Claimed by Lindsay Buroker

Author:Lindsay Buroker [Buroker, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, adventure, Fiction, steampunk, Romance, Adult
Google: wJGCDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 22472864
Publisher: Lindsay Buroker
Published: 2014-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

Part IV

“I knew it.” Kali stomped around inside the airship hull, her boots thudding on the wooden innards. “Tarnation, what a mess. I knew it!”

Cedar didn’t have to crawl through the hole in the side to understand what she meant—he could see the evidence of intruders in the cave. Boxes of tools and crates of parts had been torn into, the pieces scattered across the earthen floor. The sleeping area in the back had been demolished, with bedding and clothing everywhere.

“Shall I visit Sergeant Tremblay now?” Cedar asked. “Or after you’ve finished stomping about in irritation?”

A few clumps and clanks sounded from within the craft, and Cedar was on the verge of leaving, sensing that Kali might still be cleaning and reorganizing when he returned in a couple of hours, but she appeared in the hole before he turned away. She was clenching a pair of pliers the way someone else might brandish a sword.

“I’m coming. I’ll twist off his favorite body part if he doesn’t answer our questions.”

Cedar might have laughed at this notion, but he had heard about how Kali had brought a man to his knees with those pliers. “I thought you preferred it when I handled interrogations and other necessary but oft unpleasant acts of violence.”

“Oh, you can interrogate him. Just so long as I get to twist something.” She demonstrated in the air with the tool. “Did you see what he did to my engine room?”

“It might not have been him. This looks like it may have been the work of a team. The sergeant may have been blackmailed or otherwise coerced.”

“Something he can tell us all about while I’m twisting things.” Kali stalked out of the ship, past Cedar, and to the mouth of the cave. “You coming, Cedar? Get a wiggle on.”

Though Cedar wanted nothing more than to gather information on Cudgel’s whereabouts, he was not enthused about the idea of interrogating a Mountie, or twisting anything off one. He followed Kali but hoped her anger would settle to a simmer by the time they made the walk to town.

She spotted a number of tripped booby traps on the way down the hill, though, many of them destroyed by people who had cut their way out, and she only stomped harder as she descended the path. The fading daylight didn’t slow her down, either. Even with his longer legs, Cedar had to jog from time to time to keep up.

It had grown darker by the time they reached the outskirts of town, the hour late despite the hint of light lingering on the horizon. Cedar doubted they would find the sergeant working at headquarters this late in the day and would rather face him without his fellow Mounties around, anyway.

“Where will we find him?” Kali asked. “Fort Herchmer?”

“The sergeants and some of the officers are actually in a boarding house until new quarters can be built. The barracks can’t hold the full complement of men that have been moved into the area.”

“Good, we don’t have to charge into the fort to get our man.

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