little to fight the intrusion, though she stood with oneleg slightly in front of the other, blocking the view of the anklethat held her vial of flash gold. She hoped the man wouldn’t thinkto check her socks. Maybe she should have taken the vial back toher workshop and locked it in its safe, behind a series of boobytraps. Too late now.
Unfortunately, the man searching her provedadept at finding things. He removed her remaining smoke nut, hergun, and every single tool in her pockets.
“Tarnation, girl,” thepirate said, “you rob a tool shop?”
“Your murderers caught mewhen I was in the middle of a project,” Kali said.
“I ain’t murderedanyone.”
“You let it happen on yourship.” Though she was responding to the man searching her, Kalilooked the captain in the eyes when she spoke. She thought of theairship hovering above the alley behind the Aurora, and of thatladder dangling down. “You even help out, don’t you?” Thatexplained why Cedar hadn’t found a trail at the murdered woman’shome. “You drop that bastard down and pick him up when he’s done,don’t you? You help him perpetrate the idea that there’s somethingotherworldly involved in these murders, since there’s nothing butthose fake bead patches to be found.”
Kali was surprised the pirates had chosensuch a public target this time, a woman getting ready for a show ina saloon full of people. Maybe it’d been a last hit before the shipcleared out of town. Or maybe they’d counted on Sparwood getting into steal the girl without anyone up front hearing about it. Kali’sstomach clenched at the idea of him leaving a bead patch in thechanging room and people blaming “spirits” for the girl’sdisappearance.
The captain lifted his chin in response toKali’s accusations. “Sparwood’s my best worker and fights betterthan ten men combined, and he doesn’t ask for a cut of the loot. Hejust wants the leeway to pursue his…hobby.”
“That’s loathsome,” Kalisaid, “and so are you if you help.”
“What’s this?” The mansearching her had found all of her tools and weapons, and moveddown to her ankles. Kali winced when he patted at the lump there.Having these slimy pirates running around with such power was thelast thing she wanted.
The man pulled out her vial and held italoft. The flakes inside the clear container appeared no differentfrom regular gold, but they glowed softly, sending occasionalstreaks of yellow lightning coursing through the glass tube.
“That,” a new voice saidfrom a hatchway leading to an upper deck, “is what I was hopingshe’d have, and it’s why I’ve offered you more money than the Scarof Skagway for her capture.”
The owner of the voice climbed down aladder, boots ringing on the metal rungs. He clasped his handsbehind his back and strolled toward the furnaces to join thecaptain and others in regarding Kali.
A pale-skinned man, he wore an all white,expensive suit, tailored to fit his body. His boots were likenothing Kali had ever seen. Snake skin? Or maybe alligator orcrocodile? She’d read about such creatures. The man bore noweapons, but all the pirates, the captain included, offered subduedgreetings and touched their knuckles to their hats or foreheads inpolite salutes.
“Mister Conrad,” thecaptain said, and Kali’s head jerked up.
“No, no,” Conrad saidpolitely, as if he were passing on an after-dinner dessert offeredby a waiter in some classy restaurant. “Work her all you wish.There’ll be plenty of time for questioning later.” He hadgreenish-blue eyes, the only spot of color on him, and theyhardened then, reminding Kali of marbles as they bore into her.“First, there remains a spot of business to which I must attend.It’s time to make sure that dear detective gets hisman.”
Kali curled her lip.“You’d best be more worried about that
Conrad yawned.
“Mister Conrad, sir,” thecaptain said. “One of my men was wondering about her usefor… entertainments.”
A woman’s scream echoed from a higher deck.Kali tried to keep a defiant sneer on her face, but the timing ofthat scream, and the amused snort of one of the pirates, leftlittle doubt in her mind as to what the captain meant.
“What are your orders asto her person?” the captain finished.
“Ensure she’s able toanswer questions in the morning,” Conrad said.
“That’s it?”
“Indeed. In fact,encourage your man to make the experience memorable. Women rarelyresist my interrogation techniques, but it can make things easierif they’ve been broken already.”
Kali glowered. She wished she could do more.This fellow deserved a good kick in the bear cubs. No, he deserveda lot more than that for tormenting Cedar and killing countlessothers.
Conrad took a step toward the hatch, butpaused, raising a finger. “Actually, I do have one requirement.Don’t let your man damage her face. Should the Pinkerton detectivefail, I may need to dangle her as bait to lure in a particularlytroublesome fish.” His marble cold eyes found Kali’s again.“Despite this fish’s efforts to minimize contact with her of late,I do believe they’re close.”
“Yes, sir.” The captainknuckled his forehead again.
When Conrad left, the captain stood taller,losing his diffident manner. He pointed to the fellow smeared withcoal dust. “Give Chum your shovel, and show her the ropes. Denny,stow her gear. Malcom-” he pointed to a bearded man with a shotgun,“-you’re on guard. Stay alert, and keep her working. I don’t wantour boat lingering over downtown Dawson. Look cheery men. We’ve anice pay day coming up.”
The captain left, takingthe men he hadn’t named with him. The one who had conducted hersearch looked around, probably trying to figure out what he wassupposed to do with the armful of weapons and tools. He shuffled tothe far end of the boiler room, dropping a screwdriver on the way,and dumped everything except her gun onto a metal table bolted tothe wall. Toolboxes were secured there, and an empty crate on thefloor read
The sooty man thrust his shovel into Kali’shands, distracting her from her thoughts. He drew a knife and cuther wrist bindings. “That goes in there.” He pointed at the coalbin and the furnace door.
“Excellent instructions,”Kali said. “I’ll be sure to recommend you for apromotion.”
It was hard to read a face coated in coaldust, but he curled a lip and growled at her, and she got the gist.He ticked a finger against a gauge on the adjacent boiler where aneedle hovered at the low end of the operational zone. “Make surethat stays between here and here. If it’s here, add more coalfaster. If it gets up here, you can slow down for a spell. There’sa safety shutoff, so don’t get any bright ideas about gettingthings too hot.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,”Kali said.
Which was true. She
“Now, I reckon I can getsome sleep, though the night seems young for that.” Soot-face threwa smirk at the guard, then considered Kali through slittedeyes.
She tensed. With her hands free and a shovelin her grip, she thought she could defend herself, leg iron or not,but the guard standing by the hatch was watching, his shotgun atthe ready.
“Don’t see why Sparwoodgets all the girls,” Sooty grumbled.
“’Cause he can pound youinto pieces,” the guard said. “You better leave her be and findyour hammock.”
“Guess you’reright.”
Given his defeatist words, Kali wasn’texpecting Sooty’s hand to lunge in. He squeezed her breast, mashingdown with the subtlety of a jackhammer. Kali swung the shovel,cracking him in the side of his head.
He staggered back while the guard laughedand said, “You deserved that.”
Kali dropped into a crouch, expectingretaliation. Sooty clutched at his head, but he was grinning.
“Worth it,” he said andsauntered to the ladder. “Sparwood’ll find his goods bruised up.”He snickered as he climbed and disappeared through thehatch.
