Claimed (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #4) (3 page)

“Pretty?” Kali asked. “She’ll be fast and functional. That’s what counts.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tremblay turned and found Cedar standing behind him.

“What’s this about, Sergeant?”

Even with the hat, the Mountie lacked his height. He was tidier, though, with his pressed uniform and riding boots, neither with more than a few smudges of mud, and those having most likely been acquired on the walk up the hill. Cedar always wondered at the practicality of the boots, given that there were something like ten horses in all of Dawson. The Chilkoot Pass wasn’t terribly friendly to hoofed creatures, nor was there much to recommend it for humans, either. Cedar could understand why a lot of people might be eager to have an airship servicing the town, though he’d have to ask Kali more about that idea later. It had been his understanding that she wanted to escape the North and see the world, not start a freight service.

“Trouble out on Bonanza Creek.” Tremblay shifted to put his back to the wall, so he could face both of them. The cave might claim all manner of projects, but there was a dearth of furniture. Two wobbly stumps stood alone as seating options. “We’ve gone sniffing about, but people aren’t interested in talking to the law.” His lips thinned. “Or they’re too afraid to talk to the law.”

“Afraid of what?” Cedar asked. “Claim jumpers?”

Kali leaned against the wall, seemingly saying she would leave the conversation to the men. There was a faint crinkle to her brow, as if she wondered why
she’d
been sought out for what sounded like work for Cedar.

Tremblay made a wavering motion with his hand. “That, always, but folks have always been fine running up to us to report them, often when there’s not a thing to report except some noises in the woods. The more gold a man finds, the more twitchy he gets about noises, and sometimes they aren’t even there, eh?”

Cedar offered a get-to-the-point grunt. He had only spoken with Tremblay a couple of times in the past but was starting to remember his chatty nature.

“You’ve probably heard that the creek’s starting to pan out,” the sergeant went on. “At least one fellow has pulled quite a few ounces out of his claim. There’s talk saying the whole area is going to be full of rich veins. But people are selling their claims left and right.”

“Oh?”

“At low prices too. And they’re getting resold here in town. One went for fifty thousand dollars.”

“For an unproved claim?” Kali asked. “That’s unheard of, isn’t it? Though prices
are
ridiculous here. I heard a plot of land on Front Street went for over five thousand last week.”

“It was a
proved
claim,” Tremblay said. “Which makes it worth more, but also makes you wonder why the owners would sell it.”

“Maybe they heard how rough winters are here,” Cedar said.

Tremblay shrugged. “With their earnings, they would have been able to afford even exorbitant prices for supplies. If this had only happened one time, I might think nothing of it. Certainly someone could feel they’d found enough to make their year worth it and head back south before winter came, but this is the seventh claim to sell at an exorbitant price. I happened to run into one of the former sellers, and he was in rags with his ribs showing. He didn’t look like a man who’d just made a fortune. I did some digging and found that all of these claims had been sold to the Honest and Earnest Holding Company. They didn’t report what they paid, nor are they required to by law, but they’re certainly getting top dollar when they resell them. I couldn’t find out who was behind the company locally, either, as the owner on record is a Stanislaw Miazga in Skagway.”

“Skagway,” Cedar said, “is known for being overrun with the criminal element.”

“It’s not part of our country,” Tremblay said, as if that explained everything. Maybe it did. No doubt the Americans were too busy sending Pinkertons after wrongfully accused men to clean up their frontier towns.

“Regardless, the company has someone handling business here, but we can’t find out who. As I said, the civilians are refusing to talk to us. This is why I came to you.”

“Because my handsome face naturally invites people to share their secrets?” Cedar asked without humor. He didn’t want anything to do with a job that would take them miles outside of town again, not until he found Cudgel.

“
Confess
their secrets, maybe,” Kali said.

Tremblay spread a hand. “You’ve proven resourceful.” He nodded toward Kali. “Both of you. Without knowledge of the exact crime and who’s behind it, if there is indeed a crime at all, we can’t offer any bounties, but my captain is willing to at least compensate you for going out there.”

Kali slumped. She didn’t appear any more enthused about this mission than Cedar. But saying no to the Mounties wasn’t a good idea. The day might come soon when Cedar needed a favor or two. They had already been looking the other way at some of the privacy-invading snooping he had been doing, not to mention the handful of men he had left with black eyes after questioning them.

“I’ll look into it,” Cedar said.

“And will you as well, ma’am?” Tremblay asked.

Kali’s eyes narrowed. “Why me? I have work I need to finish before winter comes.”

“I believe the people out there, especially if they’re scared, may be more likely to speak with a woman. There are a handful of wives working the claims. You may be able to establish a rapport with them.”

Cedar scratched his jaw. “If I weren’t so self-assured, I’d be certain he just said I was too rough and ominous-looking to establish a rapport with a woman.”

“Intimidating was the word I was thinking of,” Tremblay said.

Kali pointed at the sergeant. “I’m starting to like him.”

“Does this mean you’ll accept the mission?”

Kali considered her craft and sighed again. “I suppose I can get Tadzi and Kéitlyudee to oversee the work for a couple of days.”

“Good.” Tremblay tipped his hat. “The Mounties appreciate your assistance.”

“They better,” Kali muttered.

Cedar walked beside Kali as they headed out to show the sergeant back to the trail.

“Will you be packing a blanket of your own this time?” he murmured, referring to the last time they had headed up one of these rivers after criminals. “Or will you be devoting all of your bag space to tools again?”

“I don’t know. Tools
are
important. How willing are you to invite me back into your fancy all-in-one blanket-bed? Has it been... repaired?”

“Stitched and patched more often than frontline Civil War soldiers, yes.” Cedar wondered if this trip might provide the chance he wanted to discuss courting matters. “We would have to impose a no-shrapnel-weapons-in-bed rule though.”

“Hm, no explosions either?”

“Ah.” So many responses came to mind and so few of them appropriate to utter in a woman’s company. “That topic could be discussed further.” Cedar winced, wishing he’d come up with a more clever response. He should have risked inappropriateness.

“I see. This could prove interesting then.” They had left the cave, and it was too dark to see the expression on Kali’s face, but there was a teasing note to her words. “Or eventful. I imagine you’ve already considered that your Cudgel might be behind this claim-buying scheme?”

A tingle of energy zipped through his body, lighting anticipation in his heart. He
hadn’t
considered that, but as soon as she said it, he knew he should have. This could be exactly the sort of scheme that would appeal to someone like him, someone who would rather trick people than work for himself.

“Pack as many tools and weapons as you like,” Cedar said. “If we chance across him, I might be willing to drop my no-shrapnel-weapons-in-bed rule.”

Kali found his hand in the darkness. “Oh, I don’t know. Now you’ve got me thinking about explosions.”

Cedar’s breath caught. This trip might offer far more than he had hoped.

C
louds scudded across the sky, creating moving shadows amongst the evergreens edging the gravel and dirt of the creek. Cedar kept his eyes on their surroundings as they rolled up to the first claims along Bonanza Creek on Kali’s SAB—self-automated bicycle. It rumbled and clanked over the gravel, navigating the terrain without trouble. She had made a few improvements to it since their last outing and promised it would take more than airship pirates to derail them again.

Complex systems of wooden chutes and troughs lined the hills where the trees had been cut back. Farther from the water, tents, shacks, and one-room log cabins had been built, but all of the people in sight were by the creek, working hard to pan and shovel water and gravel. In the distance, plumes of smoke promised claims with more sophisticated steam-powered mining equipment.

“Perhaps we should halt your bicycle, hide it in the trees, and approach people via less... sophisticated means,” Cedar said.

The group of men working the first claim had already turned curious heads toward the chugs and clanks of the SAB.

“Less sophisticated?” Kali asked over her shoulder. “Or were you going to say less odd?”

“I’d never use a disparaging word for one of your creations. Especially since I’m still hoping you’ll let me drive it someday.”

“You’re wise beyond your years.”

Despite her smile and apparent agreement with him, Kali neither parked the contraption nor veered it toward the trees where it might be less noticeable. She bumped across the rocky terrain, straight toward the group of men. Cedar wore his Winchester and katana strapped to his rucksack, but he had made sure he could draw either weapon if he needed to, and he touched the stock of his rifle for reassurance. He had run into a lot of superstitious people in his travels, especially in remote, rural areas, and steam-powered vehicles weren’t a common sight even in the big cities.

One of the men, an older fellow with a weathered face and a gray mustache threatening to devour his lips, stalked toward them, a Winchester of his own in hand. Perhaps seeing him as the more threatening figure, the man focused on Cedar. If he had seen the way Kali could drive this thing—and the way she had crashed not one but two airships in the last few months—he would have given most of his attention to her.

“Hello!” Kali waved cheerfully.

Cedar hadn’t known her to be the cheerful, outgoing type, so he could only assume she had some plan, one that involved more than not getting shot. Though that was an admirable goal as well.

“I’m taking orders,” Kali went on when the man’s gaze shifted toward her. “Anyone here interested in coffee, bacon, sugar, or other goods to see you through the winter?”

Cedar snorted, but the man lowered his rifle, and the rest of the fellows, who had been glowering suspiciously and doubtlessly taking these newcomers as potential claim jumpers, started jabbering atwixt each other and making enthusiastic gestures.

“What do you mean?” the leader asked as the SAB drew closer.

Kali held up a finger, halted the vehicle, and hopped off. A few wisps of smoke continued to drift from the stack, but the bicycle’s chug-clanks stopped, and the group’s attention came to rest solely on her. Cedar eased off behind her, keeping his weapon pointed toward the ground.

“I’m Kali McAlister. You might have heard of me. No? There’ll be a piece out in the newspaper soon. I’ve been building an airship outside of town, and it’ll be ready to fly in less than a month. My first run will be south to Seattle to pick up supplies. I’m fixing to bring all manner of goods back to sell at a reasonable price, especially compared to what eggs and sugar are going for in town right now.”

This drew a couple of nods and muttered comments.

“Sinful what them bandits are charging in Dawson.”

“Did she say coffee?”

“And bacon. Been months since we had a side of pork belly.”

The leader waved for his men to hush. “You looking for money up front?” He asked it casually, but there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. With con artists working every faro table in Dawson, a man had to be smarter than a whip not to get hornswoggled just walking through town to drop off his mail.

“No,” Kali said, “just taking orders. You’ve got no reason to trust me not to fly off with your money and never return. But I figured I’d go around and get a good feel for what people want, especially if you want any specialty items, so I can make sure and sell everything I bring back.”

The prospectors nodded. Sergeant Tremblay had done well in sending her along. Kali had the men going right along with her story. Maybe because it wasn’t that much of a story. Cedar still had to ask about her new plan to haul freight. He had been imagining something a touch more... stimulating when he had pictured them flying about the world in her airship.

“Specialty items?” One fellow nudged a mate. “Maybe you can get your catalogue woman this year after all, Brandt.”

“Aw, shush up about that.”

“It’s your dream, ain’t it? You bring it up near every night...”

Cedar watched Kali’s face, wondering if the notion would offend her. They were already on their way to establishing a rapport, as the sergeant had called it, with these fellows, but she could get frosty on a man right quick if he hit one of her sore spots.

When Kali responded, her tone was dry, but she kept her words to, “I was thinking of tobacco and sewing kits. I don’t think women are that common in Seattle, anyway.”

“Right,” one of the men said, “everyone knows catalogue women come from overseas.”

“Like I’d bring poor women here to be pawed over by these clodhoppers,” Kali muttered.

“Maybe we can do some importing from other cities once we’ve done our trial run,” Cedar said, because the leader looked like he was about to ask Kali to repeat herself. “Are you folks going to be here long? Through the winter?”

The leader lifted his chin, his mustache shivering from his indignant snort. “We’ll be here until all the gold on this claim is in our pockets.”

The others nodded, though a couple of those nods were less certain and accompanied by glances toward the tree line. Interesting. Cedar would love to take his rifle, trot up to those trees, and look around for prints. Men got a touch twitchy at strangers wandering about on their claims, though.