Hunted [The Flash Gold Chronicles]

by Lindsay Buroker

  “And this—” Cedar lifted the rock and spun it, “—is a lodestone. I won it gambling. It’s supposed to bring luck.”

  “If the previous owner lost it gambling, it can’t be that lucky.”

  “True, but the chain is silver. I can always sell it.”

  Ah, yes, speaking of monetary matters... “Did you find Koothrapai?” she asked, naming a deserter-turned-murderer-and-rapist who had come to Dawson to escape the law. Normally she left the scouting of targets to Cedar, but the thug had wandered past her shop, and she had recognized him from the newspaper.

  “Yes,” Cedar said.

  “And did you...?” Kali glanced at his sword.

  “Yes.”

  “And collected the reward money?”

  “Yes.”

  She waited. This was the point when he usually handed over her share. He did not.

  “We’re not splitting this one?” Kali asked. It was understandable, since she had done little to help this time, but Cedar had stipulated a fifty-fifty cut when she first agreed to work with him, modifying his weapons and making useful criminal-thwarting gadgets.

  Cedar hesitated before answering. “I did not have need of your services to take Koothrapai down.”

  “True, but I did alert you to the man’s presence in town.”

  “Which began a three-day hunt, during which I had to traipse all over the valley after a man who served as a scout and knew how to hide his tracks and fight when cornered.”

  “Yes, but you like those activities.”

  “I do. My argument is that your portion of the work was not commensurate with a fifty percent cut.”

  Kali propped her hands on her hips. “Really. Did you use any of my smoke nuts?” she asked, naming the shrapnel-flinging smoke grenades that were one of her trademark inventions.

  He hesitated again. “Yes.”

  “See, I helped. You just tracked him down. It’s not my fault it took you three days. A trained hound could do that job.”

  His nostrils flared and his eyes grew flinty. Even before that, Kali regretted her words. He was her only friend here—one of her only friends in the world.

  She rubbed her face. “I’m sorry, but I need money to build my airship.”

  “Perhaps,” Cedar said, “in this instance, a nominal finder’s fee would be suitable.”

  She closed her eyes, glad he was too mature to lash out at her life’s work the way she had at his. Or maybe she wished he would. It was hard knowing she was the childish one.

  “A finder’s fee?” Kali asked, glad she managed a reasonable tone of voice. She almost gave in out of hand, but if she accepted those terms once, might he not try to press them on her every time? If so, it could take her years to reach her goal. “You said we were partners who would split everything fifty-fifty. I came along because you seemed like the best bet for earning the money for the parts and raw materials that can one day get me out of this frozen-eight-months-out-of-the-year hell.”

  “Is that the only reason you came with me?” Cedar asked, surprising her. That wasn’t what he was supposed to latch onto.

  “What?” she asked. Was he trying to derail her argument? “Of course that’s why I came. What other choice did I have? You cost me any chance of winning that dog sled race and getting my airship money that way.”

  “I see.” He sounded disappointed in her.

  And that made her bristle more than the money. “I can’t order what I need if all I’m getting are ‘finder’s fees.’ Once I have everything I need, I’ll help you for free while I’m building my airship. That’ll take months. And, listen, if you haven’t found Cudgel in that time, I’ll help you hunt him down.” She tried a smile. “By air.”

  Cedar’s eyebrows disappeared beneath the brim of his hat. There, that had him intrigued. “Perhaps,” he said, “but I’m hoping we won’t need that much time. When I was turning in Koothrapai’s head, I ran into an old comrade who gave me a tip.”

  He gripped her arms. His eyes burned with an intensity that had not been there during their argument.

  “On where to find Cudgel?” Kali asked.

  “Possibly.” Cedar noticed his grip and released her. “One of Cudgel’s trusted men, John Wilder—or Wild John as he goes by—just registered a claim up river. His head is worth a couple hundred dollars, but more importantly: when he’s around, Cudgel’s never far off.”

  Kali forced a smile, trying to show she was happy for him, but her first thought was that he’d have little reason to stick around and work with her once he’d completed his quest. “Think he’s here, trying to get rich?” she asked. He was probably waiting for her to say something encouraging.

  “Must be.” Cedar nodded. “Your old beau is right.”

  She winced. She did not want that word associated with her and Sebastian.

  “Big finds were made here last year,” he said, “and folks’ll be flooding the town this summer. The population’s already growing.”

  “I know. This is all new. My mother’s people had a camp here when I was a girl. Nothing short of gold would make men stupid enough to build a city on land that turns into a swamp when it thaws. I used to—er, wait. You were standing outside, listening to our conversation?” That meant he had heard those insults. The last thing she wanted from him—or anybody—was pity.

  “Ah. Well...” Cedar removed his hat and scraped his fingers through his tousled black hair. “When I heard the gunshot, I ran over to check on you. Thought bandits might have invaded the shop. Then, when I figured that wasn’t the case, I wasn’t sure if I should walk in or not.”

  “Oh.”

  “Are you game to help with Wilder?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Kali said, glad to change the subject. “You want to go out and check on his claim, see if he’s about?”

  “Yes, but claim jumpers are a problem up here, aren’t they? Folks might get suspicious if we’re roaming about, peering about people’s properties.”

  “You think someone is going to mistake me for a claim jumper?” Kali patted her overalls, causing tools to clink and clatter.

  “You, perhaps not. But it’s possible folks might think me...” He touched the scar on his cheek.

  “Menacing?”

  “Dangerous,” Cedar said.

  “Dangerously menacing?”

  “I’m not menacing. Villains are menacing.”

  “You cut people’s heads off, Cedar.”

  “I cut villains’ heads off.”

  “Which is a menacing practice,” Kali said.

  “A noble one. I help bring peace and justice to the world.”

  “Menacingly.” She bit her lip to keep a grin from sprawling across her face. She much preferred it when they were not arguing about anything serious.

  Cedar stuffed his hat back on his head and glowered at her from the shadows it cast over his face.

  “Yes, exactly. That’s menacing.” Figuring he might not appreciate further teasing, she switched the topic. “So, what’s the plan for investigating this Wild fellow’s claim? Want me to pack a bunch of tools and parts in case we need to do anything creative?”

  “Wouldn’t you do that whether I wanted to or not?”

  “Well, yes.”

  Kali looked around, already figuring how much she could stuff into a packsack. She eyed the airship model, wishing she could bring it along, not because it would serve any purpose but because it would be fun to fly it out in the open. Best to lock it up in her hidden, booby-trapped flash-gold vault though. No need to tempt the world.

  “After you pack,” Cedar said, “let’s head over to the claims office and see what piece of land your Sebastian filed.”

  Kali had turned toward her workbench to gather her gear, but she tripped over her feet at this last comment. “What? Why?”

  “He offered you a job, didn’t he? His claim might be close to Wilder’s since they filed at similar times. We could pretend to work for him while spying on the other man.”

&
nbsp; “I don’t want to work for him, I want to shoot him.”

  “Perhaps we’ll have a gunfight with Cudgel’s men and he’ll get caught in the crossfire.”

  “Cedar... This isn’t a good idea. We can’t trust him.”

  “We don’t have to. We shouldn’t have to stay there long.”

  Kali sighed. “Fine.”

  Glass clanked outside the door.

  Kali frowned. Was someone out there listening to them?

  Before she finished the thought, Cedar had run to the doorway. He stepped outside and paused.

  “Someone there?” Kali asked.

  “They were.”

  She joined him outside before liquid-filled bottles hanging from ropes attached to an eave. The rudimentary “thermometer” had come with the warehouse. The various liquids—mercury, coal oil, Jamaica Ginger extract, and Perry Davis Painkiller—froze at temperatures ranging from forty to seventy below zero, thus providing an indicator of the severity of a winter day. With the warmer spring weather, none were in danger of freezing now, and the contents sloshed inside the bottles, as if some wind buffeted them—or someone had bumped into them.

  Cedar pointed to footprints in the mud under the thermometer.

  “Sebastian?” Kali guessed.

  “Different prints.” Cedar waved to the deep boot marks on the other side of the door, where Sebastian had stood to lean inside. The new ones were no larger than Kali’s own footprints. “Judging by the stride length, the person sprinted away.”

  Kali peered up and down the street, wondering if anyone had seen the eavesdropper.

  The covered boardwalks fronting the log saloons, gambling halls, and boarding houses were empty. A horse team pulling a wagon struggled with deep mud in the nearest intersection, but the drover, busy with his whip, did not glance her way. Nor did any of the people conversing on the wood porch in front of Gamgee’s Mercantile & Liquor give any indication that suspicious folk had been about.

  “I’ll see if I can track him—or her—down,” Cedar said. “Want to pack whatever you’ll need for the trip and meet me at the claim office in an hour?”

  “That depends,” Kali said. “When we take down Cudgel, am I getting fifty percent or a finder’s fee?”

  “I’d like your full help for Cudgel, which is worth half of the five-thousand-dollar bounty.”

  She swallowed. Twenty five hundred dollars? With that kind of money, she could order brand new parts instead of scrounging for used pieces and putting them to creative new uses. She could even hire people to help her assemble her airship. Within the year, she could finish it and be sailing south, over the mountains and far away from icy, dark winters where the sun did not shine for months.

  “An hour to get ready?” she asked. “Who needs that much time? I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes.”

  Cedar lifted two fingers to the brim of his hat in salute and trotted toward the end of the building where the prints disappeared around the corner. He paused. “By the way...the ladies at the dancing hall like my stubble.”

  Before she could decide if she wanted to retort, he jogged out of sight.

  * * * * *

  Kali squished through the mud, her bulky packsack bumping on her back. She crossed Main Street and headed for the wooden steps of the claim office. Piles of dirty gray snow, sunken and melted like candle wax, hunkered against its walls. Dwindling icicles dripped water from the eaves, vexing people striding along the boardwalk below.

  Layers of clothing served as a method of identifying newcomers. Natives who had suffered through the long frigid winter welcomed the cloudy skies and forty-degree temperatures with rolled-up shirt sleeves, while those fresh to the Yukon were bundled in scarves and jackets against weather that had to seem nippy for May.

  “Kali!” came Cedar’s voice from above.

  He, too, had gathered his gear, and he trotted down the stairs with a packsack and rolled blankets riding on his back along with rifle and sword. He joined her at the base of the steps.

  “Good news. Sebastian Bosomhall’s claim is diagonally across the river from Wilder’s. We’ll be able to observe the enemy camp.”

  “Good,” Kali said. “I guess.” She struggled to find enthusiasm for working with Sebastian again. Maybe one of the claims directly adjacent to Wilder’s would consider hiring them.

  Cedar cleared his throat. “Bosomhall? That’s his name? You’re fortunate his marriage offer wasn’t in earnest. That’d be a curse of a surname to have hung around one’s neck.”

  “I’m still waiting to learn your name, MK,” she said, citing the letters etched on the inlay of his Winchester. “If you were to file for a claim, what would you write down? Assuming the claim is only binding if you use your legal name.”

  “Since I’m not filing for a claim, there’s no need to speak of it.”

  “Why don’t you tell people? Is it embarrassing? Do you believe sharing it would concede some power over you to someone else?” Her mother had believed that, but perhaps it had been a truth for her. She had possessed otherworldly powers few understood. Kali preferred to think it was that talent that had driven her mother mad enough to kill herself—not disappointment in her only child.

  “I don’t use it anymore. What’s important now is that we can move forward with this task. If we leave now and walk fast, we can get to Bosomhall’s claim today. From there, I can spy on John Wilder and—” Cedar clenched a fist, “—find out where Cudgel is.”

  Kali let him drop the name issue, though she planned to pry the secret out of him someday.

  “Did you find our eavesdropper?” she asked as they squished down the muddy street toward the river beyond. A road meandering past the docks would take them out of town and toward the claims.

  “No. I followed her for several blocks, which was difficult since she seemed cognizant of being tracked and chose well-traveled streets.”

  “She?” Kali asked.

  “I thought the tracks might belong to a boy at first, but hips give a gait a distinctive sway, usually identifiable in one’s footprints.” They turned to follow the waterline. “The tracks left town and veered into the trees. The trail ended behind a hill where two lines gouged a snow drift. Logs might have rested there, or boards. They were parallel, like a pair of large skis. Ideas?”

  “I...no.”

  “Coincidence perhaps. She may have taken to the trees. I chose to return for our meeting instead of scouting further.”

  “Good.” Kali stopped before the last dock. It sported a tiny log boathouse. “A girl likes to hear that a man would rather turn his back on intrigue than miss a scheduled date with her.”

  Cedar tilted his head. “I returned because the possibility of finding Cudgel is my priority.”

  “I see. I’m incidental.” She strode onto the dock.

  “No, I didn’t mean to imply you weren’t important. I—where are you going?” Thumps sounded as he jogged to catch up with her. “I’ll keep an eye out for this woman. If she’s a threat to you, I’ll protect you. Or I’ll watch your back while you hurl smoke nuts at her and shoot her. Whatever you wish.”

  “So long as Cudgel isn’t around?”

  “Kali...”

  She stopped in front of the tiny boathouse door and lifted a hand. “Relax, I’m not angry. I know Cudgel’s your life’s quest. And I’m just... Look, I appreciate that you humor me by listening to me prattle about my work. Not many people want to have anything to do with me.” And if she wished he might be more than a business partner, well, that was not something she should wish for.

  “I don’t humor you,” Cedar said. “I’m interested in your work. Especially when you’re making weapons and explosives. And modifying my rifle.”

  She smiled. That did seem to tickle him. She had modified the loading mechanism on his Winchester to work like hers, automatically chambering a new round after the first bullet fired. She wondered what those dancing hall ladies thought when he insisted on sleeping with the rifle. />
  “And I’m currently interested in why we’re standing here. The mining claims are that way.” Cedar pointed upriver. “Unless you intend to steal a boat?”

  “No, I made a deal with a fellow who lost his fishing boat last fall. I fixed his furnace in exchange for free rent.”

  “Free rent for what?”

  “You’ll see.” Kali patted her pockets. “Uh oh, did I forget the key?”

  “It doesn’t look like you forgot anything.” Cedar’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he nodded at her lumpy, bulging packsack. “Except a blanket. Or did you intend to share my Euklisia Rug?” he asked, naming his fancy bedroll. “To further the guise of us as lovers?”

  Heat flushed her cheeks. “No! I mean... I just assumed since Sebastian offered employment, he would provide the basics.” Dear Lord, this plan would involve her having to back up her thoughtless proclamation. Possibly for days. One ill-considered word. She groaned.

  “You needn’t appear so appalled,” Cedar said. “I’ve been told I’m a fine companion. True, my face is a little battered, but I make up for it with what’s beneath my clothing.” He smiled, but it faltered immediately. “I didn’t mean anything lurid by that. Just that some women have suggested my physique is pleasant to, uhm, need help with that lock?”

  Kali shook her head and dug out a couple of fine tools. Quicker to pick the lock than run back through all that mud to the workshop. “I’m sure you’re fine.” More than fine. “I just don’t sleep with men whose names I don’t know.”

  “Ah.”

  If she had thought her statement would motivate him to reveal his name, she was mistaken. He merely watched her until the lock thunked and she pushed the door open.

  “Huh,” he said.

  “What?”

  “You can pick locks.”

  Kali shrugged and walked into the boathouse. “I can make locks. Picking them is easy.”

  “Remind me not to throw you in shackles.”

  “Is that something you contemplate often?” Kali untied a tarp draping a chest-high, six-foot-long object that rested not in the water but on the dock.

  “Not...often.” Cedar smiled and lifted a finger, as if he might say more, but the words changed to a gasp when she removed the tarp, revealing the machine beneath. “Whoa. What is that?”