Always Was The Better Shot

Chapter 9

Ashe led the way back into the hangar, taking a left near the back wall and walking towards the stairway that led to her room. As she climbed the staircase, Cassidy came to a halt at the foot of it.

"Why are we going to your room?" Cassidy asked.

"We need a place that we can plan in quiet, with privacy," Ashe replied, continuing her ascent. "Don't get any funny ideas, farm boy," she teased, punching in the code to her room. Cassidy climbed up after her, following her into her room. It was brightly lit by the large window that dominated the left wall, illuminating the king-sized bed that sat in the back middle of the room. The room itself was modestly decorated, the most notable being a few expensive paintings hanging on the wall, an antique rifle resting on a polished oak shelf, and a set of solid gold bullets lined up on her wardrobe. Next to them were a few framed photos; pictures of Ashe's chopper bike, the original Deadlock gang, and...

"Soooo, what do you think we're going to have to add to the plan?" Ashe asked, quickly slamming one of the photographs facedown on the wardrobe, but not before Cassidy saw his own face on it. He decided to let it slide, taking a seat at the chair behind her desk, stretching out.

"Well, since Talon is going to be "intercepting" the cargo before it reaches Las Vegas, they'll probably be dropping their foot soldiers on it at half the speed of sound a few hundred miles out," Cassidy said as Ashe crossed over to her bed, taking a seat on the edge facing towards him. "That means, we'll have to neutralize and remove all the Diamondbacks on the train, and take them and The Western Sunrise back to base before Talon makes their drop." He took off his hat, tossing it on top of the desk behind him. "That way, it'll look like the Diamondbacks bailed on Talon, or lied to them in the first place."

"Right, but that's easier said than done," Ashe remarked, crossing her legs, "Like you said, the train will be moving at a high speed, so how the hell are we supposed to get the Diamondbacks and the bomb off it in the first place? Let alone get on it to begin with?"

"How stable is the bomb? Is there any way we could roll it off the train without setting it off?"

"At half the speed of sound? I wouldn't risk it," replied Ashe, her brow furrowed in concentration.

They both sat in silence for a few minutes, occasionally throwing out ideas on how to accomplish their task, but yielding no reasonable solutions. After a few more minutes, Cassidy sat up straight, mulling over a thought. "You got something?" Ashe asked.

"I think I do. The station in Las Vegas tracks the train, right? To make sure there aren't any complications?"

Ashe nodded. "Usually, to make sure the train isn't having problems or to keep an eye on it in case people do what we're about to do."

Cassidy snapped his fingers, leaning forward in his chair. "Here's what we'll do. Since we can't take the bomb and the Diamondbacks off the train safely, we'll just move them all to the back of the train and separate the car from the rest of them."

Ashe stood up and started pacing, processing what Cassidy had suggested. "All we have to do then," she said excitedly, "Is decrease the speed of the train to match the car detaching, so the station doesn't notice a sudden increase in the train's speed once it's pulling less weight."

"Will the train be operated manually?"

"No, it's all automated, which means we can remotely change the speed if we can hack into it."

"Perfect," Cassidy replied, smoothing back his brown hair. "We can get on the train as it picks up speed, and as long as everything goes according to plan, this'll be a piece of cake."

Ashe gave him an amused look. "You act like taking out over a dozen well-armed Diamondbacks while on the clock will be easy."

"Nothing we can't handle," Cassidy winked.

"Alright," Ashe said, clapping her hands together and moving towards the door. "We've got a train to catch."

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The rest of the day was full of preparation for the upcoming heist. Ashe had gathered her crew together and went through the plan. It was pretty straightforward: Ashe, Cassidy, Gianna, and Travis would be hopping on to the train after it left the station at midnight the next night, just as it began to pick up speed. If they hopped on before the train departed, they would be found by the Diamondbacks if they did a sweep of the train. After the train was well on its way to Las Vegas, the team would move through the train and neutralize the Diamondbacks on board. After The Western Sunrise was secure, the Deadlock members plus Cassidy would move the Diamondbacks and the bomb into the backmost car of the train. Gianna, with her adequate hacking skills, would then sync up with the train's system from the back of the train while Travis set the explosives on the coupling between the cars.

Once all that was done, Gianna and Travis would simultaneously decrease the speed of the train while separating the car from it. The four of them would then stay in the car, with both the bomb and the unconscious Diamondbacks, as it lagged behind the train, waiting for the rest of the crew to catch up with them. If everything went according to plan, The Western Sunrise would be safe from Talon's hands, the Deadlock gang would be able to turn in the Diamondbacks gang members they had captured to the authorities for a pricey reward, and Talon would get "payback" against Marco and the rest of his crew, ensuring the safety of the Deadlock Gang as well as get rid of their competition as the ruling criminal authority of the South-West.

A pretty good plan, in Cassidy's estimation. It wasn't up to Overwatch standard, but then again, it didn't have the strategic genius of Jack or Gabriel in it to make it that way. He was leaning against a wall in the hangar, watching Ashe boss people around and yell at slackers. Everything had to be ready for tomorrow night, which meant that everyone would be working well into the morning. Travis had already assured Ashe multiple times that he had enough explosives to pull off his part of the job, and Gianna was researching into the cargo train's operating system, looking for weaknesses that she could exploit. Lauren was studying the route that the train would take, getting a feel for where she and the crew would have to pick up the cargo, and a sour-faced man named Josh was tuning up the crew's bikes, making sure they were in prime condition for the job.

Seeing the bikes reminded Cassidy of something he needed to do. He straightened up and walked past Ashe, who was too busy shouting at two crew members who had managed to somehow melt the engine of one of the bikes, out into the slowly darkening gorge. While taking a bike to his destination would be quicker, a walk was what Cassidy had in mind. It wasn't too far away, and people spent too much time using machines to move them around these days. A nice stroll through the canyon would do quite nicely.

By the time that Cassidy had reached his destination, the moon was high in the sky shining down on him. He skirted a few large cacti that grew alongside the road he'd been walking along and then moved towards a small canyon that branched off from the main one. The rusty tire surrounded by dead shrubs that lay outside the mouth of this canyon meant that it was the right one. Hopefully what Cassidy had left here had gone unnoticed by others who had traveled along this road. He started down that canyon, the walls casting a shadow over the entire gorge. He walked for a few minutes before putting his hand against the wall, feeling his way around in the dark. It wasn't long before his hand felt a large opening in the wall. A small cave, one he'd been looking, or rather feeling for... Cassidy held his breath and looked inside. Despite the darkness, he could make out a bit of color and the glint of light reflecting off of polished chrome. He let out a relieved sigh. It was still there. Now, it was time to go give Ashe a gift.