Stranded At Night by Rebekah Dodson

Author:Rebekah Dodson [Dodson, Rebekah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rebekah Dodson
Published: 2020-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Jesse

MAGGIE PROVED TO BE stronger than she looked. They decided to go through the baggage car, since it was closer to the bodies, and she helped him hoist Jay’s lifeless body past the dining car, the sleeper, and then to the baggage car. It took them much longer than they wanted to hoist him three feet up into the car, then carry them to the corner. They repeated the process with Maurice, too, laying him next to Nick’s body, which had been gently laid in the corner. Someone had crossed his arms over his chest, too.

“Should we say a prayer or something?” Maggie whispered. “I bet they had wives and families and kids...”

Jesse could see her breath come out in cold puffs and a tear escape her right eye. He edged closer to her until their shoulders were touching.

“It’s not like they can hear us,” he whispered, “but do what makes you feel better, because you’re right. They were people, too.”

She crossed herself and muttered a prayer in Spanish, then shifted her gaze to him. “Do you think that will do?”

“Do you want to light a candle?”

“Do you have one?”

“No.”

“Do you even have a lighter?”

“Also, no.”

“Asshole.” She punched him lightly in the arm. “I’ll light a candle when we get ... wherever we are going. Think Amy called the National Guard yet?”

“It’s Express. They’ll probably get around to rescuing us in a few days.”

She gaped at him. “Shut up!”

He shrugged and turned back to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be right back.” Jesse hung off the edge of the baggage car door.

“Where are you going?” she asked again.

“To examine that connector for the engine car.”

“I bet I know what did it,” she whispered, but he ignored her.

He wasn’t expecting her to gasp when she saw where the bent bit of the connector had been blown apart, and the engine car was just ... gone, leaving behind nothing but tracks with a faint dusting of snow. It was past noon by now, and the snow had stopped momentarily, though the sun was still a forgotten yellow blur among the dense, gray sky.

The look of recognition on her face made Jesse curious.

What did she know?

“Thermite,” she muttered softly.

Her words were nearly snatched by the quiet, snowy landscape and the rush of the wind over the ravine.

“What’s that?”

“It's a mixture of metallic aluminum and iron oxide - ferric oxide to be exact - which produces molten iron after a redox reaction.”

Jesse just stared at her – because not only did he know exactly what she was talking about, but how did an ‘art major’ know something so complex? Clearly, she hadn’t invested in her cover.

He was one step closer to discovering who she was. Even though he knew, and had more intel than probably her own mother, he needed her to say it.

And what’s more, he needed to get it on record before they could move.

“What?” he asked, playing dumb.

She smiled slightly. “Aluminum and oxygen make things go boom-boom.”

“Well, you didn’t have to put it that way.

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