Hunted
( Flash Gold Chronicles - 2 )
Lindsay Buroker
Lindsay Buroker
Hunted
PART I
A tiny brazier burned on the deck of afoot-long model ship, sending hot air into an oblong patchwork ofkerchiefs sealed with a custom paraffin concoction. The balloonexpanded until it bulged like an overstuffed sausage casing. Theminiature ship rocked on the workbench twice, then rose. Inch byinch, it levitated into the air.
A spool on the deck played out telephone wirethat attached to a small control box. Kali McAlister wore a grinbrighter than the Northern Lights as she picked it up.
She glanced toward the windows at the frontof the workshop. The door was locked and the shutters pulled, butsomeone wondering why her tinkery was closed might press a noseagainst a crack….
“Don’t be paranoid,” she told herself. Dawsonmight have a bustling population compared to Moose Hollow, but shehad not been open for business long, and she was lucky to get acustomer a day.
Kali flicked one of the four tiny levers onthe control box.
A signal pulsed through the telephone wire,and a click sounded inside the hull of the ship. Powered by a flakeof flash gold, the miniature engine thrummed to life. Delightcoursed through Kali, but anxiety as well. Lots of peoplesuspected she had flash gold, her dead father’s alchemicalmasterpiece, but only her former beau, Sebastian, and her businesspartner, Cedar, knew for sure. If anyone caught a glimpse…
“This is necessary,” she told herself. “Youcan’t build the real thing without constructing a working modelfirst.”
Right. That sounded like a plausible excuse.Anyway, the hull of the ship hid the telltale flash of the vibrantenergy source.
With the engine purring like a kitten fat onmilk, the model floated higher. Kali flicked another lever. Therudder turned, and the ship changed direction, veering away fromthe wall and out over her collection of disassembled boilers,half-built projects, and crates of brass, steel, and iron parts. Itlofted toward the back corner of the building, skimming beneathceiling beams decorated with cobwebs and owl pellets. Theex-fur-storage warehouse wasn’t posh, but at least the rent wascheap.
The shop door creaked open, and nippy springair swirled in, smelling of wood smoke, melting snow, and yeastfrom the brewery next door.
“Tarnation,” Kali cursed under herbreath.
She turned, hoping it was Cedar. It wasnot.
When she identified the well-dressed man whostepped through the doorway, her hand clenched the control box sotightly she nearly broke one of the levers.
The clean-shaven man wore a tailored blacksuit, a green silk vest, and a creamy button-down shirt with fancystitching about the collar. A sleek, beaver-fur top hat perchedabove a mane of thick blond hair that fell straight to hisshoulders. His clear green eyes and easy smile could dazzle alady…until that lady wised up and realized he was a con man. Acon man who could make love to a woman and promise to help herescape the frozen North, all the while scheming to get at her mostprized possession.
Kali forced her grip on the control box toloosen so she could turn off the engine. No need to flaunt thatprized possession.
“Sebastian,” she growled through clenchedteeth. “How’d you get in? I locked that door.”
“Did you?” He slipped something that mighthave been lock picks or a skeleton key into a pocket, then sweptthe hat from his head and bowed deeply. “Kali, dear, how areyou?”
“How am I?” She gaped at him. “How amI?”
Though she had turned off the model’s engine,the fire still burned, and the unattended airship smacked into awall. Cursing, Kali raced to the corner and caught it before itfell to the floor. As it was, the wire tangled, creating a mess shewould have to unravel later. She dumped out the coals in thebrazier and laid the model on her workbench.
“You lied to me, tried to steal my father’slife’s work, and then, when I wouldn’t give it to you, you rattedme out to Soapy Smith and the Scar of Skagway.” Kali slid a handinto a cubby beside the workstation. “Now I’m being hunted morefiercely than the beaver that died for your idiotic hat. And youwant to know how I am?” Her fingers closed about cold steel,and she pulled out her favorite weapon.
“Yes, dear, I’m terribly sorry about that.”Sebastian flipped those blond locks out of his eyes and replacedthe top hat. “I was a tad angry at the time. After all, you threwone of those smoking shrapnel gewgaws and nearly unmanned me. Canyou imagine the egregious horror it would be to my family-andmankind as a whole-if I were not able to one day have chil…” Hisrambling nonsense came to a halt when he noticed what Kaliheld.
She stood ramrod straight with her modifiedWinchester 1873 aimed at his chest. “I reckon I can still make sureyou don’t have any children.”
“Ah, Kali, dear.”
“Don’t call me dear.”
“Ah, yes, Kali, then.”
“Ms. McAlister,” she said. “Or ma’am will do.Though you needn’t use either, since I’m inviting you to seeyourself out and not bother me again. Ever.”
“Now, now.” He patted the air with his hands.Between the kerosene lamps burning indoors and the daylight seepingthrough the clouds outdoors, she had no trouble seeing hisperfectly manicured nails with not a hint of dirt crusting thebeds. “I made a mistake, and I can admit to that. I apologize. Iwas in my cups and, like I said, recovering from the wounds youinflicted upon me. It really isn’t right to target a man down inthat region, you know.”
Her finger tightened on the trigger of therifle.
He was close enough to see it. “Er, like Iwas saying, I came to apologize. You must know I didn’t mean forthose gangsters to hear about you. I didn’t go to them, Iassure you. I was just expressing my displeasure over how thingsended.”
“In a crowded bit house with dozens of earsperked your direction,” Kali said.
“Well, that was a tad unwise, for certain,but it’s all a misunderstanding. There’s no reason we can’t get ontogether again.” He dared to eye her up and down. “You’re stilllooking mighty fine.”
Kali gaped at him. She wore baggy,grease-stained overalls with tools bristling from every pocket andmore gear dangling from her belt. A screwdriver was stuck throughthe end of her long braid, and sawdust sprinkled her hair, thanksto the final planing she had given the deck of the airshipearlier.
“Why don’t you just tell me what you want?”Kali asked. “I’m not the naive girl who fell for your glacier-slicktongue before. I’m older now. Wiser. Mature.”
“Mature? You’re eighteen, and it’s only beenfour months since I left you.”
“I left you. And nearly blew up yournuts.” She jerked the rifle toward the door. “Now go away.”
“What? You just invited me to tell you what Iwant.”
“That was a rhetorical question, not aninvitation.” Kali sighted down the rifle’s barrel.
“You’re not going to shoot me. You’re a goodperson.”
She fired.
Sebastian squawked, hurled himself backward,and landed in the muddy quagmire of thawing permafrost outside thedoor. In an ungainly combination of roll and sideways scramble, hedodged behind the protective cover of the wall.
With the rifle raised, another roundautomatically chambered, Kali waited for the inevitable return.
A couple of heartbeats passed-she imaginedhim patting himself down for bullet wounds, despite the lack ofpain he had to have noticed-and then another distressed squawkcompeted with the distant buzz of a sawmill.
“My hat?” Sebastian leaned around thedoorframe. Mud spattered his suit, his hair, and smudged his jaw.He thrust his top hat aloft, displaying the daylight now visiblethrough a bullet hole. “That was a little reckless, don’t youthink?” Though he tried for n
onchalance, the way he kept most ofhis body out of sight meant he was no longer positive she wouldn’tshoot him. Good.
“You’re right.” Kali lowered the rifle. “Whenthe bullet passed through the hat, it might have hit an innocentpasserby.”
“I meant reckless for me! If you’dmissed by a half an inch, you could have shot me in the brain.”
“Nonsense. Your brain isn’t that large. Iwasn’t even close. Besides, I’m a better shot than I used to be.I’ve been the beneficiary of lessons.” She wondered if mentioningher business partner was a talented bounty hunter would intimidatehim-or make him more likely to stay and ask questions. The latterwould be intolerable.
“Look.” Sebastian eased inside again, handsspread wide. “Just give me two minutes to explain why I’m here. Ifyou’re not interested in my offer, I’ll leave you aloneforever.”
“Without tipping off flash-gold-huntingpirates and thieves on your way out of town?”
He winced. “Kali, I never meant to get thosemen on your trail. I was just mad and-”
“That dog won’t hunt. Say your piece andabsquatulate.”
“I just filed for a claim on Sixty Mile,”Sebastian said. “I want you to help me work it. We’ll splitwhatever we find.”
Kali stared at him, both because the idea ofhim “working” was ludicrous and because… “Panning for gold?That’s for fools who don’t understand statistics.”
“Don’t you know how much gold is being foundout there right now? Once word gets south, people will be swarmingto Dawson. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Those whofile now will get rich, while those who arrive too late will belucky to work for bread and salt, mining somebody else’sclaim.”
“Prospecting is hard work,” Kali said. “Idon’t believe you’ll be out there getting your hands dirty.”
“I’ll be out there. Directing others to gettheir hands dirty. I’ve already hired a team.”
“Then why do you need me?” she asked.
“To be my engineer. You think I’m going to goat this like some rube straight off the steamer from San Francisco?Panning in the shallows? I’ve got boilers on the way. We’re goingto build steam shovels and pumps so we can dig down to hunt forveins. Word around Dawson is you’re the best mechanic around.”
“I see,” Kali said. “You spent three monthscourting me, and presumably time before that researching me tolearn how to get at my father’s secrets, and yet you had to hearfrom strangers that I’m good with my hands.” The urge to shoot theman spilled into her again.
Sebastian’s lips twitched, as if they weretrying to form a scowl, but he forced a smile back into place. “Areyou interested or not? Half the gold we pull out of the claim isyours.”
She doubted that would prove true, but evenif he was not lying, the answer was the same: “No.”
“I thought you wanted to get out of theYukon. Here’s a chance. Besides, you’ll be safer in the wildernessif bounty hunters come looking for you. As long as you’re here,anyone in town can direct them to you.”
“A predicament I’m in only because of you.”Kali hefted the rifle again. “Now get out. As you can see, I’m notdefenseless. And I already have a plan for getting out of theYukon. One that’s far more likely to pan out than your goldclaim.”
Sebastian scratched his head. “How could youpossibly earn the money to go anywhere? Are you joining the girlsof the line? You aren’t pretty enough to charge big money.”
Her grip tightened on the rifle. Maybemissing had been a mistake. She wasn’t sure if she was moreinsulted that he thought the only way a woman could earn money wasby whoring or that he didn’t think her bright enough to findanother way out of the north.
“Honey, don’t look so shocked. You clean upall right when you get out of those man-clothes, but nobody’spaying more than pennies for half breeds. Ruse or not, you shouldthank me for spending time with you because no man with teeth,hair, and halfway decent prospects would look twice at someone likeyou.”
Kali stood so still she forgot to breathe.How was it that he still had the power to make her feel like thesludge in the bottom of a sluice box?
“Problem?” a familiar voice came fromoutside.
Cedar stepped across the threshold, duckinghis head to keep from clunking it on the frame. His broad shouldersfilled the doorway, and Sebastian eased back a few steps. Cedarwore clothing practical to the rough-around-the-edges town: deerskin trousers, work shirt, oilskin duster, and a black slouchhat that threw his face into shadows. Kali knew his features byheart, though, and hoped Sebastian felt intimidated when he took inCedar’s strong square jaw, cool blue eyes, and the scar on hischeek that proclaimed him a survivor of at least one knife battle.Both a rifle barrel and a sword hilt were visible over hisshoulder.
“No problem.” Sebastian removed his hat andbowed as deeply as he had for Kali, though he paused on the way upto scowl at the hole in the beaver fur.
“Cedar,” Kali said. “This is Sebastian.” Sheput enough emphasis on the name to make it clear this wasThe Sebastian. While she had not shared much of her pastwith Cedar-being fool enough to get betrayed by a con man wasnothing to be proud of-he knew Sebastian was the reason bountyhunters, pirates, and other opportunistic thugs were calling uponher now.
A silent moment passed as Cedar studiedSebastian from boots to top hat.
“Want me to kill him?” he asked.
The offer didn’t surprise Kali so much thatshe dropped the rifle, but she did fumble it. He waskidding, wasn’t he?
“Uh, pardon?” Sebastian glanced back andforth between them.
“I don’t know,” Kali said, meeting Cedar’seyes over Sebastian’s head. “Is there a bounty out on him?”
“I could check. After I kill him.”
Sebastian raised a hand. “Are we joshing? Idon’t have a bounty on my head. I’m a law-abiding citizen.”
“Yes, apparently swindling women isn’tagainst the law,” Kali muttered.
“We could tell the Mounties it was amistake,” Cedar said. “I’ve taken out enough criminals for themthat they wouldn’t likely arrest me.”
“Who are you?” Sebastian asked.
“I’m her-”
“Beau,” Kali blurted before Cedar could saybusiness partner.
Then she groaned inwardly, hating herself forthe ridiculous impulse. She did not respect women who played gamesinstead of simply speaking the truth, and here she was, trying tolook good for Sebastian. Like a woman who could get a manwith teeth and hair, thank you very much.
“Yes,” Cedar said, deadpan. “Yes, I am.”
“You?” Sebastian asked with insultingskepticism. “You’re courting her? Why?”
Cedar strolled inside, not-so-accidentallybumping Sebastian with his shoulder on the way past, and joinedKali. Despite the hat shadowing his face, she caught the glimmer ofamusement in his eyes. Good. She was relieved. He always seemed totolerate her wit, if she could call it that, but he had neverintimated that they should have a relationship that was anythingbut professional. Oh, there were days when she thought he wastrying to impress her, but the couple of times she had hinted thatthey might go have a drink at the dancing hall, he had rejected theidea, pointing out that she would be unwise to attend such publicvenues, given the bounty on her head. She had not had the courageto suggest a private dinner.
“Because,” Cedar said, wrapping his armsaround her from behind, “I’d be a fool not to.”
Something clunked against her collar bone. Arock. It dangled on a chain around his neck. She had never seen itbefore and could not guess why he might wear such a thing. Well,she’d ask later. Now, thanks to her big mouth, she had a part toplay.
Kali leaned against Cedar, enjoying thestartled expression on Sebastian’s face despite herself. Eventhrough the layers of clothing that separated her from Cedar, shecould feel the hard muscles of his chest and arms. He spent a lotof time training to be a capable bounty hunter. The evidence ofthat training felt nice. All right, more than nice.
&nb
sp; “Are you sure you don’t want me to kill himfor you?” Cedar asked. “It’d be worth going to jail if it made youhappy.”
Sebastian coughed. “Er, I’ll just, uh. I’llgo now. Yes.” He backed out the door. “My offer’s still good if youchange your mind Kali!”
The door thumped shut so hard it bounced openagain.
A couple of seconds passed before Cedarreleased her, and she found herself wishing he wouldn’t, but hestepped away, arms dropping. The cold air against her back made heraware of his absence.
Kali turned to face him. “That was…” Niceof you, she thought. Pleasant. Something we should do again withoutsilly pretexts or ex-beaus looking on. “Scratchy,” she saidinstead. “I hope you shave that stubble before entertaining theladies at the dancing halls. And why are you wearing a rock likeit’s a diamond?”
Cedar’s brows arched.
Kali closed her eyes. She was an idiot. “Imean, thanks for, you know. Helping.”
“You’ve told me enough about what he’s done,”Cedar said. “Reckon I wouldn’t mind tormenting him some for you,though I do need to retract my offer of a killing. I must findCudgel Conrad and avenge my brother before I do something thatcould see me hanged or jailed for years.”
“Understandable.” Despite all her threats,she could not find it in herself to wish Sebastian dead anyway. Shewasn’t the sort to kill folks, making it strange that she’dpartnered up with a bounty hunter, but Cedar’s deal had been toogood to resist, and she did not have so many allies that she couldturn them away.
“And this-” Cedar lifted the rock and spunit, “-is a lodestone. I won it gambling. It’s supposed to bringluck.”
“If the previous owner lost it gambling, itcan’t be that lucky.”
“True, but the chain is silver. I can alwayssell it.”
Ah, yes, speaking of monetary matters… “Didyou find Koothrapai?” she asked, naming adeserter-turned-murderer-and-rapist who had come to Dawson toescape the law. Normally she left the scouting of targets to Cedar,but the thug had wandered past her shop, and she had recognized himfrom the newspaper.
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