Able 31 - Ghost Train by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nobody spoke.

Nobody asked what in hell a ghost train was. No eyebrows went up. Nobody even changed his expression.

Lyons and Gadgets sat on opposite sides of the massive old table. When Brognola began speaking, Lyons had been gazing straight ahead. Both his forearms were on the table, his hands together, fingers laced. His gaze was fixed on the opposite wall, beyond the table and behind Gadgets.

Gadgets, for his part, had been drawing geometric doodles on the side of his white Styrofoam coffee cup.

The Ironman's only movements had been the slow, alternate tightening then relaxing of his hands. Occasionally he would disengage the fingers on one hand and curl them into his palm, making a fist. Then, just as unobtrusively, he would relax the fist again. The whole process was so slow and deliberate that it would have passed largely unnoticed in most other settings.

When the chief made his announcement, Lyons hesitated only for a fraction of a second, then resumed the slow process, shifting the tension from one arm to the other.

Blancanales, who had been sitting with his arms folded over his chest, showed no expression whatsoever. And Gadgets simply made a slight frown and continued his drawing, although it took the form of block letters spelling the words, GHOST TRAIN.

Far from being upset at the indifference his men displayed, Brognola was secretly delighted by it.

Under other circumstances, their apparent lack of attention might have been a breach of protocol. In the military, for instance, the HMFIC—Brognola had picked up the term from Lyons, who said it was a commonplace label used in the LAPD to refer to Head Motherfucker in Charge—would demand a sit-up-and-look-sharp display of attention before even beginning a briefing. Most large corporations, for that matter, would demand likewise.

Stony Man Farm was different.

One of the perks of the largely thankless job of getting your ass shot off to protect people you didn't even know was a certain informality that would not be allowed elsewhere.

Brognola knew his men. They didn't have to be told to pay attention.

He also knew fighting men in general. And, in the manner of a good leader, he understood that their apparent indifference was all a part of the animal. If he had said, "You're going to ride that ghost train into hell and arrest the devil himself," the reaction would have been the same.

Ditto if he had added, "And only one of the three of you will survive it." It was all pan and parcel of being a warrior.

The men of the Special Forces, or Seal Team Six, or the old Delta Force were just the most publicized examples of the species. But the traits were shared by all types of commandos.

Part of it was training. Part of it came from pride. And still a third part was courage, in the form of acceptance of danger.

The courage part was difficult to explain. But like the concept of obscenity, in the words of one U.S. Supreme Court Justice: "You can't define it, but you know it when you see it.

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