Alien Devices: Tesla joins crew to prevent alien zombie apocalypse (The Secret War Book 2) (8 page)

“Father!” Abigail cried again. Hurriedly, she sat down her gun
and began to untie the hood. “It's all right, father,” she said, half sobbing, “I
have come for you! It's alright.” She pulled the hood up to reveal the face of
a stranger. She recoiled. “You are not my father!” She accused. The stranger
blinked, and then focused his eyes on her.

“No, I should hope not,” he replied. He took in her clothing,
his mustache twitching. “Although if I were your father, I am not sure I would
approve of your current attire. Given that, however, would you be so kind as to
finish freeing me?” Still in shock, Abigail began to work at the ropes around
his wrists.

“I would not be so quick to do that, Lady Abigail. He might be
more manageable tied up,” Bardon said. Despite what he had just said, Bardon
gestured for her to continue what she was doing.

“Ah, Richard,” the tied man said in greeting to Bardon, “Still
with the droll humor. I was wondering when you would arrive. I see you brought
friends.” He nodded his thanks to her as Abigail freed one hand, and went to
work on the other. “Would you mind introducing us?” Will had followed Bardon to
stand in the doorway.

“Oh, of course,” Bardon said sarcastically with a courtly
little bow at the man. “This is Captain William Hunting Owl, of the airship
Wind Dancer, and,” he pointed a sword at Abigail. “your angel of mercy there is
Abigail, Lady Hadley.” The man looked at Abigail sharply.

“You are Robert's daughter?”  He asked.

Abigail had just finished untying a leg. She looked up at the
man. He seemed familiar to her somehow.

“I am,” she replied. “You know my father, sir?”

“Lady Abigail, Captain Hunting Owl,” Bardon announced with a
flourish of his swords, “May I present to you Nikola Tesla, Head of the
Alliance Council of Science, KCOV, IES, etc., etc., and general pain in the
arse.”

“Please, Richard,” Tesla frowned, rubbing his wrists. “I know
that you are angry with me, but that does not call for vulgarity.”

 “Doctor Tesla. . .” Abigail breathed. She sprang up as if
electrified. Now that she knew, she could see it. In profile he looked very
much like the pictures of him she had seen all her life. She was mortified that
she had missed it.

  “Please, Lady Hadley,” he sniffed, “A doctor fixes diseased
bodies. If he is lucky that is. I,” he smiled gently at her, “ I am simply to
be called Tesla thank you.” Tesla stood, rubbing his wrists. He was much taller
than pictures indicated, Abigail thought, taller even than Captain Hunting Owl.

“Pleased to meet you, your wizardness,” Will greeted him dryly,
looking around the room. “So, no Lord Hadley,” he said looking around the room.

“No,” Tesla said. “They seemed to think at first that I was
him. I tried to convince them that I was not, but. . .” Will cut him off in
mid-sentence.

“We can talk about that later,” the Captain said. He turned to
Abigail. “I'm sorry Abigail.” He nudged Bardon in the shoulder.  “Bardon, you
need to come see this, now.”

“So your father is truly missing then?” Tesla asked, turning to
Abigail

“Yes sir,” she said. Abigail fought back tears. “It would seem
so.”

“Now, Lady Hadley,” Tesla held up an admonishing finger. As I
said, no 'doctor' or 'sir' for that matter, just Tesla please. Come,” he said
offering her his arm. “Let us go see what they are looking at.”

After retrieving her pistol, she followed the savant into the
other room. Guang was sitting on a chair in one corner. His coat was off, a
crude bandage around his shoulder. Abigail was glad to see him still alive. His
face though was grim as he watched the others huddled on the floor.

They were crouched over the corpse of the man who had attacked
them so savagely. Will was speaking as she came closer. Saira was holding one
of the lanterns over them so they could see. 

“So, Queen’s Man,” Will was saying to Bardon, almost
challengingly. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“My God,” Bardon said reverently, “No, never. What is that?” 

Abigail pushed past Tesla's gentlemanly attempt to restrain her
from seeing the corpse to see what they were talking about. They had turned the
body over. She placed a hand over her mouth in shock.  Instead of red gore
coming from his many wounds, a very thick pink jelly was slowly oozing out.

“It is a demon of some kind I tell you,” Saira asserted. “That
cannot have been a man.”

“She may not be far wrong,” Tesla interjected grimly. “Gentlemen,
I am very much afraid that what you see before you may possibly be the greatest
danger the British Empire and the Alliance of Nations has faced since the Alien
Invasion. Humanity may, once again, be in great peril,” he
pronounced.                                      

Chapter 10

E
veryone was silent in the wake of Tesla's
statement.
They stared with amazement at the strange oozing jelly. William
Hunting Owl was the first to hear a faint noise from outside, as if someone was
banging on a pot. As he listened, the noise began to grow.

      “Listen!” Captain Hunting Owl commanded. “What is that?”
The others lifted their heads, cocking hands to ears to listen more closely.

“It is the alarm!” Guang exclaimed. He struggled to his feet. “Someone
has decided to be brave when they heard the shots. We must go. Soon the entire
Pang-yeuon will be roused, and the authorities will follow.” In response to
this, Captain Hunting Owl squatted back down on his haunches.

“Well, seeing as we have just rescued such a distinguished
person, I don't see a problem with waiting for them,” The Captain announced. 
He was watching Bardon as he spoke, who appeared uncomfortable with this
notion. He pounced on Bardon's expression, “Ha! I knew it! There's more that
you're not telling.” It was Tesla who answered him instead of the Englishman. 

“It would be better if we avoided the local authorities,
Captain,” the Savant said.  “The reasons are not nefarious, I assure you.”

“It is not the British we need to concern ourselves with,”
Guang pressed. “You are foreigners. If it is discovered that foreigners have
killed Chin, the mob will rend us before the Peelers can arrive. We must go!”

“What about him?” Will pointed with his thumb at the corpse.

“Burn it,” Guang snapped. “The fire will destroy what has
happened here. It will also distract the ‘pang’.”

“I will get the bodies from outside,” Saira volunteered. She
set the lamp back in on its hook against the wall.

“Seems to me you might start the whole district on fire way
things are built around here,” Captain Hunting Owl remarked. He rose
decisively. Guang. Guang looked back at him coldly.

“Perhaps,” he said, “but I think it unlikely. Why should you
care Redman?”

 “Just thought I'd point it out,” he said mildly. Saira was
dragging in the first of the guards they had killed. “I'll get the other. We'd
best move quick,” Will said moving towards the door.

The din of the banging pots rang louder through the night as
the group moved swiftly back towards the car. Lanterns were winking on like
fireflies among the lean-to abodes and shacks. People were running back and
forth with cries of alarm.  The number of people on the rough track was
swelling. People were running towards the burning shack with pails of water and
sand. No one paid their group any attention. Guang had been right; they might
as well have been ghosts. 

Will looked back over his shoulder. He saw the fire leap up,
revealing a crowd of shadows that were trying to stop it. He sincerely wished
them luck. When he looked forward, he saw the shape of the car, and gave a sigh
of relief. They might make it after all. Trying to shoot a way through an angry
mob wasn't something he wanted to do ever again.

As Captain Hunting Owl chivvied everyone into car, Bardon
stopped, looking into the sky over Will's shoulder. He pointed.

“Captain, do you know what that is?” The spy asked. 

Will turned and looked up. He saw a small airship enter through
an opening in the shield. Given its size and silhouette, it was most likely a
dispatch boat, or perhaps a private yacht.

“Mail boat, I'd guess,” Will remarked. “Maybe the Pacific Fleet
is back early from their maneuvers. We should go. We are running away from a
murder.”

“I thought it was,” Bardon frowned, but remained unmoving. “I
can't make out its markings though.”

Will pulled out his spyglass and trained it on the ship. The
ensign was illuminated by a ship's spot. He saw the union jack over a winged
man, with the ship’s name,
Mercury
, beneath it. He scanned the length of
the ship seeing nothing unusual.

“British Navy ship,
HMS Mercury
” Will answered with a
shrug, “Looks all ship shape from here. Why are you so interested?”

“
Mercury
?” Bardon exclaimed. “Are you. . .forgive me, of
course you are sure Captain.” He stared up at the vessel in the sky and began
shaking his head. Will could tell that the man was scared for the first time
since he'd met him. “Something is wrong here, Captain, very, very, wrong. We
must leave at once!” With that he sprang into the car.

“The English are all crazy,” Saira sighed. She moved quickly
towards the other door. Will glanced up at the airship moving ponderously
across the sky against the rainbow of the Shield. He settled himself into the
back of the car and closed the door. 

“Where to, Captain?” Sebastian called from the driver’s seat. “Guang
here says the An compound.”

“No!” Bardon exclaimed, “Make for the
Wind Dancer
!” He
gave Will a pleading look. “Please, Captain.” Will looked at him for a moment.
The man was truly scared.

“Make for
Wind Dancer
Sebastian,” Will decided.  As the
car rumbled forward, Will turned towards the spy. “Alright, Bardon. Talk. I'll
decide how much of it to believe.”

“That ship cannot possibly be the
Mercury,
Captain.”
Bardon explained quietly. “Four days ago the
Mercury
was in Gibraltar
land dock. I asked you about it because with the fleet gone, I had requested
aid. I have been awaiting the cruiser
Defiant
.”

“Huh.” Captain Hunting Owl crossed his arms. He watched Bardon
with eyes like his namesake. “And you know this about the
Mercury
how
exactly?”

“Nothing extraordinary, I assure you,” Bardon gave a ghost of a
smile. “My nephew serves aboard the
Mercury
. I just spoke to him four
days ago by 'wave.”

“Forgive me,” Abigail said, “But I fall to see how this relates
to that. . . that thing we just killed. Or what it has to do with finding my
father.”

“I may have an answer about where you father is,” Tesla spoke
up. “If our mysterious kidnappers do not have him, then the obvious answer is
that he has returned to the discovery by himself. I was afraid he might. Did he
leave you any message or clue as to where it might be?”

“No,” Abigail said forlornly. “Only the card to Madame Chang's
here and some picture”

“A picture,” Chang echoed, emotion showing in her voice for the
first time. “Was it similar to the ones on the walls of my office?”

“Yes,” Abigail replied, “Only not as big, or well, to be frank,
not as lewd.”

“That is it,” Chang declared. “Robert had a map made. He sent
you to me as I would be the only one who could read it.” The woman's face
showed real animation for the first time since Will had met her. “Why did you
not speak of this before?” Chang demanded, “I must see it!”

Everyone began trying to speak at the same time, except Bardon.

“Quiet!” Will said in a voice that cut across the noise. “One
thing at a time here.” He turned back to the brooding agent. “So, you think
this
Mercury
is a Trojan Horse of some kind?”

“You are very well educated,” Bardon remarked. Bardon coughed
briefly, before continuing. “While it is a possibility, I believe it more
likely that it carries messages from those who are no friend to this city, or to
the Empire.”

“If you meant to say that I'm well educated for a Redskin, I
suppose I am in some ways,” Will smiled back tightly. He doubted he'd ever like
Bardon. The man was a bigot. “Captain of the ship Da and I served in the War
took an interest. Taught me reading and then let me lose on his books. Military
stuff, mostly.”

“Really!” Bardon said, surprised. “I would have thought you too
young to serve in the War. What ship and captain?” 

“I was my Da's rat catcher on the old
John Paul
,” Will
replied with a shrug. “It was safer for me that way than on land, lots of folks
did it back then, you know. The captain was a Union Army man, name of Custer.
We all called him Goldilocks. Good man in his way.  Fool died at the Battle of
St. Louis during the Independence War, took his whole ship with him.” Will knew
that Bardon was leading up to something, he just didn't know what.

“I am sorry to hear that, Captain,” Bardon nodded as if to
himself and after a moments silence, he spoke again, “I would like to hire your
ship, if it's available.”

“Alright,” Hunting Owl replied, crossing his arms, “make your
offer.” Will leaned back in his seat. This was what Bardon had been leading up
to.

“I wish to hire you to take Tesla safely to the nearest British
or Alliance authority outside of Hong Kong,” Bardon said earnestly. “I cannot
pay you in advance, but I will give you a note on the Crowns purse. I need you
to leave tonight.”

“Do I get a say in this, Richard?” Tesla asked testily from
across the cab.

“No Nikola, you do not,” Bardon replied firmly. “My primary
mission is to keep you safe. I cannot do that if I am to find out what’s going
on in this colony.”

“In all the years of our relationship you have never changed,”
Tesla said with a sigh. “What do you say Captain?”

“Tonight?” Will looked at Bardon. “There are still little
things like port clearance and a closed Shield to fix?”

“You can leave all that to me,” Bardon replied confidently.

“I was afraid you'd say something like that,” Will sighed. He
looked around at their faces while he thought. He read the exhaustion and
determination to help each other. There were several ways he could play this
out. Petrov was linked to the Black raiders. Petrov also wanted Abigail's
father for some reason. His eyes rested on Abigail for a moment; she looked
back anxiously. He had promised her they'd find her father. Then there was that
thing they'd killed. It flat out scared him. No one could take that kind of
punishment, no one human anyway. He remembered what Abigail had said about her
run in with Petrov. Petrov had been mean, but hadn't shown that kind of ability
back in Cairo. Also, Chang definitely wasn't like any crime boss he'd met
before either.

No, there was more to learn here.  Besides, it never hurt to
have a toff of Tesla's stature beholden to you. Doing the job for Bardon just
might keep them in the game before the British noses tried to freeze them out,
even if, Hunting Owl thought with distaste, it meant taking government money.

“Alright,” Hunting Owl agreed. He held out his hand. “You've
just hired a ship, Bardon.”

Bardon returned the handclasp and held it. Bardon let out a
breath as he dropped the handshake.  He turned to look at Saira. The Indian
woman looked back at him with a closed face.

“Driver,” Bardon called out, still meeting her eyes, “let me
off at Water Street will you?” Bardon turned back to Will, his grey eyes hard
in the light from the passing street lamps.

“You do remember what you said when we met about shooting those
who harm those close to you, Captain?” the Englishman said. 

“Sure,” Will nodded easily. “I figured that already. So, you
got a pencil and paper on you for that payment note?”