Livewire

Chapter 21

The horn sounded off again. This time much closer. The ground shook with the weight of the approaching train. He kept his cover in the bushes. The noisy engine drowned out all sound when it trundled past. The cars whipped by faster than he expected.

He steadied his nerves and fired up the bike. His eyes watched every container fly passed, looking for Emilio's mark.

There it was. A circle of spray paint at the back corner of the container.

"I've got it, Marta. Let's go." He shot forward, keeping his head low to the handlebars. The bike gained speed quickly and he was soon moving forward up the freight cars. Time was limited. It was only a few kilometres up the track to the next town. They had to be on board before then.

He checked his mirror and saw the headlight on Marta's bike approaching. The target container was close ahead. He matched his speed to the train and edged closer. The wheel started to rumble violently on the ballast. His arms were shaking trying to keep the handlebars under control.

It was now or never. He extended his leg out toward the freight car. His boot made contact. Now what. He tried to lean in and find a hand hold. There was nothing to grip. In a moment of madness. He flung the accelerator round. The bike shot forward in an instant. Using the momentum, he pushed himself up. For a brief moment he was standing with one foot on the train and one on the bike. He leapt forward and gripped the container with both hands.

He turned back and saw his bike lose speed, roll off away from the tracks, and flip forward into the bushes.

Marta sped forward, coming up beside the train where he had just been. With one hand on the container, he leaned off the side of the train, extending the other out to her. She hopped up, pulling her legs underneath her so that she was crouching on top of the bike. She grabbed his hand and jumped onto the train in one step, falling up against his chest.

For a few seconds he held her tight against him. The next suburb flew past them. They were on board. He heaved on the stiff container door handle and opened it up. Shining his torch in, the Glenroch emblem burnt into the crates flashed up. It was the right container.

"It's the right one. Leon, over to you. Over." He had to shout over the noise of the train and the wind. Securing the door back in place, he readied himself. The next part was easier in theory than in practice. He pointed at Marta, then the roof of the container, while making a lifting gesture with his hands. She nodded.

He knelt and placed his palms on his leg. In a swift motion, she stepped on then he pushed upwards and stood up, boosting her straight up. She lay low on the roof and offered her hand down. He took a small run up, then leapt, grabbing her hand and pulling himself up. As soon as he landed on the roof, the full brunt of the wind hit him, nearly sending him off balance. He dropped down low, smacking the roof and sending a clang reverberating round the container.

He looked forward. The next suburb loomed a few kilometres ahead. He could feel the train starting to slow. Leon's side of things was working, but the train would need quite a distance to stop.

He unwound the chain from his chest and crawled to the front of the container. When he was at the edge, his hands fumbled around, looking for the hole. Using his legs spread wide to keep balance, he pulled the end of the chain through the hole, hand over hand. The chain links rattled through the hole like a metal ratchet. With a good length through, he shuffled himself to the other side of the container to find the next hole. The process was the same, but a mirror image of what he did for the first hole.

Once the other end was threaded, he turned over and walked himself backwards, sliding his arse toward the centre of the container. He stopped where he thought the middle was. A moment later Marta's back pressed up into him. They turned and faced each other. Kyle took the ends of the chain and began to secure them all together using the crew shackles.