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?
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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!
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