Claimed (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #4) (11 page)

“I see you reset the alarms.”

“Yes,” Kali said, ran a couple of steps, and picked up her Winchester. The determined set of her jaw suggested nobody else better try to come in and ravage her workshop.

“Hello?” a tentative call came from a hundred meters down the hill. “Kali?”

She lowered the rifle. “That’s Travis.”

Cedar supposed he shouldn’t be annoyed that the person who had interrupted their moment wasn’t someone he could shoot. He went back to leaning against the stone wall as the young reporter snapped every twig on the trail on his way up to the cave. He was out of breath when he arrived, with his spectacles askew and fir needles sticking out of his hair.

“Kali.” He smiled, lifting a hand toward her, then noticed Cedar in the shadows. “And, er, Cedar. Greetings.”

Well, at least the kid was using his name. “Andrews,” Cedar said by way of return greeting and gave a nod. Though he was skeptical as to whether Travis Andrews could truly help snare Cudgel, the kid
had
agreed to help them. Or help Kali, anyway.

“Any news?” Kali asked.

“Yes.” Andrews puffed his chest out. “I’ve set up a meeting.”

“With Cudgel?” Cedar asked.

“I’m not sure who it’ll be with, but I did a little research, found a contact, and mentioned my father and his holdings—and that he might be interested in purchasing a proven claim. I have a meeting at that new sawmill tonight. The holding company owns it.” He smiled at Kali and waved to her dress—that
better
be what he was waving at down there. “Are you planning to come with me? To pose as my... lady friend?”

“No,” Cedar said.

“I’ll come if you want me to,” Kali told Andrews, “but Cudgel has seen me before, and we think he may recognize me, costumes notwithstanding.”

“We.” Andrews glanced at Cedar, though he was careful not to hold gazes or make his stance challenging. “I see. You want me to go in there alone?”

“No, of course not,” Kali said. “This isn’t even your fight.”

It wasn’t
hers
, either, Cedar thought, wondering if he should be involving her at all, but he had already tangled with Cudgel and lost so many times... he feared he needed her help.

“Tell us when the meeting is,” Kali went on, “and we’ll arrive first and set up some traps. We’ll wait right outside, or maybe inside if we can stay out of sight, and be there if anything goes wrong. Right?” Kali turned to meet Cedar’s eyes.

Cedar wondered if it was a sign that he had been thinking of his grandfather’s mill and that it turned out this meeting would be at a mill. And if it was a sign, was it a good one? Or... an ominous one? Cedar also wondered if someone had seen Andrews mosey on up to the cave. Since he had the stealth of an elephant on a rampage, if he had beelined up here right after his meeting, it wouldn’t have been hard for someone to follow him.

Kali and Andrews were staring at him, waiting for an answer.

Cedar sighed, knowing he would go to that meeting no matter what reservations he had. If there was a chance, however slim, that Cudgel would be there... “Yes.”

“Does he always talk this much?” Andrews whispered.

“He doesn’t get chatty until you’ve blown up a few enemies together. And bedrolls.”

Cedar snorted. “It’s called a Euklisia Rug.”

“I... see. Well, the meeting is supposed to be at seven. That’s why I hurried up here to let you know. I’ll have to get back to town if I’m going to change and make it.”

“What’s wrong with what you’re wearing?” Kali asked. “Aside from the mud spatters?”

“It doesn’t exactly say wealth. I have other clothes that will be more appropriate, more believable. My age is already going to make it challenging, but I’ll pretend I’m there to represent my father’s interests.” Andrews smiled at her. He did that a lot.

“Good,” Kali said. “Thank you.”

“I think they’ve heard of him,” Andrews went on. “His name is probably the reason they agreed to the meeting. Grandfather did quite well back in the California gold rush, and Father invested a lot of it down in San Francisco.”

In other words, the kid had a rich family. Cedar watched Kali for her reaction, wondering if she had already known and if that was why she had thought to employ Andrews in this ruse. Maybe not. He seemed to be making a point to let them know. And he was watching Kali for a reaction too. Hoping to impress her? He must not have figured out that she would be more impressed by a man whose father was an engineer. Though, if she were to marry someone with money, she wouldn’t have to worry about scrimping and scraping to buy the parts for her airship... Not that Cedar could see her marrying any time soon. Why was he worrying about this now, anyway? She hadn’t given any indication that she thought anything of Andrews’s interest in her.

“Good,” Kali said. “That’ll make this meeting more plausible. We’ll show up early and be around to keep you out of trouble.”

“Ah, you’re sure you wouldn’t want to accompany me into the meeting?” Andrews asked. “Your... strongman can wait outside. I’m sure with your quick mind, you would be able to react instantly to trouble inside. I also doubt very much that your Cudgel will be the one to meet with us. Some high-up lackey of his is most likely what we can expect. You shouldn’t have to worry about him recognizing you.”

Kali hesitated.

“What makes you want her to come with you so badly?” Cedar asked, reminded of the trap Tremblay had set for the two of them. It wasn’t possible this scrawny newspaper kid was working for Cudgel, too, was it? If his family had money, he shouldn’t be easy to bribe, but there were other ways to force a man into a certain line of work.

Andrews lifted his hands. “Nothing, I just sensed she might want to come.” He waved to the dress.

Kali looked into Cedar’s eyes. He didn’t know if she read the suspicion and disapproval there, but she eventually said, “Nah, I’d be more comfortable coming up against these brutes in my regular clothes.” She patted her thigh where a pocket would have been if she had been in her trousers.

“I understand,” Andrews said. “Will you at least walk me back down the hill, so I don’t trip any more of your traps?”

“Yes.” Kali took his arm and led him outside. “Let’s rehearse what you’re planning to tell them too.”

Cedar watched them walk out together and wished again he had found time to ask Kali his question.

A
s the shadows hugged the river, Cedar placed his last trap at the side door to the sawmill, a tripwire combined with some of the grease from one of Kali’s balls. It would do little more than slow down someone exiting from that direction, but that should be all he needed. He patted the side of his rifle. He had already staked out an observation spot for himself on the roof, and Kali had said she would watch from the stairs next to the side door, where a small window offered a view of the interior. The door itself was locked—they had already checked it. Too bad, because it seemed to open into a dark niche inside, half hidden by steam machinery.

Seven p.m. was approaching, but the large circular saws still buzzed in the mill, powered by a steam engine that clanked and whirred. The logs corralled in the river and the countless lanterns burning in the building suggested the operation would run through the night. Twilight wouldn’t come for a while, but the shadows had grown long in town. Cedar would have preferred full darkness, since it was easier to hide and spy that way.

“This isn’t what I expected for a meeting place,” Kali said, standing on a crate to peer through the window. “Who goes to a mill to buy land? If you don’t offer a fair price, the owner could put your head under a saw until you get more agreeable.”

“Might be that’s a deliberate part of their negotiation strategy. Also...” Cedar waved down the alley. The front of it turned onto a main street, but the back ended at the river, where a couple of boats were tied to docks. “They’ve got an easy escape if the Mounties come to investigate.”

“Either way, I’d feel bad if I got Travis sawn in half like that log there.” Kali pointed through the window, though he could hear the grinding of wood without looking.

“We won’t let that happen.” This wasn’t the only exit Cedar had booby-trapped, and he had a few other tricks as well. Though, he had to admit, this wasn’t the first time he had set up a trap for Cudgel. His other ones had failed, or simply not been good enough to hold the criminal.

“Good.” Kali offered a quick smile. “He’s the only reporter who was interested in writing up my airship.” The smile didn’t quite mask the concern in her eyes.

Cedar doubted that concern was born of anything more than friendship, but the tiniest bit of him wondered if maybe he had something to worry about. She wouldn’t have offered Andrews a position on her airship, too, would she have?

“Better keep him alive then,” was all he said. “You’ll need an ally to pull off your Tom Sawyer scheme.”

“That’s the truth. I’m not nearly as charismatic as Twain’s characters.”

Cedar nodded toward the eaves. “I’m going to head up to the roof to watch for their approach. You need anything?”

He couldn’t imagine
what
she might need—in addition to carrying her Winchester, her pockets bulged, and a stuffed satchel hung across her torso—but it seemed polite to offer.

“I’ve got everything I need.” Kali patted the satchel. She wore boots, buckskin trousers, and a cotton work shirt rather than the dress, and looked the more comfortable for it. “You be careful up there. You’re a touch back-heavy.” She waved to the katana, rifle, and the pellet-shooting gun, all of which he had strapped to his back so he could climb. His pockets bulged, too, with the smoke nuts and net-throwing balls she had made for him.

“I can carry a lot on my back.”

Her lips twisted wryly. “I’ve noticed.”

He started for the stairs, so he could boost himself up to the roof, but she caught his hand first. Kali stood on her tiptoes for a kiss, not a peck on the cheek, but a fiery, full-on-the-lips kiss that made the mercury in his thermometer shoot to the top. He suddenly wished it were three hours from now, Cudgel were taken care of, and they could find a room in one of the nicer hotels in town.

Kali dropped to her heels, though she didn’t release his hand. “Be careful.”

The intensity of her words—and the kiss—made him ashamed of his doubts about her and Andrews. It also reminded him that this wasn’t some simple hunt against a foe he knew he could take down. If Cudgel was inside somewhere, lurking in the shadows under a layer of invisibility powder, this could be the culmination of Cedar’s years of hunting, one way or another.

“I will be,” he whispered and pulled her into a hug. It was almost seven. There wasn’t time for more. “You be careful too. If things get hot in there... pull out. Don’t risk yourself. Not for my fight.” He almost told her to pull out now, to wait somewhere safe, but he’d already asked her if she wanted to do that, and she had refused, saying she had to look after her future security chief. Besides, he couldn’t think of anyone else he would rather have at his back.

Maybe he should tell her that. Maybe he should tell her everything. Cedar stared into her eyes, groping for words.

She smiled, breaking the intensity of their eye contact. She swatted him on the rump and stepped back. “Better get going, bounty hunter.”

Cedar swallowed the words he hadn’t been able to find then smiled, too, and tipped an imaginary hat. “Yes, ma’am.”

He climbed the stairs, hopped over the greasy patch, and onto the far railing. The craftsmanship was shoddy, and it wobbled beneath his weight, but not before he jumped off and caught the lip of the roof. He pulled himself up, careful not to land heavily on the cedar shingles, though, with all the saws buzzing inside, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Crouching, he climbed up the slanted roof, staying on the alley side so nobody from the street would see him. His plan was to watch the street from his belly, but he noticed a circular vent with wood slats on the wall beneath the peak of the A-style frame. Access to an attic or loft? Spying from
inside
might be preferable than spying from the roof. Depending on the layout and the number of people working, he might even be able to snoop around before Andrews and those he was meeting arrived. Then he could find an ideal place from which to spy on the conversation—and capture whoever was coming to sell Andrews a nearly stolen claim. Maybe he might chance upon an invisible figure observing from some corner as well...

Kali was watching him. He pointed at the vent, then lowered his torso over the edge to see if he could open it from there. If he hadn’t had a long torso, he wouldn’t have had a chance of reaching it, but he was able to slip his knife under the flashing and pry at it in several spots. His leverage wasn’t the best, but he wasn’t particularly worried about damaging the vent. It soon popped off under his assault, and he managed to catch it before it fell, though he had to lunge for it and almost upset his perch. Falling off a roof—that was the kind of athleticism that impressed a woman, yes.

But Kali wasn’t watching anymore, anyway. She had crept to the front of the alley to peek around the corner toward the street. She might be looking at anything—one of Commissioner Steele’s first moves had been to force the tents and squatters away from the docks, but there was still a lot of foot traffic along that street at all hours of the day—but her interest in that direction might mean that Andrews was coming too. Better hurry.

Cedar attempted to turn himself into a snake and slither off the roof and through the hole. It wasn’t that big—and he wasn’t a snake. He had to contort himself to keep from falling, then clunked his weapons against the frame, and finally almost fell onto the wooden floor inside. He hoped Kali hadn’t seen that move, either. Apparently big men and attic vents mixed about as well as fire and turpentine.

He rose to a crouch, finding himself in more of a loft than an attic. Numerous crates full of tools and spare parts filled the space, which stretched halfway across the building and overlooked stacks of lumber piled against the front walls below. Fine wood dust coated everything in the loft. Cedar breathed through his mouth so the particles floating in the air wouldn’t cause him to sneeze.