by Sean M Locke
I felt the old habits of evasion and stonewalling settle on me like a comfortable jacket. He knew damn well—just wanted me to say it. For the record.
“Who can say?”
Felix sighed and rested his elbows on his knees. Leaning into me a little, he pitched his voice low and said, “You don’t have to be so cagey, you know. I’m on your side.”
“Trade regulators aren’t on anyone’s side.”
“That old line? It’s tired, Kaeri.”
I shrugged and looked sidelong at Maria. She bit her lip for a moment, and then spoke up. “Meneer Inspector, if Kaeri had any friends among those people, do you suppose they would have shot at her?”
“Who says they shot at her? Never mind, I’m sure it was hard to tell. But I wasn’t asking whether Kaeri was friends with these criminals. I asked whether she was acquainted with them.”
I stared at Maria’s hand, the one that covered mine, and I said nothing.
“We’ll go at it another way. Maybe you don’t remember their faces very well.” He looked over my head and spoke louder. “Officer van Beek? I need you and that Lange woman here, if you please.”
Sweat prickled out over my back, and I suppressed a shudder. A uniformed bull dragged Jeanne in front of Felix and me, none too gentle. Her eyes were glassy with pain and sweat slicked her face, and her gun hand was swathed in a mitt of bloody gauze. Mousy brown hair hung in unkempt tendrils around her face. She breathed little shallow breaths real fast, her nostrils flaring.
Felix gave Jeanne a slow look up and down, and then turned back to me. “Now that we have some better light and there’s less in the way of shooting, will you tell me if you recognize this woman?”
I looked up at Jeanne to see if I could get a read on where her mind was, whether she was going to rat me out, or if she had already. She gave me a blank look, which she was good at. But then her gaze drifted to Maria, and her eyes came alive. An angry flush crawled up her neck and cheeks, and she lunged at her with her good hand.
“I’ll kill you!”
Maria and I rose at the same time, but I got myself between her and Jeanne. Van Beek grabbed the back of her collar, but Felix shook his head a fraction and gestured the bull to step back.
“Back off,” I said in a low voice.
“Kaeri, she shot me. She ruined me—look at my hand!” She showed me the gauze mitten and waved it, in case I hadn’t seen it.
“Yeah, she messed you up some, but you’re gonna live.” I leaned into her a little. “If you play it smart.”
“If I play it smart. Are you threatening me now?”
“No, Jeanne. But I can’t say about these men.” I nodded sidelong at Felix. “They could make you disappear, or make you swing. You know that.”
“So how’m I supposed to play it smart, huh?” Jeanne looked at Maria, rage marring her otherwise pretty-ish face. I couldn’t tell what kind of face Maria was making. “What is she to them? What is she to you?”
I shrugged and looked over her shoulder, away from her eyes.
“Oh.” Something overcame the rage in her head and the pain in her hand. “Is that it? Great absent gods, Kaeri. I knew we couldn’t have lasted, but you’re chasing a noble? You getting airs, now?”
“Just shut up,” I ground out.
“I’ve heard enough,” said Felix. “Officer van Beek, please take this one to the kitchen and keep an eye on her. See if you can find her something for the pain.”
“Inspector.” The cop took Jeanne away through the kitchen door. Wolfgang was talking with a couple of bulls over there, giving them quiet directions, but I could see that he had an eye on us. Rage bubbled up in my guts—I was getting used like a half-guilder whore, and I couldn’t seem to stop it. I needed to get ahead of the game.
I turned to look at Maria; her face was unreadable. Was she disappointed that I’d had a fling with a gangster like Jeanne? Would she care about that? I itched for some privacy with her to sort things out. It would have to wait.
Felix cleared his throat. “So, Kaeri. Are you ready to talk to me now?”
“I’ll talk,” I said, scrubbing my hands through my hair.
“If you’re sure. I could show you the other fellow, the one with the ventilated skull, and have you confirm his identity for me.”
“I said I’d talk.” Cursing the tears brimming in my eyes, I stared at Felix as hard as I could manage. “Ask your questions.”
“How are you acquainted with these known criminals?”
I set my teeth. “We go to church together. Why don’t you ask me the questions you really need answered?”
“All right. Did you know they were coming to this house tonight?”
“No, not specifically this house.”
“Do you know what they were doing here?”
I shook my head, though I knew exactly what. Kasper’s little raid, catching a mother lode of aker and cash. What kind of dumb luck had them holing up in this safe house, right when I needed it?
“Not for sure,” I lied. “They were hauling around that Rademaker man. I suppose they had questions for him. Did he survive?”
Felix smiled thinly. He wasn’t going to answer any questions. “The big fella was carrying a couple big valises. Heavy. One of them a particularly ugly pattern of plaid. Do you know what we found in them?”
“I’m sure I don’t know. We didn’t exactly have time to chat before the bullets started flying.”
“I’ll tell you. One of them carries a sum of a quarter of a million guilders in well-worn, small bills. The other contains at least ten kilograms of aker dust, in consumer-sized bottles. Five thousand doses at least, Kaeri. I dare not guess at the street-value of that valise until we analyze it further.”
Despite myself, I whistled, impressed. “That’s a hell of a score.”
“Damn right it is,” Wolfgang said as he crossed the room. He jotted something in his notepad and put it away. Only after that did he bother to look at me. “Your friends there brought a fortune of cash and drugs to this house, along with a sapped Rademaker man.”
Felix sat back, his legs and arms crossed. Something I couldn’t quite catch passed between the two men, and Wolf took over the debriefing.
“It’s pretty clear what happened here, little sister.”
“Was that a question, big brother?”
He scowled at me. “Clearly your friends got the drop on a Rademaker transfer of money and aker, and brought the loot here. I talked with the old lady, and she confirms that she lets Lange use her place as a safe house.”
“Mevrouw Penders,” I said, pressing my lips together. “Is she all right? Did she get hurt?”
“She’s fine, but it was a close call. She came peeking around the corner with that scattergun of hers and nearly took my head off.”
“And we’ll see that no charges are brought against her, even for the firearm.” Felix gave Wolfgang a bland smile. “Isn’t that right, Meneer Inspector Hawen?”
Wolfgang looked away, the ever-present anger on his face cooling off a few degrees. I wasn’t entirely sure what just happened, but Felix always had some kind of way of calming him down. I decided it was witchcraft. Anything more sensible than that was too intimate to think about for very long.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Anyway, those three Langes were going to use this place to flop, but Lewis was already here. He hoped to run here to get away from me, but you know how that turned out. Wouldn’t Lewis have known about these jokers needing to use the house?”
“Probably not. He’s not involved in that part of things. He builds and fixes stuff, you know? Little mechanic guy. I doubt he even knows what aker is.”
“It’s a hell of a coincidence, little sister.”
“Yeah? So it is. But let’s say it’s not. Why in the world would he want to meet with them?” I demanded. “Lewis’ little jog to this house was unplanned. I don’t know what happened with you and him and Maria in the back lot of the club, but I can guess. He panicked and legg
ed it, and this was the closest place he could hole up. If he had been successful and got himself away from you, he would have just seen those three, and maybe they all would have had a cup of tea and that would be that.”
“So, you brought Felix here, after stealing an ornithopter. Why?”
“I saw that he was hovering over this neighborhood, clearly looking for you.” I sat, suddenly tired. “I decided to help him.”
“No dice. I don’t see you getting suddenly concerned about my welfare.”
“You caught me.” I rolled my eyes. “I was mostly looking for Maria, to help her get her property back from Lewis.”
“Mostly?”
“Well, I suppose if I saw you shanked in an alley, I’d do something about it.”
“I’m touched.”
The satchel with the dingus was still sitting on the mantle. I looked to the wingback chair, but Lewis was gone, and the ottoman in front of it was overturned.
“I didn’t know that anyone else would be using the place tonight, and that’s on the level. The ornithopter I used is parked out back.”
“Not anymore it isn’t. Lewis legged it as soon as the shooting started. I’ll have to thank him when I arrest him; he bumped into that Lange woman’s legs and screwed her aim.” He fingered a ragged tear in his sleeve, and it came away clean. “She about drilled me through the ticker. His ‘thopter is gone.”
“Well, kudos to him, then. And it sounds like we don’t need to worry about who stole whose ornithopter if the rightful owner has it now, yeah?”
I smiled and batted my eyes at him. I didn’t let myself think about what would be happening right now if Wolfgang had bought it. Lewis deserved my thanks, too.
A smirk snuck up on Wolf. “Yeah, fair enough. Anyway, if you’re thinking about taking that gadget on the mantelpiece,” he said, hooking a casual thumb over his shoulder at the satchel, “Don’t. We’ll be taking it with us so our eggheads can look at it.”
“No!” Maria cried, taking a step toward Wolf. “It’s impossible. That item belongs to my family. We must have it back.”
“Impossible?” He turned to Felix. “Did she say impossible?”
“She did, Boss. Strange.”
“Bizarre.” Wolfgang took an answering step toward Maria and thrust his chin in her direction. “You must be unfamiliar with what my organization does. What kind of latitude we have in terms of confiscating property or detaining persons of interest to us.”
Maria knelt next to me and took my hand in both of hers. “Please, Kaeri. Can you not plead with your brother?”
I had a feeling that Wolfgang liked me as much as Josef liked Maria, which is to say hardly at all, but it didn’t kill me to try. “Wolfje, that thing isn’t dangerous. Why not let the girl have it? She’s got skin in the game. Family honor and all that. You know how serious that is to these people.”
I caught sight of Maria’s face falling at that last remark. I’d have to tell her later I didn’t mean anything by it.
Wolfgang nodded. “I do. But it doesn’t matter. I’m confiscating this on suspicion of weapons charges, but more importantly: Lange’s best tinkerer had the thing, which tells me they wanted to figure it out and make more of them. That’s reason enough for me to keep it out of their hands. I don’t know what it does yet, but that’s why we have the lab and our eggheads.
“Of course, you could save us some time if you just told us what it is.” Wolfgang made a face like he had a bite of bad eggs in his mouth. Then he added, “Miss Cantabile.”
Maria chewed her lip and squeezed my hand. Indecision clouded her face. After half a minute or so, she opened her mouth to say something.
“Before she says something she can’t take back,” I interrupted, “what in the world is she buying?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, she’s about to give you something valuable. If she’s not careful, she’s going to give it to you for free. So what does she get in return?”
An angry flush crawled up Wolfgang’s throat and cheeks, and he sputtered something. If there was something Wolfgang didn’t like more than the nobility, it was having his authority challenged.
Felix stood and paced slowly as he translated Wolfgang’s anger into grown-up words.
“Ideally we would consider it a gesture of good faith. The Cantabile family doesn’t want it in criminal hands, and neither do we. Telling us more about this device now would . . . build some confidence with the Mercantile Trade Regulation Authority. Perhaps it was all a misunderstanding, and Lord Cantabile was going to take his invention to the proper authorities for registration. If that’s the case, then of course we would return the device and consider not filing any weapons charges against Cantabile.”
Felix laid a hand on Wolfgang’s shoulder. He gave it a squeeze and murmured, “Is that the correct approach?”
Immediately I could see some of the anger drain from Wolfgang’s face. But not all of it. He clenched his teeth and said, “Sure. Good faith gesture. Confidence building. So?”
I patted Maria’s hand and leaned in close to her ear. “Probably the best you’re going to get. But it’s up to you.”
She sighed, her worried eyes sliding left to right and back again. “I do not like it, Kaeri. I shouldn’t take decisions like this. My father …”
“Your pop can’t help right now. He needs you. You gotta do what’s best for your family. And for the city.”
“You are right, of course.” To Wolfgang and Felix: “I will tell you about the device. Would it be all right if I demonstrated with it? I will not, what’s the phrase, ‘leg it.’”
Wolfgang and Felix traded a look. My brother jerked his head at the satchel on the mantelpiece, and Felix retrieved it. He withdrew a steel drum not much bigger than a tambourine, or a smallish kind of pie tin. One side was flat and mostly featureless; only a spiral of debossed steel swirled in from the outer edge of the device and stopped after a couple turns. The other side had a hand-screw about ten centimeters across. There was a notch at the edge of the drum.
Maria accepted it with a muted thank-you, and then looked around to the handful of cops and eggheads still poking around the room, digging bullets out of the walls and taking measurements and who knew what else.
“Inspectors, would it be possible to have a little privacy? I don’t want to impose, but it’s a delicate matter.”
Wolfgang gave her a dubious look. Felix took the initiative and started shooing the rest out of the room. When it was just the four of us, Maria breathed a little easier.
“This device is a magazine for holding 40-bore brass cartridges. It can hold fifty.” She opened it and showed them a spiral spring, and a groove that could hold a whole lot of bullets. It wasn’t hard to imagine them, standing like little soldiers, lined up in a swirling queue. “The spring feeds rounds into the carbine’s firing chamber. A gas recoil system throws the bolt back after the first round is fired, and the magazine feeds the next round in. So long as the operator holds the trigger down, it will continuously fire until the trigger is released, or the magazine is empty.”
Felix’s face paled. “That is monstrous. How long . . . how long would it take to fire every round?”
“Based on testing my father and I performed in the armory, within three and a half seconds. The recoil is significant, and one cannot hope to be accurate, firing like that.” Maria closed the lid and stroked it absently. “Reloading a fresh drum into the carbine can take half a minute or so, which I imagine is a very long time while in the heat of combat.”
“Why in the world would Lord Cantabile make this?” Wolfgang demanded, suddenly angry. “This thing is a nightmare.”
“My father was a cavalryman, but he has always been a tinkerer. He imagined a way to give cavalry both a tactical and strategic advantage in the field, and developed this, the next generation of cavalry carbines. The rate of fire greatly exceeds that of current ordnance, and can be fired from horseback as easily as the Minaci Mark II lever-action c
arbine. Using this weapon judiciously, a platoon or two of cavalry can engage an entire brigade of Santuar barbarians, or pacify a band of recalcitrant o’atha.” She spoke faster now—like it was something she’d rehearsed before. “A handful of these weapons on an air or sea frigate would sweep its decks clean of any boarders, and would give our own sailors and marines an outsized advantage in their boarding actions. This weapon could be a huge leap forward for all the armed services.”
She swallowed, and I noticed that her skin had gone sickly pale. “A week ago, I could say all of that with a smile on my face. I could have pitched the Master of Ordnance myself. But in the last few days, I have come to agree with you, Meneer Inspector. I first . . . departed my house to find the weapon and return it to my father. My primary concern was to prevent embarrassment and financial loss to my family. I have since realized that there is more at stake than my family’s reputation. Kasper Lange possesses the weapon now, and clearly he seeks to reverse-engineer and replicate it for his own criminal enterprise. He has started tonight by trying to duplicate the magazine so that he can have more ammunition for the prototype he possesses.”
She looked up at Wolf now, her eyes blazing.
“Meneer Inspector Hawen, we may not like each other, but we have inadvertently foiled that plot. Meneer Lewis doesn’t have the magazine, and so I believe he cannot study it and duplicate it. The danger has passed—without the magazine, the carbine is harmless. It’s just an awkward-looking club.”
“So what do you say, Wolfgang?” I asked. “Why don’t you let Maria keep this thing? Kasper can’t shoot anyone with the carbine right now.”
Wolf took the drum and looked it over. “You’re exactly right—Kasper Lange can’t shoot anyone with it right now. But if he got hold of this magazine again and got his hands on some 40-bore ammo, then we’d be right back at square one. If you lost it once, you could lose it again. Best if we keep it.”
“But Inspector —”
“We will hold it in trust for now, Lady Cantabile,” said Felix, not unkindly. “Keep it safe. We will also, of course, want to get the carbine itself away from Lange. I expect we can help you get both pieces back to your father safely. And discreetly. Isn’t that so, Boss?”