"There, those grey cars. They're tankers and they have places along the sides where if you duck down, you can lay there and not be seen at all unless the rail police are really suspicious." Sky pointed toward the back of the immense train. There had to be a hundred or more cars.

They heard a metallic shudder and the car carrier below them seemed to quiver as the wheels spun trying to gain traction. Metal against metal, the squeaks and squeals were deafening as the behemoth began to move.

Dan slipped out of the bushes, sliding down the steep grass covered slope dragging his pack behind him. When he hit the bottom, he swung it to his shoulders. Sky cursed as he hit a rock with his right buttock cheek, knowing the bruise would be a major sore point for days.

The train was picking up speed as the grey cars approached and he followed Dan's loping stride until his buddy's feet slipped by his nose. This was it, he had to catch this car, and his lungs strained as he ran flat out, until he was ahead of the ladder running up to the roof of the tanker car.

Leaping with everything he had, he caught the rung above his head, his legs flailing in mid air as he struggled to haul himself up and gain foothold.

"Come on Sky, you can do it, you useless twit," Dan shouted.

"Fucking asshole, calling me useless will you! Who the fuck always has your back?" Sky grunted as he swung his legs into the open topped metal container running along the side of the car.

"We made it! I'll get the radio out. I've got an extra battery for it, so let's see what we can hear about where this one is going."

"Hopefully up the coast to Santa Cruz and then over to Mexico City. Man, it's picking up speed now. We barely made it on board! I hope your Spanish isn't as rusty as mine, I barely understood what the clerk was trying to tell me in the hotel." Sky pushed his pack down so it couldn't be seen, hiding it behind the sturdy cloud grey steel.

"Here's the radio, I've got it on scan, I hope it doesn't take long to zero in on their frequency. My Spanish is good, remember Mom spoke spoke Spanish. She made sure I learned. It's all we spoke at home until I was into my teens." Dan tucked his hat under his leg and let the breeze flip through his shaggy black hair.

"Get a look at that. I can't wait till we get down onto the cliffs by the Pacific." Sky didn't like to dwell on Dan's mother. She passed away from aggressive breast cancer while they were on a critical mission in Iraq. He went with him to lay yellow roses on her gravestone when they finished their mission.

The radio squawked, and Dan listened intently as rapid fire words were exchanged.

"Santa Cruz then up to Mexico City. We got lucky,"

"Well we're safe for now I hope." Sky said.

"We are, they're not stopping till they make the port at Santa Cruz. They'll be off loading all those container cars we saw. I think they're leaving them on a siding at the port. We'll have to be on our toes when we slow down."

"Let's grab some sleep. I can only take so much ocean and not want to go diving."

"You always were half fish. You sleep. I'll use my glasses to get the scenic shots for the show."

Sky stretched out, putting his head on his pack. No point in unrolling the blankets. They would camp out soon enough. Staying on the train in the marshalling yard of a big city would be asking for trouble. Let Dan enjoy the cliff side views as they rattled rhythmically along the coast. Sometimes the highway was below them. Then they flashed through a level crossing, or drop so close to the shore, the high tide line in the sand reached within feet of the rails.