The Girl and the Clockwork Crossfire Read online

  Maeko grinned and swept it gracefully back the other way. She’d never ridden a horse, so she would have to take his word on that part. It gave her a heady sense of freedom and power, being able to control the flying machine.

  He sat back and watched with his pleased grin, letting her fly for a while, taking them in a random course off through the nighttime countryside. Eventually, he took back the controls and steered them toward the estate again.

  The device he’d been fiddling with slipped back into one pocket.

  “What’s that?”

  His smile was full of mystery. “A key of sorts. Maybe I’ll show it to you some day.”

  It was clear from his look that flying the airship was the extent of his generosity at the moment. It was more than she had expected. She curled in one of the plush chairs and dozed until she heard the soft hiss of air being drawn in.

  She opened her eyes. Early morning light had begun to peek over the horizon. Below them, the roof of one of the big outbuildings had opened and they were sinking down into it. They sank deep, into what turned out to be the huge underground hangar where the battleship and several smaller ships were under construction. It only took two men to help bring the small ship down. The roof closed in over them.

  “What next?”

  Drake walked over to open the door of the gondola. “We go after that shipment before it gets moved. We’ll give things a little time to cool down, then I’ll help you get in touch with your Literati contact.”

  He stepped out of the ship.

  Maeko hesitated a moment then hurried after him. She fell into step with him, heading up and out of the underground workshop. “Before I agree to help you any more…”

  He glanced over at her and, to her surprise, he looked rather pleased. “You have your own agenda. I can appreciate that. If you’re interested in joining me for breakfast, we could discuss it more.”

  “I…” Had he really just asked her to eat with him? “Um. Yes, I suppose. Thank you.”

  With nothing else to say, she followed him out through the door only to find Ash and her mother waiting in the massive foyer. They descended on her like a pair of vultures on fresh meat.

  Tomoe grabbed her shoulders. “Where did you go? I woke up and you were gone.” She gave Drake a fierce glare to which he returned a cheerful smile.

  Maeko shrugged off her hands and stepped back. “I was only helping with an errand. It wasn’t a big deal.”

  “And I dare say she quite enjoyed flying the new airship,” Drake interjected.

  A smile slipped out before she could stop it.

  Ash glared daggers into Drake.

  “It was rather fun,” she admitted.

  “Breakfast should already be served in the formal dining room for whoever is interested. It would be a shame for any of you to miss out on Miss Denson’s delightful cooking,” Drake offered.

  Ash and Tomoe exchanged looks, then Ash turned to Maeko. “You hungry?”

  A twinge of guilt turned her gut. Her gaze flickered to Drake.

  He took that for the prompt it was. “Maeko will be dining with me this morning. There are things we need to discuss. I’m sure she’d be pleased to join you later.”

  The daggers Ash glared into Drake were now poison coated. He met her eyes. “Mae?”

  “We’ll talk later. I promise.”

  Drake turned and walked away then. She followed, leaving Ash staring forlornly after her. That she was wearing Chaff’s jacket certainly wasn’t going to help the situation. They needed to have a long talk, but the sad truth was, she didn’t know what to say. What did she feel for him? For Chaff? Without knowing those answers, what could she really say to him? All she knew was that she had to help Chaff and he needed to help his father. That was their purpose for now. Everything else would have to wait.

  Drake led her to a small private dining room that included an elegant sitting area. The back wall of the room was lined with large windows overlooking the rear horse pastures. Two fine silver place settings were laid out on a small table with several covered silver serving platters sitting in the center.

  She looked askance at him.

  He shrugged. “I had already planned to invite you to eat with me today. You have considerable potential that I would love to see used to our benefit, but I would have to be blind not to see your reluctance. There is something holding you back. If we are going to be of any use to one another, that needs to come out in the open.” He pulled out one chair for her and politely waited for her to sit.

  Thaddeus’s offer played back in her mind. On the surface, a quick and easy way to get what she wanted, but only if she was willing to sacrifice a number of lives to get it.

  Maeko sat and let him slide the chair in for her. “I want your help getting Chaff away from the Literati. Give me that and I will do whatever I can to help you.”

  He gave her a guarded look and took his seat. “Chaff? He’s the young man who warned us of the Lits approach at Tomoe’s house? The one that got shot in the hand?”

  “Yes.”

  A woman entered the room and silently began to pull the covers off the platters. Savory aromas rose from the dishes and Maeko’s mouth began to water in response.

  “That’s your price?” Drake asked, not looking at her.

  “It is.”

  “That will require a more cautious approach than I had planned, but, if I am to be honest, I would like to get Garrett back as well. I believe you can help with that. I promise you that, if we can find him, I will do everything in my power to extract him from Lit custody if it can be done safely…”

  He trailed off when she began to shake her head.

  “Not good enough. I will find him. I will do whatever you need me to after you help me free him.”

  The woman served up a portion of roast pheasant to each of them. It smelled delicious. Drake took a bite and chewed slowly. Maeko refused to look at her plate as she waited for his answer. Her stomach betrayed her with a loud grumble.

  Drake swallowed and washed it down with a sip of the wine that had been poured for them, then he met her eyes. “I promise I will help you find and free your Chaff.”

  She held his gaze steadily. “Then I promise I will help you fight the Literati.”

  Drake smiled and lifted his glass. “To seal the deal.”

  She lifted her glass and they toasted the agreement. No one else would approve. Not even Chaff, she was willing to bet. It didn’t matter. The deal had been made.

  Now to address another problem. “Why do you dislike Ash so much?”

  Drake turned his attention to cutting away another bite of the pheasant.

  This time she followed his example.

  “I don’t dislike him. He’s a good lad. Like his father, he isn’t willing to see the people he cares about get hurt. He’s not cut out for this and it is my intent to discourage him from getting involved.”

  Did that mean he thought she was willing to see the people she cared about get hurt? Maybe he was right about that. After all, hadn’t she led Chaff into this?

  She pushed the thought away. “So you’re trying to discourage him to protect him?”

  “Yes. His father was one of those Pirates I met when I ran away. He is a good friend. I would no more hurt his son than I would him. I only hope that your contact can help us find him as well as your friend.”

  Maeko turned her attention to the savory dishes for a time. When she’d eaten enough to take the edge off her hunger, she asked another question itching at her mind. “Doesn’t Crimson eat with you?”

  His fond smile spoke volumes to that relationship. It almost made him look like a more docile wolf. “I’ve seen little of her since we brought the drawings you stole from Mr. Folesworth. She’s spent most every waking moment working with those designs.”

  “So, you two aren’t married?”

  His dark eyes focused through the windows. “No. For all that I’ve never gotten along with my peers, my family name still ma
kes me an eligible bachelor. I do have to put in social appearances on occasion. When people ask awkward questions about how I spend my time, I can often distract them by asking about their daughters. One must keep up a good front in my position. Marrying below my station would draw unwanted attention and deny me an easy out at social gatherings.”

  “And if they don’t have an eligible daughter?”

  “Then I mention the newest promising stallion in my stables. My family has always been renowned for raising some of the finest horses.”

  She took the last bite of pheasant from her plate, chewing it slowly to savor the tender meat. It almost melted in her mouth. The more she learned about Drake, the less uneasy he made her, but something about him still bothered her. It might be nothing more than his wealth. The fact that he chose to risk all of the comforts he enjoyed on this made very little sense to her.

  “They’ll expect you to marry eventually, won’t they?”

  “I can string them along a little longer.” He cut away another serving of the pheasant and put it on her plate.

  “I shouldn’t.”

  “Why?” He gave her a quick appraising look. “I don’t think it’s going to damage your figure. You’re narrow as a lamppost. A little meat on your bones and you’d be a lovely image in a dress.”

  She shrugged off the compliment awkwardly and began to cut away a bite of the pheasant. “I don’t really like dresses.”

  “I’m not surprised. You’re a lot like Crimson that way.”

  “But she would look stunning in a dress.”

  Drake nodded agreement. “I’ll tell her you said so.”

  “What do we do next?”

  Drake slid his plate away and sat back in his chair. “You will need to get in touch with your Lit contact as soon we can get you safely into the city and I need to work on the problem of getting my supplies back. I’ve got contacts in the city keeping an eye on things. I’ll let them know who you’re trying to get in touch with. They’ll scout things out and figure out the best time to get you into the city. I imagine you’ll want to catch up on sleep today.”

  She nodded. She was tired, more so now that her stomach was full of rich foods, but she didn’t want to wait much longer. Who knew what might happen to Chaff if she didn’t get him back quickly.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Maeko leaned back against the wall, watching Ash work industriously on the slowly forming shape of Drake’s airship. He hadn’t noticed her. His pale green eyes were bright with intense focus. Sweat beaded on his forehead. There was something in his expression, something that broke through the grim determination to rescue his father, Captain Garrett. It was a hint of satisfaction. He loved this work. It was the kind of work Maeko knew he’d done with his father before the Literati took Garrett away. That satisfaction told her that she’d at least made the right choice in telling Drake that Ash could help with the airship.

  The head mechanic, a muscular chap with a cropped head of dusty-blond hair, was also watching Ash. After a moment, he glanced her way, gave a nod and a wink and went back to his work.

  Farther back in the underground hanger sat Drake’s new personal airship, already dwarfed by the fast-growing battleship.

  Worry festered like a slow disease in her chest.

  Over a week had passed since Thaddeus made his offer. His thug, Bennett, would be on orders to kill her if he saw her now. She’d passed up one offer. What was happening to Chaff while she waited for Drake to come through?

  She rubbed her arms, gooseflesh rising on them in memory of the chill on the rooftop of the warehouse that night. Of her encounter with Thaddeus and Bennett, whose skill at stealth had made her feel like a bumbling amateur when he caught her sneaking around the crates.

  A yowl snapped her back to the present.

  Maeko turned and strode over to the table Macak was standing on, the panel of his clockwork leg hanging open and his ears half-back as he turned angry kitty eyes on one of the men around the table. All three men stepped back, looking guilty. She pinned each of them with a look of warning.

  “If you can’t treat him well, you don’t get to study his leg.” She gave him an icy look.

  “Sorry Miss,” a burly bloke said. He wore a monocle with a variety of attachments that poked out in every direction. He cleared his throat and a hint of pink rose in his cheeks. “I slipped.”

  She glanced at the glove he wore, also laden with a plethora of integrated tools, some of which looked like instruments of torture. “Where’s Crimson?”

  As if waiting for her cue, the woman sashayed into the room, bright red hair giving advance warning of her fiery personality. A soft green bodice and jewel-toned waistcoat gave her an elegant femininity that her trousers somehow didn’t detract from. Her green eyes swept the scene, and she walked up to the table, closing the panel on Macak’s leg and flipping the latch with one bright red nail. Macak leapt up to Maeko’s shoulders, still staring feline fury at the man with the monocle.

  “Looks like it’s time for a break,” Crimson observed. “Mae, darling, why don’t you head up and take a bit of a nap. It’s going to be a late night.”

  Maeko’s skipped a beat. With that one phrase, she felt as though someone had woken her from a stupor. It was almost time to start working on Chaff and Garrett’s freedom. “Is it time?”

  Crimson nodded. “I’ll come get you later when we’re ready to leave.”

  Reacting to her sudden excitement and anxiety, Macak head-butted her cheek with jarring enthusiasm. She scratched his head and nodded to Crimson. “I’ll be ready.”

  With more purpose in her strides now, she went straight to the room she shared with her mother with its ornate scrollwork and elegant painted ceiling, happy to find it empty. She crawled into the big soft canopy bed, determined to be rested for the evening foray into the city. Anticipation and uncertainty fought the lulling effect of Macak’s warmth and rhythmic purring. The cat eventually won.

  #

  “Maeko.”

  That wasn’t Crimson.

  She opened her eyes, stretched and, in spite of how much she dreaded the idea of talking to Ash right then, a small smile curved her lips. For the first time since leaving the flat at the Airship Tower the night she and Chaff stole Lucian’s blueprints, she felt rested. Her back and neck didn’t hurt as badly as they had, probably thanks to a proper bed. The bruises from the attack that caused those injuries had almost healed enough for her to lie on her back again.

  If not for Chaff and Diggs, that attack would have been fatal.

  The smile faded a little.

  “Well, you’re not scowling at me. I’ll take that as a good sign.”

  “Why would I scowl at you?” She held onto the smile, finding it not as hard to do so as she might have expected. In a way, it was good to see Ash without anyone else around to add to the tension. “Other than the fact that your presence in my bedroom would be considered improper by just about anyone else in the building.”

  He shrugged and muttered, “No one saw me come in.”

  She gave him a teasing wink. “Oh, that makes it all right then. Perhaps if you said you only came in to help me get dressed…”

  Ash flushed and she giggled.

  “I suppose I should leave.”

  She snaked a hand out of the covers and grabbed his wrist when he turned to go. He looked at her hand in surprise and met her eyes. His gaze dropped away again.

  “Just toss me those clothes.” She released his wrist and pointed to a pile on the vanity.

  Ash got the clothes and handed them to her.

  “Turn around.”

  He did as ordered and she squirmed into her clothes without getting out from under the covers. The ability to change quickly and discreetly in almost any setting was a necessary skill when you lived most of your life in hideouts surrounded by a bunch of boys. When she was done, she threw off the blankets, burying Macak on the bed behind her. The cat made a small sound of protest though he didn’t wake
up enough to dig himself free. She tapped Ash on the shoulder and he turned, automatically glancing down to confirm that she was indeed properly clothed.

  His flush brightened a bit more. “I didn’t mean to wake you, it’s just that—”

  “Yes, you did. What’s on your mind?” That was a dangerous question. Still, she couldn’t avoid him forever and didn’t really want to now that she thought about it with a clearer head. She sat cross-legged on the bed and gestured for him to join her. He sat on the edge of the bed, his posture upright and tense.

  “Where did you go that night? The first night we were here.”

  She hated to lie to him. The truth would only upset him though, and she didn’t intend to tell anyone about her encounter with Thaddeus. The offer was technically expired, but she suspected he would still go along with it if she went to him with information on the Pirate hideout. “Drake wanted to talk so he invited me along to pick up his new airship.”

  “And he wanted to keep talking over breakfast?”

  She pulled the covers off Macak and scratched his head, avoiding Ash’s gaze. “Yes.”

  “Since you two are new best mates, you must know what he’s planning to do with that battleship we’re building?”

  An innocent enough question really, though one she would have to answer cautiously. “It isn’t like that, he just thinks I have skills and connections that might be of use. Right now, he’s trying to get his hands on more supplies for the projects he’s working on to fight the Lits and he’s also looking for a way to get your dad back.”

  Ash looked shocked by that. “Is he?”

  She shoved him playfully when he scowled, fishing for a lighter mood to ease the weight that seemed to be smothering him. “Yes. He isn’t as bad as you think he is.”

  Ash responded with a faint, dubious smile. “What does he want you to do?”

  “I’m going to go find out where Garrett and Chaff are being held. Which I would be doing with or without him wanting me to,” she added when he frowned.

  “But he does want you to do it?”

  Her smile was losing its staying power. “Yes.”