Dead Reckoning (29 page)

“‘Sidewinder’!” Jett shot back, repressing a grin. “Listen to you! If you aren’t careful, you’re going to go native on us.”

“No chance of that,” Gibbons said feelingly. “I like clean sheets, hot food, and a roof over my head.”

“Except when you are tracking a mystery,” White Fox teased.

Gibbons favored him with a radiant smile of agreement. “Sure I can’t persuade either of you to come back to San Francisco with me?” she asked, sounding hopeful.

White Fox shook his head. (With a certain amount of reluctance, Jett thought.) “I must return to Fort Riley,” he said. “I’ve been absent from my duties for too long. And I owe Caleb Lincoln the answer he sent me to find, sad news though it will be.” He glanced toward Jett. “You are more than welcome to come with me.”

Jett was already shaking her head. “Got no use for Yankee soldiers, beg pardon,” she said. “Figure I’ll head on up the trail and see what’s there.” She hesitated, then touched the brim of her hat to Gibbons in salute. “I reckon this is ‘good-bye’ for sure, then. For all of us.” Despite her constant complaints, Jett knew she’d miss the spunky Yankee firebrand. And White Fox, well … no use crying for the moon. Besides, her brother was out here. Somewhere.

“Maybe it’s good-bye and maybe it isn’t,” Gibbons said. “I have a feeling we might just meet again. All three of us.”

“Don’t tell me
you
believe in woman’s intuition?” Jett asked mockingly.

“Call it a scientific theory,” Gibbons answered lightly, and White Fox smiled.

“Then I won’t say ‘good-bye,’” Jett said. “I’ll say
vaya con Dios
instead.”

“Go with God, Jett Gallatin,” White Fox answered.

Jett turned Nightingale and spurred him to a trot. She was almost too far away to hear when the earsplitting sound of the Auto-Tachypode’s engine reached her ears.
I wonder if she’s right …

“Come on, partner! We’re burning daylight!” she shouted, and Nightingale moved from a trot to a gallop. The sound of his hoofbeats drowned out all other sounds.

Copyright © 2012 by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

First published in the United States of America in June 2012

by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
Electronic edition published in June 2012
www.bloomsburyteens.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lackey, Mercedes.

Dead reckoning / by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill. — 1st U.S. ed.

p. cm.

Summary: In 1867 Texas, Jett, a girl passing as a boy while seeking her long-lost twin brother, joins forces with Honoraria Gibbons, an inventor, and White Fox, a young Army scout, to investigate a zombie army that is terrorizing the West.

[1. Zombies—Fiction. 2. Sex role—Fiction. 3. Inventors—Fiction. 4. Algonquin Indians—Fiction. 5. Indians of North America—Fiction. 6. Missing persons—Fiction. 7. Texas—History—19th century—Fiction.] I. Edghill, Rosemary. II. Title.

PZ7.L13543De 2012     [Fic]—dc23     2011042202

Book design by Regina Roff

ISBN: 978-1-59990-837-3 (e-book)