Unobtainium 1: Kate on a Hot Tin Roof (16 page)

The other guards were moving now, heading around the cages. One of them held the shotgun, while the other was wielding an automatic pistol of some sort. Kate vaulted the railing of the landing and then dropped, rolling out of the fall and coming to her feet to start off towards the gap in the cages. The two slavers emerged to find a Webley revolver and a Browning shotgun aimed at them.

‘Gentlemen,’ Antonia said, ‘please drop your weapons. I have shot less honourable beasts than you for far less reason, so drop them
now
!’

‘Indringers!’ Apparently Antonia’s plea was not going to be accepted without a fight. The guns began to lift and both women fired first.

‘They’ll be down in a minute,’ Antonia said as the guards sank to the floor.

‘Not until they get past the crates I put in front of the doors.’

‘All right. Free the girls and send one for the police. I’ll keep an eye on things upstairs.’ She started for the stairs, her skirt swinging about her ankles as she marched.

‘Right…’ Kate walked up to the first of the cages and her sword slashed out. The hardened adamantium edge parted the wire like water and she pushed her pistol into her belt before pulling the gap open wider. ‘What’s your name?’ she asked the nervous-looking blonde within.

‘Nelly, mum. Nelly Smithy.’

‘Nelly, you run outside and you find the first policeman you can, and you tell him to send aid here. You tell him Mrs Antonia Wooster sent you.’

‘Yes’m.’ And Nelly was off, a half-dressed teenager who was soon screaming her lungs out as she ran into the night.

There was a loud bang from upstairs and Antonia’s voice yelling, ‘I
said
stay where you are or you’re
dead
! Bly waar jy is of jy is
dood
!’

Kate moved on to the next cage. ‘Get a move on, Nelly,’ she muttered.

~~~

‘What on Earth did you shoot that first man with?’ Kate asked as they watched the police lead men in handcuffs out of the building.

Antonia lifted her right arm, showing the inside of her forearm where a curious mechanism was mounted on straps. It seemed to consist of a number of rods and a spring with a small lever placed near her elbow and a derringer pistol mounted on the end of one rod near her wrist. ‘Not the most useful of weapons, except at close range. Push the trigger here against my hip and the gun pops out into my hand, ready to fire. It does take a little getting used to, but it is something of a surprise when you appear to be unarmed.’

‘It seemed most efficacious on that man. He went down like a puppet with its strings cut.’

‘Being shot through the lung will do that to you, dear. Try to avoid it.’

‘I’ll try to remember that.’

‘Mrs Wooster, Miss Felix.’ Franklin walked up to them looking tired, but it seemed more general lack of sleep than weariness. The man actually appeared to be trying to smile. ‘Some days are very long, but then they give you something to stay up for when you least expect it. You’ve done a service to the city today.’

‘You’re not going to reprimand us for sticking our noses into police business, Inspector?’ Antonia asked.

‘If anyone asks, I was most stern.’

‘Of course. I am suitable chastened. What will happen to the girls?’

His face fell a little. ‘We can see to it that a doctor attends them, but they’ll be back on the street tomorrow and likely in trouble of some sort before the week’s out. We’ll try to persuade at least a few to seek a shelter and give it up, but…’

‘I understand. It is more than I expected.’

‘What about that one?’

They all looked over at the small, red-haired girl who was sitting nearby in a blanket, shivering. She was pretty, and quite young. If she was sixteen it was a surprise, but she was a well-developed sixteen and it was not so surprising that, orphaned, she had turned to prostitution for a living.

‘Miss Chastity will be returning with us,’ Antonia said. ‘I have a friend of hers there who will help her get back on her feet. And, perhaps, she will be one of the ones who comes out better for this ordeal.’

‘Well, that would be one good outcome. The press has gathered outside, Mrs Wooster. You may wish to be circumspect in your departure, but you can leave when you wish. I know where to find you if I need you.’

‘I think, Kate, it would be best if you departed the way you came. We shall try to avoid your face appearing on the front page.’

Kate grinned. ‘I’ll see you back at the house,’ she said, and then headed for the stairs.

Richmond, 9
^th
August.

Kate sat on the rug in the drawing room, carefully examining her sword for signs of damage after the wire-cutting exercise of the night before. She had found none, but she was being most thorough given that it was the sword’s first outing. And it still had not ‘tasted flesh.’ She found the idea of an inanimate object caring what it was used for silly, but still…

‘Doctor Barstow-Hall has come calling, Kate,’ Antonia announced as she entered the room, ‘with a newspaper in hand.’ She sounded amused.

Kate rose quickly, but gracefully, to her feet and smoothed her skirts. ‘Good morning, Doctor Barstow-Hall,’ she said as Charles followed Antonia in.

‘Don’t you “Doctor Barstow-Hall” me, young lady.’ He was not looking angry, however. ‘Aside from anything else, it makes me feel old. Compared to you I’m ancient, but there’s no call for torturing me with it.’

Kate grinned, stepped forward, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. ‘Good morning, Sharles. What have you been reading in your newspaper?’

‘Sit, Charles,’ Antonia added, waving Kate to another chair so that Charles could sit down without being ungentlemanly.

‘I have been reading that Mrs Wooster has assisted police in the rescue of fourteen young women from the hands of white slavers out of South Africa, no less.’

Antonia smiled. ‘There is, I am informed, a market in white servants and brides, as well as the obvious employment by brothels. Southern Africa is a harsh environment and they cannot persuade enough young women to go there voluntarily.’

‘I see. I have also been reading that, according to one witness, Mrs Wooster was aided by another. I shall read from the description.’ Kate’s cheeks coloured as he flapped open the paper and turned to the inside page. ‘“She did wear trousers like she was a man, so she did, but I know she was a woman for she had as fine a pair of bosoms as I have seen in many a year. And her eyes! Her eyes were glowing gold!” I hope my put-upon accent did not make that indecipherable.’

‘No, Charles,’ Antonia said, smirking. ‘It did not, and it was most excellently achieved. Have you considered the stage?’

‘I have not, Mrs Wooster, for the good reason that my acting has a qualitative similarity with my skill at walking through walls. Now, this enterprise appears to have been well considered and to have worked out for the good, but I would caution against exposure on your part, Kate. There are those who would most likely not take well to your… Well, to your existence.’

‘That is why we had Kate avoid the press on the way out. They must have spoken to one of the girls for none outside the warehouse saw anything of Kate’s activities.’

Charles nodded. ‘And we cannot expect Kate to remain entirely secluded her whole life, so we must expect some interest. I am confident that you are both acting in Kate’s best interests. Now, on to other matters.’ He put the paper aside without another thought and reached into his coat to remove a metal case. ‘This is for you, Kate. More specifically, I wish you to begin taking the contents, one a day, every morning.’

Kate took the box from him and opened it. It was full of small, white pills which appeared to be made of pressed chalk. ‘What are they?’

‘Well, currently they are an experiment. I have, as you know, been taking samples of your blood at various points in your menstrual and radiological cycles. The same set of chemicals turn up following your radiation therapies, declining over the week. I have synthesised these pills to supply your body with those same chemicals via a pill. Frankly, some of the molecules are complex and I do not understand their function under normal circumstances, but I have determined that they exist in others. You simply have larger amounts. It is my hope that these pills will eliminate your need for the reactor, or at least reduce it significantly.’

‘Oh, Charles, that’s excellent news.’ Kate’s eyes were bright. Even if she had to take pills for the rest of her life, it was better than the weekly trips to the reactor.

He held up a cautionary hand. ‘The human body is not a test tube. The supplement appears to produce the same effect in blood as I have seen in my analysis, but there may be another factor involved which I have yet to detect. You must be watchful for signs of withdrawal and report them immediately to me. Mrs Wooster, I will instruct you on the measurement of Kate’s blood pressure and temperature, which we should monitor over the next few weeks.’

Antonia smiled. ‘I am aware of the process for taking a temperature, Charles, though I have never been required to record blood pressure before.’

‘Generally it is not required for first aid. If we have detected no abnormalities in a month, then I believe that we can say we have an effective treatment.’

‘Thank you, Sharles,’ Kate said, looking down at the little, white pieces of hope in her hands. Yes, he was right, they would have to wait until they could confirm the efficacy of the treatment, but this represented freedom to her. She could be free of the need for the weekly reactor visits. She could travel, perhaps
actually
see Africa. ‘I am blessed indeed to have such friends as I have.’

Heat

Barstow Club, Mayfair, 16
^th
August 1920.

Kate looked down at the visitors’ book with an expression of consternation. ‘I… I’ve never signed anything before.’

‘Your signature is just something you mark down to signify that
you
have signed the document,’ Antonia said. ‘Many use their name, sometimes it is more of a scribble than anything recognisable. You see the other signatures there. Just write something which represents you on the line.’

Kate frowned at the space and then marked down ‘Kate’ with a little extra style on the letters. As an afterthought, she added two small chevrons above the ‘e’ to make cat ears. ‘There.’

Antonia peered at Kate’s signature and smiled. ‘Just remember that. You may need it in the future. Now, let me show you some of the Barstow Club. Your guardian’s grandmother is the reason that we can walk into this building so I believe it to be high time that you saw it.’

‘It is certainly a grand building,’ Kate said as they walked through from the oak-panelled reception room and into the first of four lounges. The building itself was tall and early Victorian in design, heavy on the Gothic influence, but there had been some refitting in the interior since the early build. Part of that had been the creation of a ‘ladies’ lounge’ out of part of one of the others, but the first one you came to was the ‘visitors’ lounge,’ which was usually the most heavily used.

‘Beyond is the members’ lounge,’ Antonia said pointing out a door with an attendant at the rear. ‘I’m afraid I can’t take you through, though there’s little reason to go in anyway. It’s generally full of smoke and old men who grumble at the sight of a skirt.’

Kate gave a quiet giggle; speaking too loudly seemed inappropriate. ‘I believe I shall manage without. This room seems quite pleasant.’

‘I spend much of my time here, when I come.’

It was open and the panels were light oak instead of dark. There was a large fireplace against one wall which was not currently lit, and the lighting was moderately bright. Chairs, large wing-backs for the most part, were arranged in groups of from two to four, either with a single large table or several smaller ones. The seating was by no means full, but there were a significant number of them taken. Generally the occupants were men, and generally they seemed to be under fifty, but there were several women, some of them dressed more anachronistically than the gowns Antonia and Kate were wearing.

‘That door leads to the ladies’ lounge,’ Antonia went on, pointing out a small door on their left, ‘which we may retire to should Charles not arrive. Even if he does, I may invite him in without breaking decorum, much as he could invite me into the gentlemen’s lounge beyond the members’ room. Though it must be said that gentlemen are invited to attend their companion more frequently.
They
say it is because a gentleman should always attend a lady and not the other way around, but it is not exactly uncommon knowledge that there are other reasons.’

‘And,’ Charles said as he stepped up behind them, ‘a lady’s ears would likely melt were she to listen too long to the conversations in there. I consider that room a stain on the character of the club, but Lilian had to compromise a little to get the vote passed.’

‘Charles, excellent, we were expecting you to be delayed. You are looking most dapper this evening.’ Which in this case meant that he was wearing a cream suit, with waistcoat, where he normally wore dark colours.

‘I have left various experiments to “cook” as it were, but I would not delay my arrival more than absolutely necessary, and I was required to dress to my utmost ability this evening for I knew I was to have the honour of escorting
two
beautiful women.’

‘Indeed. Does Kate not look most agreeable in her new gown?’

The gown in question had been purchased the day before. Antonia had decided that she had been spending too much time at home, and that Kate needed to be introduced to society, in a controlled manner. So an evening gown was needed and had been purchased. It was fairly simple, but off the shoulder and quite daringly low cut with a fitted bodice below the neckline. Antonia had said that a figure like Kate’s demanded to have its best features, by which she meant her chest and waist, pointed out to any who may look her way. Sadly, according to Antonia, Kate’s long legs were going to have to remain a mystery to most. The creamy silk set off her skin well too.