Page 64 of With a Vengeance

“Why’d you let it happen? You knew men would die.”

“I didn’t know that for sure,” Herb says. “And I didn’t know who.”

His breath has turned ragged. His whole body shakes. When he tries to charge one last time, Anna reaches for the nearest table and grabs another plate.

She swings.

Not at Herb’s head, but the hand holding the knife.

The plate makes a chiming sound as it connects with his knuckles. Herb yelps and lets go of the knife, which hits the floor. He stumbles for it, but Anna’s upon him.

Leaping onto his back.

Knocking him to the floor.

Landing with him in a writhing thud.

Anger seethes through Anna’s body, sparked by the physical exertion. She straddles Herb’s back as he attempts to rise and forces him back down against the floor.

“Tell me why you did it,” she says, hissing into his ear. “Was it just for the money?”

“Yes.” The word is half whisper, half croak, muted by the fact that his face is now pushed against the dining car’s worn carpet. But it doesn’t keep Herb from saying more. The words continue to flow in a panicked rasp. “I wasn’t rich like you. I couldn’t buy my way out of trouble. But I knew the trouble would go away if I let that engine get built. So that’s what I did. If you wanted a confession, there it is. I’ll tell the same thing to the police and a judge and whoever else you want.”

“What about the others? They also did it for the money?”

“Not everyone,” Herb says. “For Judd, it was payback. He was mad that your father never gave him enough credit. For me, it was the money. I think it was the same with Sal.”

Even though Anna had long suspected greed was the motivation behind it all, having confirmation unleashes a fresh wave of anger. Her left hand goes to Herb’s necktie, sliding it behind his head and tugging upward until his neck is exposed. Her right hand holds the knife against Herb’s throat.

It feels good in her grip.

Too good.

Like an extension of herself.

Anna knows she’s reached a precipice. A point of no return that she can either back away from or leap off into the abyss. With Edith, she managed to pull herself from the brink, mostly because of their shared history. She has no such ties to Herb, a man she barely knew and who twelve years ago decided her brother and thirty-six others should die on a greed-based whim. If she slit his throat, the exact thing he had threatened to do to her, it would be completely justified.

“Please,” Herb says from beneath her. “Please don’t kill me.”

Seamus’s voice rises from the doorway. “Anna, stop!”

Anna looks up to see him standing at the back of the dining car, no doubt drawn by the noise of the fight. Behind him are all the others. Dante and Reggie, Sal and Lapsford. All wear similar expressions of shock.

The knife goes slack in Anna’s hand as the violence that had only seconds earlier coursed through her suddenly departs. It leaves her feeling empty, hollow, and slightly confused. Was that her who’d just held a blade to a man’s throat? Would she have gone through with it if Seamus hadn’t stopped her? The very thought shakes Anna to her core.

“He attacked me first,” she says. “He threatened to slit my throat.”

Only Seamus appears unsurprised. Of all of them, certainly he saw something like this coming—and trained her accordingly. “Is that why your neck is bleeding?”

Anna touches her throat, feeling a small patch of moisture. A shudder passes through her as she realizes how close Herb had been to following through with his threat—and how close she’d come to doing the same.

“Yeah,” Anna says as she slides off Herb’s back.

“Have you had that this whole time?” Seamus says, eyeing the knife.

Anna slides it back into its sheath. “Also yes.”

“But Agent Davis searched you,” Sal says as she glances Reggie’s way.

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