Chapter 3: Marmalade Man

Chapter 1 Voting Results:
Readers were asked where Luke and Mickey should go after escaping the train.

8% of readers voted for Option A - Head for the Forks where Dalton Lane and the getaway truck are waiting.

31% of readers voted for Option B - Make a break for Gladstone where Annie Aldridge is staying with her sister.

61% of readers voted for Option C - Follow Jack Holley and the Gravehounds into the mineshaft.

***

“We could shoot him,” suggested Mickey.

“Shoot him? I can’t even see him.” Luke squinted in the near pitch blackness, straining to see his target. They had followed Jack Holley into the abandoned mine but their pursuit came into an abrupt halt when they discovered that a Gravehound had been left behind to guard the entrance.

The only reason Luke knew the lookout was waiting in the darkness was because he was playing a very familiar tune on a harmonica. Although they couldn’t see the music man guarding the mineshaft, Luke was sure it was his old gang-member, Davy Crutch. In the six years Luke had known Davy he only ever heard him play one song. And poorly at that.

“Doesn’t he know any other song besides Marmalade Man?” asked Mickey. Davy’s tinny shrill reverberated off the stone walls, masking Mickey’s voice.

“Marmalade Man?” said Luke as he crouched next to Mickey behind a boulder. “That’s not Marmalade Man. He’s playing Lost My Lass. The same song he’s been playing for years.”

“Lost My Lass!” scoffed Mickey. “That blow to the head you got from Annie really must have scrambled your brains.”

“I think I know the difference between Marmalade Man and Lost My Lass.”

“Apparently not.”

“The man was part of my gang for years. I’ve heard him play it a thousand times.”

“Doesn’t mean you know what it’s called.”

“Trust me, it’s Lost My Lass.”

“Marmalade Man.”

“Lost My Lass!”

“Marmala—“ Mickey was cut off mid-argument as Luke clapped his gloved hand over his mouth. Marmalade Man or Lost My Lass, the music had suddenly stopped.

Luke slowly lowered his hand, not daring to breath.

“Maybe he didn’t hear—“ a deafening gunshot filled the air followed by a loud groan of pain as Luke and Mickey dropped to the ground.

“Are you all right??!!” Luke and Mickey said simultaneously.

Luke’s panic and confusion subsided as another groan echoed in the mine. Jumping to his feet, Luke left the safety of the boulder and crossed the short distance to where Davy Crutch was writhing in pain and gripping a bloody leg.

Luke kicked Davy’s smoking gun away and lit the lantern lying next to him.

“Hey, Davy,” said Luke, squatting down beside him. “You ought to be more careful when you’re firing blindly into the dark. Looks like you had a bit of a ricochet problem.”

Indeed, the bullet Davy had fired had bounced off the stone walls and came back to hit him in the leg that was now bleeding profusely.

“Luke?” said Davy through clenched teeth. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

“Wish I wasn’t,” said Luke, taking Davy’s harmonica and smashing it against the floor. “Bind his leg, tie him up and gag him, Mickey. We may need him later.”

While Mickey tied up his former colleague in crime, Luke groped his way ahead through the tunnel to catch up with his quarry. A few minutes later he stopped again as he saw the light of lanterns ahead. Pressing himself against the stone wall, Luke listened as Jack Holley barked orders at his Gravehounds.

“Jesse, you come with me,” he said hurriedly.

“You’re not coming with us?” said a Gravehound who was holding a woman roughly by the arm. Luke recognized her as the one they had dragged from the train.

“Of course not,” answered Jack impatiently. “I need to talk to Charlie to give him an update. The rest of you take her to the safe house.”

Luke clenched his fist at the mention of Charlie’s name. Charlie! Luke’s mystery contact from prison who had fed him the information about the train heist. Luke felt sick to the stomach. Jack had set him up again.

Jack and Jesse were heading down one tunnel while the rest of the Gravehounds were dragging the mystery woman down another by the time Mickey caught up with Luke.

“Marmalade Man’s all tied up,” he huffed. “What’s the plan?”

What should Luke and Mickey do?

Option A: Follow the scumbag, Jack Holley, so he can lead them to the mysterious informant, Charlie (also a scumbag).

Option B: Follow the other Gravehounds who are taking the kidnapped Gwendle Baines to a safe house.

Option C: Go back and get more information from Davy Crutch (including the name of his song)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR VOTES - SEE CHAPTER 5 FOR THE RESULTS!

Chapter 2: Extra! Extra! Governor's Daughter Kidnapped!

A Special Report by the Port Murkish Post

September 13 – Gladstone, Haver County – A peaceful train ride through the mountains turned ugly last Saturday as bandits boarded the West Haver Express and kidnapped the daughter of Governor Jonathan Baines. Eyewitnesses aboard the train report that six armed and masked bandits burst into the first class passenger car, firing shots in the air and grabbing Gwendle Baines.

In addition to eyewitness accounts, two of the bandits were caught on tape by the train’s surveillance cameras. They have been identified as Luke Haggert, the recently-released-from-prison leader of the Pocket-change Gang and Mickey “the Mechanic” Grimsby, one of Haggert’s crewmembers.

Governor Baines declined to comment on the situation but a spokesperson assured the Port Murkish Post that no stone is being left unturned and no resource spared in the apprehension of Luke Haggert and his Pocket-change Gang.

A source within Governor Baines’ office confirmed the rumour that a request for additional support was sent to the Prime Minister. Although unconfirmed, it is believed the request was for additional support, in the form of the Iron Eyes, the Prime Minister’s elite guard and expert
trackers.

Time will tell whether the Prime Minister decides that such measures are necessary.

Chance
Will the Prime Minister agree to Governor Baines’ request to use the Iron Eyes? That depends on whether or not he feels safe enough to part with his elite security forces.

Possibility A: If an article about security issues in Afghanistan is on the front page of the Globe and Mail (www.globeandmail.com) newspaper on September 15th, then the Prime Minister will not feel secure enough to part with the Iron Eyes.

Possibility B: If an Afghanistan article does not grace the front page of the Globe and Mail on September 15th, then the Prime Minister will agree to Baines’ request and send the Iron Eyes to track down Luke and Mickey.

Thanks for your votes! Stay tuned next week as Luke Haggert and Mickey the Mechanic flee the scene of the crime.

Chapter 1: Too Easy

Prologue Voting Results: Readers were asked who Luke Haggert's partner in crime should be?

27% of readers voted for Option A - Bring the Muscle - Luke takes Dalton Lane along with him for the train robbery and Mickey the Mechanic meets them with the getaway truck at the Forks.

73% of readers voted for Option B - Bring the Mechanic - Luke takes Mickey with him for the
train robbery and Dalton Lane drives the getaway truck.

***

“Everything all right?” asked Mickey as Luke crouched in front of the safe aboard the West Haver Express.

“Everything’s fine,” said Luke, but that was precisely the problem. The entire heist was going a little too smoothly.

They had been able to decipher the safe’s combination from Charlie’s secret message in the Port Murkish Post; the rains had held off at the Forks where Dalton Lane was waiting with the getaway truck; Annie had gone to stay with her sister in Gladstone giving the lumps on Luke’s head a chance to heal; and the train had even been on time when they boarded it forty-five minutes earlier.

Even the security was a bit of a joke (although the three guards who were now bound, gagged and stuffed inside the luggage compartment probably failed to see the humour in it). Mickey had been able to disable the security cameras in less than a minute and seemed downright disappointed at how easy it had been.

Too easy, too easy, too easy, Luke said over and over in his head as he punched in the 4-digit combination on the safe’s keypad – 8 – 4 – 1 – 2.

The safe made a loud clicking sound as the door unlocked. Luke lowered the red bandana that was covering half his face and wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand. He could feel Mickey looking over his shoulder in anticipation.

Holding his breath, Luke grabbed the safe’s handle and pulled it open. The knot inside Luke’s stomach tightened. A single piece of paper sat on the floor of the otherwise empty safe. Exhaling slowly through the nose, Luke Haggert picked up the paper.

Seriously, Luke. Again? – JH

There were only two people in Luke’s life with the initials JH. One was his old barber, Jesse Hughes. The other was Jack Holley. Of the two possibilities, it seemed unlikely that a 72-year-old barber would go to this much trouble to set Luke up.

“We’ve got a bit of a problem, Mickey,” said Luke as he handed him the letter. The stream of obscenities pouring from Mickey’s mouth was drowned out by the sudden screeching of the train’s brakes as the Express lurched to a shuddering halt.

Screeching was quickly replaced with screaming and gunfire issued coming from one of the passenger cars ahead of them. “Time to go,” said Luke, pulling his bandana back over his face and pushing Mickey toward the car’s rear door. Whatever was happening in the other car, Luke needed to be as far away from it as possible.

“It’s locked,” Mickey said, opening his vest to reveal a set of tools.

“Then get it unlocked, and fast,” snapped Luke, holding his gun ready. Mickey was a blur as he popped open a security panel and set to work disabling the door’s locks. Luke felt he had made the right decision in bringing Mickey along instead of Dalton.

Twenty seconds later Luke and Mickey were jumping from the stationary train and into a thicket of long grass. They were hidden from view for the moment but they had to keep moving. Luke looked at his pocket watch. 2:30. That meant they were still a good 15 miles from the Forks where Dalton was waiting.

Mickey elbowed Luke in the ribs and pointed to a small town in the valley below them. Luke recognized the town immediately – Gladstone. It couldn’t have been more than 2 miles away.

“We could lay low at Annie’s,” Mickey whispered, but Luke wondered if he might be safer turning himself in.

Before Luke could decide between making a break for Gladstone or the Forks, a third option presented itself. A group of six men had jumped from the train and were sliding down the side of a rock hill, dragging behind them a gagged woman. Although bandanas covered most of the bandits’ faces, there was no mistaking the tell-tale orange hair of the man in the lead. It was Jack Holley.

“The Gravehounds?” said a confused Mickey who also recognized Holley. "Did they beat us to the job?"

Somehow Luke thought it was a bit more complicated than that. Luke and Mickey watched as Jack Holley and his so-called Gravehounds slipped inside an old mine shaft and disappeared from view.

“C’mon, Mickey,” said Luke as security guards started hopping off the train, “we gotta get out of here.”

“Right,” said Mickey. “Where to?”

Where should Luke Haggert and Mickey the Mechanic go?
(Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up on our homepage to receive free story updates.)

Option A - Head for the Forks where Dalton Lane and the getaway truck are waiting.
Option B - Make a break for Gladstone where Annie Aldridge is staying with her sister.
Option C - Follow Jack Holley and the Gravehounds into the mineshaft.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR VOTES - SEE CHAPTER 3 FOR THE RESULTS!

Prologue Part 3: Muscle or the Mechanic

"Are you sure this is going to work, boss?" Dalton asked.

Not in a million years, Luke thought. "Child's play, Dalton." Mickey was studying Charie's little poem intently but Luke was finding it difficult to concentrate with an ever-growing stench wafting in from the slaughterhouse next door. If they were able to pull this heist off, the first order of business would be to find themselves a new hideout.

Before he had been arrested the Pocket-change Gang did have a proper hideout. However, while Luke was on the inside Dalton had sent him a letter that ended with "P.S. Annie burned your house down."

Dalton sighed and stood up to stretch, his massive frame nearly hitting the low ceilings of the pub. “So explain it to me again?”

Luke smiled. He could always count on Dalton. His loyalty to Luke outweighed his cautious nature every time. “What about you Mickey?” Luke said. “We need three to make this work – two on the train and one waiting in the getaway truck at the Forks.”

“Oh, I’m in,” the Mechanic said with a shrug. “Just one thing though – you say the train with the payload is coming through September 8th? That’s rainy season up in the Forks. What happens if the roads are washed out and we can’t get the truck there?”

“Then we improvise,” Luke said. The rain was indeed a bit of a wild card but it was a chance they had to take. According to Charlie, the train coming through on September 8th would be flush with cash as the Murkish Bank transported its holdings to its new facilities in West Haver. With fifteen cents and a half-eaten piece of taffy in his pocket, Luke couldn't afford to miss this opportunity.

“So who goes with you, boss, and who drives the truck?” Dalton asked.

“Good question,” Luke said. It all depended on what he thought they might encounter once they boarded the train. If there were a lot of security guards aboard, he’d want Dalton along to crack heads if the need arose. On the other hand, the Murkish Bank was famous for its state-of-the-art security systems and Luke would hate to have to run into one of them without Mickey’s technical genius at hand.

“I don’t suppose Annie would be willing to drive our getaway truck?” Luke asked. A steel-toed boot flew from the backroom hitting Luke square in the face and knocking him off his chair.

"I guess not," Mickey said matter-of-factly.

“Probably shouldn’t lie on the floor like that." Dalton said in a voice that sounded quite distant. "The butchers next door like to wring their aprons out here after work.”

I was definitely better off in prison, Luke thought just before blacking out.

Choice – The Muscle or the Mechanic
Here’s your chance to influence how Pocket-change Parade unfolds! Cast your vote for who you want to join Luke during the train heist and who you think should be driving the getaway truck at the Forks. And then, on September 8th, chapter one will be posted according to the option that has received the most votes!

Enter your email below and cast your vote for how you want the story to progress. Each week, starting September 8th, you will receive story updates so you never miss a chapter or a chance to participate in the ongoing adventure!

VOTING HAS CLOSED - SEE CHAPTER 1 FOR VOTING RESULTS

Chance – Rainy Days
How the plot progresses also depends on random chance. If it rains in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on September 1st, then the roads leading to the Forks will be completely washed out and the getaway driver will not be able to rendezvous with the others at the designated location.
If it is not raining in Winnipeg on September 1st however, then the roads will be clear and the getaway driver will be able to meet the others at the designated time and place.

Check in at www.theweathernetwork.ca for updated weather forecasts.

Prologue Part 2: Charlie the Poet

"I thought I asked you to get the rest of the crew together," Luke said as Dalton started toward the cooler to get some ice for his swollen eye. Dalton Lane shuffled his feet on the dusty floorboards looking more like a sheepish twelve year old boy than the six-foot-four bear of a man he was.

“I meant to tell you, boss,” Dalton said, wringing his hands together. “Just didn’t know how, is all.”

“They all upped and joined the Gravehounds,” Mickey said without looking up from whatever mechanical masterpiece he was working on at the end of the bar.

“They’ve joined my old high school rock band?” Luke said. “They on tour then?”

“Told you it was the name of his old band,” Mickey said to Dalton. A sprocket shot into the air and was swallowed by a crack in the floorboards. Mickey grimaced and turned back to his work.

“Well you see,” Dalton said, joining Luke at a rough wooden table, the ice seemingly forgotten.

“After you and Jack Holley had your... um... falling out.”

“You mean after he ratted me out?” Luke said flatly.

“Yes, well, after that happened, Jack cut a deal with the government and started his own mercenary group,” Dalton said, clearly anxious to get the bad news over with. “He’s a gun for hire now and most of the Pocket-change crew went along with him when they found out you were pinched. He's been calling his outfit, the Gravehounds.”

“So he stole my band name and my crew?” Luke massaged his temples with his forefingers.

While he was on the inside he met a man named Charlie who seemed to know everything about anything. He had heard through Charlie about Jack Holley starting his own merc group but Luke had naively assumed his crew wouldn't have jumped ship with him.

“So now everybody’s working for Holley’s crew?” Jack asked. Dalton left and returned with one of the few bottles of whiskey still intact and still no ice.

“No, not everyone. Me and Mickey didn’t sign up with the Gravehounds. And I hear the McMurchy brothers are on their own too, but I haven’t heard from them for more than a year now.”

Luke shook his head. Not including that backstabber Jack Holley, there were twenty-four other members of the Pocket-change Gang Luke had expected to be here. "We'll deal with Holley later. Right now we've got some planning to do."

During the next two hours, Luke laid out his plan. He adapted it as he went to make it work for a three-man crew instead of the twenty-three people he had originally planned for. Mickey had joined them at the table and he and Dalton listened intently, but skepticism was clearly painted on both their faces.

“Remember what happened last time you tried to rob a train using sketchy information?” Dalton reminded him as tactfully as possible.

“You went to jail,” Mickey answered for him, getting straight to the point.

“The information’s good,” Luke replied. The truth was, Luke didn’t know very much at all about his informant, Charlie. He had never seen the man but the word around prison pegged him as a government insider collecting a fat pay cheque while doling out sensitive information to representatives of Port Murkish’s seedy underbelly. Representatives like Luke.

Lately contact with Charlie had been through secret and cryptic messages. Luke wasn't sure if it was because he was overly cautious or just liked to play games. Despite the shroud of mystery Luke's gut told him he was a credible source.

“You pick me up a copy of today’s Port Murkish Post?” Luke asked.

Mickey walked to the bar and tossed Luke the newspaper. “Looking to get caught up on current events?”

“Not exactly,” Luke said, thumbing his way to the Arts section. Charlie informed Luke that he would send him the train’s security code in a secret message hidden inside the Post’s poetry corner. Luke quickly found what he was looking for. A small poem tucked away on a page filled with readers’ submissions.

Each line of the poem represented a number from one to ten - a clever way of hiding the code but hopefully not too clever for them to figure out. If they entered the wrong code on the safe the whole train car would go into lockdown and Luke’s freedom would be very short-lived indeed.

The throbbing in his head wasn't making the task any easier either.

Charlie – Solve the Cipher
Luke’s shady contact has left the security code to the train vault hidden in a poem in the Port Murkish Post. The code is four numbers long with each line of the poem representing one of the numbers.

If more than 1,000 people correctly submit the four-digit code, Luke will be successful in opening the vault without setting off the alarms on September 8th. If less than 1,000 people are able to solve the puzzle, however, then Luke Haggert and his crew will be in for a whole world of trouble as the train car housing the vault goes into lock-down. The deadline for solving Charlie's puzzle has past. Congratulations to everyone who successfully solved it!

Click here to see the archived puzzle.

Prologue Part 1: The Wrath of Annie Aldridge

A bottle of whiskey flew past Luke Haggert’s ear and smashed into the alleyway behind him as he opened the door to the Pocket-change Pub. It wasn’t quite the homecoming he was expecting after two years in prison, but when he saw who was doing the throwing it started to make a bit more sense.

The filthy pub was empty except for the menacing figure standing behind the bar. Annie Aldridge. The love of Luke’s life and quite likely the person who wanted him dead the most.

“You get out of jail and the first thing you do is pay a visit to your crew?” she screamed as Luke narrowly sidestepped another flying bottle.

Luke had promised Annie two things: to marry her and to give up his life of crime. Two days after that he told her he was going out to buy wedding invitations buy instead ended up getting arrested while attempting to rob a train. In hindsight he probably should have called her with his last quarter when he was released that morning instead of spending it on the ten-cent taffy lady down the street.

A third bottle smashed in the doorframe, showering Luke with broken glass and rum. Not the rum, he thought. “I came to see you!” Luke lied before Annie could arm herself with another projectile. “Dalton told me that I’d find you here and I wanted to surprise you!”

As if on cue, Dalton Lane popped his head out of the back kitchen. “Is that you, boss?” Dalton said, dropping the papers in his hands to give Luke a bone-crushing hug. As Dalton’s massive hands squeezed the air from his lungs, Luke wondered if it might have been safer had he stayed in prison.

“I got the maps like you asked, boss,” Dalton said, pointing at the stack of tattered documents on the table next to them.

“Came to see me, did you?” Annie said as she reached for another bottle. It was difficult to tell in the dim light but Luke was sure her face had turned a deep purple. “You’re planning a job, aren’t you?”

“A job?” Luke said, feigning surprise with a nervous laugh. “Of course not! I’ve only been out of prison for five hours.”

Just then, a shaggy haired kid walked through the door and slapped Luke on the shoulder with grease-stained hands. “We’re going to need those security codes if we expect to pull this job off, Luke,” he said, as if Luke had never been gone.

Luke cringed at Mickey the Mechanic’s poorly timed entrance and greeting. But instead of hurling the whiskey at Luke’s head, Annie drank the contents, slammed the bottle on the bar and stormed off into the backroom without another word. Luke actually wished she had thrown it. A silent Annie was a far more dangerous thing than a raging Annie.

"If I'm not back in twenty minutes, I'm probably dead," Luke said with a sigh as he headed to the backroom to confront Annie.

Nineteen minutes later Luke emerged from the backroom with a painful goose-egg over his left eye. "I don't want to talk about it," he said, leaving no room for argument. Dalton looked relieved to leave it at that as well.

Your turn! Submit a scene!
So what really did happen? That's up to you! Submit your scene in 500 words or less on what you think transpired in the backroom between Luke and Annie. Have fun with it and the best entry will be posted on Plot Party.com.

Congratulations to Lisa Merrick for submitting the following scene:
Luke Haggert stepped hesitantly into the storeroom where Annie Aldridge was waiting. The room was dimly lit and full of all manner of boxes, kegs and barrels. The one window was so covered in grime that very little sunlight penetrated through.

For two years Luke planned what he might say if he ever saw Annie again but now, when he was finally face-to-face with her, his mind was an utter blank. It was too much to hope that this encounter would end in reconciliation. The best Luke could hope for was to survive her wrath.
Luke kept his distance between him and Annie, bracing himself for an attack.

“I’m leaving, Luke,” she said after a minute of staring at each other. “I’m going to stay with my sister for a while. I don’t think us being near each other is a good idea right now.”

Luke was thrown off guard. Annie had never been one to run away from her troubles. Even trouble as big as him. She didn’t even sound angry anymore. Luke cautiously allowed himself to think he may yet be able to get away from Annie unscathed.

“Before I go though” she said with a familiar sultry tone that drove Luke wild. “I want to leave you something to remember me by.” Annie’s hips swayed seductively as she crossed the filthy storeroom, her eyes heavy with desire. She pressed herself against Luke’s chest and looked up at him. Luke inhaled deeply as the stink of the slaughterhouse next door was replaced with Annie’s sweet perfume.

Luke took her soft chin in his hand and lifted it slightly so their eyes met. The corners of Annie’s tender mouth lifted into a pretty smile. Luke closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss the woman he had promised to marry.

Before their lips met however, Annie clobbered Luke with a devastating punch to the face. Luke saw stars and staggered out of Annie’s reach, struggling to stay conscious. A tender goose egg was already forming above his eye.

As his vision cleared Luke saw Annie smiling with a look of great satisfaction across her beautiful face. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Luke,” she said casually, “I have some packing to do.”

Luke was happy to oblige and staggered back the way he came.