The man exhaled a monumental sigh and rose from his desk, a slow and laborious task, like watching an old arthritic cow trying to stand up after a long rest in the field. He shuffled to the inner doors and gestured for her to follow. She went after him, struggling not to fidget impatiently at his slow pace.
Shuffle faster.
Wouldn’t it be lovely to run into Thaddeus at JAHF? He could simply lock her in a cell and be done with it. Although, she had the feeling he wanted her out of the way in a more permanent fashion. Merely locking her up and walking away wouldn’t be enough.
The man let her into an office much like the one she’d last spoken to Wells in. He gestured toward a chair.
She offered him a tiny curtsy. “Thank you, Sir.”
“Don’t touch anything,” he replied gruffly.
A door opened and shut somewhere nearby. She wanted to yell at him to shut the door, but she managed a polite smile.
“Of course not.”
He nodded once more and left her, relief collapsing over her as the door clicked shut behind him. She sidled quickly over and put her ear to the crack.
“You’re sure you wouldn’t prefer the day shift. There are plenty of openings.”
That was Thaddeus. If she ever wanted to catch him and offer him an exchange for Chaff’s life, this was the best chance she was going to get. He wouldn’t kill her in front of Wells… probably. He would have to hear her out. She placed a hand on the doorknob.
“No, Sir. I’ve gotten rather used to the night shifts. I’d rather keep to the schedule I’m on, I just want off the streets for a while.”
“Certainly. With the current unrest, I completely understand. Leave the streets to the fresh blood. I need more men with a steady disposition keeping things in line at the new facility.”
She pulled her hand away from the knob. Why was Thaddeus recruiting for the new facility? Was he that deeply enmeshed in Literati law enforcement?
“I’d be pleased to help, Sir.”
“Welcome aboard then, Officer Wells. I’ll make the transfer effective immediately. You can start tomorrow and your old partner, Tagmet, can help you get situated.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
The voices faded away as they passed through to the doors to the front. She sat, fidgeting restlessly with the lace that trimmed the jacket. How far could she trust Wells? He seemed a good upstanding sort, but that meant he’d be all the more likely to turn on her if he believed she was in the wrong and, given his profession and her history, it wouldn’t take much to make him believe that.
The door opened and she hopped to her feet to hide her startle. Wells leaned on the door and looked her up and down once, his expression guarded.
“You realize the other officers think I’m courting you.”
She shrugged. “I never said as much. I never discouraged the assumption either. It seemed like a good cover.”
He walked into the room, stopping to close the door and flick the lock on the way in. “At least they think I have good taste, if a bit unconventional.”
“I… They do?”
“You clean up nice enough,” he replied, avoiding her eyes.
She surprised herself with a laugh. “So do you.”
He shook his head, but his lips curved up with the hint of a smile.
Enough banter, they had business to conduct and she needed answers. “Why is Thaddeus in charge of recruiting for the new facility?”
He gave her a startled look.
She stared back at him for a second, replaying her own words in her head. Oh. “You still think that man is Lucian?”
“I’m afraid I never knew either brother well enough to tell the difference. Makes it awful hard to believe the wild things that have been said.” He pulled a large folded paper out of the desk and set it down, placing one hand on top of it.
“Is someone at least investigating him?”
His silence was answer enough.
Rage bubbled up and to overflowing. She slammed a hand on the desk. “This is rubbish! How can you let him get away with this?”
With unshaken composure, he slid the paper across the desk. “This is a map of the new facility. After I talked to you, I asked if they had openings there. Told them I was tired of working the streets. I went out earlier today for a tour of the place. I start work there tomorrow night. If you can give me at least two nights to get the details worked out, I can get you into the right building, but you have to get past the wall on your own. I don’t see how you expect to—”
“I can handle that,” she interrupted, struggling to sound confident as she reached out for the map.
He slid it back to his side before her fingers made contact. “I’m not doing this for free.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
She stared at the map, fighting the urge to grab it. Might she be able to talk Drake into giving her the money for whatever bribe he expected? Without telling him why she needed the money, she doubted it. It didn’t matter though. She knew many ways to get her hands on some tin if it came to that. “How much?”
“I’m not asking for money. I'll have to abandon my post to get you into the right building and that isn’t going to look so good. If I help you get in and out of there, you have to promise to take me with you and give me sanctuary.”
She stared at him, aware that her mouth was hanging open. She shut it. “You want to join the Pirates?”
“Not in the least. I just want out of here. I don’t like the way things are being done.”
How brassed off would Drake be if she brought a Lit officer back with her? She swallowed back a grin. “It's a deal.”
“That easy?”
She nodded. Once he was at the stronghold, what could Drake do? He had to take him in. She couldn’t promise Wells he wouldn’t end up locked in a room, but he would be away from the Lits. Anything had to be an improvement.
He unfolded the map. It covered much of the table. The facility it revealed, surrounded by a wall that would do many castles proud, was very big. Two huge buildings took up most of the center on either side of an open yard. Four smaller buildings, each big enough themselves to house two of the JAHF buildings, were set along the inside of one wall. Two long narrow buildings occupied the same space along the opposite wall. Guard towers stood at each corner as well as in the middle of the two longer stretches of wall.
Wells pointed to the second in the run of the four smaller buildings. “Chaff is here, in the medical building. They have Garrett housed in the next building over.”
Her chest twisted with remorse and guilt. They must still be tending Chaff’s injured hand if they had him in the medical building. “What are those big buildings?”
“Research and development. They’re factories for Mr. Folesworth’s weapons designs and several other projects he’s working on. They didn’t show me inside either of them.”
That cleared up Folesworth’s involvement a bit. “He’s using the prisoners as free labor?”
Wells gave a sharp nod. He looked a shade paler than normal all of a sudden. “Labor and as test subjects for experiments.”
“Experiments? What experiments?”
“We can talk more about that after you get me out of there. For now, if you can get to the door on this side of the medical building I can let you in.” He pointed to the side nearest the wall then looked up at her expectantly.
She nodded, ignoring the dread that set her nerves jittering.
“Good. Be there ten minutes after midnight on this coming Friday night. I’ll check twice after that if you aren’t there on time. Any more than that and I’m likely to be noticed. We’ll get your boy Chaff and I’ll see what I can do to get Garrett out too.” He flipped the map over. “I’ve written out directions from the city here. I don’t know what side you’re approaching from, but you should be able to find it with this information.”
“Thank you.”
Wells started to fold the map again. “Don’t thank me. Like as not, we’
ll all be killed or worse.”
Worse than killed? Maybe it was best not to ask. Her nerves were already on fire.
He finished folding the map and handed it to her. She folded it a few more times and tucked it up under her bodice as he escorted her out. At the front door, she turned and gave him a peck on the cheek again. The gesture might be highly inappropriate and might lead to teasing from the other officers, but it would keep their assumptions far away from the truth.
The coach should have been waiting down a side street a few dark, lonely blocks away, but tonight there was no one around to bother her. The city felt like it slept, waiting for something to wake it, like a warrior resting up before battle. The streets near JAHF were eerily quiet. Perhaps they were always that way, given the presence of the jail, but the feeling prompted her to a faster walk. She slowed coming around the last corner, though the two men standing near Drake’s coach spotted her at the same moment she spotted them. Her initial alarm faded when she recognized Detective Emeraude’s two assistants.
Was it bold, or merely stupid, for them all to be rendezvousing this close to JAHF?
Reuben tipped his hat and Amos smirked at her. She nodded to them each and Rueben opened the door for her when she got to the coach. Em sat alone on one seat, across from Crimson and Ash, making the only available space Maeko could take next to Em, at least without conspicuous crowding on the opposite seat.
Maeko gave a curt nod in response to Em’s scowl and sat, taking a moment to smooth her dress in the hopes that the detective might declare her purpose and give Maeko some information to work with before she was forced to say anything.
Crimson broke the awkward silence. “I understand you two headstrong birds are already acquainted.”
Em pursed her lips and said nothing.
Maeko matched her silence.
“That would be a resounding yes. Amazing how loud you two can be in your silence.”
“I’ve got work to do,” Em stated, moving around Maeko to toss the door open. “I’ll be in touch.”
“I’m sure you will. Shall I say hello to Drake for you?” Crimson added the last with a sugary tone.
Em turned back with such fury in her eyes that Maeko almost jumped up to defend Crimson. There was some kind of unpleasant history between them. That much had become immediately, painfully clear.
“Tell him to go hang himself.” Em stepped out and swept the door firmly closed.
“Always a pleasure,” Crimson intoned softly to the closed door and knocked twice on the roof of the coach. The coach wheels creaked as it began to roll.
She eyed Maeko. “Since you two are clearly on better terms than she and I,” Maeko almost choked at that, “perhaps I’ll send just you to meet with her next time.”
“Oh, of course. That makes perfect sense.” She meant it to be sarcastic, but Crimson only nodded as if it had been decided. Maeko sighed inwardly. “What did she want?”
“She’s been talking with the new metropolitan police commissioner. Seems they aren’t happy with the cooperation they’ve been getting from the Literati in regards to the murder of the former commissioner. Em has been trying to convince the commissioner to launch an investigation into your claim that the wrong Mr. Folesworth died in that airship explosion. They haven’t gone for it yet, but she says she thinks the ongoing difficulties with the Literati police force are pushing them toward considering it.”
Macak, who had been crouched down alongside Ash while Em was there, moved over to curl on Maeko’s lap. She began to pet him, and his deep purr melted away some of the tension Em had left behind. “The Bobbies don’t even have jurisdiction in the city anymore, do they?”
“Not precisely, but there may be a loophole they can leverage given the nature of the case and the current unrest in the city. Em came to ask if we might be able to increase the pressure on the Lits. Cause a few more high profile incidents and the like. I told her it was Drake’s call, since it would require putting more people at risk. That brassed her off a bit.”
“She obviously doesn’t like Drake much?”
Crimson shifted the curtain over the window to one side, gazing out into the dark night while she spoke. “Her brother was a Literati officer. He worked closely with Drake on the sly, feeding him inside information like your contact is doing for you now. There was a protest that got ugly. He got into the middle of it, trying to stop it before people he cared about on either side got hurt. That’s the danger of split loyalties. He was shot and killed. She blames the Lits and the Pirates equally for his death, but she decided that Drake deserved a little more blame than anyone else because he and her brother were very close.”
At least there was something behind all that bitterness. “I think she extends that blame to just about everyone she meets.”
Crimson crossed her arms and sat back in the seat, a tight smirk twisting her lips. “You may be right. What did you find out from your Lit?”
Maeko also leaned back in the seat, letting the shadows of the coach obscure her features. If she told Crimson the plan, it might get back to Drake who would never allow them to go through with it, especially when he found out she meant to use his airship to get past the wall. The quiet, black ship would be the only thing that could get them inside the walls without too much risk of being seen. Even then, it was chancy, but what else could she do. She had to get to Chaff.
“He says it can’t be done.” She put a strong dose of pouty disappointment into her tone for authenticity.
“What?” Judging by the burst of anger in Ash’s voice, the show was somewhat convincing. “That can’t be right. We have to get in there.”
He slapped his fist into his palm in a show of stubborn determination that she quietly admired.
Crimson put a hand on his arm. “Asher, we can’t do the impossible. Your father and Maeko’s friend are going to have to take care of themselves for now. Drake means for us to come out on the top of this conflict. When we do, we’ll get them back.”
Maeko chewed at her lip. How reasonable Crimson made it sound, as if there were no doubt at all that the Pirates would succeed and the two prisoners would be fine until then. Maeko barely understood what they were fighting for. They wanted to stop the Lits from gaining more power and increasing the class separation that was already crippling the city’s poor. They wanted to give people more rights and help the growing numbers who were being forced into workhouses or driven to the streets. That seemed noble enough, but what was the solution? Clashes in the streets didn’t really change anything, not that she could see. They mostly led to innocent people getting hurt. What did it mean for them to win?
“I’d venture that the Lits mean to come out on top too.”
Crimson gave her a sharp look.
Maeko shrugged.
Ash switched seats and slumped back into the corner, glowering through the window. If things kept on the way they were, he would be as pleasant to be around as Em soon. Perhaps, when he learned the truth, he’d cheer up. She had to tell him. There was no way to manage the infiltration alone. If it were foggy, they’d be able to bring the ship in closer. A clear night meant they’d be lucky to get within drop range without detection. Either way, someone had to man the ship while she went in to meet Wells.
Drake was right to say no. He might not mourn her and Ash so much if something happened to them, but he would undoubtedly mourn his airship. Not only that, she suspected the ship was a legitimate purchase, which meant the Lits could trace it back to him. She hoped he’d have the sense to declare it stolen if something went wrong, and there was plenty that could go wrong.
She began to chew at a fingernail and Ash reached up, taking her hand and pushing it back down to her side. That he didn’t attempt to keep hold of it said a lot for the unpleasantness of his mood. They would be back at the estate soon though. Then she could tell him the truth.
CHAPTER NINE
Rain poured down with all the ferocity of a waterfall in flood. It wasn’t the fog
she had been hoping for, but it would drown out the sound of the quiet airship in addition to reducing visibility, which made it better even if it was right dreadful to be out in. Maeko slunk out across the grounds, moving stealthily from building to building, then slipped behind the stable to where the black airship waited. She cracked the airship door, glancing around for any unexpected occupants, and darted inside, eager to get out of the downpour.
The curtains were drawn over all the airship windows to hide the dim light of a single candle flickering in the darkness of the interior. Ash stood near the controls, waiting for her. He must be at least as anxious to get going as she was given that he’d beat her there and, judging by his pale countenance and the grim expression, was at least as dubious about their chances for success.
He held the candle out toward her, then looked down to her right and his brow furrowed. “Why did you bring the cat?”
“I didn’t.” She glanced down.
Macak shook himself with a look of annoyance, sending a fine spray of water out in a circle around him. Then he trotted past her to hop up on one of the plush chairs and settled in to groom the water from his fur.
“Sneaky devil,” she commented, feeling a burst of pride. She walked over to the control panel. “You know how to fly this thing?”
“It looks straightforward enough and you’ve flown it. I’m sure we can manage together.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Shouldn’t we put the cat back in the house?”
“The cat has a name,” she grumbled. “And no. Sneaking out once was risky enough. We can’t chance sneaking back in and out again for that. He’ll just have to ride along.”
Ash began to fiddle with the controls, preparing to let off air to take the ship up. Maeko trotted around the interior and freed the anchor attachments. Normally they would detach them from the outside and reel in the ropes, but since they wouldn’t be anchoring again until they got back, she didn’t see much point in going to the trouble to run around in the rain again. When the attachments were free, Ash began to take the ship up.
The Girl and the Clockwork Crossfire Page 6