Katazin couldn’t believe how easy this was. One thing he had learned was that you must take advantage of luck. Fate had thrown a loose end in front of him, and he decided to take what he could. He gunned the engine of the BMW, pulling away from the curb with the screech of his tires. Marshall was oblivious as he stumbled across the street. Katazin didn’t even have to steer into him. A smile crept over his face as the car made violent and direct contact with the money manager’s body. Marshall was lifted into the air and bounced off the passenger side of the roof, landing on the ground in a heap.
Katazin casually glanced into the rearview mirror to see the lifeless body lying in the middle of the road. He wouldn’t be giving any information to the FBI. One less loose end to worry about.
He kept his foot on the gas as he accelerated away from Thomas Brothers Financial. A few blocks later he slowed the car to a reasonable speed and decided he would head on to Philadelphia, where there was a safe house, and await his next instructions. He’d ditch the car once he was away from the city and find something in Jersey he could use. The contacts in Philadelphia would provide him with another car and the proper paperwork he’d need to blend in as just another immigrant to the sprawling U.S.
Maybe he would even get to see his daughter again one day. Maybe he would even run into Derek Walsh.
Katazin turned up the radio as he listened to the somber voice of the U.S. newscaster giving as much detail as he knew about the first U.S. engagement with Russian troops in Estonia.
He knew he had done all he could as a patriot.
* * *
In Estonia, Bill Shepherd and his men had reached the railroad tracks. Shepherd looked at his man with engineering experience and said, “What’s the best way to knock the train off the tracks?”
The young sergeant said, “You mean the train coming this way right now? I don’t know that we can. It’s only a minute away.”
“How do we do it?” Shepherd had no time to waste.
The sergeant said, “I guess if we placed the C-4 under the tracks and blew them just as the train arrived, we could at least derail a car or two. Any break in the line could have catastrophic effects as the train rolls forward.”
“I like the plan and the chances. Let’s go.”
They had no shovels or equipment. Their mission was to hit and run and stay as safe as possible. But Shepherd realized what an opportunity this was. He reached down with his bare hands and started to pull away the rocks and sod next to the track. His example encouraged the others, and suddenly all of the men were digging frantically with their hands.
Now Shepherd could feel the vibration in the track as the train got closer. His fingers started to bleed from digging into the ground with his bare hands.
The sergeant prepared a charge of C-4 as Shepherd yelled to the others, “Take cover back over the hill. Do it now.” He stayed with the man as he set the charge, and then they both dropped back quickly. They were using ancient Estonian det cord to trigger the C-4 and had to unspool it as they backed away.
Shepherd knew the train engineer had seen them and was already trying to slow the momentum of the train. He could see how long the train stretched into the distance and that it carried everything on a mixture of flatbeds and boxcars.
They ran out of cord a hundred feet from the tracks. Shepherd turned to the sergeant and said, “Join the other men. Hand me the detonator.” He took the simple electronic device and made sure the sergeant was secure behind the hill. When the train was directly in front of him, on top of the charges they had set, Shepherd pushed the button on the detonator.
He prayed that there was enough explosive to cause at least some damage. Suddenly he saw the flash and heard a tremendous crack roll across the ground. The explosion wasn’t enough to lift the train off the ground, but it wobbled. And as it wobbled farther down the track, the wobble became more pronounced. Then the engine jumped the tracks and tipped over on its side, sliding in the endless field of grass.
Shepherd couldn’t believe their good fortune. Then he realized the cars behind the engine were starting to pop off the track as well. He looked down the line of cars and realized momentum was still carrying them forward and he was in their path.
He turned and started to run over the hill, feeling the ground shudder under the weight and force of the derailing train. One of the boxcars was now skidding across the dirt directly toward him. He leapt as hard as he could off the top of a low hill, then covered his head with his hands as he hit the ground.
He could see the shadow of the boxcar block out the sun as it came to a stop on the edge of the hill directly above him.
They had done a lot more than just slow down the train.
* * *
Walsh and the FBI agent had figured out the only place Marshall could have gone was through the front door squirreled away in the corner of the lobby. As soon as they found themselves outside, Walsh heard the sound of an accelerating vehicle, but his eyes were drawn to the body in the middle of the road.
Both men rushed to the still figure of Ted Marshall. His right leg was twisted behind him at a sickening angle from the hip. His forehead was split open, and clear fluid was leaking onto the ground.
Martin searched for a pulse in his neck but quickly determined the man was dead. Then he turned and looked at Walsh and said, “I guess this is the day where car accidents really help me out.”
Walsh understood exactly what the FBI agent was talking about.
He had a feeling his ordeal was finally over.