Eddie Willers tells the worker in the Taggart cafeteria that Dagny has resigned and is staying at her lodge in the Berkshires. The worker mentions to Eddie that every year he takes a month off at his own expense to spend with friends.
Hank Rearden moves out of his house and gets an apartment in Philadelphia. Knowing that the looters’ knowledge regarding his relationship with Dagny came from Lillian, he instructs his lawyer to do whatever is necessary to obtain a divorce devoid of alimony or property settlement. Walking to his apartment one night from the mills, he is approached by a stranger who wants to give Rearden money in the form of gold bars. The stranger explains that the gold is a partial repayment for the income taxes that Rearden has paid for years. The stranger says that he can’t stand the injustice of the looters robbing Rearden of his metal. Rearden is at first appalled to learn that the man is the pirate Ragnar Dannesjköld, yet just moments later, he lies to the police to prevent Dannesjköld’s capture.
The Taggart Comet breaks down in the mountains of Colorado, stranding a train full of passengers. Replacement diesel engines aren’t available, only a coal burner that isn’t safe to navigate through the lengthy tunnel on the Comet’s route. Kip Chalmers, a prominent politician riding the Comet on his way to a rally in San Francisco, bullies the railroad employees into bringing the coal-burning engine despite the risks involved. The coal burner is attached, and the worst possible result occurs: Passengers and crew are asphyxiated in the tunnel. An army munitions train, running off its normal schedule, slams into the stalled Comet in the tunnel. Its armament detonates, bringing tons of mountainside down on the Taggart Tunnel.
