Liberty (Flash Gold, #5) (13 page)

Amelia, wrapped in
clothing that covered most of her face as well as her body, paced
in front of her flying machine, clearly waiting for someone. Kali
had been watching that flying machine from below, making sure it
didn’t take off while Cedar dawdled upstream. When she’d spotted
Amelia walking across the deck toward it, a rush of fear had washed
through her, fear that Amelia would escape minutes before Kali
reached her. She’d known then that she couldn’t wait for Cedar.

The rumble of thunder and
the gusts of wind had kept anyone from hearing her grappling hook
as it clanged off the hull twice before she’d managed to catch the
railing with it. Climbing up the wet rope as the wind had picked up
had not been easy, and she had been certain guards would be waiting
for her at the top, but the darkness and the weather had kept
anyone from noticing her. So far. Even the rain couldn’t dim the
protected flames of the lanterns burning at intervals around the
ship, and she wasn’t sure how she could approach Amelia without
being seen. Nor did she know what she planned to do even if she
could
sneak up on the witch woman. Club her on the back of
the head? Kali pulled out her wrench and looked bleakly at it.

Amelia and the flying
machine were out in open space on the deck, a well-lit open space.
Kali did not see any sign of the flash gold, but it might already
be loaded, perhaps tucked under the pilot’s seat. She drummed her
fingers. She had to get Amelia out of the way and check.

Even though most of the
crew was hiding from the rain, there were still four men that she
could see from her spot. Currently, they were at the opposite end
of the ship, standing at the bow and looking toward the same
meeting that had caught Cedar’s interest. But if Kali didn’t manage
to knock out Amelia with her first blow, the men were certain to
hear the sounds of a confrontation. And Kali didn’t like her odds
in a face-to-face confrontation with Amelia, not when she didn’t
have any defenses prepared. Her foe probably had pockets full of
tools and weapons that could be used for protection—a lone woman
would have been foolish to come up here without being prepared.

Amelia rose on her
tiptoes and leaned into the cockpit of her flying machine. A small
shovel scraped, and Kali thought she could see the air above the
vent pipe waver with heat. She gripped her wrench tighter. Amelia
must be shoveling coal into her furnace, preparing to leave.

Kali had to act now, do
something
. Otherwise, she would be stuck alone up here
with a bunch of thugs threatening to do who knew what to the
city.

Crouching low, Kali
followed the railing toward the rear of the airship, careful to
only move through the lit areas when Amelia’s back was to her. She
kept an eye on the men at the bow of the craft too. The meeting on
the dock must have broken up, because they were stirring, no longer
looking intently below.

When Kali drew even with
Amelia, she paused, again looking to her wrench. The woman was
still shoveling coal. Kali might never get a better chance to sneak
up behind her and strike her in the head with the wrench. The idea
of employing such violence made her queasy. Even if Amelia had
proven herself an enemy and wronged Kali more than once, could she
truly beat another human being senseless? It would be one thing to
fight back, defending herself in a skirmish, but this? As far as
Kali knew, Amelia didn’t have the flash gold, so what would even be
gained by beating on her?

A hatch opened behind the
woman, and a man in a long coat strode out. He did not look toward
Kali, instead walking straight toward the flying machine. Amelia
turned and spoke to the man, holding out her hand. The noise of the
rain pelting the deck kept Kali from hearing what she said. Was he
about to hand Amelia the flash gold? He didn’t look like he was
holding anything in his hands, and it wasn’t as if such a large and
heavy block of gold could be carried in a pocket.

He waved a piece of
rolled paper held in his hand, saying something in response.

Not sure of how much time
she had, Kali continued along the railing as soon as neither person
was looking in her direction. Amelia could leave any second if all
she was waiting for was for him to hand her something.

Once the flying machine
blocked Kali from their view, she left the railing, picking a route
through the shadows to the rear of the contraption. She ran her
hand along the patchwork hull, mulling over how she might disable
the craft, at least long enough to keep Amelia from leaving
tonight. A part of her rebelled at the idea of doing any damage to
something she could have seen herself building. Although, she
couldn’t have built it in quite the same way. As she touched the
hull, a faint tingle of electricity made the hair on the back of
her arm stand up. Amelia might use coal as the fuel source, and
there might be a typical boiler and furnace set up behind the
pilot’s seat, but from the first time Kali had seen the machine,
she’d suspected some magic lay about it. It seemed far too heavy
for the mesh butterfly wings to carry it through the air on the
basis of physics alone.

“I can’t give you no
guarantees, woman,” the man said. “That’s what was in his cabin,
and that’s all I can offer. Might be a map to treasure. Might be a
map to his snake collection.”

“This is unacceptable,”
Amelia said, her voice cold. “I’ve helped you amplify your
explosives, and I’ve created more of the powder, as he requested,
though I’ll likely go to Hell for the assistance I’ve given
you.”

The man grunted. “We
ain’t the pinnacle of all that’s evil in the world.”

“You’re thieves and
murderers.”

“Aye, what’s your
point?”

Kali gripped one of the
wings and pulled herself up, so she could access the back of the
machine. She had no idea how to sabotage whatever was magical about
the craft, but she could mess with the engine. She remembered the
way Amelia had sabotaged the self-automated bicycle by shoving some
tarry goop into the smokestack to keep the venting from working. It
would be poetic to pay her back in the same way, but Kali didn’t
have any goop handy. Instead, she simply used her wrench on the
main steam pipe, working as quietly as she could to twist it,
trying to puncture a hole.

“If these directions
don’t lead me to the flash gold,” Amelia said after a moment, “you
better believe I’ll be back.”

Kali couldn’t see either
of them or what they were doing. She felt both hope and
disappointment that Amelia didn’t already
have
the flash
gold. She’d had notions of causing the flying machine to crash,
then skimming down the rope, grabbing Cedar, and rushing to the
crash site to steal it from Amelia before she recovered.

“Aye, we’ll look forward
to your return.” The man grunted, about as sincere as a fish
telling a bear it was a pleasure to be eaten.

A clunk sounded in the
cockpit, and a shadow moved at the edge of Kali’s vision. She
flattened herself to the boiler, afraid Amelia would spot her. The
hot metal burned her belly through her shirt. The machine
shuddered—getting ready for liftoff?

Kali risked a final twist
with her wrench. Steam hissed as a seal broke. She slithered over
the back end of the machine, knowing she couldn’t leap straight
down if Amelia was already in the cockpit. The woman would easily
see her.

Her trouser leg snagged
on a bolt as she slipped toward the deck, holding her leg in place
so that she landed on one foot, far more awkwardly and heavily than
she intended. She yanked her foot down, feeling the tear of fabric.
She was right under the tail of the flying machine, and she lowered
her head to see if the man had spotted her. She hoped he would
already be on his way back into the cabin. Instead, he stood a few
feet away, staring at her.

“Who’s that?” he blurted,
grabbing for a six-shooter hanging from his belt.

Kali threw her wrench at
his face. The tail of the flying machine lifted off, almost
clubbing her in the head as Amelia immediately turned it toward the
back railing.

The man ducked Kali’s
wrench and ran toward her. She should have raced for the grappling
hook and fled back down to the river, but she didn’t have the flash
gold and she didn’t have Amelia. Fleeing now was unacceptable, damn
it.

She ran to the far side
of the flying machine, using it for cover in case the man meant to
shoot. The craft had already risen a couple of feet—Kali feared her
sabotage would not keep it from taking off. It might crash soon
after doing so, but that didn’t help her now. Kali jumped onto one
of the skis, and pulled herself toward the cockpit.

Amelia looked at her in
surprise, immediately reaching for something in a pocket or perhaps
under the seat. Aware of the man racing around the tail of the
machine to get to her, Kali flung herself into the cockpit, having
a notion of overpowering the older woman and taking over the craft.
If she could figure out how to work the controls, maybe she could
escape in it, or maybe she could drive the man below decks. The
machine had weapons—she well remembered being fired upon by
them.

Amelia lifted her arm,
something clenched in her fist. Kali clubbed her in the side of the
face with her elbow at the same time as she slapped that fist away
with the other hand. Amelia tried to avoid the slap, but Kali
caught her just as she was opening her palm to throw a vial, a dark
substance visible inside. Instead of flying at Kali, the vial
crashed to the deck. Glass shattered on the wet boards, and purple
smoke flooded the air. Kali wrestled with Amelia, trying to tug the
woman from her seat and shove her over the side, even as the
distant and rational part of her mind acknowledged that this was
idiotic, that she was going to get herself killed.

The smoke should have
dissipated quickly in the wind and rain, but a sickly odor reached
Kali’s nose. The urge to vomit immediately followed. Was Amelia
holding her breath? It was hard to tell in the chaos.

Someone grabbed Kali’s
leg—the man. She thrust back with her foot, trying to kick him in
the face. Even though Kali was proving stronger than Amelia, it
didn’t matter. The older woman was belted into the seat. There was
no way Kali would get her out.

Another tug on her leg
nearly yanked her out of the cockpit. Kali grabbed Amelia with one
hand and used the other to grip a wheel that looked to be the means
of navigation. The flying machine swung abruptly to the side as she
pulled on it, the movement more dramatic since the man was also
pulling on her. The skis clacked against the deck, and the tail
spun in a circle. One of the flapping wings came down on the man’s
head, and he finally let go of Kali, knocked onto his back in the
middle of the purple smoke.

Wretched coughs came from
his throat, along with gagging sounds, but Kali soon lost track of
him as the flying machine continued to swing, first bumping against
the deck, and then caroming off the envelope up above. Kali had a
wild hope that the wings might cut into the envelope and do damage
to the airship, as well as Amelia’s flying craft, but all that
happened was that the smaller vessel bounced off.

“What are you doing?”
Amelia growled, reaching for Kali’s eyes, fingers curled into
claws.

With both of her hands
busy hanging on as the spinning craft threatened to fling her over
the railing, all Kali could do was snap at those fingers with her
teeth. She caught one, biting down on a nail. Amelia hissed and
yanked her hand back.

“Give me those
directions,” Kali snarled, even though she had no way to threaten
the woman. “You’ve already destroyed half of my flash gold. Isn’t
that enough?”

The rain and wind nearly
drowned out her words, a huge gust sweeping across the deck and
buffeting the already out of control flying machine. She didn’t
even know if the other woman heard her.

“God, it’s
you
,”
Amelia snarled, recognition lighting her eyes for the first time.
She grabbed Kali’s forearm, trying to rip her hand from the
wheel.

Kali cracked her forehead
against Amelia’s face. The other woman tried to duck her chin to
protect herself, but Kali’s skull met her nose with a satisfying
crunch. For a second, Amelia seemed dazed. Though they were still
spinning, and she could hear shouting as the commotion drew men out
onto the deck, Kali took the moment to dig into Amelia’s pockets,
hoping to find whatever the gangster had given her.

A folded piece of paper
rested inside the first one she checked. She yanked it out just as
the tail slammed into the wooden cabin in the center of the deck. A
painful crunch assailed her ears, and the machine jolted. Expecting
it to crash, Kali leaped free. She had the directions. Now if she
could just escape...

But when she landed, she
toppled to her butt immediately, too dizzy to stand after all of
that spinning. It wouldn’t have mattered. No less than ten men had
heard the noise and come running, revolvers and rifles in their
hands, the weapons now pointed at Kali. A couple of other men had
weapons trained on the flying machine, as if it was some
independent monster that might attack the crew. After its crash, it
had skidded several meters and run into the railing, breaking it
before slumping to the deck, its wings still flapping feebly. Smoke
came out of the cockpit, and steam hissed from the pipe Kali had
damaged.

Her stomach heaved as two
big men strode toward her. She staggered to her feet, tempted to
run and try to reach the railing. Even if she was nowhere near the
hook and rope, if the river lay below, she might survive a fall.
But she was too slow, too dizzy and nauseated. The men would be
lucky if she didn’t throw up on their boots. They loomed to either
side of her, denying escape. The last thing she managed to do
before they had both of her arms was stuff her stolen piece of
paper into her smallclothes.