The two agents followed the Captain down two decks and into a long room near the ships keel. Six crewmen stood ready, each with his hand on a long lever. “Stand aside,” Genevieve said, then pointed toward several hatches in the floor. A rope ran through each and terminated at a winch looking device attached to overhead beams. A second smaller cord ran along the rope closet to them and attached to as bell affixed to a beam.
“This is all Burke’s design,” Genevieve said. “Watch, it is quite amazing.”
As if on cue, the bell cord went taunt and the bell jingled. The crewman furthest from them yanked his handle causing a spurt of steam to erupt into the compartment. “Extracting number 5,” he yelled over the hiss of the steam. Immediately the winch began to turn, reeling in the rope.
Three seconds later, the crewman next to the first yelled out, “Extracting number 4,” and yanked on his lever. The winch immediately began to turn, winding the rope.
This continued with each crewman giving a three second count then throwing his lever until the crewman nearest them yelled, “Extracting the Commander.” He pulled his lever starting his associated winch just as the number 5 hatch door flopped open and man in a harness appeared. It took Persi a moment to realize he had his arms and legs wrapped around another man’s body. The crewman in charge of the lever stepped to the harnessed man and pulled him away from the open hatch, which snapped shut automatically.
Boots followed Persi to the number 5 station and aided in laying the second man on the deck. It was a battered Morris. “His nose appears to be broken,” Boots said, as he bent and assessed the man, even feeling his arms and legs through his ripped and dirty uniform. “I see no blood stained clothing ... oh,” he said, stopping at Morris swollen left ankle. “This is at least sprained, more likely broken.” He looked at the Captain. “We should set it just to make certain.”
Genevieve reached for a brass tube, just as a harnessed man popped through the last hatch, holding on to a similarly beaten Nicholas. “Medic to the Repelling Room, bring two stretchers.” She then quickly grabbed the other tube. “Engine Room, all ahead Emergency!”
“Dr. Souza on my way,” a voice said.
“All ahead emergency, Engine Room aye,” came a second voice.
Boots moved to Nicholas, who looked worse off than Morris, his skin was a pale grey. After several seconds, Boots clinched his hand and dropped his head. “He is gone.”
Though Persi was a hardened agent, her hand went to her mouth and tears formed in her eyes.
“He has multiple breaks on each appendage,” Boots said, anger obvious in his voice.
A large man stepped away and let his harness drop to the deck then returned to the body of the young man and knelt. “He bought us time,” the man said in a Scottish brogue. “Samuels and I had just dropped through the roof hatch onto the deck when we were met by your vampire friends. One was carrying the one down there.” He turned to point at Morris, who was being strapped on to a stretch. “This one was bringing up the rear, full of vim and vigor. We were at the hatch and the vampires ran forward to engage us, but stopped as we were able to tell them we were sent to help. What we didn’t see was the mechanical thing coming up from behind. I tried to get to your man while this other was passed through the hatch but he saw the thing and launched himself at it. I think he got one hit in before the thing brought him down and just walked over him like he was a throw rug.
“We got your first man out, and my second out, then the vampires turned on the machine and were able to toss it over the deck railing. I grabbed this one and got out the hatch.
Burke looked up at Boots, who had stood to comfort Persi. “I have to tell you, I’ve seen all kinds of man-made hell- war, torture and the like, but that mechanical thing ... it projected evil. I felt like I was looking at something from Hell.”
Boots stretched out a hand. “Horace Beacon, call me Boots.”
“Gregory Theophanous Burke. Just call me Burke.”
Persi wiped her eyes. “We are in your debt, sir. Thank you for returning our comrade.”
Burke bowed slightly. “It was my honor. As I said, he bought me time to get my man and your other out. He was a brave young man.”
“What would you like done with him?” Genevieve asked.
Persi and Boots looked at each other, trying to search the others thoughts.
“May I make a suggestion?” Burke asked.
They nodded.
“Leave the lad with me.” He looked at a man who approached. “Samuels and I will prepare him for a burial at sea. We will, honor him as we would honor our own.”
Samuels looked at the agents. “As the Commander said, he saved our lives, it would be our honor.”
Persi pressed her face into Boots shoulder and cried.
“That will be fine,” Boots said.
Genevieve spoke into the tube. “Engine Room, All ahead full.”
“All ahead full, Engine Room aye,” a voice replied.
The ship shuddered and tipped slightly as the engines slowed causing Boots to steady himself and Persi by grabbing an overhead beam. “Our friends will be returning to the Daedalus to change their form. We will meet them there.”
“I suggest you alter your plans. It is likely that the Lady’s agents will be waiting on you when you arrive, let us go on in the Swan.” Genevieve said.
“And leave my ship, and my crew?” Captain Grimm said, just stepping into the room.
“Mon amie,” Genevieve said in soothing tones. “I can send the Horizon to collect your crew, as well as your night friends. It has not detached as of yet.”
Persi straightened, “Captain Bourdieu, I know you mean well, and your assumptions may be correct, but I’m not sure this is the right move to make.”
“You don’t? This lord of lightning and his bitch woman has control of mechanicals, the likes of which none of us have seen, not to mention a machine that targets lightning, and some hellish connection with dark powers, and you would turn down the use of the Black Swan, one of the most powerful weapons ever built?”
Persi, Boots, and Grimm looked at each other. Finally, Boots shrugged and nodded.
“Perhaps you have a point, Captain Grimm said. “but I will return on the Horizon. There are some personal effects I must retrieve, as well as ensure the crew gets safely aboard.”
“Very well, we will set course for Natal, Brazil at half speed. You will go retrieve your affects and crew and rendezvous with us down the coast. This all should take no more than four to five hours. The Horizon should be moored back in the Swan’s hold before sunrise.”
“Good enough,” Boots said, “but I will go also. I too have effects to remove.”
“Boots, my love, must you?”
“Yes, my dear. I believe Captain Bourdieu is correct about Narcissa’s woman and agents, if we leave now, I don’t think too much can befall us, we will have time. As the Captain has said, I will be back before morning.”
Boots pulled her in and kissed her, and though she held him tightly, he freed himself and left, followed by Captain Grimm.
“Please,” Genevieve motioned to the stairwell, “let us go check on Mr. Morris.” She turned to Burke and Samuel gently placing Nicholas on a stretcher. “Gregory and Samuels have given you their word, and I have known neither to break it. They will take care of your Mr. Nicholas.”
Persi nodded and the two women ascended the stairs.
Chapter 46 – Daedalus Retrieve, or is it a Rescue?
It only took ten minutes for the Horizon to be crewed and launched. It was a not a conventional airship as Boots had supposed, but the newer models, just beginning to gain popularity in England. The design incorporated a forty-foot-long gondola, eighteen feet wide, modeled after a Spanish Galleon, but instead of gas-filled bags to give it lift, two propellers were mounted on either side, both forward and aft.
When moored in the Black Swan, all that could be seen of the Horizon was a bump along the surface of larger ship’s keel. W
hen given the word, seamen deployed heavy-duty steam winches which lowered the ship to a predetermined position, then the propellers were started. Once at speed, the cables released and the ship was allowed to fall for several feet before the four props were given more steam and the ship leveled out.
The initial fall caught Boots by surprise. He momentarily felt like he was rising off the deck then in the next second, fell to the deck as the descent stopped abruptly. “Well, my word,” Boots said crawling to his feet. He looked above and saw a panel slide into the space where the launch had been making the hull of the Swan seamless once again.
“She is magnificent, is she not,” Grimm said, standing next to him. He had apparently known what would happen and was prepared.
“Yes,” Boots said, slightly irritated at the lack of warning, “A pinnacle of human ingenuity.”
“We shall be at the Daedalus within minutes. To save time when we arrive, I recommend you go to your stateroom and secure your wife some clothing, especially the underthings. I will descend to the Engine Room and rouse our boys into leaving, then to the bridge to pick up some charts and other equipment we may need. We should take no more than 50 minutes.”
“Are you sure it will go that smoothly?” Boots asked. “What of Perry? In my experience, Engineers tend to stick tightly to their ships.”
“He will be given and order. Like it or not, he will obey,” Grimm said, emphasizing his statement with a raised finger and single nod.
True to Grimm’s prediction, they arrived at their ship several minutes later, sitting down only fifty feet from the cargo ramp of the Daedalus. Boots was happy he was not going to be made to repel onto the deck.
Both he and Grimm bound down the brow of the Horizon, around loaded wagons, boxes and the Icarus, and up the stairs of the mooring tower. Now back on the Daedalus, they implemented their plan with Grimm making his way to the Engine Room, while Boots took the stairs up to the second deck. As he considered what Grimm had said about Persi’s clothing he realized that acquiring a change of underthings would certainly win him points with his wife. So upon entering his stateroom, he grabbed their largest carpetbag and proceeded to stuff it with her things, as well as a change of clothes for himself. He hoped after their mission, they would be able to return to the ship and fly it back to the States but just in case, he grabbed the safe box he and Persi kept their most treasured possessions in. He took the carpetbag and turned to exit the room when a note, pinned to the wall, grabbed his attention.
Dear Mr. Beacon- believing it might be daylight when you arrived, we have placed ourselves in two steamer trunks located just behind the velocitor below. You will now need only to load them into whatever mode of transportation you have arranged. We will speak more tonight.
Respectfully- Jane
He smiled. Nicely done, he thought of the vampires sleeping in the trunks, conveniently ready for loading. He picked up the bag again, having set it on the floor while he read the note, and stepped through the door. “Ahh,” he exclaimed as he nearly collided with Captain, who was standing just outside the door. “Grimm, I thought you’d be in the control room, gathering your things. It was your plan.”
“Yes, alas, it is as you expected, Mr. Perry refuses to leave, refuses to leave his room actually, and the crew is behind him, so I have decided to stay. We will get the ship ready as soon as possible and follow you. We may be only several hours behind you.”
“I don’t know,” Boots said, rubbing the stubble on his unshaven face. “Everything indicates this is a very dangerous place to be.”
“Yes, but we will not hesitate any longer than it takes to get our well-meaning owner off his ship,” he said, grinning.
“Very well, if you’re sure.”
“Mon amie, I am sure of nothing except my crew will not leave. Now,” he stood tall, straightening his uniform, “if you will excuse me, I must pull some charts and prepare to lift within the hour.”
Boots extended his hand. “Safe travels, to you Captain. May the wind be at your back.”
Captain Grimm accepted the hand and shook it.
“If we do not immediately catch up, we will meet you in Natal in,” Grimm pulled his watch from its pocket and read the dial, “Sixty hours or so. Please tell Genevieve I wish to dine with her at that restaurante near the Fortaleza dos Reis Magos. Almiro’s, or something like that.”
“Very well, I shall tell her.” Boots said and stepped around the Captain, barely missing the Joseph.
Joseph wore a dangerous look. “Was it that Lady, the one what was our cook, the one that got Nicholas killed?”
Boots nodded, “Yes.”
“Is it your intent to see her dead? Not caught, not tried, not jailed, but dead?”
Neither training nor experience in the agency, nor his time in the war with death all around him, nor his brief stint with Stanley in the disease ridden Congo, prepared him for what he saw in the young sooty’s eyes. If he pronounced a sentence of anything less than death, he was sure Joseph would give notice immediately and instigate his own version of justice upon the woman, and woe be it to anyone who stood in his way.
He looked directly in Joseph’s eyes. “If it is within our means, we will end her.”
Joseph nodded, his eyes filled with anger and pain, spun and returned to the Engine room.
Boots looked at Grimm. “I hope it is you that does the deed,” Grimm said, “for her sake.”
Boots went to the Navigator’s cabin where Persi’s trunks still sat and took a few minutes collecting a few things including several of Persi’s favorite guns and some ammunition. He returned to the Horizon and after telling the Boatswain of the two crates, but leaving out the actual contents lest he get spooked, they were loaded onto the Horizon.
Within minutes, they were aloft and heading east, out of the city. “We should rendezvous with the Swan in thirty minutes,” said Philips, the Boatswain.
“How can you be so sure?” Boots asked.
“First, I know my ship, the Swan, and the route down the coast she’ll be taking.”
Boots could tell the sailor had taken his question as a challenge.
“And second,” he pointed to a small glass screen near the boats wheel. It glowed with the green luminescent he had seen on the optical scope. It was marked like a compass in five-degree increments and had a small white dot in the center. “An aetherial signal is sent from the Swan, it moves the screen so as position it over the light from the small oil lamp behind. I just have to keep the light in the center and we will run smack dab into her.”
Boots eyes were wide. “Ingenious, utterly ingenious.”
“Aye, but as I said, I have no need for it. I know where the Black Swan is and where she’ll be in half an hour.”
“Yes,” Boots agreed. “I have no doubt.”
True to his word, Boots watched as they approached the Black Swan at about the time the Boatswain had indicated. As a sliver of sun began to peak above the ocean on their port side, the mooring cover slid away from the underside of the larger ship and heavy cables lowered from the keel.
Seamen, positioned on the deck, scrambled to haul in the lines with rubber wrapped pulls, and connect them to the mooring bollards on the Horizon. With the steam winches activated, they rose quickly inside the ship. When she was safely inside, Boots disembarked, asking that the steamer trunks be carefully delivered to their cabin. “I managed to save some of my wife’s glassware and knick-knacks I wouldn’t want them broken,” he told the Boatswain.
Persi was on the Bridge with Genevieve when Boots arrived with the baggage.
“Genevieve has berthing assignments when our crew is ready to settle in,” Persi said.
“They did not come,” he said.
“What?” Persi said before he could elaborate.
“They have chosen to stay with the Daedalus and meet us in Natal. I tried to change their minds but Grimm was adamant, as was Mr. Perry. I had no choice but to secure safety for our guests, and leave the c
rew to make preparations to lift within the hour.”
“Well, our Captain will get a stern talking to when I see him next.” She crossed her arms. “He knows how I hate plans changed without prior notice.”
“I think they shall be fine, my love, though I am sure we will need to wait a bit in Natal, since they cannot possibly think they will arrive soon after we, not with the power of the Swan pushing us along.”
“You are correct, no doubt,” Genevieve said. “Though do not sell my dear Grimm short. He has hidden depths.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will arrive, he said something about meeting you for dinner at Almiro’s?” Boots said, “but he cannot suspend the natural order of things. Regardless, we will wait no longer than a day before making the crossing. If he is not there by then he can either cross on his own, or begin the voyage back to the states.”
Genevieve smiled at his mention of the dinner date, then nodded her agreement with his plan.
“Now, my dear,” Boots said, taking a deep breath, “I’d like to adjourn to our cabin, we have things of which we need to speak, especially as concerns our sleeping friends. And,”
Persi saw him change, fatigue sweeping across his face.
“I need to sleep.”
“Indeed,” she said, then turning to the Captain. “We shall see you for lunch. Please have a man wake us at 12 o’clock.”
Genevieve nodded. “Sleep well.”
Chapter 47 – Of Dinner and Debriefs
Stepping into their cabin, Boots ran into the two steamer trunks before either could light a lamp. “My word,” he exclaimed, rubbing at the pain in his left knee. A crack of light shown through the slightly parted curtains and he thought to throw them open but the lamp was closer.
When the lamp had brightened the room, Persi stepped to the trunks. “These are our friends I presume?”
The Lightning Lord Page 29