Wicked Bronze Ambition

91

I got water down the back of my neck, plenty, by choosing to ride up top with the driver. Piet was dressed for the weather. I only pretended to be, though I did have use of the Mash and Bash umbrella until a rogue gust snatched it away and smashed it against the face of a building.

“I need to find myself a better wet-weather hat.”

“At least up here you don’t have to deal with that.” Piet pointed down and back with his right thumb. Someone, name of Mariska Machtkess, aka Moonslight, just would not shut up about the indignity of having to share the coach with a pack of stray dogs. Again.

“The mutts aren’t her real problem.” She had been friendly with Brownie when she had nothing else weighting her down.

“I know. Rat people get up some folks’ noses just by managing to survive.”

I grunted, shook some water off my brim. “Would you bet anything against the possibility that there was a Machtkess ancestor involved in creating the rat people?”

“My mama’s stupid kids all died young.”

I grunted again, this time hurting a bit. You didn’t hear that expression much because it was a truth that touched most every Karentine family. Not to mention, a lot of mamas’ smart kids had died young, too.

Piet remained oblivious. I sensed no malice. How could he possibly know about my brother, anyway? He said, “That would be the safest bet you ever made.”

“Really? I’m not good with history.”

“Oh? Story goes, a direct ancestor of the Machtkess women, and his twin brother, created the grays.”

Interesting. “Twins run in their family?”

Piet was quiet for a while, then said, “I never thought about it before, but twins happen a lot on the Hill. Only not identicals. Curious.”

“It run in your family?”

“Peder and I are part of triplets, actually. Him and me aren’t identical. Pyotr was my identical. He didn’t make it home.”

All right. He wasn’t an insensitive jerk. All I could think to say was “My brother, too. And my dad, right about the time that Mikey was born.”

That brought up some old curiosities about inconsistent stories and some of the timing, back when, that I put out of mind as soon as I could. There was nothing there that I needed to know about now.

“Our dad, too. He was an idiot. He asked for it. Did his tour. Then he volunteered to go back. He was a hero.”

So much bitterness. It was amazing. But I had no trouble understanding.

I asked, “How about we talk about something a little less gloomy?”

“On a day like today? In weather like this? This is a gift from the gods. It’s them giving us a chance to get it all sluiced out.”

“They’ve given us plenty of chances lately, then.”

“You got that right. At least it’s not as hot as it usually is this time of year. You know we’re being followed?”

“I haven’t been paying attention, but I did figure we might be.”

“I reckon. You being you, as they say. This mess being what it looks like it’s getting to be.”

I glanced over, wondering what he meant. He sounded stressed when he said it.

He went on, “My brother and I owe you an apology, Mr. Garrett. We was on patrol. . We should’ve been there when. . We got sucked in by the diversion that day. We was pioneers in the army. We got a lust after things that go boom and make smoke. That day there was plenty of flash, lots of bang, and all kinds of colored smoke. Way around the Hill.”

Had someone done any finding out about that? Maybe the bad guys made some mistake rigging things over there.

“You couldn’t help yourselves.”

Startled, he looked at me like I’d just given him absolution. “That’s what Peder said when we found out what happened while we was off our patch. After. He bawled like a baby, he did. Everybody loved that girl. He said, ‘We just couldn’t help ourselves, Piet.’”

Not quite sure why, I mused, “It was almost like somebody knew exactly what it would take to get you out of the way.”

Two seconds later we were looking at each other, first with big eyes, then frowning as we both wondered if I hadn’t just said something important without any forethought.

Piet almost ran over a couple of people, he was so distracted.

“Hey! Godsdamn! The fuck, youse assholes? Be watching the fuck where you’re goin’!”

I babbled an incoherent apology on Piet’s behalf, then noted that we were on Macunado already, clattering down my block, having just accidentally missed killing one of Belinda Contague’s biggest and most unpleasant lifeguards. His temper might be frayed. His dampness suggested that he had been out in the weather for a while.

I told Piet, “That’s my place there where the coach is standing.”

Nervous, he asked, “Does that belong to who I think it belongs to?”

“If you mean the queenpin, yes.” Smug me. I’d made up a word to describe Belinda.

Her father, Chodo, had been called the kingpin.

“I heard you was friends.”

“Sort of. Pretty iffy. It’s a long story.”

“I’ll buy you a beer sometime.” The offer was a sideways apology for his lapse the day Strafa died.

“Deal. And I’ll buy you one back. Actually, we could go through a keg before I get it all told.” And, as he brought the coach to the curb behind Belinda’s rig, “You don’t need to feel bad. You didn’t do wrong that day.”

“I know. Up here.” He smacked his forehead. “If we stood where we was and then fifty, sixty people died over yonder because we wasn’t there to pull them out, fuginagy, we’d have our asses in a sling big-time, anyway. For negligence or misprision or some damned thing they made up on account of somebody who don’t count has got to pay. But. .”

“Yeah. But. It keeps eating on me, too, Piet. So. Here’s something you can do to help. I don’t know how much, but it’s something. Go see Barate Algarda. Tell him what we talked about. Tell him he should find out if anybody really looked into those explosions.”

“Sure. And good luck.” Mariska was getting loud. Her confidence must have gotten a boost. “You might need it.”

“Thanks.” I would need it less than he feared.

I had a secret weapon called ignorance.

Mariska hadn’t been told where we were headed. Once she found out that she was in range of the Dead Man. .

She screamed like a scalded baby.

Not happy, our Moonslight.

She panicked. She tried to run.

That didn’t work. A lot of people helped take that option away.