Peacemaker

Part VII

A breeze scuttled down Main Street, swattingat a newspaper page too mired in the mud to escape, though itrattled and whipped in a valiant effort to do so. Kali leanedagainst a support post on the covered boardwalk outside of the RCMPstation. A single whale-oil lantern burned on a desk inside, andthe voices of Cedar and a Mountie he had roused from sleep floatedthrough the open door. Cedar was relaying the pirates’ location, adescription of Sparwood, and trying to get a list of tribal womenliving in the city, something the Mounties apparently didn’t track.With so many new people flooding into Dawson each week, it must beimpossible to keep an eye on everybody.

Though midnight approached, raucous voicesand music filled the street. Candelabras and lanterns burned behindthe windows of many hotels, bit houses, and the popular Main StreetDancing Hall. Nearby, a man lay on his back, snoring, in the spotwhere he’d been thrown out for not being able to pay.

Kali leaned away from the post and peered upthe shadowy street. Electricity had not yet come to Dawson-indeed,electric lights were something she had only read about-and therewere no gas lamps at the intersections; but the northern sky wasnot entirely dark, and she could make out people stumbling out ofbit houses. She could also make out the Aurora Saloon sign, only afew buildings up the street.

Kali glanced back throughthe RCMP window, decided Cedar would be another fifteen minutes atleast, and left the post to stroll up the boardwalk. Giveneverything that was going on, wandering the streets alone at nightwas probably not a good idea, but she couldn’t very well go seeAgent Lockhart with the man he wanted to shoot at her side. It wasworth taking a risk if there was a chance she could convince him ofthe truth and get him off Cedar’s back. Besides, nobody was likelyto attack her, or try to kidnap her, in the middle of a crowdedsaloon. If someone did, she had two smoke nuts stuffed into her pocket, and an uglylittle pistol Cedar called a “man stopper” jammed into the front ofher overalls. He’d insisted she carry it around town. She wasn’tmuch for shooting people, but she could do it inself-defense.

“Sure, tell yourselfthings like that,” Kali muttered to herself. “Maybe it’ll make themtrue.”

Kali paused to adjust the cuff of heroveralls, making sure they hid the bulge in her sock-she still hadthe vial of flash gold tucked in there-then stepped over thesnoring man to push open the Aurora’s front door. She crinkled hernose at the stench of sweat and tobacco smoke, and she had to blinka few times to get her eyes used to the smoky haze that filled theair. One would never know how late it was, going by the amount ofactivity in the large main room.

Lively fiddle music bounced off of the darktimber walls. Stuffed elk, caribou, and moose heads were mountedeverywhere, and more than one set of antlers was being used for acoat rack. Men filled tables, most with chairs turned to watch awooden stage where bronze-skinned women danced in costumes thatwere about as close to traditional garb as root beer was to beer.The girls’ bellies showed as they wriggled about, flinging barefeet into the air. Men clapped and roared their appreciation witheach glimpse of flesh.

A sign propped up near the stage promisedthis was an “Authentic Injun Dance.” Kali snorted. The only timeshe’d seen people twist and gyrate that much had been when theywere flailing about on ice, trying to ward off an inevitablefall.

A drunken man staggering toward the doorwayspat at a copper spittoon. The black tobacco spittle missed Kali byinches and spattered onto the wall a good three feet above thereceptacle. It joined copious other stains darkening the pineboards.

Kali decided standing so close to the doorwasn’t wise and eased aside for the sot to pass. Here and there,gamblers worked tables, and she spotted Agent Lockhart withouttrouble. Three men sat with him in a back corner, each taking turnsrolling dice. Lockhart’s box of gambling goodies lay open on thetable. Kali wondered what kind of idiots would trust a man who hadhis own kit not to have loaded dice.

She weaved through the crowd, dodgingwayward elbows from men too busy to notice her and gropes from theones who did notice her. Some girls might be flattered at theattention, but she was wearing her coveralls and knew there wasn’tanything alluring about her. It was just that men outnumbered womentwenty to one, if not more, up here, so a lady need ever go to bedlonely if she preferred company.

Though Lockhart wore his bowler hat pulledlow on his brow while he swapped wagers with the men at the table,Kali felt his eyes upon her as she approached. He had probably beenwatching her since she walked through the door.

Kali stopped between two of the men at histable. “Mind if I play a round?”

She had no idea how to play dice games oreven if “a round” was the right term, but she figured she’d goalong with his gambler facade. If he was up in Dawson after morethan Cedar, he might not appreciate her breaking his cover in frontof these men.

“Women can’t gamble,” onefellow groused. “Go join the girls on stage, or keep somebody’sblankets warm at the hotel next door.”

“Are you sure you want tobe that insulting,” Kali asked, fishing in a pocket, “consideringI’m standing right behind you with-” she grabbed the first toolthat she felt and pulled it out, “-pliers in my hand?”

It wasn’t the most menacing tool in hercollection, but she held it up with what she hoped was an ominousexpression on her face.

“Pliers?” the man asked.“What’re you going to do with those? Now a Colt would bethreatening, but-”

Kali whipped her hand to the side andfastened the pliers about his ear. With the practiced ease of onewho has turned thousands of bolts, she issued a quick, efficienttwist. He cried out, fell out of his chair, and landed on his handsand knees. When he threw an arm up, trying to grab her, Kali simplytwisted harder. This drew another louder cry, one filled withcurses for her and all of her ancestors.

She released him, stepped back, out of hisreach, and raised the pliers as a warning to anyone else who mightbe thinking of giving her trouble. In particular, she eyed theother men at the table.

One smirked, turned the vacated chairoutward, and said, “This seat’s open, miss.”

Laughter from nearby tables drowned out thefiddle. Kali kept an eye on the man on the floor, figuring he mighthave retaliation in mind, but more than his ear was red, and heslunk off with his tail clenched between his legs.

Still holding the pliers aloft, Kali pinnedLockhart with a stare, wondering if he would give her a hard timetoo, but he merely extended a hand toward the empty seat. Thoughthe hat and the room’s dimness shadowed his eyes, they did notquite hide the glint of amusement there.

Kali slid into the warm seat. “How aboutsome poker?” she asked. She knew the rules to most versions ofthat.

“I was actually fixing totake a break,” Lockhart said.

The gambler to Kali’s right, a man who hadyet to say anything, stirred at this. He rapped his knuckles on thetable. “You need to sit right there a spell and give me a chance towin back my losses.”

Though people were still talking and musicwas still playing, Kali had no trouble hearing the soft click of ahammer being cocked beneath the table. It was Lockhart’s Colt, sheassumed; both of the other man’s hands were in sight.

Lockhart leveled a cold stare at thedissenter. “We’re done here, friend.”

The gambler’s eyes narrowed to slits, but hemust have heard the gun being readied, too, for he grumbledsomething and pushed away from the table. Back rigid, he stalkedout of the saloon.

The remaining man, the one who had offeredKali a seat, shrugged amiably and left as well.

When Kali and Lockhart were alone, she wavedat the kit full of dice, cards, and chips, and said, “If this rusewas for Cedar’s sake, or mine, you can stop now. I know who youare, and he knows that you’re here.”

Lockhart’s face grewclosed. “You told Cedar-” he said the pseudonym with a curl of the lip, “-about me,did you?”

“You played your hand toosoon.” Kali thought that sounded like a gambling-appropriate thingto say. “Showing me the newspaper and pointing him out.”

“Yes, I feared that mightbe the case. I was hoping you’d be concerned when you learned whata monster he is. You seemed smart, so I was hoping you’d knowbetter than to go right to that murderer.”

“He’s not a-” Kali startedto say murderer, but she supposed that technically he was, even ifhe only aimed for killers with bounties on their heads,“-criminal,” she said instead. “I know what happened, and you’reafter the wrong man.”

Lockhart sneered. “Of course he’d tell youthat. Do you even know his real name?”

“Yes. He told me beforeyou ever came to town. I’ll point out that you never gave meyour real name, AgentLockhart.”

His eyebrows twitched beneath his hat. “Isee.”

“I wouldn’t spend timewith an evil man, sir. Cedar-Milos-was framed by Cudgel Conrad. Iimagine you’ve heard of him?”

“I’m aware of thefelon.”

“Cedar’s been after himfor years, because Cudgel killed his brother. The man would doanything to get rid of Cedar, but he’s not good enough to killCedar outright.” When Kali said the last, a muscle twitched inLockhart’s jaw. Was he irked he wasn’t good enough to kill Cedaroutright either? “Cudgel must have figured that the next best thingwas to get the law after Cedar, so he’d be harried every step ofthe way and have less time to spend on collecting Cudgel’s bounty.And that’s just what you’re doing, harrying him and making troublefor him, exactly the way that criminal wants.”

Lockhart’s face remained cold and impassivethroughout Kali’s speech, and she feared she wasn’t swaying him atall. She ought to be sweet-talking him, not stating blunt truths,but she was no gifted flannel mouth. She preferred to deliverthings straight up, whether people liked hearing them or not. Shedoubted it would sound sincere if she tried to do anythingelse.

“This is the story he toldyou?” Lockhart asked.

Kali bristled, wanting tosay it was the truth, not a story, but she had only Cedar’s wordsto go on. She believed him-he’d been too honest, and too painedabout his choices, to be making things up. And, even though shealways told him that she wasn’t quick to trust people, himincluded, she did trust him at this point. They’d been through enough togetherthat she believed she could rely upon him.

“That’s what he told me,”Kali said. “Look, there was a series of murders down in SanFrancisco, right? And Cedar got blamed because he was foundstanding over a woman killed in the same manner as the others,right? He didn’t murder her or the others though. Surely you musthave wondered when he left town and the murders continued. You musthave known you had the wrong man.”

“The murders didn’tcontinue.”

Kali blinked. “What?”

“When he was gone, theystopped.”

Damn, she had been sure she’d been on tosomething. What had happened then? Had the murderer figured thingswere too hot and he dared not strike again? Or had it simply beencoincidence that Cedar had left at the same time as this cutthroatstopped attacking women in San Francisco?

“I’m not after the wrongman, Miss McAlister,” Lockhart said softly, gently, as if he wassorry he had to hurt her feelings by telling her a truth she didn’twant to hear.

Kali sat up straight, agrowl in the back of her throat. It wasn’t the truth. “Listen, mister,I’ve seen him do a lot of good up here. He’s brought in heaps ofmurdering criminals. You two should be allies, notenemies.”

Lockhart snorted.

Kali leaned forward, gripping the edge ofthe table. “You weren’t around when he first told me about hispast, so he had no reason to lie to me. He volunteered theinformation.”

“Miss McAlister, I’velearned that most men tell tall tales, especially to women theywant to bed. That fibs are commonplace doesn’t make them true orany less insidious.” Lockhart drew his shiny steel Colt and raisedit above the table.

Kali tensed. He had no law-abiding reason tokill her, but the gun’s appearance made her nervous. He’d see ifshe reached for the man-stopper in her front overalls pocket, but,out of sight beneath the table, her hand drifted to the pocketwhere she kept the pair of smoke nuts.

Lockhart laid the revolver down in front ofher and leaned forward, eyes intent. “They call this gun thePeacemaker, and it’s here with me to kill Milos Kartes and bringpeace to the spirits of those he murdered. Half a dozen innocentwomen in San Francisco, dead by his hand. His guilt was determinedby a jury of his peers. Evidence, not tall tales, condemned him. IfI come across Cudgel Conrad, I’ll kill him, too, because he’swanted a hundred times over for his crimes, but his isn’t the caseI was assigned. I’m here to get Kartes.” He gazed straight into hereyes. “And if you get in my way, Miss, I’ll have the Mounties lockyou up until I catch up with my man.”

Kali wanted to declare that Lockhart wasfrom the United States, and had less sway with the RCMP than Cedardid, but his hard, unwavering stare stole her defiance. She had tofight to not squirm and look away. Seconds ticked by as she triedto come up with a strong, intelligent reply, but she couldn’t thinkof anything.

A scream came from a hallway behind thestage.

Kali lunged to her feet, tipping her chairover. Lockhart leaped up even faster. With his Colt in hand, hevaulted over the table and sprinted for the hallway.

The fiddle halted, and the dancers stopped.Kali started to follow Lockhart, but caught herself. If themurderer was back there, he supposedly liked to torment his victimsbefore killing them. He couldn’t do that in a public place. If hewas kidnapping a girl, he might run out the back.

Kali pushed past groups of gawking men andheaded for the front door. If she could get around the buildingquickly enough, maybe she could stop, or at least delay, someonecoming out the back.

She ducked past a burly man in the doorway,gasped a breath of fresh air, and sprinted down the boardwalktoward the alley. Muffled grunts and whimpers of feminine distresscame from behind the building. Kali dug into a pocket and pulledout one of her smoke nuts. She jumped off the boardwalk and intothe ally. Mud squished audibly beneath her feet, and she winced,hoping the kidnapper had not heard. Striving for quiet, sheadvanced more slowly than she wanted.

A shadow passed over her, and Kali glancedup. The buildings on either side of her hid all but a slice of thenight sky, and she saw nothing but stars in the gap.

“Your imagination,” shemuttered under her breath.

Kali picked her way through the sucking mudas quickly as she could. She reached the back of the saloon andpeeked around the corner.

A towering man with a torso as broad as agrizzly’s was stalking toward her. That had to be Sparwood. A womanthrashed in his arms, but he kept her crushed against his chest,her feet dangling a foot above the ground. Her flailing wasuseless.

Kali tightened her hand around the smokenut, but hesitated before arming it. The shrapnel her weapon flungwould hit the woman, too, probably harming her more than the man,since he was holding her before him like a shield.

They were only five steps from her hidingspot. There was no time to think of a better plan. The man wouldtake at least some of the shrapnel, and Kali could attack him underthe cover of the smoke.

She armed the smoke nut and drew back herhand to throw. Someone grabbed her wrist.

Kali spun, her free hand reaching for theman-stopper, but she thought it might be Cedar or Lockhart andwasn’t as quick to draw as she might have been. She didn’trecognize the dark figure before her, though, and a calloused handcaught her other wrist before she could grab the gun. Someone elseappeared and ripped the smoke nut from her grasp, then hurled itonto the roof. It went off, shards of metal pinging against stovepipes and chimneys, but the building kept it from doing any gooddown in the alley.

Kali tried to twist free of her captor’sgrip, but he was strong and he wasn’t alone. Three other men hadcome into view. Behind them a rope ladder dangled from the sky. Notthe sky. The pirate airship. Even with the limited view and thenight darkness, she recognized its black silhouette blotting outthe stars above.

Mud squished behind her. “What we got here?”a deep voice rumbled over the continuing struggles of his femalecaptive. “Two for the price of one?” He laughed, a dark, cruellaugh that sent a chill down Kali’s spine. “She’s familiar too. Youthe one what was skulking around in the woods?”

The chill deepened. Had he been watching allthe time? While she and Cedar questioned the other pirate?

“Hurry up,” someone said,already jumping for the ladder. “There’s a Pinkerton detective onhis way out, and Ralph can only keep him busy so long.”

As the men backed toward the ladder, Kalirallied for one more escape attempt. She tried to jam a knee intoher captor’s groin, but he saw the move coming and blocked her.Someone grabbed her from behind and slipped a bag over her head.Kali twisted her neck and tried to bite the man through the burlap.She caught something-a hand? — between her teeth, but a fist slammedinto her temple. Pain ricocheted through her head. The bag made itstuffy and hard to breathe, and she gasped for air.

“Feisty wench, ain’t she?”Sparwood asked, predatory hunger in his voice.

“Just like you like ’em.”The other men laughed.

Idiot, Kali, she cursed herself. They nevershould have believed that pirate’s story.

She sucked in a deep breath to scream forCedar, but she’d barely gotten the “C” out when a hand clamped downon her mouth. Someone hoisted her legs into the air and wound ropeabout her wrists and ankles. In heartbeats she was tied tight. Shebit down on the hand gagging her, and a man cursed. Before shecould try to scream again, another fist collided with her head. Herdazed body refused to comply with her brain’s orders to keepfighting, and the men hauled her up the ladder.

The shrapnel being flung from her smoke nuthad ceased, and only its smoke lingered in the air as they climbed.Kali cursed Lockhart for being slow, but more, she cursed herselffor not sticking with Cedar. Talking to Lockhart had been a wasteof time, and now she was captured, in the hands of a rapist andmurderer, surrounded by a whole crew that apparently supportedhim.