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A Mexican Sunrise: Chapter 3: The planning

     "So how are we going to do this?" Isaac asked Charlie.
     Charlie loved this question. He had been formulating a plan in his head, and now had a chance to reveal it to somebody. But he wasn't going to just tell Isaac his plan. He wanted to see if he could get Isaac to reach the same conclusion that he had by leading him along. It was a method some believed Charlie used to make someone think they actually came up with the idea, but that wasn't Charlie's intent. He simply enjoyed seeing a person's face light up at the moment of new understanding.
     "Well, according to this article, these guys knocked the train off of its tracks."
     "I thought you said that's something we shouldn't do."
     "It is."
     "Then how are we going to do it?"
     "What would you do?"
     "Well, I suppose I would come up with a plan that didn't knock the train off of its tracks."
     "We've already established that criteria. Do you have any ideas of what else we could do?"
     Isaac sat thinking for a moment. "Well, I suppose we could make the train stop somehow. I've heard of other robberies committed by blocking the tracks and boarding the train once it stops."
     "Okay, that doesn't knock it off of its tracks. But, it does expose us as we try to board the train. There would be no doubt what we were up to or to our identities."
     "So, we need to get on the train without anybody noticing."
     "No, we need to get on the train without anybody suspecting us."
     "What, huh, um." Isaac was not used to making plans of deception, so his confusion and inability to understand Charlie was understandable. "Okay, let me get this straight. We need to stop the train and get on without anybody suspecting us."
     "I never said we have to stop the train, but you are right about the second part."
     "Not stop the train? How are we going to get on without raising suspicion if the train is barreling through the desert? Just jump onto it?"
     "I never said we had to get on a moving train."
     "What?! You just said we're not going to stop the train. Now which is it?"
     "How do other people get on the train?"
     "You mean other robbers? They stop the train or knock it off of its tracks."
     "Right, and immediately expose their identities as thieves. But there are other people who get on the train and nobody ever suspects them."
     "Who are you talking about?"
     "Let me put it this way. If you were to want to get from Deming to San Francisco by train, what would you do?"
     "I'd buy a ticket at the train station."
     "Exactly!"
     "Huh? You're thinking of getting on the train with tickets?"
     "Think about it. How else can you get on the train without raising suspicion? You buy a ticket and board legally as one of the passengers. You never have to stop the train. Just get on at boarding call."
     "Okay, I understand. So, we buy our tickets and get on the train. Then what, just start robbing people?"
     "No, absolutely not! We're not going to steal from the passengers, some of whom probably had to scratch for every penny just to afford a train ticket."
     "So we're just going to rob the safe?"
     "Yes, and also from a car containing gold or silver being shipped between banks."
     "I see. So, once we break into the safe and gold car, we can take all we can carry. Then what are we going to do? Throw our loot off the train and jump off, riding into the sunset?"
     "If you jumped off a moving train, I think that might be the last thing you ever do. There would be no riding off into the sunset."
     "So what do we do? How do we get our loot and our intact selves off the train?"
     "How do other people get off the train?"
     "You mean we're going to get off with everybody else, just like we got on?"
     "Yes."
     "Won't the other passengers and guards notice that we're getting off with stuff that doesn't belong to us?"
     "What do other passengers get off the train with? Or should I say, what do they claim once they get off the train?"
      "I suppose their luggage."
     "Exactly!"
     "So we're going to add the money and gold to our luggage and just get off the train with it?"
     "Do you see any problems with that plan?"
     "How are we going to fit money and gold into our luggage?"
     The patience that Charlie was displaying at attempting to get Isaac to understand his plan was amazing. "How would you suggest we do it?"
     "I guess we're going to have to remove our clothes and stuff from our suitcases and leave them on the train."
     "Why would we do that? Wouldn't it be easier to put empty suitcases onto the train?"
     "Yes, that would be easier." Isaac thought for a moment. "But, won't the baggage handlers become suspicious if they notice that our bags suddenly got heavier during the trip?"
     "I don't think the same baggage handlers will handle our baggage at either end of our trip. Plus, just to avoid suspicion at having a really light suitcase, we could put some lead blocks into them. Now those we can throw from the train."
     Isaac's face lit up. "Oh, that's brilliant. We can get on the train as paying customers, perform our deed, then get off the train as passengers arriving at our destination. The luggage handlers will never know that they're handing us gold and money from the safe."
     Charlie had a smile of joy on his face. "That's right. And if we're lucky, we could get upwards of fifty to a hundred thousand dollars worth of money and gold."
     "I can't even imagine how much money that is."
     "It's enough."
     Isaac sat thinking it over for a bit. $100,000. Definitely more than the reward money I might get. Plus it's a brilliant plan. But, what if something goes wrong?
      "Uh, Charlie?"
      "Yeah."
     "In the article, the robbers end up dead. There's no chance that could happen to us, is there?"
     "There's always that chance. But, as long as we don't pull out guns, I don't think they'll shoot at us."
     "I'm pretty sure they would if they caught us in the safe."
     "Probably."
     "And being dead makes it kind of difficult to enjoy the money."
     Charlie chuckled. "You do have a point there."
     "So, maybe we should take guns with us."
     "No. No guns. I don't want the blood of any innocent person on my hands. I'd rather get shot than shoot an innocent man."
     "I guess I would too. I just don't want to end up dead."
     "Nor do I. But it's a chance I'm willing to take to get back to my wife. And I think it's finally a chance for you to live the life you've wanted."
     "You're right." Isaac said absently. He had a lot on his mind. The whole thing sounded like an adventure and the sum of the pay off was mind boggling. But he was still worried that something could go wrong, that they might forget something. Aren't there guards on the train? There would surely be a guard on the car with the safe. And definitely on a car containing a Wells-Fargo shipment of gold or silver.
     "What about guards?" he asked Charlie.
     "Guards?"
     "Yeah, aren't there guards for the safe and gold?"
     "I think so." Charlie knew there usually were, and had not yet figured out how to get around them just yet.
     "How are we going to get past them?"
     "I'm still working on that part."
     "Oh. Okay. One more thing."
     "Yes."
     "How are we going to open the safe?"
     "I've trained myself in safe-cracking. I can do it pretty fast now, less than thirty seconds."
     Isaac didn't say anything else. The problem with the guards had numbed his initial excitement. How are we going to get past them?