“Danny. Danny Riker,” he said grudgingly. “Satisfied? And what’s your name?”

Stone didn’t hesitate. “Ben.” That had been his father’s name. “From where, Danny Riker?”

“Divine, Virginia. Little coal-mining town just this side of hell.”

“How far from here?”

“About here to the moon.”

Stone sighed again. “Is your mother still there?”

“That’s right.”

“So you just left her in the little hellhole all by herself?”

“She’s not alone, trust me.”

“You got money to get back home?”

“Maybe.”

“You sure, or did you lose it all in the poker game? They say you were cheating.”

“They just said that because they can’t play cards worth shit.” He glanced over at Beefy and cracked a smile. “Ain’t that right, fat boy?”

“Where were you headed to on the train?” Stone asked.

“Where there ain’t no coal to mine.”

“You worked in the mines?”

Danny looked around. “I’m hungry.”

He walked off toward a greasy spoon visible about a block away. It had a neon sign spelling out “restaurant” in cursive, with only the final “T” still lighted. In his head Stone instantly dubbed it the “One T.”

Stone glanced back at Beefy and his battered goons. Beefy had a knife in his hand. If Stone left Danny alone now he was certain the men would finish him off. He’d killed many men over the years. Perhaps it was worth a bit of a detour from his plans to save one.

They ate at the counter with Stone occasionally looking over his shoulder to stare at Beefy and his boys sitting at a booth gobbling up their burgers and fries and shooting nasty glances at them from over their beer mugs.

When Stone went to pay the check Danny dropped the cash on the bill and rose.

“Thanks for helping me out back there,” he said, without a trace of an attitude.

“You’re welcome.”

“You fight pretty good for a geezer.” Somehow this statement did not come out as an insult.

“I might not be as old as you think. I’ve just had a tough life.”

“Ain’t we all.”

“So where to now?”

“Gotta keep rolling or else you die. Think somebody important said that once.”

Not bad advice to live by, Stone thought. I’m a rolling stone right now.

As they left the One T Beefy confronted them outside the door, his two mates right behind him.

“Where the hell you two think you’re going?”

“You know, I can set your nose back in place if you want,” Stone said amiably.

“You lay another hand on me, you son of a bitch, I’ll cut you bad.” He brandished a knife. Well, it was technically a knife, but it was so small and the guy was handling it so awkwardly that Stone had trouble thinking of it as actually being a weapon.

“Okay. Good luck then.”