No Tears | NR

Chapter 8

In a train a few miles out of Vienna, Austria

"Hi. Do you want to buy anything?", a young woman dressed in a blue blazer and skirt that was dyed the same color, asked with a thick accent. She was walking through the aisle selling coffee and snacks to the passengers on the train.

Natasha had decided that they should take trains whenever possible because she didn't want to risk being recognized at airports. That meant that they had been on trains for nearly two days straight. Europe might be the second-smallest continent, but that didn't mean that it wasn't still big.

During most of the trip, Yara had worked on her laptop researching men who were Russian generals. The research hadn't proven to be very helpful, because there were too many possible candidates who could have been on the other end of the phone call with Gunderson. She had also managed to hack into the corrupt CEO's phone which had been surprisingly simple, considering that he lead a computer science company, and waited for him to talk to the 'General' again. Yara hoped that she would be able to track the call, although she knew perfectly well that it was unlikely it would work. She had still decided that it was worth a shot.

The lady reached Yara and Natasha. The latter was hiding her face, pretending to be asleep. Yara gave the young woman a short nod and told her quietly that she wanted to get two cups of coffee. She get her wallet out from her backpack which was in a compartment above her head which she could barely reach and pulled out a ten-Euro note. Yara handed the money over as she accepted two paper cups from the lady.

Once the young woman had moved on to serve other passengers, Yara nudged the redhead with her elbow trying to get her attention.

"Get up. We're about to arrive in Vienna. I got you some coffee."

Natasha groaned quietly.

"You know that I wasn't sleeping, right?"

"Doesn't change the fact that you have to get up."

The redhead was about to reply, but she was interrupted by the conductor's indistinct voice which sounded through the speakers and was drowned out by passengers getting up from their seats and getting their luggage. The voice announced once in German, then in Polish, and finally in English that they were about to arrive at their final stop.

"Attention all passengers. We are about to arrive at Vienna Central Station. This train terminates here. All passengers are required to leave this train upon arrival. Please don't forget your belongings. Exit is to the right in the direction of travel. Thank you for traveling with ÖBB. We hope to welcome you back on board soon. Have a good rest of your day."

They had left the train once it stopped blending in seamlessly with the rest of the passengers. Natasha was wearing her distinct red hair in a braid underneath a baseball cap. A pair of sunglasses shielded her face from any curious looks.

Their next train was going to depart from a platform at the other end of the busy train station in a little over half an hour. They had walked around the station trying not to stay in one place for too long. The Avenger had been worried that she might get recognized here. She had some fairly recent history in Austria's capital. About five minutes before their train was set to depart, they finally made their way over to the platform where a train was already waiting. The two women walked towards the end of the platform and got on the train's front coach hoping that fewer people would be there. They sat down next to each other and Yara placed her backpack in her lap. They sat in silence for a while, waiting for the doors to close and the train to start moving.