BooksBarbecue
Back Whistle
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Part IAnnie
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Part IIHarry
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Part IIIAnnie
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Part IVHarry
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. Thirty-Five
  43. Thirty-Six
  44. Thirty-Seven
  45. Thirty-Eight
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Part VAnnie
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. Fifty-Two
  61. Fifty-Three
  62. Fifty-Four
  63. Fifty-Five
  64. Fifty-Six
  65. Fifty-Seven
  66. Fifty-Eight
  67. Fifty-Nine
  68. Sixty
  69. Sixty-One
  70. Acknowledgments
  71. About the Author
  72. Also by Linwood Barclay
  73. About the Publisher

Annie jumped back as Nabler came at her, swinging his arms like Frankenstein’s monster in some old black-and-white horror movie. He might be missing a head, but if he managed to get hold of her, she had no doubt he could crush the life out of her.

Where the fuck was the—

“I have it!” Charlie cried.

He waved it in the air, briefly, his eyes wild. The figure, headless. But he didn’t take more than a millisecond to figure out what he had to do. He ran for one of the closest tracks that was at a level he could reach. A mighty steam engine was furiously approaching.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

Charlie placed the figure across the rails, straddling them, one hand on the feet, the other on the upper torso, holding it down firmly so that it wouldn’t simply be tossed aside when the train reached it.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

The real dismembered head, on the floor in a puddle of blue-green blood, shouted, its eyes still open: “Nooooooo.”

The train hit the figure square on, its wheels slicing through it at the knees and stomach, striking with enough force to sever the inner armature.

The headless Nabler, lunging forward to grab Annie by the throat, suddenly fell apart, as if someone with a great sword in each hand had slashed him across the body in two places.

The three remaining chunks of him fell to the floor and moved no more. The eyes on the head drifted shut.

Chuff . . . chuff . . . chuff . . .

All the trains stopped.

The only sound left in the room was the frantic panting of both Annie and Charlie. She slid down to her knees and Charlie ran into her arms and the two of them clung to each other like they would never let go.

And for a moment, Annie saw John giving her a thumbs-up.

Sixty-One

Annie had hoisted Charlie up into her arms as they walked out the front of Choo-Choo’s Trains. He was no baby anymore, and she felt the strain on her back, but he had his arms wrapped around her neck and that was taking some of the load off.

“I saw a moose before,” Charlie said.

“I saw one, too.”

As they reached the fallen tree, Annie set Charlie down so that he could scoot under it. It was more of a struggle for her, getting down on her knees briefly to get to the other side.

“The back of the car is all smashed in,” Charlie said, running ahead to show her.

“I know.”

She was astonished to realize she was thinking about Pierce the Penguin. She was ready to return to him, to share him with the world again. A story was forming in her mind, but she couldn’t see it yet.

“Mom, look.”

Charlie was pointing back to the train shop. She turned and saw smoke was rising above the building. Moments later, there were flames.