Shadow Train Read Online Free

too, and when they got up and looked around, there was no sign of the train, or of Raphael. They were simply gone.
    He had only gotten a few sentences out when Hackett stopped him. “Listen, Ignacio. From what I hear your life is tough enough already, so I don’t want to make it any tougher, all right? But if you’re not straight with me, I will. And believe me when I say I can make it much, much tougher.”
    â€œI’m telling the truth,” Nass said. “I want to get my friend back and I didn’t do anything wrong, so why would I lie? Besides—” What he was about to say next made him think of Raphael, and the sudden swell of emotion cut the words off in his throat.
    â€œBesides?” Hackett prompted.
    â€œBesides, kids from my neighborhood are called Flatliners—”
    â€œYes, your little gang,” Hackett interrupted with a derisive chuckle. “Way out here in the boonies . . .”
    Nass ignored the insult. “We have a law we live by,” he went on. “The Wu-De. We’re not supposed to lie.”
    Hackett eyed him shrewdly. “Okay—that makes my job a lot easier,” he said. “Tell me about your interaction with the guys you call the Obies.”
    â€œThey were looking for something. A treasure that was hidden in Middleburg. It was this big crystal ring about the size of a dinner plate. But it got destroyed—it exploded—when Raphael disappeared. I mean, at the exact moment he disappeared.”
    â€œAnd have you seen the two Chinese men since that night?”
    Nass shook his head. Hackett reached into a manila folder, pulled out another photo, and held it out to him.
    â€œYou recognize this man?”
    Nass stared at the picture. It was a Chinese man, about sixty years old. His neck looked thick, muscular. He had short, slicked-back hair, a pencil-thin moustache, a small goatee that had been slicked into a knifelike point, and pale eyes that Nass could only describe as scary. Even in a photo, the man’s piercing gaze was enough to make him shiver.
    â€œNo, I never saw him before,” Nass said. “Who is he?”
    Hackett sniffed and snatched the photograph from Nass’s hand.
    â€œI’ll ask the questions,” he said brusquely. He stuck the picture back in his folder, stood, and headed for the door.
    â€œYou’re letting me go now, right?” Nass said hopefully.
    Hackett turned back to him with a slow, smug smile.
    â€œI think we’ll let you hang out in here for a while and think about whether or not you have anything else to tell me that might be helpful. I’m sure your girlfriend won’t mind. What’s her name again?” He glanced in his folder. “Oh yes, Dalton.” As he closed the folder, the picture of the sinister looking Asian man slipped out and fluttered to the floor, face down, at Nass’s feet. As he stooped to pick it up, Nass saw that there was writing on the back:

    Name: Feng Xu, Deputy Director of China’s Ministry of State Security Leader, Order of the Black Snake
    Last Suspected Location: Middleburg, Kansas
    Nass picked up the photo and as Hackett approached he quickly offered it to him. Wordlessly, Hackett took the photo and headed back to the door. As he left, he shut off the lights, leaving Nass locked away in complete darkness.
    * * *
    At seven that evening, a stretch limousine pulled up in front of the Kain’s apartment building and the driver honked its horn twice. Savana Kain, still putting one earring on, hurried from the bathroom vanity to look out the window. Despite the misery that weighed her down ever since her son, Raphael, had disappeared, the sight of the limo made her smile.
    â€œOh, Jack,” she said. Then, grabbing her coat off the back of her couch, she hurried out the door. He had called to let her know he was sending a car, but she hadn’t expected anything so lavish.
    Instead of taking her to Spinnacle,