"Art of Trouble" 3

After the train rolled to a stop at the Croton-Harmon station the conductor opened the doors of the train cars to allow exiting passengers off and arriving passengers on.

 

Thomas and Jade pretended to be taking in the cool air in the small corridor as passengers with their wheeled baggage rolled past them getting off and others scooted around them to board.

When the call for ‘all aboard’ was heard on the station platform Thomas covertly slipped a metal chip into the train door’s locking device. When the train began to move again, Thomas held onto the doors handle keeping it closed for now.

Jade’s heart stuttered in her chest knowing she wouldn’t be able to jump out of this moving vehicle. “I think I have to take my chances with the art thieves following us. I can’t jump Thomas.”

“You can, we’re about to clear the platform and there’s a nice cushioned hill about to come up, that’s where we’ll jump. He took her hand and squeezed it for courage.

The gesture fell short of its intended comfort and Jade shook her head. “I can’t.”

Thomas didn’t acknowledge her fear and he didn’t hesitate, time and timing was imperative. He slid open the door.

The train was moving relatively slow, relative to the stationary scenery, but for Jade it felt lightning fast and her heart trip-hammered with fear as the wind, probably more of a stiff breeze, seemed to slam into her. Her limbs locked up.

Thomas pulled her down to the last step next to him and with survival intentions intact, pushed her from the train with a sharp bark of “Now.”

 

Jade wasn’t limber, her body, stiff with refusal to comply, hit the hill full force.

It may not have been a long drop from the train because of the height of the grassy hill but it was steep enough to jolt her and it wasn’t a feather pillow her knees slammed against either.

She cried as she flopped and rolled down the embankment.

Thomas jumped out behind her but he’d landed on his feet and skittered down the hill fast enough to catch up and stop Jade’s tumbling momentum on the slopping ground, and pull her close.

“Stay low,” he whispered, watching as the entire train passed them by. He wasn’t sure if the men following them wouldn’t be looking out one of the many windows.

Jade was happy to not only stay low, but to stay put. Her knees stung and when she hazarded a peek at them she found her jeans torn and her scrapped knees bleeding.

Thomas followed her eyes and cringed. “I’m sorry I had to push you,” he said taking a handkerchief from his pocket and pressing it to each knee to soak up the small amount of blood and brush away debris. “Can you walk?” he asked, gently lifting her up.

“Thomas…I’m not going with you. I’m going to take the train back to Penn station and go home…since those men have gone on to Montreal looking for us and since they’ve already trashed my apartment, I’ll be safer there.”

“Maybe you will be, if those were the only two men they’ve put on the trail of this painting but…they probably have others watching for us by your apartment. I’m afraid they’ll remain watching for us until they get this painting or until I’ve safely delivered it to the buyer.”

“You’re kidding me. I can’t go home?”

“I wouldn’t advise it.”

“What if I go to Adams?

“You think it’s a good idea to put him in danger too?”

“No, I guess not. So what’s the plan?” She looked at him thinking the attraction she’d felt for him was beginning to wane, with every passing dangerous minute.

 “The plan, we find a place to stay here overnight and take the morning train on to Montreal tomorrow.”

“If we’re staying here its two rooms and you’re buying me some clothes,” she stated with a stubborn look that would have had a lot more clout if she hadn’t suddenly wobble like a drunken sailor. Her knees had gone weak.

Thomas caught her and nodded. “Yes, we’ll go into town, have lunch and you can shop for whatever you need,” he put his arm around her to steady her footing as they began to walk down the hill.

She hobbled along next to him as he navigated a path down to the road below but just as she expected it, trouble showed it’s ever present in her life head.

Jade noticed two men, not so casually, watching people leaving the train station which wasn’t as far away as Jade thought it would be, but then they had jumped off soon after the train cleared the platform.

“Do those men look suspicious to you?” she asked Thomas.

He’d already noticed those men and nodded. “They do. I’m afraid we’ve got trouble. I hadn’t realized they’d be that intent on getting this painting.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m beginning to think they have men positioned at every train stop from here to Montreal. We won’t be able to take another train.”

“I see…what do we do now?”

“We walk further along the tracks that way,” he pointed in the opposite direction of the station and the men, “and then we’ll walk down to the road. Hopefully, they won’t notice us. And we’ll still have lunch in town and get you some clothes. Tomorrow, we’ll find a bus station or airport to get us to Montreal.”

“And you don’t think they’ll have anyone watching those places?” her trouble monitor was pinging telling her any mode of transport out of here would be an issue.

Thomas frowned but didn’t respond to that question. “Come on let’s get out of this area.”

 

They managed to make their way into town but Jade was limping heavily by the end of the long walk.

“We should get you some new jeans over there and a first aid kit from the pharmacy,” Thomas suggested nodding to a boutique shop and a drugstore next to it, both were across the street from them.

Half an hour later, Jade, with knees bandaged and attired in an adorable new outfit, sat across from Thomas at a quaint little café.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Feeling hungry but still worried, what do you think those men would do to us…to get that painting?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

“I don’t understand the fuss, I don’t think it’s a very impressive thing and I’ve never heard of that artist, have you?”

“No, and I agree the composition is mediocre but the client is paying handsomely for it, so mediocre and unknown as it is, it’s important to him.”

“And to those men looking for it,” she added.

“Yes.”

“Maybe we should research it…find out why it’s so valuable to all of them?” she suggested.

“That’s actually a good idea.”

“Thank you, I do have some now and then,” she said, thinking she did actually, whenever trouble bothered to slumber.