A SINGLE COIN TO HEAL A BROKEN HEART

The freight train shuddered violently as the heavy brakes locked against the steel wheels, bringing the massive convoy to a screeching halt in the middle of a dense mountain pass.

Thomas scrambled to his knees, ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder, and peered through the narrow wooden slats of the boxcar. Two miles ahead, illuminated by floodlights, the tracks were blocked by heavy barricades and three state trooper cruisers parked across the maintenance crossing.

""Is it the police?"" Elena whispered, gathering Leo into her arms. The child stirred, waking with a soft, frightened cry.

""Too fast for state troopers,"" Thomas muttered, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the scene. ""Troopers wouldn't have known which freight car we boarded or had the rail company halt an interstate train in the middle of nowhere without a multi-agency alert. Vance owns the regional rail dispatch. Those aren't real troopers.""

As if confirming his suspicion, four men stepped out from behind the cruisers. They wore tactical gear, but lacked standard badges, and every man carried an assault rifle fitted with night optics. They began moving down the length of the train, opening boxcar doors one by one, methodically clearing the convoy from the engine backward.

They had twenty cars between them and the search team. Less than four minutes before their door was rolled open.

""We jump,"" Thomas said, turning back to Elena.

""Thomas, we're on a high trestle bridge,"" Elena said, her voice shaking as she looked out the opposite side.

Through the opening, the ground fell away into a black abyss. Below the tracks lay a roaring mountain river, swollen by autumn rains, foaming white over jagged rocks eighty feet down. Jumping into the gorge was suicide. Running down the tracks was a firing squad.

Thomas grabbed the suppressed pistol from the hay where he had placed it. He checked the magazine. Four rounds left.

""We don't jump into the river,"" Thomas said, pointing toward the heavy steel undercarriage beneath their car. ""The maintenance catwalk hangs two feet under the rail bed. We drop down into the iron frame and let them search an empty car.""

He slid open the opposite door just six inches. The freezing spray from the river hit them instantly.

Thomas lowered himself first, wrapping his legs around the cold steel girders, hanging suspended over the roaring void. ""Elena, hand me Leo.""

Elena’s hands trembled as she passed the boy through the narrow opening. Leo looked down into the swirling black water below, his little fingers digging into Thomas's bloody shirt.

""Hold on to me, Leo,"" Thomas commanded softly, pulling the child against his chest and locking his legs around the girder. ""Don't let go.""

Elena lowered herself down next, her boots finding purchase on the narrow steel mesh of the catwalk.

Just as she pulled the boxcar door shut above them, heavy boots climbed into the car directly overhead. The floorboards creaked as flashlights swept the interior.