Flash Gold - Hunted Part 9

"A witch who studied engineering?" Kali said to the woman. "Or an engineer who studied witching."

"Witching." The woman chuckled.

"Oh, good," Kali muttered. "I amuse her."

"Your first guess is most accurate." She smirked. "Huzzah."

"And what do you want with me?" Kali asked. "It is me, right? I couldn't help but notice your little b.u.t.terflies had a fixation for my bottom."

"I'm here to kill you."

Cedar took a step forward, his knuckles white where he gripped his rifle. "If you try, I'll kill you first."

"Not likely, dear," the woman said. "You don't seem too bright."

"Why?" Though Kali did not think Cedar would be rash enough to charge the woman, she put a hand on his arm anyway. The hard knotted muscles beneath the sleeve testified to the tension in his body. "Why kill me? Most people just want to kidnap me. Which is a might inconvenient, too, but preferable to death."

She eyed the woman's vessel as she spoke, mulling over a way to sink it or push it out into the rapids. If they could manage that, the river might sweep their foe miles downstream before the woman could pull herself to sh.o.r.e. That would give her and Cedar time to escape. But if the "cicadas" truly had a setting three times as powerful as the one she had already felt, she might be filled with holes before she could reach the shallows and the boat.

The woman's gaze fixed on the drill. Kali had turned it off, but the flake of flash gold continued to glow, as it would for all eternity unless someone destroyed it. Maybe it was visible from the boat.

"The secret of flash gold must die," the woman said.

Ah, yes, visible from the boat indeed.

"Most people want the secret," Kali said, "which I don't have, by the way, so there's no need to kill me. As far as I know, n.o.body living has the secret."

Kali subtly poked through the innards of the broken cicada, looking for a clue that might let her nullify them all. If they were decommissioned somehow, charging the boat might be a less foolish proposition. Her fingers tingled as she touched some of the fine gears. Magic?

Cedar watched her hands through hooded eyes.

"You know how it's made even if you lack the power to imbue it," the woman said. "You've studied your father's notes, I'm sure."

"Notes?" Kali said. "Was he supposed to leave notes? He must have forgotten. He was busy dying."

"Ezekiel kept excellent notes. I know. I was his research partner for more than ten years."

Kali blinked. "You knew my father?" She had never met anyone outside of Moose Hollow who did. Old Ezekiel had done a good job of falling off the map when he came north. If Sebastian had not blabbed to the wrong people, all these troublemakers would never have known of her existence.

"Yes, did he never speak of me? Amelia?"

"No."

"That figures," the woman said, voice like ice. She-Amelia-picked up something. A small bronze box. Some sort of controller for the cicadas? Had she grown tired of chatting?

"My father didn't speak to me about anything," Kali said, trying to buy more time. She went back to prodding the wreckage of the broken cicada. "If you were lovers or something, he might still have cared. I just wasn't...a confidant of his. He barely acknowledged me."

"Because you lack power, I imagine. If the arrogant coot hadn't been obsessed over looks, we might have..."

She did not finish, but Kali could guess. They might have had a child. So, this was some spurned woman her father had not chosen for a lover. Maybe Amelia wanted Kali dead for more reasons than flash gold.

"Sorry, he didn't love you," Kali said. "But it's not my fault. Killing me won't-"

"It will ensure no more flash gold is ever made," Amelia snarled. "It's bad enough that it exists at all, but now that gangsters know about it, they'll not stop until they capture you and wring its recipe from your brain. They'll find someone who can imbue it, and the world will suddenly have power enough that countries can destroy each other without ever fielding an army."

Kali's probing in the broken cicada revealed a small cracked compa.s.s. "Don't you think flash gold has power for good? To be used as an energy source? It's more efficient than burning coal or wood and-"

"Don't lecture me, child. I know what it is. I helped invent it. And then I watched as the first experiment burned half of a town and killed dozens of people. I was caught in that fire."

For the first time, Amelia lifted a hand to her face and pushed up her goggles. She used her left hand. Maybe that bullet in her right shoulder had hurt after all.

Next she removed the wrapping, letting it fall about her neck like a scarf. Short graying blonde hair framed a narrow face with a pointed chin. She might have been pretty once, but shiny scar tissue ran up and down the right side of her face, contorting her features.

"I have that lodestone with me," Cedar whispered, and Kali realized he had been watching her finger the compa.s.s. "Wrapped up in the bottom of my pack."

Kali caught on immediately. If the cicadas used the compa.s.ses for navigation, a lodestone, with its magnetic properties, might be enough to throw them off by a hair. A hair might be all they needed. "Get it," she whispered back. "Hook it on the lead one's wings."

She tossed the broken machine aside, and took a couple of steps toward Amelia, placing herself to block the woman's view of Cedar. "I'm sorry you were injured, but look." Kali held out the drill with both hands. "Flash gold is a brilliant invention. It needn't be used as a weapon. I've used it for tools and plan to use it for transportation. I'm sure there are a million ways it could make people's lives better."

"It would only take one unscrupulous person to use it to destroy the world," Amelia said. "It's too dangerous to keep around."

"We just have to make sure it doesn't fall into an unscrupulous person's hands. If we worked together we could do that. You have no idea how much I'd like to learn from you. I've never had a teacher." Kali was buying time, yes, but the ache of sincerity in her voice surprised her.

It must have surprised Amelia too for she frowned thoughtfully at Kali. Might she consider it?

"It's true I've no magical gifts," Kali went on, "so I couldn't make the alchemical potions or whatever you used to heal yourself and deflect that bullet..." She raised her eyebrows. She was guessing since she had little knowledge of witchery, but Amelia nodded slightly. "I'm told I'm a fair tinkerer though." Kali juggled the drill so she could remove her packsack. "I love to make things. I can show you some of my handmade tools."

"I was impressed by your vehicle," Amelia admitted. "n.o.body taught you, you say?"

"I've had to learn it all on my own." Kali took another step. If Cedar gave her a chance, she would have to sprint forward and act before Amelia had time to think up something. "This drill isn't fancy since I only had a couple of minutes to make it, but it shows you the potential flash gold has for useful things."

Amelia's face hardened. Mentioning the gold again had been a mistake.

"No," Amelia said. "It's too dangerous. And, because you know its secrets and criminals know of you, you're too dangerous."

A clunk sounded behind her. Cedar tossing the lodestone at one of the flying creatures?

Before she could turn around to check, metal clashed. He was attacking the cicadas. That was her cue.

Kali sprinted toward the water, gripping the drill in both hands.

Amelia sneered and pushed a lever on her control box.

With the river roaring in her ears, Kali could not hear the click-whirs of the machines, but she knew Cedar could not take them all down at once. They would be pursuing. Pursuing and shooting.

b.a.l.l.s hammered the granite bank, bouncing off like hail. None struck Kali, but she sprinted faster anyway.

Three strides from the shallows, she touched the flash gold flake with her thumb to turn on the drill. Cedar surprised her by running past her. He leaped into the air, clearly hoping to jump over the shield on the boat and land on Amelia. She saw him coming, though, and hurled something. A small black ball expanded into a net, entrapping him in a heartbeat.

Kali splashed into the shallows, high-kneeing it to the back of the boat.

Though the net entangled Cedar, his momentum took him into the pilot's seat. He crashed down on top of Amelia, who shrieked in anger.

Kali reached her destination, the furnace and boiler at the back of the boat, but frigid water reached to her chest, and a strong current tugged at her body. She spread her legs, trying to brace herself on the slick bottom. She would need leverage if she meant to succeed at her task. Something akin to a cat fight was taking place in the pilot's seat, with both people tangled in the net.

"Cedar!" Kali called. "Get out of there!"

Stones shifted and moved beneath her feet, and the current threatened to suck her into the rapids, but she found a big rock to brace her boot against.

Amelia screamed in pain.

A splash sounded-Cedar obeying her order. Good.

Kali closed her eyes, tucked her chin, and pressed the drill to the side of the boiler. As soon as she felt the tip pierce the metal casing, she dove down, hoping the water would provide her some protection from the- Boom!

Even though she knew what to expect, she had no way to defend against the raw power of the boiler failure. The water did little to soften the blast wave, and it hurled her into the stony river bottom. Her back slammed against the rocks. Her breath escaped in a burst of bubbles.

For a dazed moment, she could do nothing. The current swept her off the rocks, and she forced her stunned limbs to work. She kicked and stroked, hoping she was angling toward the surface, but the powerful water defied her efforts. It swept her out of the shallows and into the rapids where she picked up speed.

She clawed her way to the top only to be battered against a sharp rock. She managed a gasp of air, but the torrent forced her underwater again. More rocks barred her way, and she bounced between them until her hand caught on something.

Rope?

If so, it was narrow, but she wasn't going to complain. She twined her fingers around it and lunged for another piece with the other hand. Not rope, a net.

As soon as she gripped it with both hands, she felt herself being hauled out of the current. Her head broke the water. Rivulets streamed into her eyes, but she dared not let go to wipe them, so she merely trusted it was Cedar.

The current lessened, and her knee b.u.mped against the bottom. Shallow water. She heaved a sigh of relief.

Strong hands gripped her by the armpits and pulled her out of the water. Before she could so much as wipe her eyes, she found herself crushed into a soggy hug. She did not relax into the embrace immediately; she craned her neck, searching for Amelia and the vessel. Kali had been swept a good hundred meters downriver, and she could barely see the bank where she'd started, but she squinted and spotted a couple of cicadas, flying around, lost. One crashed into a tree and went down. Others were already smashed into the ground. Kali did not see Amelia or the boat.

"You sank it," Cedar said. "She went downriver in the rapids. I got her with my sword through the net, but it wasn't a mortal blow. I don't know if we've seen the last of her or not."

"The last of her for today, I hope."

Kali let herself slump against Cedar for support and warmth. Now that she was no longer thrashing to escape the current, shivers coursed through her body. Though May lacked the harsh bite of a Yukon winter, it held no warmth either, and a cold breeze needled her through sodden clothing.

Cedar released her. "We better fetch our gear and get out of the area before those prospectors come looking for us."

"Agreed." Kali jumped up and down. Her teeth chattered.

"Did you bring a change of clothing?" Cedar asked. "Or only tools?"

"Of course I brought clothing, and don't you pick on me about how I packed. Not when you brought a rock."

"A lodestone." He grinned. "And it came in handy, didn't it?"

She tamped down her own grin and sniffed. "Moderately, I suppose."

"You're still a hard lady to please, I see."

"Yes. Yes, I am."

EPILOGUE.

Kali lined the crosshairs up with the man-shaped target tacked to the wall of her workshop. This was going to make a mess. She ought to test the device outside, but she did not want to explain it to pa.s.sersby. More people were streaming into Dawson every day, and it was hard to walk out the door without tripping over someone.

Her finger found the trigger, and she tapped it. The weapon responded perfectly. A chunk of potato shot from the broad wooden barrel, sailing across the workshop until it thudded into the neck of her target.

"Spud to the jugular." Kali lowered the weapon. "Embarra.s.sing way to go."

Her front door creaked open, and Cedar ducked inside. Milos, she reminded herself, determined to start calling him by his real name.

Clean-shaven and dressed in a nice b.u.t.ton-down shirt, he strolled toward her. He gave the SAB a pat on the way by-it had taken her an entire day to fix it up so she could bring it home-and halted when he spotted the potato launcher.

"You made one?" A grin split his face as he reached out to touch it. "I didn't truly expect you to... Can I try it?"

"Of course. You didn't think I'd make something so silly for myself, did you?" Kali put it in his hands and grabbed the other half of her potato. "It's like an old muzzle loader. You stuff your ammo in through the barrel. It's bladed so it'll shave your spud down if it's too big. Then you need to crank that lever a few times. It pumps air into the large-volume chamber where it builds up pressure. When you pull the trigger, that controls the dump valve and..." A concerned furrow creased Cedar's brow so she stopped the explanation, pumped the lever, and pointed. "Just pull the trigger."

"I may not be bright enough for this one," he said dryly.

"No, no, you knew about the lodestone, and you set a still to blow up in about thirty seconds. I don't even know how you did that. You're smart."

His eyebrows flew up. "Did you just compliment me?"

"Er, maybe."

"Huh."

Cedar pointed the spud gun, but did not fire right away. He met her eyes. "I just saw Bosomhall limping up the street, his arm in a sling."

"Oh," Kali said, not certain how she felt.

She had wondered if he made it out alive. On the one hand, she did not hate anyone enough to wish death on a person. On the other hand...it would have been better for her if Sebastian had never returned from the wilderness. Before, greed had motivated him to strike at her. Now, revenge might add extra...color to his plans for her.

"I thought you should know," Cedar said.

"Yes, thank you." Kali pushed aside her worries for another time. "Are you going to try that thing, or not?"

"Yes, ma'am."