The locomotive started into action, and pulled its trail of cars out of the station shortly before noon and on time. Halstead settled in with his own copy of the same newspaper, giving glances at the back of the head seven rows directly in front of him while catching up on the current events in postwar Germany.
Halstead became absorbed in a description of the first Soviet Congress of Germany, which was to soon meet in Berlin and assume the power of leadership of the country that was then currently vested in the socialist Council of People’s Representatives. He became so absorbed that he didn’t notice the other traveler’s rise from his seat until the latter was almost out of the car, jerking open the sliding door that led to the No Man’s Land between railcars.
Halstead dropped his newspaper onto the empty seat beside him and pushed himself up into the aisle between the rows. Then he pushed himself forward, past the seated soldiers and civilians who all gave off the aroma of bodies not washed on a daily basis. Once he reached the same door the other had passed through, he paused to steel himself, then jerked it open as well.
The man with the still-full moustache looked up uncomprehendingly from his stance firmly set between the two cars, from the steaming urine dissipating onto the track passing underneath, at the man whose head was still wrapped in bandages. Then his eyes acquired an evil glare of an unwavering intensity that made its recipient shudder. Halstead forced himself to take one step forward as he considered the likelihood of his victim’s body and face being mangled beyond recognition beneath the speeding train, then allowed himself to take one step back after he considered the uncertainty of that outcome and the number of potential witnesses sitting in either car.
Halstead turned around, walked back through the railcar from which both men had emerged, and retook his seat at the rear of that car. The corporal returned a minute later, apparently unfazed by another’s observation of his urination. Both men settled in for the long ride across the heart of Germany, across countryside and past picturesque villages.
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