TCB Part 22: Chapter 7: Friday Still.

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Chapter 7: Friday Still.

The airship was now flying only a foot above the roof of the armored car. The winch cable was tugging at the ship, which was jockeying back and forth in the sheering winds. Charlotte was on top of the car, and grabbed the mooring ropes from either side of the ship. She tied them to the rear of the car and the ship stabilized over the top of the reinforced train car. From the cabin, Higgs could just see the hazy outline of the city’s skyline. They would have to work fast.

“We evacuate when we hit the river bridge. No exceptions. Now go.”

Kostas was already inside the car. One by one, Phineas, Anabelle, and Higgs lowered themselves to the roof of the car. Dr. Montebanque remained inside the airship, ready to grab everything that was handed up to him. Charlotte remained on the roof, where she’d attached several cables allowing her to stand easily on the moving train. Kostas came out of the car. He would be positioned on the rear platform. The others would be inside the car. They would hand the items out to Kostas while he handed them up to Charlotte, who would pass them to Dr. Montebanque.

“Holy Buckets!” Phineas exclaimed as he walked into the armored car. “You weren’t kidding, Higgs, this is huge.”

“Get a move on, Phineas. Take nothing collectible or identifiable. Stick to gold, jewels, things like that.”

The entire car was lined with drawers, each drawer contained one customer’s goods. In the center of the car were crates filled with more things. It was clear that the manifest was more full than usual, and there was not much room to move. The other end of the car had a door similar to the one at the rear. Higgs stared at that door, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that it could open any minute and an armed guard could walk through.

Anabelle was at the back of the car, filling a sack with jewelry from the drawers. Satisfied that she couldn’t lift any more, she handed the bag through the door to Kostas. Grabbing another bag, she continued on the next drawer. She guessed that she had already loaded more value into that one bag than she would otherwise have ever come into contact with. She began to feel a slight greed come over her. She was giddy for the new life she could lead in her newfound freedom.

Phineas went straight for the gold bars. There was a crate on wheels filled to the top with gold. He removed the straps that kept it in place and rolled it to the back of the car. Two by two, he handed the 100 ounce bars to Kostas. He emptied the crate and went in search of another. Higgs walked past with two bags full of things that he handed out the door.

Higgs stopped. “I’m worried. I keep feeling like someone is going to come through those doors any second.”

“Nonsense.” Phineas grunted, lifting another pair of bars to Kostas’s waiting hands.

“No, I’m really worried.” He looked to Anabelle. “Belle, do you think you can help me out here?”

“If you say so, Higgs.” She smiled

“Can you go into the main train and just get a feel for whether there are any guards in there?”

“Are you nuts?” Phineas chided. “What if she’s seen?”

“She is the one of us most likely to have a legitimate reason to be on this train.” Higgs snapped back at Phineas.

“Phineas, shut up. I’ll do it.” Anabelle handed her sack to Higgs and stalked to the front of the car. She peered through the hole in the door, and then gave the wheel a spin. She stepped out of the car and shut the door behind her.

She entered the next car, which was a cargo car. It was carrying various staples: flour, sugar, dried beans. She worked her way past the rows of goods and through to the next car. That was when she encountered her first group of people. It was a dining car, filled with people enjoying a drink or a snack. They seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that the train was being robbed at this very minute.

She peered around the room and caught sight of an armed guard, positioned at the bar. He was engrossed in conversation with the bartender and didn’t seem to be watching the door. She spun around and began to walk back through the door when she heard the guard’s clear voice call out to her.

“Miss! You can’t go in there.”

She turned around to face the guard. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought my seat was that way. I get so disoriented in these trains. I am so sorry.”

“It’s no trouble, miss. If you can just show me your ticket, I will direct you to your seat.”

She had a small coin purse buttoned to the waist of her dress, and she made a show of digging through it to try to find her ticket. She was trying to think of how to get out of it. “I seem to have left…”

“Anabelle?” She heard a drunken voice call out from across the car. “Anabelle Devereaux, is that you?”

She looked up and smiled out of instinct, though it was far from the expression she wanted to give. She tried to place a name of the man walking toward her. She was sure that she had seen him before. It was not long ago, it was likely someone she met at a party, flirted with in passing and instantly forgot him. When he was just about to reach her, it snapped into her mind. “Jameson, I have been looking everywhere for you.”

The drunk man beamed, “You have? How delightful.”

The guard looked at Jameson, “Is this lady with you, sir?”

“Of course I am.” Anabelle jumped in. She grabbed Jameson’s arm by the elbow and linked hers through his.

“Yes, of course she is!” Jameson was clearly too drunk to know whether or not she was.

“I couldn’t find you anywhere on the train. I was about to find my way back to the seats, but this guard helpfully pointed out that I was going the wrong way.”

“I should keep better track of you, I’m sure.” Jameson laughed. “A drink to toast our reunion!”

Anabelle smiled to the guard and followed her drunk companion to the bar for the celebratory drink. She tipped back what tasted like an old-fashioned and made small talk with the man who seemed determined to keep her by his side. She had no idea how she would get herself back to that armored car. She might need to resort to drastic measures.

***

Higgs and Phineas continued to feverishly hand things to Kostas. Phineas continued with the gold bars that he had been handing off for a solid 20 minutes now. Higgs began searching the car to see if there was anything particularly valuable that should not be missed. He was pulling open every drawer. Each time he found something worthwhile, he threw it in his bag. Some of the boxes were not worth digging through. They were filled with papers and photographs, even if there were a few gold coins in the bottom of the drawer, it wasn’t worth finding.

He decided it was time to hold up his end of the bargain for his strange benefactor. He walked to a set of crates marked “ARCHIVES.” He knew that this was where the book would be kept. He had an archival number to work from. He started pulling book after book out of the top crate, but each one was not the right one. He didn’t stop to see what the books were; he just checked the archival number and threw it over his shoulder.

He pulled the top crate off the stack and popped open the second one. This one was filled with non-matching books as well. He was beginning to doubt if it was really here. He cracked open the third and final crate and started to pull out books. Finally, he found the book with the correct number on the spine. He pulled it out and tucked it into his waistband. He looked up and saw Phineas staring at him.

“What is it?” Phineas asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What’s in your waistband? Something you’re keeping back from the rest of us?” Phineas had a hint of mistrust in his voice.

“It’s a book, nothing more.” Higgs pulled it out and showed it to him.

“Why take a book, Higgs? What’s so valuable about that book?” Phineas grabbed a few more gold bars and handed them to Kostas.

“It’s for someone I know.”

“A friend?”

“Not really. It’s the guy who tipped this heist.” Higgs decided it wasn’t worth it to keep the secret.

“What else is he getting?” Higgs could tell that Phineas was doing the math in his head as to whether he could stand to split it a 7^th way.

“Nothing, just the book.”

“Wait, you’re trusting our identities to a guy who wants nothing but a book? He could blow this whole thing up.” Phineas was now visibly upset.

“Back off, Phineas, I think we’re safe with this guy. Besides, he only knows my name. The rest of you are fine. I’m the only one at risk here.”

“Yeah, well, I hope you’re right.” Phineas continued to hand his loot out the door to Kostas.

Just then, they heard the train click over the bridge. Higgs emptied a few more drawers into his sack and went to the door. “Let’s go, Phineas.”

“What about Anabelle?” Phineas asked.

“She’ll be ok. She’s a big girl.” Higgs motioned for Phineas to come with him.

“No, I’m not going to leave her behind.” Phineas picked up a pocket watch from the floor of the armored car and clipped it to the vest of his black suit. He grabbed a handful of gold coins and shoved them into his pockets. He gave Higgs a suspicious look and then put on his coachman and walked out the door at the front of the armored car.

Part 23 >