dillon, I'll show you."
"Get on with it, then."
Kelly turned to the boxes of explosives. "Barry put chemical fuses in this lot. They're linked by the det cord to the next car."
"And what's in there?"
"Semtex. They're on ten-minute timer pencils."
"Good. Now get a grip on that det cord and yank out the fuses." Kelly did as he was told. "There you go. That was easy, wasn't it? Now, next door and you can tackle the Semtex."
I t was at the same moment that Keenan happened to turn and saw, to his surprise, that there was no sign of his men. They were very close to the bridge now, he could see it a mile ahead, as the defile through which the train ran widened. Uneasy, he mounted the walkway over the coal tender and water tank and reached the first car. The trap door in the roof was open. He'd done that deliberately to alleviate the heat inside--it wasn't good for Semtex, which could become unstable. He heard voices and peered in.
Billy had opened the sliding door, and Kelly, who had ripped out the chemical fuses and det cord, was removing the pencil timers from the Semtex. He turned to throw them out through the open door, and Keenan, in a blind rage, drew his Browning from his pocket.
"You stupid bastard!" He shot Kelly twice in the back, driving him out through the open door.
Billy fired up at him and