The Titanic Plan (13 page)

“
How much?” Archie called out to McSorley.

“
I’ve fallen so much, Captain,” Mick said, thinking Archie’s question was for him.

McSorley waved Archie off. “On the house. You take care of that man. He’s a good one.”

Archie nodded and led Mick out. The rain had lessened to a drizzle. The streets were slick and glowed brightly from the new electric street lamps. Mick stiffened when the cold mist hit his face. He regained his balance and stepped out of Archie’s hold.

“
Thank you for the drink, Captain.” Mick said in a remarkably sober voice, “Consider the debt repaid. And so I bid you goodnight.” He stepped away, swiveled in a military about-face, and kept on swiveling like a top until his feet flew from under him and he crashed to the wet sidewalk.

Archie rushed to him again. “I’m taking you home, Mick.”

“
There’s much peril that lurks in this jungle, Captain,” Mick whispered with a drunken flair.

“
We’ve met peril in a jungle before. We’re soldiers. No need to be afraid of a little danger.”

Mick knew Archie was humoring him. “This is real. I’m not joking. Leave me be. It’s best for us both.”

“
I’m taking you home,” Archie insisted. “And that’s an order from your superior officer. I’ll get a cab.”

“
No cab,” Mick quickly said. “A cab is too easily followed.”

Archie looked up and down the narrow street. The only thing he could see was a couple of rats scampering up the side of a tenement building.

“
There’s no one around, Mick. It’s safe.”

“
Underground. More secure. There’s a station nearby. Let us reconnoiter,” Mick said, dashing off as if on night patrol in a war zone. Archie had to race after him. Mick scampered along the sidewalks, staying as close to the walls as possible.

“
They’re on our trail,” Mick whispered, edging through the dark shadows of the night.

“
No, Mick. We’ve eluded them.”

“
Behind us. I feel them close.” Mick took off across a large square, crouching low until he disappeared into the Astor Place subway entrance. Archie followed and found Mick at the top of the station’s stairwell. “Captain, I want you to go in there and purchase two tickets then look for me at the turnstile.”

“
Two tickets to where?”

“
It’s a subway. You get off anywhere you want. That’s its beauty.”

Archie descended the stairs in the station. He had never been in a subway station before. It was warm, far warmer than the street above, with sweet and sour smells permeating the humid air. It reminded him of a Filipino jungle. He noticed an odd ceramic plaque over the ticket kiosk with a beaver on it. Archie paid ten cents for the two tickets and went to the turnstile looking for Mick. There was no sign of him. Archie grew concerned, then angry with himself for letting Mick out of his sight. He gazed over the station, scanning the stew of New Yorkers who were waiting for the train to arrive. Finally, he spotted Mick amid the crowd of people on the platform, smiling and waving for Archie to join him. Archie rushed through the turnstile.

“
What took you so long?” Mick said, grabbing Archie by the arm as the train doors opened. The railcar was crowded. Archie felt uncomfortable pushing through the crush of strangers. Without a wife or family, the closest human touch he shared with people was a polite handshake. Now he was pressed by flesh all around. The train started and Archie reached for a hand loop. A small, pretty young woman in a dark cotton dress fell back into him, pushing her hipbone into his side. As the train bumped and swayed, she jostled into him. Archie could focus on nothing else but the softness of her body and the subtle perfume of her skin. “We have to get off at the next station, Captain,” Mick said urgently. Archie followed Mick’s gaze to the far end of the car where the identical twins who spooked Mick outside the
Cooper Union
pushed toward them.

“
Let’s go,” Mick said tightly, tugging Archie through the crowd to the end of the car. The two men slipped forward, careful not to draw attention to themselves. Mick put one hand on the gun in his waistband and with the other hand he jerked the handle on the train car door. The door flung open. “This way, Captain,” Mick said, and pulled Archie onto the small open platform between the cars. Archie felt a cool blast of air on his face and noticed an odd play of light and shadows on the tunnel walls; he smelled a faint mix of burnt oil and electricity; he heard the incessant roar of steel wheels on the steel rails. Then a bright light appeared before them. They were coming to the station.

Mick jerked Archie into the next car as the train slowed. Archie looked back to see the two hulking twins standing amid the subway car crowd. They seemed to be biding time without a care in the world. Archie wondered if he wasn’t falling into Mick’s strange paranoid delusion that had nothing to do with reality.

The train pulled to a stop. Mick pushed his way onto the station platform with Archie in tow. The two quickly made their way through the dense crowd when Mick stopped short: the hulking men were flanking the exit like twin colossus. One was cleaning his nails with a pocketknife, the other was smoothing his mustache. The crowd was thinning, exiting past the men.

“
Down there,” Mick said, pointing to the tracks.

“
But…” Archie answered as Mick jumped off the concrete embankment and onto the tracks.

“
Come on, Captain,” Mick beckoned. “They’ll see you soon.”

Archie looked back. The crowd was thinning. Yes, they would see him soon. But what did it matter? Were they really after Mick?

“
Jump, Captain, jump!” Mick implored.

Archie stepped off the platform, falling a good five feet before tumbling to his knees beside the tracks. Mick snatched him up.

“
Now follow me,” Mick whispered, edging against the concrete wall. He was heading into the darkness of the subway tunnel. “It’s the only safe way out.”

Safe?!
Archie thought.

Mick had already separated himself from Archie and was heading into the blackness of the tunnel. Right before he disappeared he looked back and beckoned Archie once more. Archie paused. He wanted to peek up, wanted to see if the twins were still hovering by the exit.

“
Gotta go, Captain,” Mick said and stepped into the abyss of the tunnel’s opening. Archie wavered, thinking it was absolute madness to follow Mick. Then, as Mick disappeared into the blackness, Archie took off after him.

They entered into a strange underworld. With the total absence of light, instincts that were long dormant emerged. Archie’s hearing grew keen, as did his sense of smell. What he was most aware of was an odd, electric snap in the air.

“
Do you know where we’re going, Mick?”

“
Absolutely, Captain. I believe this leads straight to Hell,” Mick replied, then gave a little chuckle.

He’s still drunk
, Archie thought.

They walked a few more steps before Mick stopped. “Ssshhhh.” An odd rumbling distantly echoed and was heading their way.

“
Hold out your hand,” Mick whispered. “Here.”

Archie felt hard metal pressed into his palm. He knew exactly what it was. “I don’t want to take your pistol, Mick.”

“
It’s your pistol now, Captain. I have another.”

Archie wrapped his hand around the gun handle. It felt comfortable. He was an expert marksman, after all. Though his bullets were always aimed at clay pigeons, never at another human being.

The rumbling grew closer. The ground began to shake. Slightly at first, but within seconds it turned into a full-fledged quake. The tracks were vibrating and then the deepest darkness turned to mid-day in an instant. Illuminating the tunnel was the headlight of a thundering train that was barreling toward them. Mick yelled something, but the deafening roar in the tunnel swallowed his words. The train was on them like a charging dragon. Mick threw his arms around Archie then pressed himself and Archie against the cold wall of the tunnel as the shrieking train blasted by, inches from them. Their bodies shook and they could feel the searing friction of the wheels on the tracks.

Then it passed. As quickly as it came on them, the last car roared by and the train disappeared through the tunnel, leaving them in darkness again. They stayed glued against the wall, clinging to each other and not saying a word until Archie finally muttered, “Looks like I owe you another drink, Mick.”

“
Then let’s get the hell out of here and find a pub,” Mick quickly shot back.

A new light appeared in the distance. It was not the harsh, dazzling light of an oncoming train, but rather, a dim, diffuse light. They could make out something painted on the side of the tunnel:
18th Street Station
. They both let out a relieved laugh. Their pace quickened. “We’re almost there,” Archie blurted happily and heard his voice bounce off the tunnel walls. But he heard something else. Other voices. Then, emerging through the light, came two hulking figures in silhouette.

“
They’re here,” one of the silhouettes said.

“
Back to the darkness, Captain,” Mick whispered. As they turned to retreat, the gravel grated under their feet. In the quiet of the tunnel, it was all that was needed to give them away.

“
Run,” Mick said and they sprinted back into the darkness. They could hear their pursuers gain on them. Engulfed in the blackness, Mick pulled Archie against the tunnel wall.

“
Let them pass,” Mick murmured. They stilled and heard the footsteps of their pursuers pass close, so close they could have reached out and touched them. But the blackness was complete.

“
You hear them?” one of the hulking men said. An unsettling silence fell over the tunnel before the second man spoke: “Yeah. Breathing.”

“
Where?”

“
Close. Real close.” The man suddenly fired his pistol twice. Bullets whistled wildly through the tunnel, ricocheting off the walls and sending chunks of concrete exploding into the air. The blasts spit fire from the barrel of the pistol, flaring the tunnel with bright sparks of orange light that lasted just an instant – long enough for the men to catch a glimpse of Mick and Archie.

“
There!” one twin yelled. Mick pushed Archie down to the ground and blasted a shot in the direction of the twins. In the flashes of gunfire, everyone moved herky-jerky, just like in the flickers. Mick appeared to be dancing between the blasts, zigging this way and that, jittering toward the men, daring them to shoot him. They couldn’t and grew frustrated, unable to hit the teasing target. Then Mick pulled his trigger. “I’m hit,” one of the men shrieked. His gun clanged down against a steel rail. His brother shot in Mick’s direction. The quick flash of light revealed one twin clutching his shoulder, a stream of blood oozing through his fingers. It also revealed how close Mick was. The second twin raised his gun and fired. The gunshot echoed off the walls. The tunnel lit up for a millisecond, illuminating Mick launching himself in a flying tackle toward the twins. One twin tried to fire but Mick was already on him. Both went crashing to the gravel. Through the blackness came the grunts and groans of Mick wrestling with the hulking man.

A breeze blew lightly through the tunnel. The darkness began to lift as if a dawn was approaching. And then the beam of a powerful headlamp at the front of a train rumbled toward the two men brawling on the tracks. Mick was under the weight of the huge man, who was pummeling his face. Mick’s head was swinging from side to side with every blow. His eyes rolled back; his body went limp.

The second twin looked across the tracks to Archie. “Get out of here,” he yelled. “We’re not after…” The din of the train drowned out his voice. Mick lay unconscious, his arms twisted unnaturally like a rag doll.

In the front car, the train’s engineer spotted Mick on the tracks. Horrified, he lunged for the brake. There was a high-pitched shriek of metal. Sparks flamed from the super-heated wheels. The train shuttered forward toward Mick’s senseless body. Just as he was about to disappear under the deadly wheels, Mick’s right arm crept out and grabbed his attacker by the ankle. A bloodcurdling scream sickeningly harmonized with the ear-shattering screech of the train.

Smoke rose from under the engine. Crewmembers leapt from their cars and rushed to pull the mangled body out from under the train’s wheels. “No, no, my god, no!” the second twin started wailing. Amid the chaos in the tunnel, Archie saw Mick roll away from the tracks and stagger to his feet. Archie ran up to him and wrapped his arm around Mick, trying to hold him up. Mick pushed Archie away. “I’m fine, Captain,” Mick said, clutching his left side. “Now let’s clear the hell out.”