The Iron Horseman (30 page)

“I
knew you hadn’t gone far, buddy. How are you?” He scrubbed the horse’s neck and
leaned his face up against the side of Apollo’s nose and cheek. “Come on,” he
said after a minute, “let’s go get Cadence.”

Whoo.
Whoo.

The
whistle of the train’s engine spurred Levi to move faster.

“Was
that the train?” Cadence asked as she emerged from the tent, her hair newly
braided down one side. The men’s clothes she wore were obviously too big for
her, but Levi kind of liked seeing her in britches.

“Yep.
We need to get to the other side of the tunnel before they reach it. Part of
the framework has been washed away and I’m not sure the weight of the train
will be able to make it across.”

Apollo
came up beside Levi from behind and whinnied at Cadence in greeting.

“Where
did you find him?” She asked, reaching out to stroke his nose.

“He
found me.”

Levi
helped Cadence up into the saddle. He stopped and looked around the camp. Other
than the soaked clothing, nothing else belonged to them. He slipped his rifle
into the saddle holster and climbed up behind Cadence and clicked his tongue.

Once
they reached the ridgeline, the steam engine came into view. It would be
impossible to get down to the tracks in time for the engineer to see them and
stop before entering the tunnel leading out onto the bridge. More drastic
measures would be needed.

Levi
nudged Apollo faster. They followed the ridge as far as they could. Luckily,
the train seemed to be moving quite slowly on its approach, which should give
him ample time to get down and into the train to stop it from crossing. Levi
dismounted.

“I’ll
have to jump.” He’d done it a thousand times, but never when this much was at
stake. He realized he’d physically been through a lot the last couple of days,
but there wasn’t much of a choice. “Ride down the edge of the trail and wait
for me in the meadow just on the other side.”

“No!”
Cadence responded firmly. “I’m coming with you.” She dismounted.

Levi
kissed her hard on the mouth. “Not this time, my love. I’ll meet you in the
meadow.”

As
the train approached, Levi inched his way to the edge of the ridgeline. The
coach following the tender car was a passenger carriage. It would be the
easiest to land on and the closest to the engine. His head bobbed up and down
as he timed his descent.

Jump.

He
landed on top of the car with ease, only sliding back a few feet.

Thud.

He
spun around. Cadence had jumped too. She glanced up at him looking fairly proud
of herself as she gained her balance.

“And
what about my horse?” he asked, unsure whether to applaud her for her bravery
or scold her for stupidity. Either way, he was impressed.

Levi
quickly made his way to the end of the car and dropped down onto the balcony.
He helped Cadence down. “Go find your father while I speak to the engineer.”

She
nodded, to his relief, and opened the door, disappearing into the passenger
carriage.

Climbing
over the tender car and into the locomotive would have been easier without the
ill fitted clothing, but Levi made it in record time. He reached out and placed
his hand on an astonished engineer’s shoulder. “You have to stop this train,
Sam! I’m not sure the bridge is going to hold.”

Without
question, the engineer vigorously applied the brakes. Just as the locomotive
entered the tunnel, the train stopped.

“Levi,
how did you…?”

“It’s
a long story, but I’m glad you listened to me.”

“Mr.
Durant’s been in a mood ever since I collected him from those workers in
Piedmont. He’s not going to like this one bit.”

“I’ll
handle Mr. Durant, Sam. Just go take a look at that bridge.” Levi hopped down
out of the locomotive, but turned back to the engineer. “And we’ll need an
explosives crew.” He left Sam standing there, mouth gaping open, and headed
down the tracks on foot. He was joined shortly by a red-in-the-face Durant
whose eyes became mere slits on realizing it was Levi.

“What
in tarnation has happened now, Mr. Redbourne? I generally consider myself a
very patient man, but I’m afraid I don’t have much left.” He twisted around,
his hand wiping down his face and closing into a fist. “And where did you come
from anyway? I thought you were…never mind, just tell me what is going on.”

“I’m
glad to see you are well, Mr. Durant, after your…extended visit in Piedmont. I
presume the conflict was settled amiably.” Levi knew that the Vice President
had a lot of pull with the Union Pacific and was sure that to avoid any
negative publicity in the newspapers the worker’s demands for back pay had been
met. Otherwise, Durant would not be here.

“Can
we please just discuss why my train has stopped yet again?”

Levi
took a few moments to explain the situation to the man. When he was finished,
Durant stomped his feet and waved his hands in the air, throwing a full-on
tantrum. Then, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, he straightened
his cravat and headed up toward the locomotive.

“This
train cannot go across that bridge,” Sam pointed to the wooden structure
spanning the distance of the deep ravine. “A whole section of the trestle supports
are missing. The locomotive is just too heavy to cross.”

Mr.
Durant paced back and forth over the tracks before coming to a stop directly in
front of the engineer. “We will be in Promontory by Monday or the only job
you’ll be able to find is cleaning latrines along the line!” he yelled. “Figure
it out!” He stomped back down the track toward his fancy Pullman palace car,
but was intercepted by a tall, curvy, red-headed woman. Annie.

“What’s
wrong?” Levi heard her ask.

Durant
shook his head, without a word, and waved her by. A sly smile played with the
corners of her mouth, and a look of satisfaction crossed her smug face. Levi
had worked with enough spies in the military to know the kind who were only out
for their own making. And this Annie was one of them.

“Sam,”
Levi said to the conductor, “the sleeping and passenger cars, are they lighter
than the engines?”

“Yeah,”
the engineer answered warily. “Why?”

“Do
you think they could get across this bridge?”

Sam
scrubbed at his chin with his knuckles. “I reckon they could. With a good
push.” His face lit up as if realizing that would be the answer to his current
job situation.

Levi
nodded. “Thank you.”

It
wasn’t long before the train crew had evacuated each car and hundreds of
passengers, many of whom, including some of the troops from the Twenty-First
Regiment of Infantry, carefully made their way along the foot bridge, adjacent
to, but sitting lower than the rails.

The
roaring torrent of the swollen Weber River crashed against the wooden trestles,
and with no railing to speak of, many passengers clung to each other as they
warily crossed the rickety structure, trying not to look down into the swells
of what surely was the Devil’s gate.

Several
crew members worked tirelessly trying to shore up the bridge in these extreme
conditions, while a few trained soldiers braved the water to remove the
dynamite. Levi shivered at the memory of the river’s chill seeping into his
bones.

Brave
men indeed.

“There
is a siding a few miles back where we can turn around, but if we want to get a
wire out to Ogden asking for a relief engine to come and collect the stranded
cars and take you all into Promontory, we’ll have to head all the way back into
Echo City,” the engineer informed the small selective group that had been
invited into Durant’s luxury car.

Levi
guessed that he and Cadence had been invited to join the discussion as they’d
been the ones to discover the problem. He was happy to sit back and observe for
the time being.

“Time,
Mr. Eddison,” Durant said, his impatience still bubbling close to the surface.
“How. Much. Time?”

“If
Union Station sends a locomotive straightaway, sir, I’d imagine you can be on
your way by nightfall.” The nervous engineer twisted his cap in his hands, but
he stood tall.

Mr.
Durant rested his elbows on his desk and rubbed his temples.

“Make
it happen,” Durant instructed the engineer.

Sam
nodded and tore from the room.

“I
am not walking across that bridge, Thom,” a white haired gentleman with a
tight-lipped smile said from his position on one of the couches lining the
walls. “Especially not in weather like this. And I doubt many of the others
will either. Have you watched those newspapermen and sightseers nearly wet
their drawers out of fear? No, I’ll ride across if it’s all the same to you.”

Levi
watched as several of Durant’s other guests nodded their agreement. He was
baffled at the idiocy and entitlement of some of the most prominent men in
politics and the industry. If they thought walking across a foot bridge with
only the weight of a few other passengers and a little rain was frightful, what
did they think would happen when a railcar, weighing thousands of pounds,
strained the trestles?

“Dodge,
go inform the others,” Durant told Gren with a wave of his hand. “We’ll cross
the bridge and wait for rescue. Again.” He tilted his head as he rubbed the
back of his neck.

Gren
raised a brow as he passed Levi on his way out the door.

“Miss
Kramer,” Mr. Durant glanced up at the woman who sat on the corner of his desk,
“would you be so kind as to pour me a glass?” he asked with a half-hearted
smile.

Annie
brushed his cheek with her hand and stood up, making her way to the liquor
cabinet.

“I
for one,” the Union Pacific’s Director looked like he’d already had his fair
share as he held up his flask, “think this is quite an exciting adventure.”

A
sick feeling formed in Levi’s gut and that always meant trouble. He placed a
hand at his hip and unlatched the leather strap over his gun.

Cadence
didn’t care for the number of people who had been crowded into Thomas Durant’s
personal palace car as they headed back for Echo City. Something had felt off
for the past few minutes and when Annie stepped away from the man to fetch his
brandy, the tiny hairs on the back of Cadence’s neck stood on end. She glanced
around the car, but nothing of consequence stood out to her.

Then,
in the corner of one of the twin mirrors behind Durant, Cade saw Annie open her
charm and slip a powder of some sort into the glass she’d just poured and stir.
She watched her old friend close the trinket, her forehead wrinkled in thought.
She placed a hand over her belly and closed her eyes, swallowing hard.

Don’t
do it
,
Cadence pleaded silently.

She
placed her own hand over Levi’s and squeezed.

He
looked down at her.

She
looked over at Annie, then back at him. “Be ready,” she mouthed.

Annie
pulled her shoulders back and picked up the glass. She looked up and caught
Cadence’s stare in the mirror before turning back to Mr. Durant with a forged
smile and handed him the poisoned drink. He raised it into the air.

“Gentlemen,”
he said in toast. “And ladies, of course.”

Cadence
had believed the story of her mentor’s pregnancy and had felt sorry for the woman.
She’d believed that Annie had loved the man who’d fathered her child, but
Cadence had obviously been played the fool. Love scorned, after all, was the
perfect kindling for hatred.

As
Mr. Durant lifted the glass to his lips, Cadence shot up from her position on
the couch and smacked the bottom of the cup with enough force that the liquid
splashed everywhere. Annie sputtered vigorously, wiping her mouth free of the
spilled drink.

Click.

Annie
had stopped fidgeting, her demeanor now calm and collected as she held a cocked
pistol on Cadence. Her theatrics had been a ploy to get the upper hand.

Levi
hurriedly escorted the Senator, Director, and the other dignitaries from the
coach.

“Listen,
Annie, I…” Cadence took a step toward the woman.

“Annie,”
Durant said incredulously as he stood, still wiping the tainted liquor from his
shirt, “what in heaven’s name are you doing?”

She
turned the gun on him. “Why couldn’t you have just loved me? Accepted us.”
Tears had smeared the thin layer of eye paint she had applied. “We were going
to spare you. Make you a king among men. And then you had to toss me aside like
an old worn shoe by requesting someone else for this assignment.”

“I
have no idea what you are speaking of, Miss Kramer. What does that mean?
We
were going to spare you?” he imitated. “Accepted
us
? Who is this ‘
we
’
and from what, exactly, were you going to spare me?”

The
door at the back of the coach opened and Levi slipped back inside along with
the other two Pinkerton agents.

“It’s
over, Annie,” Cadence said in a soft, gentle voice, holding her hands in front
of her, palms up.

“It’s
not over. Not for me anyway. But you!” Annie spat. “You’ve ruined everything.”
Her voice turned to a whisper. “You always do.”

It
was Cadence’s turn to be confused.

“Sweet
little innocent Cadie Walker lost her fiancé mere weeks before the wedding.”
Annie bounced the gun around as she spoke.

“What
does Daniel have to do with this?” Cadence’s heart began to beat faster. “What
aren’t you telling me, Annie?”

“Oh,
honey, it was nothing personal. He just worked for the wrong man. Heard too
much.”

“
You
killed Daniel?” Cadence stood there, staring. She could hardly believe what
she’d just heard.

It
can’t be.

All
these years, the answers had been right under her nose the whole time. A knot
formed in her stomach, her hands balled into fists.

“I
had no idea at the time that it would prove to be my undoing. How did you stop
Abe and Milo, by the way? That bridge should have been gone a long time ago.
Since it’s still standing, I’m guessing you had something to do with that.”

“You
were my friend,” she said, ignoring Annie’s question. “Why do you hate me so
badly?”

“Because
you’ve taken everything from me.”

“What,
Annie? What have I taken from you?”

“But
now, you lose.”

CRACK!

Annie
dropped to the ground.

“No!”
Cadence screamed. She wanted answers. She ran to the floor where Annie lay
heaped in a clump, her body jerking for a breath.

“What
will I lose?”

“She
was going to kill you, Miss Walker.”

The
train stopped.

Cadence
looked up at Mr. Durant, gun in hand.

“She’s
carrying your child, you idiot. She loved you.” Cadence turned back to Annie
and grabbed her hand, leaning close to her.

“Tell
me, Annie. What have you done?”

“You…were…”
Annie smiled up at her, “so perfect. I’m…proud of you.” She paused a moment.
“I’m sorry.” Her head turned slightly to the side, her eyes still open, a
single tear slipping toward the ground.

She
was gone.

Cadence
bent her head over Annie’s still body. Something sharp dug into Cadence’s
cheek. When she pulled away, she saw the confederate charm.

“My
father!” she yelled, dragging herself from the floor and she threw open the
door, nearly jumping to the next coach.
My father.

Levi
chased Cadence through two passenger cars and a sleeping car before she finally
reached her father’s quarters.

“Cade,
will you tell me what’s happening?”

She
threw open the door as if her life depended on it. Eamon knelt on the floor
next to a lifeless man. He looked up.

“I
told him that stuff’d kill ya, but he wanted it anyway.” Eamon pointed to the
empty glass on the night table. “Annie thought it might help with the pain, but
you know I never touch it. Clouds the mind.”

Cadence
rushed into the room and threw her arms around her father. “You’re alive.” She
pulled away. “But you’re burning up.”

“I
don’t think I’m the one you should be concerned about.” Eamon looked down at
the man on the floor. “He’s dead.”

Levi
turned the man over, but he didn’t recognize him. “Did you know him?” he asked
Eamon.

“I
played cards with him a couple of times. Name’s Felton or Belton maybe. I think
he worked in the livery, though.” Eamon held his nose and then waved his hand
in front of it.

“That
could have been you.” Cadence sat down and fell back against the wall of her
father’s sleeping compartment.

“Ah,
Cadie.” Eamon sat down beside his daughter and pulled her into his arms.

“While
you explain,” Levi said, bending down to the dead man on the floor, “I’ll take
him to Bertram to deal with.” He took a blanket off the bunk, laid it over the
body, and heaved the heavy corpse up onto his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re alive,
my friend,” he said before turning out into the hallway and heading for Durant’s
car.

After
explaining what had happened to poor Felton or Belton, Bertram said they were
taking the bodies of both Annie and her victim to the half-empty freight car
and would deliver them to the territory Marshals once they arrived in
Promontory.

Levi
needed air.

He
hoped there wouldn’t be any more surprises tonight, but he checked to make sure
his gun was at his side just in case. He opened the outer door of the palace
car and stepped out onto the balcony.

He
needed to think.

The
train started moving again. This time, the engine was behind the first couple
of cars as it pushed them down the track. Levi realized that the rain had
stopped. At least for the moment, he swung around the outside of the car and
climbed up the metal ladder leading to the roof. It didn’t take long for him to
make his way to the engine, where he perched himself on the top of the cab.

Sam
blew the whistle, acknowledging he was there.

Levi
smiled as the cool breeze glanced over his face. Some of his best thinking was
done up here. The Iron Horseman. Once the crew had heard the nickname his
brothers had given him, there had been no turning back. They all had their
reasons, and they varied amongst the bunch, but for Levi it was because he felt
as at ease atop this engine as his brothers did astride a horse. It was
calming. Peaceful. He rode that way until they reached the tunnel at Devil’s
Gate, then he swung down into the cab and hopped down onto the ground. It was
time.

The
first coach in line was empty, other than two brakemen who’d volunteered to be
the first to cross. They were positioned on either side of the freight wagon to
help direct the single coach. After the railcar had been uncoupled, Sam nodded
at the front brakeman who nodded back. Slowly, the locomotive pushed the coach
forward and out onto the tracks.

Levi
hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until he could hardly breathe. He
forced the air out of his lungs and sucked in a lungful of the cool evening
air.

Cheers
erupted on the other side as the passengers welcomed the freight wagon. Several
more coaches were pushed across with success and, at last, it was time for
their sleeping car to travel the distance across the wide spans of the valley
here in Weber Canyon. Levi climbed aboard, joining Cadence and her father at a
seat by the window.

“Are
you ready?” he asked, placing an arm across the top of Cadence’s seat, his feet
extending into the aisle way. While the seats in the luxury sleeping cars were
bigger than in the passenger coaches, they were still way too small for his
long Redbourne legs.

Eamon
looked at him with a raised brow, nodding at his arm. He smiled.

“It’s
about time.”