Peacemaker (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #3) (12 page)

“
Mister Conrad,” the
captain said, and Kali’s head jerked up.
Cudgel
Conrad? Cedar’s nemesis? “We
weren’t expecting you until morning,” the captain went on, “so I
was fixing to get some work out of her. But if you
want—”

“
No, no,” Conrad said
politely, as if he were passing on an after-dinner dessert offered
by a waiter in some classy restaurant. “Work her all you wish.
There’ll be plenty of time for questioning later.” He had
greenish-blue eyes, the only spot of color on him, and they
hardened 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 his
man.”

Kali curled her lip.
“You’d best be more worried about that
man
getting you.”

Conrad yawned.

“
Mister Conrad, sir,” the
captain said. “One of my men was wondering about her use
for…entertainments.”

A woman’s scream echoed from a higher deck.
Kali tried to keep a defiant sneer on her face, but the timing of
that scream, and the amused snort of one of the pirates, left
little doubt in her mind as to what the captain meant.

“
What are your orders as
to her person?” the captain finished.

“
Ensure she’s able to
answer questions in the morning,” Conrad said.

“
That’s it?”

“
Indeed. In fact,
encourage your man to make the experience memorable. Women rarely
resist my interrogation techniques, but it can make things easier
if 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 deserved
a lot more than that for tormenting Cedar and killing countless
others.

Conrad took a step toward the hatch, but
paused, raising a finger. “Actually, I do have one requirement.
Don’t let your man damage her face. Should the Pinkerton detective
fail, I may need to dangle her as bait to lure in a particularly
troublesome 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 captain
knuckled his forehead again.

When Conrad left, the captain stood taller,
losing his diffident manner. He pointed to the fellow smeared with
coal 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 want
our boat lingering over downtown Dawson. Look cheery men. We’ve a
nice pay day coming up.”

The captain left, taking
the men he hadn’t named with him. The one who had conducted her
search looked around, probably trying to figure out what he was
supposed to do with the armful of weapons and tools. He shuffled to
the far end of the boiler room, dropping a screwdriver on the way,
and dumped everything except her gun onto a metal table bolted to
the wall. Toolboxes were secured there, and an empty crate on the
floor read
propeller
blades
. Machine shop, Kali guessed, eyeing
it speculatively as the pirate headed out. If she could free her
ankle and get over there, maybe she could build something useful
for escaping. And then what? She eyed the bulkheads, looking for a
door that might lead to the engine room, but the pipes from the
boilers disappeared through solid walls behind the equipment, and
she didn’t see any exits except for the ceiling hatch Conrad had
used.

The sooty man thrust his shovel into Kali’s
hands, distracting her from her thoughts. He drew a knife and cut
her wrist bindings. “That goes in there.” He pointed at the coal
bin and the furnace door.

“
Excellent instructions,”
Kali said. “I’ll be sure to recommend you for a
promotion.”

It was hard to read a face coated in coal
dust, 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 a
needle hovered at the low end of the operational zone. “Make sure
that stays between here and here. If it’s here, add more coal
faster. If it gets up here, you can slow down for a spell. There’s
a safety shutoff, so don’t get any bright ideas about getting
things too hot.”

“
Wouldn’t dream of it,”
Kali said.

Which was true. She
ought
to be concerned
solely with escaping, maybe finding that girl and getting her out
too, but the fact that she was within the bowels of the very
airship she wanted to claim for herself kindled ideas in her mind.
Maybe she could yet take it over somehow and keep it for herself.
Unless she ran out of other options, she wouldn’t risk blowing half
of the hull off in a boiler explosion.

“
Now, I reckon I can get
some sleep, though the night seems young for that.” Soot-face threw
a smirk at the guard, then considered Kali through slitted
eyes.

She tensed. With her hands free and a shovel
in her grip, she thought she could defend herself, leg iron or not,
but the guard standing by the hatch was watching, his shotgun at
the ready.

“
Don’t see why Sparwood
gets all the girls,” Sooty grumbled.

“’
Cause he can pound you
into pieces,” the guard said. “You better leave her be and find
your hammock.”

“
Guess you’re
right.”

Given his defeatist words, Kali wasn’t
expecting Sooty’s hand to lunge in. He squeezed her breast, mashing
down with the subtlety of a jackhammer. Kali swung the shovel,
cracking him in the side of his head.

He staggered back while the guard laughed
and said, “You deserved that.”

Kali dropped into a crouch, expecting
retaliation. Sooty clutched at his head, but he was grinning.

“
Worth it,” he said and
sauntered to the ladder. “Sparwood’ll find his goods bruised up.”
He snickered as he climbed and disappeared through the
hatch.

“
Idiot,” Kali
said.

A woman’s scream sounded, then was cut off
when the hatch clanged shut. Kali’s indignation faded. Kali could
be experiencing a far worse fate at the moment. And she might still
have to worry about that, if she didn’t escape.

The guard jerked his shotgun toward her.
“Get to work.”

Kali opened the furnace door and squinted as
heat rolled out. Next to the gloom of the boiler room, the flames
threw off an inferno of light. While she scooped coal from the bin
and into the firebox, she debated her options. She could fling a
shovelful of burning embers at the guard, but he was too far away
for her to launch a follow-up attack. She hadn’t seen the captain
pass him the keys for her leg iron either. Something on the
workbench might help her escape, but it too was well out of
reach.

Kali eyed the heavy black chain attached to
her ankle and didn’t see any weaknesses. It would take a blacksmith
to break one of the thick links. At the other end, the chain
attached to an eyelet secured with a hinge to an iron plate mounted
flush in the deck. She couldn’t have been the first prisoner to be
chained in the boiler room.

She kept scooping coal into the furnace
while she contemplated that hinge. In its present state, she
doubted she could wedge the tip of the shovel into the crease to
pry the eyelet free, but she’d loosened many a rusted old bolt by
applying heat to break the bond.

The next time she dumped fresh coal into the
furnace, she slipped a few burning red embers out. The guard was
watching her, but the door hid the shovel, and the furnace itself
blocked the eyelet from his view. Kali laid the glowing coals on
the metal plate around the hinge. Making certain not to take too
much time and rouse suspicions, she repeated the process until a
pile of hot coals lay all about the eyelet.

Kali continued to load the furnace for a
couple more minutes, giving the iron time to heat. Even if she was
able to loosen the hinge and pull the chain free, she still had to
deal with the guard.

“
It’s getting pretty
full.” She paused to mop sweat from her brow. “How much more should
I put in?”

“
When it’s full, close the
door and start loading the other one.”

“
Whatever you say, boss.”
Kali considered her words, then added, “I don’t suppose there’s
anything I can do to talk you into letting me go?” If she was too
good of a worker and didn’t try to wheedle her way out of her fate,
that might make him suspicious. “I’ve got money stashed at home.
How much do you make as a pirate?”

“
More than you’ve
got.”

“
I doubt that,” Kali said.
“My partner is a proficient bounty hunter, and he shares his
earnings.”

“
Men who give money to
women are stupid. Get back to work.”

Kali rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. She
certainly wasn’t going to explain what she did to earn her half. No
need for him to think she might have a crafty side.

“
It’s powerful hot in
here.” Kali wiped her brow again and leaned on the shovel. “Any
chance I can get some water?”

“
You’ve barely been
working five minutes. You’re fine.”

Kali made a show of letting her shoulders
slump and tried to look weary as she went back to shoveling. After
a few more rounds, she said, “I just need a little break.”

She slipped between the furnaces, nudged the
coals off the eyelet with her shovel, and eased the tip into the
hinge crease. She wiggled the blade in deeper, relieved when there
was enough give to do so. Then she leaned her weight onto it. The
hinge pin eased upward, but it made a telling creak.

“
What’re you doing over
there, woman?” Footsteps thudded on the deck.

Kali shoved downward with all of her
strength. The hinge popped free. Kali scattered the hot embers,
smacked the shovel against the furnace, making a loud clang, then
dropped to the floor on her back, hiding the popped hinge with her
body. She closed her eyes and didn’t move.

The guard stomped around the corner. Kali
watched through her eyelashes as he surveyed the mess. “Stupid
woman, what’d you do?”

Passed out from heat exhaustion, or so she
hoped he’d think.

The guard came close enough to kick her boot
with his foot, then, when she did not respond, he leaned in closer.
He reached down, probably intending to take the shovel from her
reach. Before he could grab the shaft, Kali whipped it up and
slammed the pan into his face.

The pirate reeled back, but the blow was not
enough to drop him. He lunged for the shovel. Kali hit him again
and scrambled to her feet. The guard, blood running in twin
rivulets from his nose, started to lift his gun. She jammed her
heel into his shin, and he yowled and went down. Kali snatched the
heavy iron chain from the floor and swung it at his head. It
connected with a solid thud. The man’s shotgun drooped in his
hands. Kali tore it free and backed away, aiming it at his
chest.

“
On your belly,” she
barked.

The man groaned and slumped to the floor,
eyes crossing. She found the rope the pirates had tied her with
earlier and hurried to bind his hands and legs while he was still
woozy. If she could find the key to her leg iron, she’d stick that
on him as well and see how well he liked being tied up.

“
You have any more
buckshot?” Kali asked after checking the shotgun. She could fire it
once, but that was it.

“
Not down here,” the
pirate growled, his eyes focusing again. “Why don’t you wander up
and look for some above decks? I’m sure someone can help you
out.”

“
With a bullet to the
chest, I’m sure,” Kali said.

Figuring she didn’t have much time, she
rushed over to the work table. She decided the iron band on her
ankle wasn’t a priority and left it on while she searched through
her tools for, yes, there was the vial of flash gold. She was
surprised the captain hadn’t taken it with him, but maybe Conrad
was the only one who knew what it was, or maybe he’d warned them
not to take it. Now if Kali could come up with something useful to
do with it before someone came and checked on her….

Another feminine cry of pain echoed through
the ship, muffled by the closed hatch, but not muffled enough. Kali
clenched her jaw. She had more than one reason to hurry.

Kali checked the machine shop drawers and
toolboxes. She doubted she would stumble across something as
obviously handy as ammunition for the shotgun, but maybe she could
find raw materials to make—she did not know what yet. But she had
the flash gold, so she could power something. She just had to
figure out what.

A tin of kerosene sitting in a bottom drawer
made Kali pause. A slow smile curved her lips. That certainly
increased the possibilities. Another drawer offered a bunch of
funnels and strainers of various sizes. They must fill the ship’s
running lamps down there.

Kali tapped the shotgun thoughtfully. “If I
could find some kind of pressurized tank…the flash gold could be
turned into an ignition system. It’s an energy source, after all.”
While she muttered to herself, she rifled through the rest of the
drawers. “Piping, hm. I could make a pump to pressurize a tank with
air…like with my spud launcher.” She snorted, imagining herself
racing through the corridors, pelting pirates with potatoes. This
new weapon would have to be a little more inimical. She grabbed a
screwdriver and started disassembling the shotgun’s firing
mechanism.