Chapter 21 #2
“Dammit, man, what the hell?” Vin raged, screaming at Sean as his voice bounced around the train car.
“What?” Sean asked, as though Vin’s objections were a complete surprise.
“They were unarmed.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “What were we gonna do?” he asked sarcastically. “Take a dozen soldiers prisoner? Just the two of us? Use your head, Vin. We’re in this too deep to start playing by the rules now.”
Vin hated that Sean was right, but he could see the logic in his actions.
There had been a lot of them, and ensuring that they were all bound, gagged, and kept out of their way for the duration of this ordeal would have been more than they could have handled.
Vin chastised himself for his compassion.
Jimmy’s life was at stake. He kept telling himself that over and over again.
But at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel as though they were no better than Chainz, executing people at will. That wasn’t something Vin was willing to become.
Sean made his way out of the car, opening the door into the space between the barracks and the next car over. But just as Sean was exiting, a remnant soldier was making his way into the barracks.
“Shit,” Sean cried out, kicking the soldier in the chest and sending him flying back into the next car.
Vin rushed forward, weapons at the ready as he moved out into the space between cars, feeling the whipping wind as it nearly threw him off of the moving vehicle.
The car the soldier crashed back into was filled with soldiers.
It was an ammunition car, and everyone within was armed to the teeth.
They opened fire after a second, seeing the two strangers attempting to enter unannounced.
Vin and Sean returned fire and braced themselves on either side of the open door, taking cover as the soldiers fired.
Vin leaned against the service ladder, poking his head out here and there to return fire and keep the enemies from advancing on their position. “There are too many of them,” Vin cried out as bullets whizzed out of the open space.
“No shit!” Sean exclaimed in frustration, seeing the entire operation going up in flames.
Vin leaned back against the ladder and looked up at it, a plan forming in his mind. “I’m gonna climb up and come at them from the other side!” he called out over the wind, train wheels, and gunfire.
Sean looked like he wanted to object to the plan like he wanted to decry Vin’s idea and offer something else. But it was clear by the blank look on the other man’s face that he had nothing.
“Go!” Sean shouted, popping into the doorframe to lay down some suppressing fire.
Vin nodded and started to climb. His arm ached from his earlier leap onto the train platform, and he was worried he might have injured his rotator cuff or something.
But he’d have to trust in his adrenaline in the here and now to see him through to the other side of this. He could worry about injuries later.
Vin clambered onto the roof of the car, staying on his hands and knees for a second as he braced against the wind. He raised a gloved hand to pull down on the brim of his black cowboy hat, hoping to shield his eyes from the whipping gusts.
He crawled along the roof, realizing that this mode of travel was entirely too slow.
Every second he took up here was another second a bullet had to find Sean.
He rose to his feet and ran along the roof of the car, hoping that the sound of blaring gunfire sounding behind them would be enough to mask the noise his steps made.
He nearly pitched over to the side more than once, and his equilibrium was completely off by the powerful wind and rocking of the car as it barreled down the tracks.
However, Vin managed to remain upright, clumsily scrambling along until he found the utility ladder on the opposite side of the car and made his way down.
He took only a moment to steel himself for the task ahead before throwing open the door and opening fire.
Once inside, he could see there were fewer soldiers within the car than he had initially thought.
There were only nine of them inside, and his sneak attack allowed him the opportunity to put down four of them.
The surviving combatants turned at this new noise, and Vin ducked behind ammunition crates.
That was all the opening Sean needed, popping out of cover on the other side to unload ammo into three more of them.
With only two left, Vin and Sean both came out of hiding with expertly aimed shots that cleared the room entirely.
The two men met in the center of the car, with Sean nodding to Vin in gratitude, once more not voicing those feelings aloud.
That was two cars down and many more to go.
But finding the kids was only the first step on this mission.
Once they were located and their safety was assured, Sean and Vin would have to continue working their way through the train in order to clear it of enemy combatants and then bring it to a stop.
Vin’s arm ached, and his mind rattled, but he didn’t have time to give in to those grim receipts from his military life right now. His son, his baby boy, needed him, and he was going to make sure he was safely placed back in his mother’s arms before vanishing from his life once again.
It was the least he could do.
Sean gave Vin a nod as if asking him if he were all right and ready to proceed. Vin returned the nod but stopped to sift through some of the ammo crates in the car with them.
“Good call,” Sean said, following him in kind. They were able to grab as much ammunition as they could carry, storing it all for later use. Vin had a feeling they were going to need it all.