Peacemaker (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #3) (16 page)

The ship groaned and scraped, pulling away
from whatever it had struck.

“
Are you all right?”
Kéitlyudee asked.

Kali waved the question away and scrambled
to her feet. “I’m fine, but I need to find Cedar. I want you to get
off as soon as possible. If we can find his rope and grappling
hook, maybe—”

Footsteps pounded toward the entrance above
them. The navigators finally coming down to check on what had
caused the hydrogen to vent?

Kali dropped to one knee and braced her
wrist for a steady shot at whoever burst into sight at the top of
the stairs.

“
Kali!” Cedar shouted a
second before he appeared. “I need you to—oh, there you
are.”

Kali lowered the gun and ran up to meet him.
Another impact rocked the ship, and a great cracking and smashing
of wood shattered the night. This time the ship jerked to a halt,
sending Kali flying forward instead of back. Cedar caught her and
pulled her against his chest. His legs were spread, braced against
the steps and the wall.

“
We have to get off,” he
said.

“
Yes, but if we leave, we
can’t take over the ship. The pirates will get it, and this
fighting will have been for nothing.” Well, not nothing—they’d
rescued Kéitlyudee—but Kali wanted the ship, damn it.

“
We just crashed into a
smokestack, and we’re on the roof of the mill, Kali,” Cedar said
slowly, like someone trying to get something through the muddled
thoughts of a drunk.

“
Oh.” Kali supposed that
answered her question about whether they were in town or the
wilderness.

“
There aren’t any pirates
left either,” Cedar went on. “The only thing to worry about is that
fire spreading to the entire town.” He pointed at the
flames.

Dried blood streaked his arm. In fact, his
whole chest was spattered with it, though he did not appear
injured. Kali wondered if the pirates were gone because they
abandoned the ship or if he had decimated them all. She decided not
to ask.

Shouts drifted up from the town below, cries
of, “Fire!” and, “Get the hoses!”

“
Tarnation,” Kali said, as
the new threat permeated her brain. She’d wanted to bring the ship
down, not light the city on fire. She pushed away from Cedar.
“Maybe we can get the ship off the mill and dump it in the river
where the fire can’t spread.”

Cedar gave her a suspicious squint before
letting her go. He probably thought she was still hoping to salvage
the ship, and maybe she was, but she couldn’t let it turn Dawson
into an inferno, not when she’d been responsible for sabotaging the
hydrogen.

Kéitlyudee was lingering on the stairs
behind her. Kali grabbed her arm and guided her onto the deck.

“
Is there a way for her to
get off?” Kali asked.

“
My rope should still be
tied behind that capstan over there.” Cedar pointed toward a
railing on the aft side of the ship.

“
Can you climb down?” Kali
asked, eyeing the woman’s bruises.

Kéitlyudee nodded vigorously. She’d probably
do anything to get off the ship and away from her night of
hell.

“
Go, then.” Kali waved
toward the railing, then told Cedar, “I’m going to navigation.
Cover me.”

Without waiting for approval—or dissent—Kali
jogged across the flame-lit deck toward the cabin. Heat beat
against her face, and wood snapped so loudly it hurt her ears. A
shower of sparks flew upward, dancing toward the bottom of the
balloon.

“
Kali…” Cedar had caught
up to her, and he grabbed her arm. “It’s too dangerous to go in
there. You need to—” He broke off with a hiss.

Kali glanced over her shoulder and followed
Cedar’s gaze. At the far end of the ship, a dark figure was
slipping over the railing.

“
Look out!” Cedar lunged,
throwing an arm around Kali’s waist and bearing her down with
him.

A gunshot fired, and a bullet skipped off
the deck inches from Cedar’s head.

“
Who—” Kali
started.

“
Lockhart.” Cedar jumped
to his feet again, hauling Kali with him, and he raced around to
the front of the navigation cabin.

It took them out of the detective’s line of
fire, but, given the flames crackling and roaring a foot away, Kali
did not know that they were any safer there.

“
Do what you have to do in
there.” Cedar leaned around a corner and fired a shot. “I’ll keep
him busy.”

Kali hesitated, remembering his words from
the restaurant. He didn’t want to kill Lockhart, so he’d be
shooting only to maim. Lockhart, on the other hand, wanted Cedar
more than anything else in the world just then.

“
I’ll be fine here on my
own.” Kali tried to shove Cedar toward the railing. “He won’t shoot
me. You should get out of here before—”

Cedar darted away from her and fired twice
into the night. With the navigation cabin blocking her view, Kali
couldn’t see Lockhart, but she imagined him ducking behind some
cover. Cedar waved Kali toward the open door, even as he ran and
slid behind a capstan near the railing. Fire danced on ropes over
his head.

Kali swallowed. She had best do this
quickly, for both of their sakes.

The windows allowed her to see inside the
cabin. Though flames roared on the outside, they did not seem to
have damaged the interior irrevocably yet. Kali tugged her kerchief
over her mouth and nose again and edged closer to the door. Certain
the metal lever would be hotter than Hades, she pulled her sleeve
over her hand.

Heat railed at her, and the wind shifted,
driving smoke into her eyes. The men exchanged another round of
fire, and Kali forced herself to hurry. She grabbed the lever,
twisting it and yanking it open. The sleeve did nothing for
protection, and heat scorched her palm, as if she had grabbed an
iron from the forge. The hatch swung open. She shook her hand and
made a point not to look at the welts that had to be rising
there.

Staying low, Kali darted
into the cabin. With windows on all sides, she knew she’d be a
target in there. Though she didn’t
think
Lockhart would aim at her, she
couldn’t be sure. He might decide hurting her would distract Cedar,
providing the opportunity the agent needed to take his prey down.
Or he might think she was trying to damage the city instead of
saving it.

Kali dashed sweat out of her eyes as she
considered the large wooden wheel and the control panel sprawling
across the front of the cabin. Waves of heat battered her from all
sides, and she knew she couldn’t stay long. Even with the kerchief
over her mouth, hot fumes scorched her nostrils, seeming to burn
all the way to her lungs. She’d never been inside a volcano, but
she imagined it would feel like this.

Though she didn’t expect it to have any
result, Kali grabbed the wheel and spun it as far to one side as it
would go. The ship’s engines were still working—vibrations thrummed
beneath her feet—but they could do nothing, not with the vessel
grounded atop the mill. Indeed, Kali could see the large smokestack
pressed against the bow. For all she knew, the fans that propelled
the ship were busted, smashed into pieces when the craft crashed
onto the mill roof. Only achieving lift would help them.

More screams of, “Fire, fire!” came from the
city below, and Kali had a feeling the flames were already
spreading.

She searched the bank of levers, hunting for
something that might help. As far as she knew, the balloon wasn’t
yet compromised, so there had to be hydrogen remaining up there.
What if she now vented some of the air? That would partially
deflate the balloon, but it’d also change the hydrogen-to-air
ratio. If the ship wasn’t too heavy, maybe there’d be enough of the
lighter gas left to lift the hull a few feet. That ought to be all
they needed to limp through town and reach the river.

Unlike with the controls in the machine room
below, these had tape pasted below them with English translations
scrawled across the surface. There was hydrogen with its lever
already thrust to maximum. Someone had tried to get them back into
the air, but there were no reserves to call upon. Kali could have
smacked herself on the forehead for her shortsighted sabotage.
Bringing the ship down had been her goal, of course, but that had
been before she’d known about the fire. She’d envisioned a soft
landing in the middle of the Main Street mud. If they caught the
city on fire…it’d be her fault.

The smoke invading her throat spurred a
series of coughs, and Kali dropped low for a moment, gathering
herself. Black dots danced at the edges of her vision. The heat was
making her dizzy.

A bullet shattered one of the rear windows.
It cut straight through and slammed into a charred support beam in
the corner. Broken glass pelted Kali. Already on her knees, she
buried her head and raised her arms to protect her neck. Shards
tinkled to the deck all around, the soft noises oddly audible above
the snapping wood and roaring fire. More than one piece of glass
found bare skin, and Kali winced. Warm blood trickled down her
jawline.

“
So much for Lockhart not
shooting at me,” she muttered, her voice hoarse.

Talking only brought on another round of
coughing. More noxious fumes invaded her lungs.

Kali squinted up at the control panel,
renewing her search. There was a lever for adding air, but
where—ah, there it was. Two wheels for emergency venting purposes,
both fortunately labeled. Kali fought against the heat and her own
dizziness to rise enough to grab the closest wheel. She had to
simultaneously push and twist to vent the air.

Out on the deck, the fire had spread,
charring everything in its path as flames leapt into the night.
Under the reddish glow, Kali glimpsed Lockhart inching closer to
the bow of the ship. He darted from one piece of cover to the next,
drawing near her station.

From somewhere in front of
the navigation cabin, Cedar fired. Lockhart ducked behind one of
the weapons turrets. Kali shook her head. Didn’t he know that Cedar
didn’t
have
to
miss? And would Cedar continue to miss if Lockhart became a threat
to her? Being framed for murdering innocent citizens was bad
enough; killing a Pinkerton detective would bring the wrath of the
entire agency down upon him.

After Kali left the vent controls, she
crouched behind the wooden navigation wheel and turned it all the
way to starboard. Nothing happened. She held it there, hoping the
balloon would eventually rise, lifting the ship free of its perch.
Of course, if the ship was too heavy and the balloon simply
deflated, it might droop down onto the deck, and smother them all
in a fiery cocoon of death.

“
Probably shouldn’t think
things like that,” she muttered to herself.

A loud crack erupted behind her. Kali drew
her arm in front of her face as a portion of the roof caved in.
Burning wood fell everywhere, and ash clogged the air. A gaping
hole in the ceiling revealed flames leaping from the cabin’s roof,
their fingers licking the bottom of the balloon. If the hydrogen
blew…with her this close to it….

Kali gulped and rose to her feet, tempted to
sprint outside and forget the ship and the city. She didn’t want to
die over this. Maybe if she could find some rope, she could tie the
wheel in place, so the ship would turn away from the smokestack on
its own if the hull lifted.

Wood scraped and groaned beneath Kali. The
hull scraping against the mill’s roof.

“
Yes,” she whispered.
“We’re moving.”

With the hot wheel gripped in both hands,
she fastened her gaze to the front window. Ash stung her eyes, and
tears streamed down her face, but it didn’t matter. They were
rising. Slowly but surely, with much scraping and bumping, they
climbed away from the mill roof.

Kali adjusted the wheel, trying to veer in
the direction of the river. The ship responded sluggishly, but it
inched forward.

More than one bullet had assaulted the
windows, and she had to peer through a spider web of cracked glass.
Despite the fire raging on the ship, the blanket of night still
cloaked Dawson. She struggled to get her bearings, and it was more
memory of the city’s layout that guided her, rather than what she
saw, though dozens of lanterns swirled about below, people running
to and fro, coming to help, or perhaps simply gawk.

Nausea churned in Kali’s stomach, and
lightheadedness continued to assail her. She gripped the wheel
tightly, fearing she might otherwise wither under the heat and
collapse to the deck. She’d stopped sweating and was simply baking
now, like salmon bundled in leaves and cooked beneath the embers of
a fire.

Movement stirred at the corner of her
vision. Lockhart. He’d drawn even with the cabin, and gripped his
Colt, his jaw set with determination, but he didn’t aim it at her.
He met her eyes briefly before standing on tiptoes to peer out past
the bow. Did he know what she was trying to accomplish? Kali hoped
so. She was too hot to dodge bullets. All she wanted was—

A snap split the air, hammering Kali’s ears
with its power. The ceiling collapsed.

Burning wood plummeted, and something
heavy—a beam?—smashed into her and flattened her to the deck.

Strangely, Kali didn’t feel any pain, but a
great weight pinned her. It felt like a mountain had landed on her
back, and it wasn’t moving. She tried to push and pull herself
free, but one of her arms was also pinned. With the other she
reached, trying to find something to grab, some way to obtain
leverage to pull herself free, but her fingernails only scrabbled
uselessly against the hot deck boards. She couldn’t feel her
legs.