Things are still going bad for the Van der Linde gang... I swear we'll catch up with Arthur eventually!
Chapter 34: The Train
Dutch poured over the maps and plans they found with in the O'Driscoll camp one last time. Colm's information, as usual, was good. Great, even. A rich businessman's private train, most likely carrying bonds, would be coming through an empty section of the Grizzlies. They had the dynamite, and the perfect ambush spot already picked out.
Now, if only he wasn't surrounded by doubters.
He knew Annabelle was ignoring him. It wasn't the first time she'd done something like this, though it had been several years. The last time was when they argued over her participating in robberies. And yes, the Blackwater job went wrong, but how was he supposed to know it was going to turn into such a disaster?
"If I'm reading these plans right, this train should be coming through in a few hours," he called over to Annabelle, who was sitting by the fireplace. "It's time to start prepping the boys."
She stared into the flames.
"Don't you have anything to say?" he prompted.
"Are you going to listen to what I have to say?" she asked.
"Are you still angry because I kept pushing for the Blackwater job?"
"No, why would I be angry? Two people are dead, three are missing, and one got his face eaten by wolves."
Dutch sighed. "You can't blame me for the wolves."
"No, but I can blame you for not having a proper escape plan in place even though we knew there were lawmen in town."
"I didn't know-"
"Arthur told you! Arthur wanted us to move the camp to New Austin."
"And they'd be all alone right now, wondering why we didn't make it to the desert!"
"Maybe if we didn't have to regroup at camp and trap ourselves along the river, all of us could be in the desert! Instead of freezing up here!" Annabelle argued back.
"Let's not waste our time on what-ifs, Anna!"
The door opened, and Hosea stumbled in, half-covered in snow. "Seems this weather is starting to break. What's the plan, Dutch?"
"We need money, for wherever we end up," Dutch said. "We found these plans for a train robbery, and I reckon me and the boys can hit it just fine."
"What?" Hosea said. "You want to rob a train? Now?"
"What choice do we have?"
"Folk ain't ready for that, Dutch. It's been hard on all of us," Hosea said.
"So, what? We continue struggling and starving? We need money. I don't see another way!"
"We won't starve, Dutch," Hosea said. "We just need to get off these mountains and then find some opportunities. Let folk rest. Grieve, a little. Try to find Arthur, Sean, and Mac.
"And how are we going to do that if we don't have money for newspaper advertisements or postage?"
"Please tell me you aren't about to pull off a dangerous job with little preparation as a signal to Arthur?" Annabelle said.
"What do you mean?"
"Robbing a rich businessman's train in the middle of the mountains so the newspapers write about it. So Arthur knows to come east and not west," Annabelle said.
"That's not the reason!" Dutch said. "This is about money. Everything got left behind in Blackwater, in case you forgot." Annabelle scowled, unconsciously rubbing at the healing bullet wound in her thigh. "And hunting deer in the mountains ain't gonna sustain twenty people for long!"
"Listen, I've been thinking about where to go next, and we're not far from the Heartlands," Hosea said. "Ranching country, livestock towns. We can easily get back on our feet without unnecessary attention."
"This is the furthest thing from unnecessary, Hosea. Those people out there are already losing the faith. They need a win. And this train job is perfect!"
"And what if your win turns into a loss, huh? What if we lose more people!"
"That won't happen," Dutch said. "Don't you start doubting me, too."
"I'm telling you what you need to hear!" Hosea shouted.
Dutch stormed out. "Bill! Can you handle the dynamite?"
"Of course."
"Good," Dutch said, pulling out a copy of the map. "We're going to set up by this water tower here. Can you find your way with this?"
"Sure. This is the lake where them O'Driscolls were?"
"Yes. Start packing up the dynamite, we'll be leaving as soon as I have everyone else gathered up."
He found Charles and Lenny in the barn and Micah in the boy's cabin. He went to the main cabin last, seeing Javier talking to a rather drugged-up John, though he was distracted by Isaac sitting alone by the fire.
"Hey, son, do you mind helping everyone pack up while we rob this train?" Dutch asked.
"Okay," Isaac said, getting up almost in a daze.
"Want me to come?" John asked.
Dutch dragged his eyes away from Isaac to address John. "Well, of course I do, son, but look at you."
"I was always ugly, Dutch," John said, trying to sit up. "It's just a scratch."
"Oh, lie still, son." He looked over his shoulder for Abigail, spotting her enter the room with Jack. "Abigail, could you make sure John doesn't try following us?"
"You are going to rest, you silly man," she sighed, taking up the seat next to the bed. "The boy wanted to see you, John."
Jack hung back, nervously watching his father. "Hey, Jack," John said.
"Are you okay, Pa?" Jack asked.
"I will be, son, don't you worry. Still the same man, just missing a few chunks."
"John!" Abigail said. "You'll scare him!"
"He's an idiot, Abigail, we all know it," Dutch chuckled, then signaled Javier to follow. "Now, railway men! Bill, you head out and start setting the charges."
"Dutch," Hosea said. "Let's call this off."
"What do you have against making money, old man," Micah said.
"Thank you, Mr. Bell," Dutch said, waving him off. As much as he liked the support, he didn't want too many people witnessing the animosity that formed between him and Hosea since Blackwater. "What do you want from me, Hosea?"
"I want to stick to the plan, which was to lie low, find our son, and then head back out west. Now we're about to rob a train?"
"What choice have we got?"
"Leviticus Cornwall is no joke, Dutch," Hosea said. "He hires private security. He's careful. If there's money on that train, there will be guns."
"If he can hire his own private train, then I think he has plenty of money to share," Dutch said.
"Dutch-"
"Gentlemen!" Dutch called out to his gang. "It is time to make something of ourselves. Get your horses ready, we have a train to rob!"
The adrenalin coursed through his body as they rode towards the ambush point and he relayed the plan. The rush, the anticipation. This was what he was made for! He'd let himself go soft, leading the gang in jobs instead of participating. Blackwater was the first major job he'd led in a long time, and it scared him how quickly that had gone south. Though he supposed there were warnings, but it was too good an opportunity to let pass. This job wouldn't be like that, he knew it. Once it was finished, Hosea and Annabelle would see.
"Oh, look at your boys," he called back to his gang. "This is what I call a crew. Micah Bell, Charles Smith, Javier Escuella, and what about young Lenny here? Always the first man on his horse."
"Just happy we're back at'em, Dutch," Lenny said. Good. Someone should be.
"You sure you're ready for this, kid?" Javier asked.
"'Course I'm ready."
"Just stay calm, keep your eyes sharp," Dutch reminded him. "That goes for all of you. No mistakes, not again."
"So we do this, then we go back to Blackwater to collect?" Micah asked.
"We'll go back when the time is right," Dutch said. "The money's safe, trust me. And if the O'Driscolls are right, there'll be a stack of railroad bonds on this train. Good money, once we work out how to cash them. Now everyone shut up and get your mind on the job at hand. Come on!" They were almost at the water tower. "Let's line up on this ridge. Is Bill there?"
"Yeah, boss," Micah said.
"You want to head down? See how he's getting on?"
"Okay."
Micah went down to Bill, talked with him for a bit, then came back up. "He says it's all good," Micah reported. "I have to say, I'm rather looking forward to this.
"Good. Just be ready to move quick, and remember the plan. All of you! No mistakes." Bill waved at Dutch from down below and went to his position by the detonator. "Okay, cover your faces. Train should be here any minute now."
A screech of brakes and the faint, chugging engine reached his ears. "Gentlemen, it's time," Dutch said, adjusting his grip on his revolver. "Good luck, all of you. You all know what to do."
The train came around the corner. Dutch kept his eye on the engine, where he would go first to take care of the engineer. But it kept coming, going under the tunnel, and he saw Bill desperately hitting the plunger again and again out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he muttered.
Nothing was going right. Had they lost their spark?
"Come on!" Javier said to Lenny, hopping off his horse and running towards the end of the tunnel. They weren't going to… they were! Maybe it wasn't hopeless after all. They could still adapt and succeed.
"Gentlemen! Follow that train!" Dutch shouted as Lenny and Javier jumped onto the train. His heart stuttered when they exited the train tunnel and saw Lenny dangling off the side, but he saw Javier pull him back up before the train went around the corner.
They followed along behind the gunshots and occasional bodies, none who were Lenny and Javier thankfully. Eventually, they heard the screeching of brakes and a barrage of gunfire. "Come on!" he said, spurring the Count faster. "Let's help those boys end this!"
Once they arrived to help Javier and Lenny, the battle ended quickly. Dutch grinned, surveying the scene, feeling the rush of success. This Cornwall had an army, so there must be something valuable on that train, but those men were nothing compared to his gang. "Are you two alright?" he asked as an afterthought.
"We're fine," Javier said. "Let's get that money!"
"We got some fellers holed up in this last car," Dutch observed. It must be the private car. "What are you boys planning on doing in there? Listen to me, we don't want to kill any of ya… any more of ya." Dutch chuckled along with the gang at that. "I give you my word, but trust me, we will."
A muffled shout came through the train door. "I work for Leviticus Cornwall!"
"Come on, boys."
"We got our orders."
"Okay, you asked for it." Dutch held up his fingers and started a countdown. "Five. Four."
"We ain't opening this door."
"Three, two, one!" He waited a second, but no response came. "Seems our friends have gone deaf," he told the gang. Wake 'em up a little!"
The gang unloaded their bullets into the side of the train, but even that didn't do the trick. Shit, these men were stubborn.
"We ain't coming out! You got no way in here," the man continued.
"That's enough!" Dutch shouted, and the gunfire ceased. "Mr. Williamson, give Mr. Escuella and Mr. Smith some dynamite. You two boys, go blow that door open."
The boys did as he said, attaching the dynamite to the train car door. "Now, it don't matter too much to us, but you boys in there, might want to take a step back," Dutch warned.
The door blew in, crashing into the floor. The three remaining men, realizing they were defeated, appeared with their hands in the air. "Alright, come on, just walk on out here," Dutch said. "We don't want to kill you. We just want to rob your boss."
Micah, Lenny, and Charles searched the train, and Dutch paced in front of their prisoners. Finally, they returned. "What did you find?"
"Bonds," Charles said. "Here."
"Ah, bearer bonds. I think we can probably sell these pretty easily. Well done, everyone! Mr. Bell, could you get rid of all this?"
"The train?"
"Yeah, get it out of here."
"And them? Shouldn't leave them alive. They'll talk."
"Up to you," Dutch said. "Kill 'em, leave 'em-"
Micah drew his guns and downed all three in rapid succession.
"Shit!" Bill said, jumping back.
That was… fast. Part of Dutch wanted to praise Micah for his commitment to keeping them safe, the other was surprised at how easy it was for him. It wasn't exactly… necessary, but then again they had left a lot of bodies behind and there was no guarantee they wouldn't talk. So, he simply said, "See you back at camp. When you get back, we'll be moving on. The rest of you, let's ride!"
They rode back fast, and found the rest of the gang packing up the last of their supplies. Charles immediately went to help John get to a wagon. Hosea was talking with Susan, and Dutch saw him look up and count each man that rode back in, relaxing more as each passed him. "Did it go well?" he asked.
Oh, sure, now Hosea cared. "A few bumps. A screw up with the dynamite." Dutch sent a glare at Bill, though Bill didn't notice. "Javier and Lenny managed to stop the train. They did good work! And we got these bearer bonds. I figure you'll find a good place to sell these. Discreetly."
"It might take a few weeks," Hosea said. "We don't want to draw too much suspicion in New Hanover. But I think I found a good place for us to set up camp. A place called Horseshoe Overlook near Valentine."
"Well, then, as soon as Micah gets back, we'll get going. Oh, there he is!" Dutch said. "How about Anna and I take that wagon-"
"Actually, I think I'd like to ride with Hosea," Annabelle said, limping out with Tilly's help.
"Well, okay, if you want to be like that," Dutch replied. "Go talk about what's gone wrong with old Dutch."
"Isaac, want to ride with us?" Annabelle asked, and the boy nodded.
Dutch sighed as he watched Isaac hop into the back of their wagon. Poor kid. He'd gone quiet over the last few days, having seen too much. Once they were settled in Valentine, he could fix it. Look for Arthur.
He hadn't meant to leave him behind. There were many things went wrong in Blackwater, things he should have done better. But he hadn't known Arthur had gone into town. And by the time he found out, the lawmen were already surrounding the camp and they had to move.
Arthur better be alright. He better be hiding out in some camp in the middle of the woods, waiting for word on where to proceed, because if Arthur was dead, he'd never be able to forgive himself.
They could search, soon. Discreetly, of course. Needed to see if the law was still sniffing about, too. As they passed out of the snow and into grass, Dutch called out, "Lenny! Micah! Get over here!"
"Yes, boss?" Micah said.
"You two ride up ahead, make sure there's no surprises. We've had enough of those."
"Me, with the boy?" Micah scoffed.
Why did he have to deal with questions at every turn? "Just go," Dutch said.
Micah didn't argue further. "Come on, kid. You can buy me a whiskey."
Hosea, Annabelle, Isaac, and Charles fell behind when a wheel broke off their wagon, but other than that, their journey was blissfully uneventful. They arrived at Horseshoe Overlook, and Dutch whistled as he took in the view of the Dakota from the cliffs. The same rush he felt after the train job was back.
"This is wonderful. What do you think, Miss Grimshaw?"
"It will do. Let's start unpacking!"
The tents were coming together by the time Hosea rolled in, and not even the old man's sour face could spoil his good mood. "You weren't wrong, Hosea. This place is perfect!"
"I hope so," Hosea said.
"Gentlemen, we have survived."
"For now," Hosea said, always the downer.
"Now it is time to prosper."
"Arthur and I could have prospered in Blackwater," Hosea said. "We were onto something big, then Micah got you all excited about that ferry and here we are. With folk still missing!"
"We have all made mistakes over the years, Hosea, every last one of us. But I kept us together, kept us alive, kept the nooses off our neck."
"Not all of us!"
"I know!" Dutch shouted. "I know, but we are safe now, and we…" He glanced at Isaac and regretted it. He'd never seen that boy look so… blank. "We'll start turning over rocks, seeing what we can find."
"Okay. I just… I'm an old man, Dutch. I just want to know folk are safe."
"I know. Arthur's going to be fine, Hosea. You know he will."
Dutch said it mostly for Isaac, and partially for himself. Susan came over, gently offering Arthur's tent to Isaac, since Lenny and Sean weren't there. Isaac nodded, disappeared into the tent, and lowered the flaps.
Dutch sighed. "I ain't quite sure how to help him, apart from getting Arthur back."
"I'll talk to him," Hosea said. "He's scared, grieving Davey and Jenny, not sure what's going to happen."
"No one else, Hosea," Dutch said. "I swear to you, no one else."
"I hope so."
"Just have faith. Trust me."