Angel of Brass (29 page)

He didn’t have time to wait and see if they
obeyed. Within seconds, he was at Ellington House. Two familiar
figures stood on the garden walkway, just outside the house, and he
supposed he ought to be grateful they at least had the sense to
stay behind the gate.
Not that the gate will hold long—it’s
meant to keep out riffraff not determined invaders.

Jin landed neatly on the path in front of
Molly’s parents. They were both in their nightclothes, with
dressing gowns pulled over. Mrs. Feldman let out a shriek of fright
at his appearance, and he wondered if she even recognized him.

“Ma’am, sir,” he said, bowing quickly. “I
trust you remember me from the ball?”

Mrs. Feldman looked as if she might faint,
but her husband studied him cautiously. “Mr. Malachi, wasn’t
it?”

“Yes, sir. You’re in terrible danger. You
need to get into the house right now and—”

A gunshot rang out shockingly near, and Jin
felt a sharp tug on his right wing. Mrs. Feldman screamed again.
Jin started toward them, with some idea of sweeping them to cover,
when a voice spoke. “Don’t move, or the next shot will hurt.”

Jin froze, sparing a quick glance at his rig.
The bullet had put a neat hole through the metal of the longest
pinion.
Not big enough to keep me from flying, at least. Just
enough to show me he’s serious. And that he’s a hell of a
shot
.

There came the whisper of footsteps on grass,
and Crowley emerged from behind a hedge, holding a pistol in his
hand. “So it
was
you,” Jin said. “Molly suspected, although
she wasn’t sure.”

Crowley frowned. “I knew she’d be trouble.
Too smart for her own good, she is.”

Mr. Feldman had moved to put himself between
the gun and his wife. Now his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Are you
threatening my daughter, Crowley?”

“Why shouldn’t he?” Jin said, before Crowley
could speak. “He already arranged for Gibson’s assassination and my
kidnapping.”

“I won’t bother asking what you’re doing on
the loose,” Crowley said. “Now, surrender and let me lock you in
the basement like a good little...whatever you are.”

“And us?” Mr. Feldman demanded.

Crowley’s gun swiveled in their direction.
“Well,” said Crowley, “I can’t have you, or your harridan of a
wife, telling anyone about this, now can I?”

A shot rang out, and Mrs. Feldman let out
another scream. As Jin watched, a patch of crimson spread across
the front of Crowley’s uniform. The gun fell from his nerveless
hand, and his body crumpled to the ground after it.

Winifred stood framed in her bedroom window,
a rifle in her hands and a grim look on her face. “Is everyone all
right?” she called.

At the sight of her daughter with a gun, Mrs.
Feldman swooned. Her husband caught her absently. “Good work,
Winifred,” he said.

“Thank you, Father. Jin? What’s going
on?”

Glad to have someone sensible to talk to, he
said, “There’s a shambler attack going on in conjunction with the
fire. I came to warn you. It might not be safe here.”

Winifred accepted this news calmly. “Thank
you. If we barricade ourselves in the root cellar, do you think
that will keep them out?”

“As long as you can keep the door shut, then
yes.”

Mr. Feldman glanced back and forth between
them. “Shamblers? What are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain in the cellar, Father.”
Winifred said. “Jin, is there anything else?”

“No. Good luck, Winifred.” He hesitated, not
certain if this was a really the time, but not knowing if he’d ever
get the chance to say it otherwise. “I’m sorry about Gibson. He was
a good man.”

Grief paled her face, but she nodded
graciously. “Thank you. He was indeed.”

Mr. Feldman looked like he wanted to ask more
questions, so Jin ran to the house and began to climb up the side,
claws sinking easily into the wooden timbers. As soon as he was
high enough, he pushed off, snapping his wings out. Wind shrilled
through the hole in the tip of the one pinion, and he knew it would
cost him a small amount of lift, but there was nothing to be done
about it.

Banking sharply, he headed back in the
direction of Chartown and Molly.

* * *

“This is getting to be a habit with you,”
Liam said when he opened the door in response to Molly’s insistent
pounding. “And not a good one. Where’s Jin?”

Liam looked mussed, the spikes of his hair
flattened on one side, and he wore a nightshirt and dressing gown.
Ignoring his pointed tone, Molly pushed past him. “Jin’s gone to
see what’s on fire,” she said, glad for the warmth of the flat. The
temperature had dropped sharply during the hours she and Jin had
slept, and a bank of clouds was moving in quickly from the west,
bringing with them the faint scent of snow.

“On fire?” Liam asked.

“Yes. Oh, and try your aetherwave set—I
couldn’t get anything but static, and the fire seemed large enough
that there should be a broadcast.”

Looking more worried than ever, Liam went to
turn on his set. As expected, only bursts of static came out.

They exchanged a grim look. “I’m going to
finish dressing,” Liam said. “Is Jin meeting us here?”

Molly nodded. “Yes. I came here in case...in
case we need to field test the anti-controller tonight after
all.”

Liam left without another word; Molly could
hear him moving around above. Trying to get warmth back into her
extremities, she walked quickly back and forth, blowing on her
fingers. With every minute that slipped by, her nerves wound
tighter and tighter.

I should have asked Jin to take me with
him.

No, that doesn’t make sense. He’s better able
to maneuver without me. It made more sense for me to come here to
get the anti-controller, then wait for him to join me.

Unless he’s been hurt. Or captured. Or—

Stop thinking like that!

From above, Liam let out a shout of surprise.
Certain that he’d been attacked, Molly ran up the stairs. When she
flung open the door to his bedroom, however, it was to see Jin
hanging onto the side of the building and peering in through the
window.

Relief flooded through her, and she ran to
the window. “Jin!” she exclaimed, pushing it open. Frigid air
poured in immediately, making her shiver. Jin, despite being
completely shirtless, didn’t seem to even notice the chill.

“Excuse me!” Liam snapped. He clutched a
shirt to his chest, glowering at them both. “Is it too much to ask
for a bit of privacy here?”

Molly flushed. “Sorry—I heard you yell, and I
thought something was attacking you.”

“I can’t fit through the door downstairs with
the rig on,” Jin explained sheepishly. “This was the best way.
Forgive me for startling you, Liam.”

“That’s all right,” Liam muttered, unbending
slightly. “Molly, turn your back.”

Rolling her eyes, she did as he asked. Jin
reached through the window to touch her face, and she saw that his
skin was coated in soot. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“About what we guessed. The mercantile
district of Brasstown is not only on fire, but being attacked by
shamblers as well.”

Fear gripped her heart. “Winifred—”

“Is safe. Or as safe as she can be.” He
briefly related his visit to Ellington House. When he was done, she
grasped his hand tightly.

“Thank you for checking on my family,” she
said. “You didn’t have to, and the fact that you did...means a
great deal to me.”

Liam cleared his throat. “Before this
devolves into awkward declarations of love between two of my
dearest friends—which I fully support, but really don’t want to
hear about—let’s get back to the topic at hand.”

Molly shot an annoyed glance over her
shoulder; fortunately, Liam had finished dressing. “All right,
then. Out with it, Two-Gears. What are you thinking?”

He pulled his dressing gown back over his
shoulders, shivering in the cold air coming in through the open
window. “A fire
and
shamblers? Doesn’t that seem like
overkill?”

Jin tipped his head to one side. “There was a
great deal of confusion—people running around, everything on fire,
nobody knowing what to do.”

“How many shamblers were there? Enough to
cause a little chaos, or enough for an all-out assault?”

“I don’t understand what you’re getting
at.”

Understanding crystallized in Molly’s heart.
“Oh, hell. They set a big fire, make sure everyone’s attention is
there, throw in enough shamblers to bring in any local military as
well as the police...”

“Leaving the palace vulnerable to attack by
the main force of shamblers,” Liam concluded. “Especially if they
sabotage the aetherwave tower to keep the troops from communicating
with each other.”

Jin swore. Feeling oddly calm, Molly said,
“All right, then. Liam, you stay here. Keep your head down. Other
than Jin and me, you’re the only one who knows everything at this
point. At least one of us has to survive this.”

Bitterness touched Liam’s face, and he
gestured to his crippled arm. “And I’m the least able to do any
good in a fight.”

“Jin can only carry one of us at a time,”
Molly said, following the ruthless trail of logic. “And, yes, it
will be easier to transport and use the anti-controller with two
hands. I’m sorry, Liam, but it has to be me.”

For a moment, she thought he would argue, or
say something they’d both regret. Then his shoulders slumped.
“You’re right.”

She nodded, accepting his surrender. “I’ll
get the anti-controller, and Jin and I will fly to the palace. With
any luck, we’ll be able to put a stop to this.”
Make that a lot
of luck. Two of us against a shambler army, Reynard, Malachi, and
Del?

Saints, this prayer is going out to every one
of you. We need all the help you can spare.

“I’ll meet you on the street,” Jin said, then
disappeared from the window, heading paradoxically for the
roof.

Molly shut the window, then started for the
door. Liam caught her by the arm as she passed him. His green eyes
were solemn, his features set. “I just wanted to wish you luck,” he
said. “And tell you that you’ve got to come back. I won’t have
anyone else to work with in the lab, otherwise.”

Molly managed a lopsided smile and nodded.
“Got it. See you soon.”

She ran down the stair. The anti-controller
was on the table, still in its satchel. Slinging it over her
shoulder, she headed out the door.

A warning call sounded as soon as she stepped
into the street. Glancing up, she saw Jin swooping down, coming
fast, and realized why he’d gone to the roof. Steeling her nerves,
she turned her back to him and broke into a run, hoping that would
help with momentum.

His arms swept around her, and she pushed off
the pavement even as he beat his wings strongly. The thrilling
sense of the world dropping out from under her came, and for a
moment she almost forgot how dire things were.

“Legs!” Jin called, and she hurriedly locked
her legs around his. “Good.” His arms tightened around her.
“Ready?”

“As ready as I can be,” she replied.

And with that, they banked across the city,
heading in the direction of the hellish glow lighting the sky above
Brasstown.

Chapter 21

Snow began to fall as they flew across the
city, swirling slowly down from the heavy clouds and stinging
Molly’s skin with cold. A plume of smoke drifted from the fire in
Brasstown, and she wondered if the snowfall would quench the
flames. Although it looked as though the fire companies had doused
some of the buildings, the fire was nowhere near to being under
control. The blaze had reached the base of a telpherage tower, the
intense heat buckling the supports and bringing the whole thing
down. The wires lay draped across nearby buildings, and Molly hoped
that there hadn’t been any trams en route when it had gone
down.

The smoke forced Jin to detour around the
district, before straightening out and heading in the direction of
the palace. Ominously, most of the sprawling grounds were dark, lit
only by flashes of gunpowder and death rays. As they drew closer,
the wind carried the distant sound of screams.

We were right. They are attacking the palace
tonight.

Saints, I’d rather we’d been wrong.

Jin began to climb steeply. “I’m going to get
some altitude, then come down fast behind their lines,” he said,
shouting to be heard over the rush of wind and the thunder of his
wings. “We’re less likely to be shot if they don’t see us
coming.”

Del’s probably doing the same thing. If she
hasn’t already.

What if we’re too late?

They reached the peak of their trajectory,
and Jin’s wings stilled. For a moment, Molly felt weightless, snow
plummeting past her in a confusing cloud. Then they began to
fall.

Jin pulled his wings in tight to his body.
Despite her earlier enjoyment of their flight, instinctive terror
clawed at the back of Molly’s throat as her body screamed that they
were plunging to their doom. She closed her eyes tight and prayed
that Jin knew what he was doing.

Jin’s wings snapped out, slowing them
abruptly. The pressure of his arm across her chest left her
momentarily unable to breathe, and she opened her eyes to find the
ground rushing up to meet her.

The landing was decidedly rough—they hit a
low bush, which sent them tumbling into a flowerbed gone barren
with winter. For a moment, Molly lay unable to move, the wind
knocked out of her. Then her lungs remembered how to work, and she
sucked in wild gasps of air, grateful to be on the ground again.
Jin stood up, flapping his wings to dislodge dirt and leaves from
them. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” Molly sat up. “Just bruised here
and there. You?”

“The same.” The only illumination came from
distant gaslight, shining from the windows of the palace and
reflecting from the snow accumulating on the ground. “Looks like
we’re in one of the gardens.”