Chapter 23 - Cold Crossing
I cut the penlight instantly, plunging the boxcar into absolute blackness.
I pushed Lily behind my back into the corner between the freight ribs, drawing my sidearm in one fluid motion. The train rattled violently as it rounded a mountain curve, the wind howling through the exterior slats.
"You always were quick on the draw, Julian," a low, gravelly voice came from the gloom, spoken in an accent that smelled of old Turin tobacco and French brandy. "Though throwing a priceless heirloom under a sixty-ton locomotive was slightly dramatic, even for you."
A small flare of a butane lighter illuminated the craggy, scarred face of a man in his late fifties. He wore a heavy wool trench coat and a flat cap, his gray eyes steady as he clicked the lighter shut, letting the ember of a rolled cigarette glow in the dark.
"Gabriel Rossi," I said, keeping my weapon leveled at the center of his chest. "How did you get on this train?"
"I was on it before you reached the yard," Gabriel replied calmly, stepping closer until the pale moonlight revealed his empty, open hands. "Sarah hired me nine years ago to be her ghost. When Marcus Vance’s hounds broke your perimeter in New York, I knew the switchyard was your only route north."
Lily peeked around my elbow, her wide eyes reflecting the faint moonlight. "Did you know my mommy?"
Gabriel’s hardened face softened by an imperceptible fraction. He dropped to one knee, keeping a respectful distance, and placed his right hand flat over his heart—an ancient courtier’s gesture. "I carried you across the Swiss border when you were three days old, little lady. Your mother was the bravest woman I ever served."
I didn't lower the gun. "Marcus Vance had four snipers with thermals back there. If you're Sarah's ghost, why didn't you clear the bridge?"
"Because those weren't Vance's snipers," Gabriel said gravely, his eyes flicking back to mine. "Those were operatives of the Zurich Apex Council. Victoria Saint-Cloud hasn't just allied with Marcus; she has liquidated the family's European assets to hire the iron circle. The border crossing at Lacolle is completely locked down. Infrared drones, biometric checkpoints, royal gendarmes under private diplomatic contract. If this train crosses the border on the main line, you will be vaporized before the wheels hit Canadian soil."
"Then we jump," I said flatly.
"Not in this blizzard," Gabriel countered. "The gorge below is three hundred feet of jagged shale and freezing rapids. But there is a secondary spur line near the old timber mill. If we can uncouple this car before the bridge signal, we roll into the blind valley."
"Can you decouple it under speed?"
May you like
Gabriel smiled a grim, cold smile. "I didn't spend thirty years in the French Foreign Legion to be stopped by a rusty locking pin, Julian. Grab the child. We have three minutes before the border patrol’s radar sweeps this sector."
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