Peacemaker fgc-3

by Lindsay Buroker

  “Why don’t you care moreabout this?” Cedar asked, facing her again.

  “I don’tnot care. I just don’tsee why you careso much. The city is full of Mounties. Why do you have to be thegreat savior for this problem?”

  Cedar seemed taller than ever as he stareddown at her, his expression as dark and craggy as the bark of thetree that was his namesake. He turned on his heel and stalked away,heading back downhill toward the river.

  Kali kicked at the root. What was wrong withhim?

  She gazed toward the trees that hid theairship from view, tempted to stay up there and scheme something onher own. Twenty people, he’d said. At least. She might be able tocome up with something to get rid of the pirates, but she might getherself killed too. And even if she did triumph, what then? Fixingthat fan alone would take time, and even if it was a quick fix,could she get such a big airship off the ground and fly italone?

  Grumbling and kicking more roots, and a fewrocks for good measure, Kali stomped back down the stump-filledslope toward the river. She reached the SAB without spotting Cedar.Where had he gone?

  “Here,” came his voicefrom somewhere nearby.

  With dusk’s approach, shadows filled thevalley, and it took Kali a moment to pick him out of the gloom. Hewas leaning against a tall boulder overlooking the river.

  Kali joined him. It was a wide boulder, andshe started to lean against it beside him, but he stretched an armout, caught her, and pulled her into a hug. It was a stiff hug, andshe could feel tension in his muscles.

  “I’m sorry,” Cedar said,resting his chin against the top of her head.

  Kali leaned against him. “Why? I mean,you’re not wrong. You’re just a pain in the caboose.”

  He grunted softly and wrapped both armsaround her. “For not explaining…things.”

  “Oh. Well, yes, you’retruly being a pain about that.”

  She waited, hoping an explanation wascoming, though she admitted she appreciated the warmth of hisembrace even if he was being a pain in the caboose.

  “The girl in the paper,”Cedar finally said. “She wouldn’t be dead if it weren’t forme.”

  “Oh?”

  “Cudgel found out thatshe…meant something to me and killed her, not only to frame me, butto hurt me.” His voice dropped into a husky whisper. “And hesucceeded. He’s taken not just my brother from me, but a girl-awoman-that I…”

  “Loved?” Kali askedhesitantly. It was unrealistic to think she was the first womanhe’d ever cared about, but a selfish part of her wanted the answerto be, ‘no.’

  Cedar sighed, his breath stirring her hair.“Maybe. Yes, probably. It was going that way.”

  “Oh. The paper said shewas married,” Kali said, careful to keep her tone neutral, notwanting to come across as accusing or judgmental, though somethinginside her broke a little. She wasn’t sure if it was because shehad thought Cedar a better man, someone who was too honorable toget involved with a married woman, or maybe because it hurt tothink of him loving someone else. Kali had thought…well, she’dthought she was special, that he appreciated her creativity andtinkering skills, and that was why he liked her. But, if he couldfall in love so easily, what did his affection reallymean?

  “Yes,” Cedar finally said.“It was an arranged marriage, and he was older and barely paidattention to her. He just wanted an heir for his business empire,and…” He sighed again. “I don’t suppose having a bunch ofjustifications for something makes an ignoble choice a noble one.If, when I first met her, I’d just said she was married and walkedaway, she’d be alive today.”

  “How…” Kali started.“How’d Cudgel arrange it?”

  “There’d already been aseries of murders, all women, in town, so the police and the peoplewere on edge. I was busy tracking Cudgel and was barely aware ofthe killings. I was getting close to him, and I’d taken out two ofhis onerous henchmen just that morning. Cheryl’s husband was out oftown, so I went over to, uhm, visit, and…she was dead on the floorof their parlor, blood everywhere. It was…ugly. I later learnedshe’d been butchered in the same manner as the other murderedwomen. The husband returned home early. He walked in when I wasstanding over her, still in shock. Cudgel had arranged it all, senta message to let him know his wife was cheating on him. He wascharging home to catch us in the act, I reckon, and he was fixingto kill me. Well, I could have taken him, but I didn’t want to. I’dalready done enough wrong by him. I escaped with my life, thoughCudgel had some henchmen lying in wait, figuring to help thehusband out.” He touched the scar on his face. “That’s when I gotthis. I was too shaken to fight proper. I’m lucky I survived atall. After that, the husband contacted the Pinkertons, and word ishe’s financing everything.” Cedar let his head fall backward, andit thunked against the boulder. It sounded painful. Maybe he wantedit to be. “I wish I’d never gone to San Francisco and never beenthat stupid. But I can’t rewrite history, so now I just want to doright when I can. If I can protect these girls…” His shouldersdrooped. “It’s never going to be all right, but maybe it canbe…less wrong.”

  Cedar fell silent. Kali didn’t know what tosay. He sounded like he needed…comfort. She knew how to be toughand sarcastic, but nurturing or comforting? Her tongue tangled atthe idea of even trying to say something along those lines. Womenwere supposed to be good at comforting people, but maybe she’d beenborn with some sort of deficiency.

  “I suppose,” Kali said,“that you wouldn’t appreciate it if I told you the perfect thing toget your mind off of your problems would be planning to take overan airship.”

  At least he chuckled, and his musclesloosened a little. “Come back to town with me tonight, and help mewith this murderer. We’ll talk to the Mounties right away-maybethey can get back out here and take care of these pirates beforedawn. I’ll remind them of favors they owe me when they’re decidingwhat to do with the airship. I doubt they’ll have a use for it, sogetting it for you shouldn’t be that tough, especially if it’sdamaged.”

  Kali worried that the pirates would have theship fixed and be back in the air before the Mounties came, but shenodded and stepped back from Cedar. “Agreed.” As he said, it wouldbe selfish of her to choose her own interests over those of womenwho were being tortured and killed. She didn’t want to choose herinterests above Cedar’s either, not in this case. He needed thisredemption. “I don’t know all the Han girls in town, but I heardthere’s a show at the Aurora Saloon. Dancing girls, all tribal.” Hewasn’t going to like it when she admitted who had mentioned thatshow.

  “Oh, I’d forgotten aboutthat,” Cedar said. “One of the Mounties mentioned it. Some fellowgot a bunch of unmarried girls from tribes from all around theYukon, and they travel about, going from town to town performing toentertain the menfolk.” He tilted his head. “I’m surprised you’dheard of it.”

  “Your Pinkerton detectivetold me about it. Said he’s working at the Aurora Saloon and that Icould find him there in the evenings if I changed my mind abouttalking to him.”

  “I see.” Cedar clenchedhis jaw. “We’ll do our best to avoid him.”

  “Hm.” As Kali shoveledcoal into the SAB to fire its engine up anew, she asked, “Did theyever find out who was responsible for the other murders in SanFrancisco?”

  “Not that I know of. Assoon as they indicted me, they stopped looking for the real killer.I had to flee town to avoid the firing squad, so I don’t know ifthe murders stopped after that or not.”

  If the murdershadn’t stopped afterCedar left, that ought to show the law down there-and maybe thisAgent Lockhart-that Cedar wasn’t responsible for them. If Kalicould talk to the detective alone, maybe she could convince him todouble-check his facts.

  Part VII

  A breeze scuttled down Main Street, swattingat a newspaper page too mired in the mud to escape, though itrattled and whipped in a valiant effort to do so. Kali leanedagainst a support post on the covered boardwalk outside of the RCMPstation. A single whale-oil lantern burned on a desk inside, andthe voices of Cedar and a
Mountie he had roused from sleep floatedthrough the open door. Cedar was relaying the pirates’ location, adescription of Sparwood, and trying to get a list of tribal womenliving in the city, something the Mounties apparently didn’t track.With so many new people flooding into Dawson each week, it must beimpossible to keep an eye on everybody.

  Though midnight approached, raucous voicesand music filled the street. Candelabras and lanterns burned behindthe windows of many hotels, bit houses, and the popular Main StreetDancing Hall. Nearby, a man lay on his back, snoring, in the spotwhere he’d been thrown out for not being able to pay.

  Kali leaned away from the post and peered upthe shadowy street. Electricity had not yet come to Dawson-indeed,electric lights were something she had only read about-and therewere no gas lamps at the intersections; but the northern sky wasnot entirely dark, and she could make out people stumbling out ofbit houses. She could also make out the Aurora Saloon sign, only afew buildings up the street.

  Kali glanced back throughthe RCMP window, decided Cedar would be another fifteen minutes atleast, and left the post to stroll up the boardwalk. Giveneverything that was going on, wandering the streets alone at nightwas probably not a good idea, but she couldn’t very well go seeAgent Lockhart with the man he wanted to shoot at her side. It wasworth taking a risk if there was a chance she could convince him ofthe truth and get him off Cedar’s back. Besides, nobody was likelyto attack her, or try to kidnap her, in the middle of a crowdedsaloon. If someone did, she had two smoke nuts stuffed into her pocket, and an uglylittle pistol Cedar called a “man stopper” jammed into the front ofher overalls. He’d insisted she carry it around town. She wasn’tmuch for shooting people, but she could do it inself-defense.

  “Sure, tell yourselfthings like that,” Kali muttered to herself. “Maybe it’ll make themtrue.”

  Kali paused to adjust the cuff of heroveralls, making sure they hid the bulge in her sock-she still hadthe vial of flash gold tucked in there-then stepped over thesnoring man to push open the Aurora’s front door. She crinkled hernose at the stench of sweat and tobacco smoke, and she had to blinka few times to get her eyes used to the smoky haze that filled theair. One would never know how late it was, going by the amount ofactivity in the large main room.

  Lively fiddle music bounced off of the darktimber walls. Stuffed elk, caribou, and moose heads were mountedeverywhere, and more than one set of antlers was being used for acoat rack. Men filled tables, most with chairs turned to watch awooden stage where bronze-skinned women danced in costumes thatwere about as close to traditional garb as root beer was to beer.The girls’ bellies showed as they wriggled about, flinging barefeet into the air. Men clapped and roared their appreciation witheach glimpse of flesh.

  A sign propped up near the stage promisedthis was an “Authentic Injun Dance.” Kali snorted. The only timeshe’d seen people twist and gyrate that much had been when theywere flailing about on ice, trying to ward off an inevitablefall.

  A drunken man staggering toward the doorwayspat at a copper spittoon. The black tobacco spittle missed Kali byinches and spattered onto the wall a good three feet above thereceptacle. It joined copious other stains darkening the pineboards.

  Kali decided standing so close to the doorwasn’t wise and eased aside for the sot to pass. Here and there,gamblers worked tables, and she spotted Agent Lockhart withouttrouble. Three men sat with him in a back corner, each taking turnsrolling dice. Lockhart’s box of gambling goodies lay open on thetable. Kali wondered what kind of idiots would trust a man who hadhis own kit not to have loaded dice.

  She weaved through the crowd, dodgingwayward elbows from men too busy to notice her and gropes from theones who did notice her. Some girls might be flattered at theattention, but she was wearing her coveralls and knew there wasn’tanything alluring about her. It was just that men outnumbered womentwenty to one, if not more, up here, so a lady need ever go to bedlonely if she preferred company.

  Though Lockhart wore his bowler hat pulledlow on his brow while he swapped wagers with the men at the table,Kali felt his eyes upon her as she approached. He had probably beenwatching her since she walked through the door.

  Kali stopped between two of the men at histable. “Mind if I play a round?”

  She had no idea how to play dice games oreven if “a round” was the right term, but she figured she’d goalong with his gambler facade. If he was up in Dawson after morethan Cedar, he might not appreciate her breaking his cover in frontof these men.

  “Women can’t gamble,” onefellow groused. “Go join the girls on stage, or keep somebody’sblankets warm at the hotel next door.”

  “Are you sure you want tobe that insulting,” Kali asked, fishing in a pocket, “consideringI’m standing right behind you with-” she grabbed the first toolthat she felt and pulled it out, “-pliers in my hand?”

  It wasn’t the most menacing tool in hercollection, but she held it up with what she hoped was an ominousexpression on her face.

  “Pliers?” the man asked.“What’re you going to do with those? Now a Colt would bethreatening, but-”

  Kali whipped her hand to the side andfastened the pliers about his ear. With the practiced ease of onewho has turned thousands of bolts, she issued a quick, efficienttwist. He cried out, fell out of his chair, and landed on his handsand knees. When he threw an arm up, trying to grab her, Kali simplytwisted harder. This drew another louder cry, one filled withcurses for her and all of her ancestors.

  She released him, stepped back, out of hisreach, and raised the pliers as a warning to anyone else who mightbe thinking of giving her trouble. In particular, she eyed theother men at the table.

  One smirked, turned the vacated chairoutward, and said, “This seat’s open, miss.”

  Laughter from nearby tables drowned out thefiddle. Kali kept an eye on the man on the floor, figuring he mighthave retaliation in mind, but more than his ear was red, and heslunk off with his tail clenched between his legs.

  Still holding the pliers aloft, Kali pinnedLockhart with a stare, wondering if he would give her a hard timetoo, but he merely extended a hand toward the empty seat. Thoughthe hat and the room’s dimness shadowed his eyes, they did notquite hide the glint of amusement there.

  Kali slid into the warm seat. “How aboutsome poker?” she asked. She knew the rules to most versions ofthat.

  “I was actually fixing totake a break,” Lockhart said.

  The gambler to Kali’s right, a man who hadyet to say anything, stirred at this. He rapped his knuckles on thetable. “You need to sit right there a spell and give me a chance towin back my losses.”

  Though people were still talking and musicwas still playing, Kali had no trouble hearing the soft click of ahammer being cocked beneath the table. It was Lockhart’s Colt, sheassumed; both of the other man’s hands were in sight.

  Lockhart leveled a cold stare at thedissenter. “We’re done here, friend.”

  The gambler’s eyes narrowed to slits, but hemust have heard the gun being readied, too, for he grumbledsomething and pushed away from the table. Back rigid, he stalkedout of the saloon.

  The remaining man, the one who had offeredKali a seat, shrugged amiably and left as well.

  When Kali and Lockhart were alone, she wavedat the kit full of dice, cards, and chips, and said, “If this rusewas for Cedar’s sake, or mine, you can stop now. I know who youare, and he knows that you’re here.”

  Lockhart’s face grewclosed. “You told Cedar-” he said the pseudonym with a curl of the lip, “-about me,did you?”

  “You played your hand toosoon.” Kali thought that sounded like a gambling-appropriate thingto say. “Showing me the newspaper and pointing him out.”

  “Yes, I feared that mightbe the case. I was hoping you’d be concerned when you learned whata monster he is. You seemed smart, so I was hoping you’d knowbetter than to go right to that murderer.”

  “He’s not a-” Kali startedto say murderer, but she supposed that technically he was, even ifhe only aime
d for killers with bounties on their heads,“-criminal,” she said instead. “I know what happened, and you’reafter the wrong man.”

  Lockhart sneered. “Of course he’d tell youthat. Do you even know his real name?”

  “Yes. He told me beforeyou ever came to town. I’ll point out that you never gave meyour real name, AgentLockhart.”

  His eyebrows twitched beneath his hat. “Isee.”

  “I wouldn’t spend timewith an evil man, sir. Cedar-Milos-was framed by Cudgel Conrad. Iimagine you’ve heard of him?”

  “I’m aware of thefelon.”

  “Cedar’s been after himfor years, because Cudgel killed his brother. The man would doanything to get rid of Cedar, but he’s not good enough to killCedar outright.” When Kali said the last, a muscle twitched inLockhart’s jaw. Was he irked he wasn’t good enough to kill Cedaroutright either? “Cudgel must have figured that the next best thingwas to get the law after Cedar, so he’d be harried every step ofthe way and have less time to spend on collecting Cudgel’s bounty.And that’s just what you’re doing, harrying him and making troublefor him, exactly the way that criminal wants.”

  Lockhart’s face remained cold and impassivethroughout Kali’s speech, and she feared she wasn’t swaying him atall. She ought to be sweet-talking him, not stating blunt truths,but she was no gifted flannel mouth. She preferred to deliverthings straight up, whether people liked hearing them or not. Shedoubted it would sound sincere if she tried to do anythingelse.

  “This is the story he toldyou?” Lockhart asked.

  Kali bristled, wanting tosay it was the truth, not a story, but she had only Cedar’s wordsto go on. She believed him-he’d been too honest, and too painedabout his choices, to be making things up. And, even though shealways told him that she wasn’t quick to trust people, himincluded, she did trust him at this point. They’d been through enough togetherthat she believed she could rely upon him.

  “That’s what he told me,”Kali said. “Look, there was a series of murders down in SanFrancisco, right? And Cedar got blamed because he was foundstanding over a woman killed in the same manner as the others,right? He didn’t murder her or the others though. Surely you musthave wondered when he left town and the murders continued. You musthave known you had the wrong man.”