Liberty (Flash Gold, #5) (4 page)

She found Cedar’s door
locked and grumbled to herself, digging out a set of watch-repair
tools that she used for the fine work required to put together her
smoke nuts. The hallway stood empty as she set to picking the lock,
but voices sounded through the walls, and she broke out in a sweat,
knowing someone might come out at any moment.

“You’d think a man
interested in porch sitting with a lady would give that lady a key
to his place,” she huffed, even though she knew Cedar had only been
given one key to the rented room.

Footsteps sounded on the
stairs, floorboards creaking under someone’s weight. Kali bit her
lip. She almost had the lock.

“Yes, Sergeant,” the
proprietor’s voice came from the stairway, “you’re in luck. We have
two rooms available.”

A sergeant? A
Mountie
sergeant? Kali nearly broke off her improvised
torsion wrench in her haste to thwart the lock. The fragile tools
weren’t meant to withstand much pressure.

“Good,” the man said, his
uniform hat coming into view.

The lock thunked. Kali
shoved the door open, practically tumbling into the room. She
resisted the urge to slam it shut behind her, instead closing it
softly and leaning against it. The footfalls grew audible in the
hallway, steady and methodical. She listened, her heart thudding in
her chest, afraid the pair had seen her unorthodox method of entry
and would push the door open at any moment.

As she stood in the dark,
the footsteps came and went. She let out a slow breath, willing her
heart to settle down.

“You almost wet yourself
picking a lock,” she told herself. “That bodes well for the
jailbreak.”

Shaking her head, she
groped her way to the lantern on the small nightstand. She
shuttered the windows before lighting it, then hurried to collect
Cedar’s things. Most of his weapons had been on him when he’d been
arrested, but she found a knife and a Remington 1890 revolver in
the nightstand. His pack, canteen, and oft-patched Euklisia Rug
hunkered in a corner. She stuffed everything into the pack before
slipping out again. She tried not to feel like a thief as she
padded down the back stairs and into the alley.

Next, she headed for the
mills near the river, avoiding the street that would have taken her
by the charred remains of the one she and Cedar had inadvertently
lit on fire. It was a wonder she wasn’t in jail alongside him.

On the next street over,
she found the repair shop that she’d had in mind, one that
specialized in mining equipment and steam engines. Everyone should
have gone home for the day. She ought to be able to find some
scraps to make a tool. She wished she had taken the time to get to
know the people who worked there, so she might have simply asked to
be allowed in instead of having to pick another lock. But no, that
wouldn’t have been good. Then she would have risked incriminating
someone else. From here on out, she had to work alone. Once she had
Cedar, she would have an ally again, but until then, she shouldn’t
talk to anyone. Even poor Tadzi.

In the darkness behind
the repair shop, she worked on another lock and reconciled herself
to the fact that she was about to become a criminal. No doubt this
time. She had wanted to leave the Yukon for a long time, but it was
strange to think that she would be forced to leave now.

“It’s worth it to get
Cedar,” she whispered, and slipped inside.

• • • • •

Kali’s hands shook as she
tried to light a match. Full darkness had fallen, and she could
barely see the end of the fuse she had laid, one that ran down the
alley, up charred stairs, and to a pile of chemicals she had
borrowed—stolen—from the repair shop. It was a very explosive pile
of chemicals. She felt bad about starting a fire in the mill that
had already half-burned to the ground, the one where she and Cedar
had fought Conrad and his men, but it seemed a better target than
any other in town. She had already checked, and nobody was inside.
The roof had burned, leaving the stars visible to one standing on
the charred floor in the middle of the building. Another fire would
hardly matter.

“Exactly,” she muttered,
“so why can’t you light this match?”

She glared at her shaking
fingers.

“Kali?” someone whispered
from behind her.

She jumped three feet,
dropping the match as she whirled toward the speaker. By the time
she landed, her brain caught up to her instincts, and she
identified the speaker as Tadzi. That didn’t keep her heart from
trying to pound its way out of her chest.

“What are you doing
here?” she whispered, her voice coming out harsher than intended as
she searched for him in the shadows.

“Looking for you.” He
limped away from a wall, his small form coming into sight.

“Should I be depressed by
how easily you found me?” How was she going to avoid the Mounties
once she was a criminal when she couldn’t dodge an eleven-year-old
boy?

“I don’t know. Isn’t
depression bad? I was going to Cedar’s room to look for you, but
then I saw you sneaking out of that shop down the street, and you
had something big on your back. Is it a new tool? Does it have
flash gold? Can I see it?”

Kali stepped into the
shadows across the alley from the mill and waved for him to join
her. Even though there weren’t many people walking around in this
part of town this late at night, she twitched every time she heard
a noise.

“I think you just saw me
carrying Cedar’s rucksack,” Kali said when he joined her. She
looked up and down the alley, making sure nobody else lurked
nearby. “But I did make a new tool.”

“I knew it!” Amazing how
the kid could sound so perky this late at night. “What’s it do?
Does it have an engine? Like your SAB?”

Kali winced. Her
self-automated bicycle had been in the cave workshop, along with
everything else.

“Nothing that big. It’s a
simple tool, a type of saw, and it’s going to cut a hole in a
wall.” It was going to cut a hole in a wall
quietly
, she
hoped.

She also hoped that all
the Mounties in town, as well as the soldiers on that American
airship, would rush over to investigate the fire she meant to start
in the mill. Ideally, nobody would be around when she cut into the
wall of Cedar’s cell. Alas, she doubted circumstances would be that
perfect.

“Is it for breaking Cedar
out of jail?” Tadzi asked, his voice louder than she would have
preferred.

“Yes, but put a brick on
your tongue, will you? We don’t want the whole city to know what
we’re planning.”

“What
we’re
planning? Do I get to help?” Tadzi lowered his voice but not his
enthusiasm level.

“Weren’t you going to ask
the Hän if some of them would be willing to help move those
boulders?”

“Yes, and I did that.
Kéitlyudee said she could get her brothers and cousins to come
tomorrow morning. There’s plenty of time for me to help you
tonight.”

Kali hesitated. It would
be better not to involve him or even talk to him. If she got
caught, the last thing she wanted was for him to be in trouble too.
Still, she could hear his clothes rustling as he shifted about,
excited by this clandestine activity.

“Why don’t you stand at
that corner over there and let me know if anyone is coming?” she
said.

“Way down there? I won’t
be able to see what you’re doing.”

Kali knelt and patted at
the muddy earth until she found the fuse again. “Safer if you
don’t. Trust me.”

He made a disappointed
noise, but did as asked, shuffling down to the corner a block away.
Kali took a deep breath and finally managed to still her hands
enough to light the match. She touched it to the fuse, then shook
it out and grabbed Cedar’s pack. The flame sped away. Even though
she had laid a long fuse, it wouldn’t be long before the
detonation.

She raced down the alley,
the rucksack and her tools clanking. She couldn’t worry about
silence now. There wasn’t time.

Just as she reached
Tadzi, the explosion went off inside the mill. Enough of the
structure remained that she couldn’t see the flames, but she had no
trouble hearing the boom. If she had laid everything well, a good
fire should start up, a big enough one to create flames and smoke
that would be visible for blocks.

She patted Tadzi on the
shoulder. “Hide someplace safe. I have to get Cedar.”

Shouts of alarm sounded
in the aftermath of the explosion, people awoken in hotels and
boarding houses on the other side of town. Kali hurried through the
alleys, making her way toward Mountie Headquarters. Unfortunately,
it wasn’t anywhere close to the mill.

A whistle blew a block
away. Horses thundered down a main street, heading in the direction
of the mill, and Kali glimpsed red Mountie uniforms. She kept going
in the opposite direction, checking the sky, hoping to see that
airship drifting in the same direction as the horses.

When she reached a
corner, she glanced back and spotted a slight form limping after
her. She shook her head. Tadzi was determined to get himself in
trouble right along with her. She wished she had shooed him
away.

Then she came to the
alley behind the headquarters building, and she couldn’t worry
about him. Lanterns on hooks burned all through the area, leaving
it as well lit as the street out front. Apparently, the Mounties
didn’t want to encourage skulking behind their building. Even more
troubling than the lanterns, the side of the hull and envelope of
the airship were visible above the alley. The craft wasn’t floating
directly above it, but anyone near the railing on that side of the
deck would be able to see her walking through the area. As far as
she could tell, the airship had not moved since earlier in the
night.

Kali paused in the
shadows and unfastened the saw she had crafted. As she worked, two
more men in uniforms jogged past the far end of the alley. Neither
of them looked in her direction. She could smell wood smoke, but
couldn’t decide if it came from the fire at the mill or the various
chimneys around town.

Up on the deck of the
airship, a soldier with a spyglass walked into view. He leaned
against the railing, his gaze toward the mill. Kali eased closer to
the wall of a building. Even if his attention was focused outward,
movement could make him look down. As she willed him to go away,
two more soldiers joined him at the railing, followed by a man in a
suit. She rolled her eyes. What were they going to do? Have a tea
party at that railing?

More people strode down
the street at the end of the alley, a man and woman in civilian
clothing followed by a trio of young men. It looked like the whole
city was heading to view the fire Kali had created. Or maybe they
meant to help put it out. She hoped it wasn’t in danger of
spreading to other buildings. All she had wanted was a distraction.
She glowered up at the airship, annoyed that those men weren’t
suitably distracted.

Minutes ambled past while
they chatted about the fire, or perhaps gambling and women. One
frowned down at the alley, and Kali held still. She hadn’t stepped
out of the shadows yet, but she couldn’t be certain they wouldn’t
see her. There wasn’t a roof overhang or anything for her to take
cover under. She eyed the flash gold case on the body of the saw.
For now, the little lump remained hidden, but she was well aware of
those streaks of lightning the substance liked to create when power
was drawn from it.

More whistles sounded,
this time on the other side of town. The men on the deck pointed at
something new. Maybe Kali would get lucky and some crooks would
take advantage of her diversion and stage a nice bank robbery to
keep the authorities busy.

Finally, the soldier
lowered his spyglass, and the group of men moved away from the
railing. Kali did not hesitate. She jogged to the far side of the
alley, so the wall would protect her at least somewhat from their
view if they came back. Then she risked trotting toward the back of
the headquarters building. She glared at the lanterns that hung at
either corner of it, cheerfully illuminating the spot where she
gauged Cedar’s cell to be.

Another group of men
strode down the street at the mouth of the alley. One glanced at
her, but he didn’t stop. A Mountie probably would. She grimaced at
how out in the open she was, but what could she do? Move quickly.
That was it.

She did take a few
seconds to drop Cedar’s rucksack so she could stand on it to reach
those lanterns and cut them out. Someone looking down from above
might notice that the light level had changed, but that was better
than being seen outright.

As she put the pack back
on, two horses trotted past the mouth of the alley, their riders
peering around alertly. Kali leaned casually against the wall,
trying to look innocent as she second-guessed her choice to light
that fire. Maybe it would have been better to do this without a
distraction. Too late to change her mind now.

As soon as the way was
clear, she pressed the tip of her tool’s serrated blade against the
wooden wall, the end designed more like a drill bit than the tip of
a saw. She flicked the switch and held her breath. Even though she
had tested it on a board before leaving the repair shop, she
worried until the blade started whirring, cutting in and creating a
trickle of sawdust. The grinding noise seemed torturously loud, and
she couldn’t decide if that was worse than the blue lightning
streaking along the body of the tool. The damned flash gold always
had to show off.

The wood gave as the
drill pierced the wall. Kali widened the hole while looking left
and right, hoping those going to see the fire had already left. She
also hoped Cedar stood on the other side and was ready to go.

Movement to her left, in
the opposite direction of the street, made her freeze. The shadows
stirred at the corner where she had been hiding earlier. Tadzi? She
hoped so.