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reached for something behind him.
    Sam had his gun out of his holster and pointed directly at the old man long before he was able to lift a single bony finger.  Elbow straight, Sam aimed it squarely at the man’s chest.  A frown drew the porter’s large wrinkled forehead out from beneath his cap, but otherwise did not move.
    Christ, Sam hated bystanders.
    From the corner of his eye, he could see the copper-haired woman take another step.  “Ma’am, I suggest you don’t make another move.”
    She froze.
    “Now, if you could kindly move this way,” he told her while keeping the gun strained on the porter.  With his peripheral vision, he kept a watchful eye on the small audience they had begun to grow.  He hadn’t wanted this.  He preferred apprehending his criminal quietly and with no fuss.
    “Who are you?” the porter asked, clearly alarmed now.  “What are you after?  A ransom?”
    “You could say that.”  Sam glanced out the window and noticed the train picking up speed.  No time for small talk or explanations.
    Moving his attention to the copper-haired woman, he said, “Ma’am?  I’d like for us to get off this train nice and calmly.  When we reach our destination, you can relish in the spotlight all you like.  But for now, you will come willingly and quietly.  However, if you insist on creating a production, be well warned, I will resort to physical force if needed.”
    To his surprise , her eyes rounded not in fear as he would have suspected, but pure unadulterated rage.  “How dare ye threaten me?”
    “Easily.  Now, if you wouldn’t mind, move that sweet little rump over here so we can disembark from this bloody train.”
    “Just hold on now,” the porter said, still not willing to surrender Ivy so easily.  “Let’s try and talk this over.  Can we not come to some type of understanding?  I’m sure we can agree on some form of negotiation.”
    Sam could feel the train pick up speed.  Ah, hell.  Narrowing his gaze to appear more threatening, he said, “Stop the damn train.”
    “Please, sir, try and be reasonable.”
    “Listen, Gramps” Sam barked, “I would love nothing more than to sit over a cup of coffee discussing the matter with you, but quite frankly, I don’t have the damn time.  So could you so kindly stop this goddamn train?  Now. ”
    To Sam’s surprise, the man unexpectedly straightened, looking younger than his ninety something years, looked Sam in the eye and informed him, “I cannot do that.  I cannot allow you to take this woman unwillingly from the train.”
    Christ, Sam hated damn heroes.  Now he’d have to get nasty.
    Raising the barrel end of his gun, he aimed it directly between the man’s eyes and snarled, “Stop this train, or I’ll blow a hole straight through your brain.”
    Allison Radford let out a cry , then collapsed at her husband’s feet, while another passenger made a hasty exit out of the car.
    The porter continued to stand there maintaining eye contact with Sam.  Then when Sam thought he would not relent, he finally buckled under Sam’s hard gaze and stepped aside.  “I’m sorry, ma’am.  I have a wife and grandchildren to consider.”
    Then to Sam, “You’re going to regret this young man.”
    “Hell, I already am,” Sam muttered, recalling how simple he had thought this capture would be.
    His attention shot to the copper-haired woman and noticed the anger in her eyes was swiftly replaced by fear.  Immediately, he went on edge.  She was going to flee.  He could feel it.  Even from a moving train.  Damn.
    Sure enough, she turned and bolted for the vestibule.  Without hesitation, Sam dived for her.  But to his surprise, the porter intervened, throwing his brittle frame in front of Sam and blocking his way.
    “Ah damnation,” Sam grumbled, before releasing a low growl and bringing the butt end of his gun down hard against the man’s temple.  The old man went down in a heap in the middle of the aisle.  Some