Flash Gold (3 page)

Cedar fired again, then dropped to reload. “See something over there?”

“
Perhaps nothing.”

“
And perhaps something?” He smiled as he quoted her words back to her. God, was he enjoying this? What a nut. “Stay here. When their rifles are empty and they’re reloading, I’m going after the ones on the hill.”

“
You
are
a nut.”

“
I prefer offense to defense.”

She thumbed open the wooden box. Four shiny brass globes rested on velvet inside, each one half the size of her fist. She slid one into each parka pocket and returned the box to the sled.

“
What are those?” Cedar asked.

Before she could answer, he leaned out and cracked a shot. Return fire pounded the sled and the ice. Cedar nodded to himself with each shot, counting rounds, Kali guessed.

The last one clanked off the boiler. Kali clenched her fist. If they ruptured the boiler, there would be more trouble than a little gunplay....

“
Quit shooting at my sled, you bastards!” she yelled.

Cedar must have decided their attackers had spent their rounds, for he lunged around the corner and sprinted across the ice. The idiot was going to get himself shot before he reached the cover of the trees. Nelly should have put intelligence down as a prerequisite for the job, not pugilism.

The branch that had dumped snow a moment before shivered. Someone swaddled in furs leaned out, a rifle in hand. Kali fired instinctively.

The person ducked back behind the tree for cover, but left blood on the branch. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, debating. From that side of the river, she was an easy target, but to move around the sled would open her up to the people firing from the hill.

“
We have you in our sights,” a woman yelled. “Three of us. Put down your gun.”

“
Show me,” Kali called.

A man and a woman stepped out from behind trees several meters away. One carried a shotgun, one a rifle. Lastly, the man she had shot sidled out, his gun aimed at her chest. A hatchet large enough to brain a dragon was slung across his back, the head poking over his shoulder. Blood dripped from his temple. She had only grazed him, but the snarl on his lips and the way his two eyebrows crashed together suggested he was not pleased with her.

“
My comrade will be back shortly,” Kali said.

“
Not likely,” the woman said. “Jim and Cold Fish will run him all over those hills, while we have a little chat and get what we want.”

“
I know what I want,” the bleeding man said, eyeing Kali up and down as he scowled.

“
You can have her when we’re done talking.” The woman snickered. “She’s got to be alive when we turn her in, but there’s all kinds of levels of alive.”

A rifle cracked in the distance. Kali grimaced. If that was Cedar, he was nowhere nearby. If that was someone shooting at Cedar...well, he was still nowhere nearby.

Kali lifted her chin. No matter. She did not need him. She had gotten herself out of irksome situations plenty of times.

She laid the old Winchester down and lifted her hands. Inside her pockets, the smoke nuts bumped against her thighs. They would do her no good, however, until her foes drew closer.

“
What do you want?” Kali said. “I’m trying to win a race. It’s rather inconsiderate of you to interrupt.”

The woman strolled off the bank and onto the ice, though the two men remained near the trees, covering her. She wore a wool cap with a bandana snugged over her nose, leaving little but brown eyes and freckles for identification. “Yes, I’m surprised your machine doesn’t go faster. Isn’t it powered by flash gold?”

“
Flash what?” Kali blinked innocently.

The woman pinned her with a knowing glare.

“
The sled uses coal or, in a pinch, wood. See for yourself.” Conscious of the weapons pointed her direction, Kali moved slowly as she opened the firebox door.

The woman drew close enough to peer inside, though not so close Kali could thump her in the back of the head with the door. Just as well. With the rifles pointed her direction, that would not be wise.

“
If you want to win the race,” the woman said, “why wouldn’t you use flash gold? All that power in so small a concentration—surely you’d fly down the trail. And they say an engineer can embed commands in it. An ounce is worth a fortune.”

“
If flash gold exists, I’ve never seen it,” Kali said.

“
That’s not what I’ve heard.” The woman picked up Kali’s discarded rifle, took a couple steps back, and leaned it against the sled.

“
Oh?” Kali kept her hands by her side, near her pockets, though there was little point in tossing the smoke device with the two men out of range.

“
Thanks to your chatty lover, you’ve come to the attention of Soapy Smith and the Scar of Skagway.”

Kali closed her eyes. That explained much. She had feared Sebastian, out of spite, would blab her secrets to some bartender on his way back to San Francisco; she hadn’t counted on him going to the most notorious gangsters in the West.

“
Up until a couple years ago, the world thought your father died in the Civil War,” the woman said. “He did a good job of hiding up here. When his existence was ferreted out, he was already dead. Nobody knew about you. Until now. Soapy wants you brought in for questioning. The Scar, he just wants the recipe for flash gold, whether you’re alive to explain it or not. And my boss would like a sample before we turn you in. She’ll reward me handsomely if I bring it to her.”

“
It was my father’s project,” Kali said, seeing no point in continuing to deny the existence of flash gold when this woman knew so much about her. “I lived with the Hän until I was ten, and Old Ezekiel barely acknowledged my presence when I was forced to come live with him. I was on my own. He was busy with his projects. He never shared anything with me.”

The woman yawned. “Tragic story, I’m certain. I’m also certain I don’t care. You’ll march us back to your tinkery in town, and show us to any secret stashes you might have. If we don’t find anything useful... Well, we will. One way or another.” She nodded toward the axeman. The bandana hid her lips, but creases at the corners of her dark eyes signaled a smile.

“
I’d be happy to show you around,” Kali said, thinking of the various booby traps she had around the shop, “
after
the race. Why don’t we meet in town?”

“
With all the people hunting you? I’ll not have you out wandering around where someone else can lay a claim.” The woman gestured for her men to come closer. “Time for a hike back to town.”

“
I’m not leaving my sled,” Kali said.

“
Yes, you are.” The woman nodded toward the bleeding man. “Big Rock, you want to convince her?”

“
You people certainly have colorful names.” Kali backed up until she bumped against the furnace door. She slipped a hand into her pocket.

“
You’re the one what’s going to be colorful soon,” Rock said. “All blue and black and bumpy.” He chuckled at his own wit as he approached.

The third man stood back, keeping a rifle trained on Kali. It was not an ideal chance, but she might not get a better one. And she had no desire to be made colorful.

Rock reached for her. Kali yanked a sphere out of her pocket, twisted it, and threw it on the ground. Smoke spewed out, and ticks sounded—a countdown timer.

“
What the Sam Hill?”

Kali used the distraction to grab her rifle and lunge around the sled.

“
It’s just smoke,” the woman growled. “Grab her. Don’t—”

The countdown finished with a hollow clank.

“
Yeow!”

Kali was charging away from the sled, slipping and sliding on the icy patches beneath the snow, and did not see the smoke nut in action. She had designed it, though, and knew its operation well. The spring-loaded cache was shooting out metal needles excellent at piercing layers of clothing and gouging holes in tender flesh, especially flesh located waist level and lower.

She reached the snowy bank without any rifles firing behind her and scrambled up the slope into the trees. Climbing the hill was no easy feat. Her snowshoes were on the sled, and her boots sank into deep powder with each floundering step. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to hide her tracks. Though the idea of killing made her stomach churn, she would have to find a good spot and pick them off. Otherwise, they would keep hunting her. And there was the matter of her sled. She was not leaving it there for them to mess with.

Kali spotted a thick copse and squeezed into it. Anyone following her tracks would have no trouble finding her, but at least she could use the trees for cover. She wriggled deeper. Snow dumped from the branches, pattering onto her head. An icy clump slithered past her scarf and invaded her shirt. She grunted and worked it out. That unpleasantness summed up the day so far.

She paused in the middle of rearranging her clothing. Her shoulder blades itched, as if someone’s eyes were upon her. Kali peered through the brush behind her. Nothing stirred.

Shouts came from the river below. It sounded like the pursuers had not started after her yet. Then what—

Something touched her arm.

Kali jumped. Cedar. He squeezed in beside her.

She cursed in her mother’s tongue, a chain of expletives that would have embarrassed most men in the tribe. She had not heard anyone crunching through the snow. It was as if he was a ghost, appearing from nowhere.

“
I took care of the other two.” Cedar put his back to a tree and lowered a branch so he could watch the river.

“
Took care of?” Kali asked. “That lady down there was sure they were taking care of you.”

“
Not likely.”

In the tight space, she could smell the scent of gunpowder clinging to him. He slid a collapsible spyglass from a pocket and studied the river.

“
What is that thing you threw at them?” he asked.

“
I call them smoke nuts.”

“
Because they make smoke and...?”

“
The needles they expel tend to land about, er, nut-high.”

Cedar’s eyes widened. “Ouch.”

A gust of wind rattled the branches. Kali had started sweating during her traipse up the hillside, but her skin was cooling now. She flexed her muscles and bounced on her toes. “I imagine they’re down there picking things out of...things.”

“
Good.” Cedar lowered the spyglass. “You specialize in making weapons?”

“
Not weapons. Security devices.”

“
The mechanical dogs?”

She nodded. “I made those.”

“
Huh.”

His scarf hid most of his face, but she thought he sounded intrigued. Maybe even pleased. That notion warmed her more than bouncing in place. She started to smile, but caught herself. She knew nothing about him, and she knew better than to be flattered by some man’s attention by now. Whatever he wanted, it surely had little to do with her ability to make silly devices.

“
Do you have any more of those...nut crackers?” Cedar asked.

“
Smoke nuts.” Kali withdrew another from her pocket and handed it to him. She demonstrated how to arm it.

“
How do you make them?”

She blinked. “You want to know? I mean...most people don’t....” She snapped her mouth shut. No need to tell him people usually ignored her when she talked about her inventions. Or that they shooed her away, afraid her witchy ways would bring bad luck.

“
Yes. I have an interest in weapons. I—” He lifted the spyglass abruptly. “The two men are coming.”

Kali shifted until she could see through the branches. Rock and his male comrade were tramping up the hill with snowshoes on. The men hunkered low, moving from tree to tree as quickly as the terrain allowed.

She rested her rifle on a branch and pressed her cheek against the stock. For a heartbeat, she had someone’s head in her sights, but she hesitated to fire, and he slipped behind a spruce. For all that she spoke of security and defense, she had never tried to kill anyone. She had only used the rifle on hunting trips. The shot she fired at Rock had been nothing but a defensive instinct.