Blood Ties Page 22

  He nodded his head. “I think we see eye-to-eye, Lady Dănești, and I suspect we can do business here. I got two more questions, and then I imagine we can get on with getting the hell outta here.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Go on,” she said with a slim smile.

  “Do you recognize the insignia on that there ring?”

  “It’s not an insignia, exactly.” She held out her hand and Cole handed it to her. “They’re called heraldic beasts and are very common amongst the nations of Europe. She peered at it closely. And no, I don’t recognize it … specifically. Birds are frequently used, along with bears, wolves, stags, and even dragons. Their shapes invariably change over decades and centuries, even from one noble generation to another. It could represent a family, a title, or even a military organization. It does seem somewhat familiar to me, but I have been away from that part of the world for a very long time.”

  “What about this?” Jake asked as he pulled the translation out of his pocket. “I got a sneaking suspicion that you’ll be able to read this little snippet.” He pushed it across the table, face up for the Lady to read.

  She stared down it at and nodded. “Yes, I can. It is Wallachian, a close relative of my native tongue. The first line is a question.” She spoke the line in a flowing accent that seemed very natural to her. “‘Aţi terminat misiunea?’ means ‘Have you completed the mission?’ The next line, ‘Nimic nu este’ means ‘Nothing has,’ and the final line, ‘Suntem pe drum. Pregătiţi-vă pentru sosirea noastră’ means ‘We’re on our way. Prepare for our arrival.’” She looked at Jake. “How did you come by this?”

  “I intercepted some of a conversation in Morse code while we were aboard the Jezebel. It was between a Colonel Szilágyi, I’m assuming a Wallachian, and a black zeppelin. The whole thing turned into one hell of a gunfight, and they got away.”

  Lady Dănești raised her eyebrow. “That’s a remarkable story.”

  “You shoulda been there,” Cole added.

  “What’s the mission they were talking about in the message?” the Lady asked.

  “I wish to hell I knew. I’d hoped you could tell me.” Jake shook his head. “I also think it’s odd that Von Klattersnap taught Skeeter Wallachian. It could be a coincidence … but I generally don’t buy on coincidences.” Jake got a worried look on his face.

  “Klattersnap?” the Lady asked, looking even more confused.

  “Long story,” Jake said, “unless you recognize the name.” He looked expectantly at the Lady, but she shook her head. He wasn’t prepared to go into the details around Skeeter and Klattersnap. He did think the connection between Klattersnap and the Wallachians was too much to be a coincidence, but he didn’t have anything to go on. “There’s a connection there, I’d bet my hat on it. I just can’t figure what it is. As to the mission they were talking about, your guess is as good as mine. It could be anything at all … from meeting me to intelligence gathering to planting bombs. That’s been bothering me this whole time. They were obviously there for a reason. I mean, they went to a lot of trouble to get on board. It could be that Szilágyi just wanted to meet me … he said as much and told me he’d originally planned on killing me later.”

  “Why would he want to kill you, specifically?” the Lady asked, obviously concerned. Something in her face made Jake think she’d made some sort of connection but wasn’t saying anything about it. “And why would they plant bombs?” she added.

  Jake only shrugged. “The crew of the Jezebel searched the ship from stem to stern and didn’t find anything. I don’t know.” He shook his head and turned to their host. “Chung, were you able to find out what zepps are heading out in the next day or two?”

  The Lady spoke up. “I’d arranged for passage on the Jezebel to take you straight through to Denver, although now I’m not certain it’s a good idea.”

  “The Jezebel?” Cole asked. “The last time I saw her she was still on the ground getting repaired.”

  “And there she is still,” the Lady replied. “You would board her while she is still on the ground. I felt that Ming’s organization would be less inclined to attack you once you were safely aboard.”

  “Agreed,” Chung spoke up. “Ming is willing to risk much here in Chinatown, but he is still unwilling to suffer any serious attention by the San Francisco officials. Attacking the Jezebel is not something I believe he is prepared to do.”

  “We figure the damn thing is probably a death trap … even in the air,” Jake said.

  Jake and the Cole nodded together.

  Then something occurred to Jake, and he looked at the Lady. “Hey, wait a minute. You said ‘you.’”

  “What?” Cole asked, perplexed.

  “She said ‘You would board her,’ not ‘We would board her.’ You’re not coming with us?” he asked.

  Lady Dănești smiled, a smile that he couldn’t read worth a damn. “Let’s just say that your only responsibility will be to get my property to Denver.”

  “Fair enough, but the question still remains, how do we get out of here if we don’t take the Jezebel? Chung? Did you find anything out?”

  Worry filled Chung’s face. “Yes, and you are not going to like it.”

  “No surprise there,” Jake and Cole said simultaneously.

  “The Gato out of Oregon,” Chung began, ticking off one on his finger, “a cargo hauler, was due in last night and still hasn’t arrived. There are rumors air pirates out of the Sierra Nevadas attacked her. She would have left tonight. Kipper’s Dream,” he ticked off another, “a small transport, was grounded in Carson City with engine trouble. She won’t arrive here for two or three days. The Lady Jane,” another tick, “a small transport out of Los Angeles, disappeared in a storm north of the city. That leaves only the Jezebel.” The room got very quiet, and everyone thought the same thing.

  “So, either we hump it across the desert by wagon or get back on the Jezebel,” Jake said, disgusted by his lack of options. “I feel like a steer getting herded into a slaughterhouse.”

  “This just keeps getting better,” Cole said quietly, and Jake nodded at him, agreeing fully with the sentiment.

  “Couldn’t we just hole up here?” Skeeter asked. “Wait for another airship?”

  “Only if we want to have another night like this one,” Jake said, “and I don’t want to put Chung or Qi in that position. If I’m right, Ming got help from Szilágyi who may or may not be working with or for Von Klattersnap. I have no doubt that Chung can handle Ming on his own, but Szilágyi or whomever he’s working for has a master plan. We’re getting herded, and I don’t see much choice.” Jake sighed and closed his eyes, trying to figure a way out of the trap.

  “Mister Lasater,” the Lady said softly. Jake opened his eyes and found her searching his face. “You don’t need to take this job. You and your friends can move along. It’s me they’re after. I can find another way. I’ve done it before.”

  Jake smiled at her and a warm feeling tingled its way through his body.

  “Aw, hell,” Cole said, shaking his head. A wry grin spread across his face. He looked at the Lady, and Jake could tell that although Cole remained uncomfortable with her, his impression of her had gone up a few notches. “Now ya done it.”

  “Well, Cole’s right,” Jake said, rubbing the back of his neck. Lady Dănești’s face drooped a little, clearly thinking that Jake intended to pass on the job. “You just sealed the deal. We’re in.” Her face brightened, and it made Jake’s heart beat faster. “If there’s one thing I can’t let slide, it’s someone willing to keep others out of trouble, even if it means a heap of trouble for themselves.”

  “So, we’re going?” Skeeter asked.

  “The Jezebel it is,” Jake said. “Straight into the trap. But we gotta get on board first, and I reckon Ming ain’t gonna make that easy.” He let out a long breath. That feeling of there being something odd about the attack nagged him. He considered what lay before them … of being herded … toward the Jezebel … leaving
the following day. Then it all clicked together. “There’s something else I gotta tell you,” he said, a worried look on his face.

  “Jesus, Jake,” Cole blurted. “Ain’t things bad enough?”

  Jake turned to Chung. “How many men does Ming have?”

  Chung got a perplexed look on his face. “Probably a hundred-and-fifty or more. It’s hard to say.”

  “And how many bodies did we take out of here tonight? How many of Ming’s men.”

  “Twenty-two,” Chung said. And then he looked as if he understood what Jake was aiming at. Chung had seen plenty of battle, and something didn’t add up.

  “That one I took the mask off, he was just a kid. What about the others, Chung? Did they look like veterans, or children that got dropped into a meat grinder?”

  Chung thought about it for a second and then got a disgusted look on his face. He nodded. “They were all young men.”

  “What are you getting at, Jake?” Skeeter asked.

  “That tonight’s little fracas wasn’t meant to kill any of us. Not on purpose, anyway.”

  Chung nodded his head again.

  “Is Ming that smart, Chung?” Jake asked.

  Without hesitation, Chung shook his head. “No. He is not.”

  “Then someone else got Ming to send those kids to their death for the sole purpose of keeping us up all night.”

  “What?” Skeeter asked.

  “What Jake is saying,” Cole interjected, realizing the tactics being used against them, “is that someone, probably Szilágyi, had no problem wasting the lives of over twenty boys so we’d be strung out and tired when we headed for the Jezebel.”

  “Exactly,” Jake added.

  “What a bastard,” Cole added.

  “It’s not like we ain’t seen it before, Cole,” Jake said wearily.

  “That don’t make it right.”

  “What kind of man would do something like that?” Skeeter asked.

  “A smart one,” Cole said.

  “With no conscience,” Chung added.

  “At least we know what kind of man we’re up against,” Jake said. He realized they were in for one hell of a rough ride.

  “Well, we did say this was probably a trap before we left Denver,” Cole added.

  “True enough, amigo. But just once I’d like to be right about something good, not something that might get us all killed.”

  “Yeah,” Cole added dryly. “Me, too.”

  “Let’s saddle up, everyone,” Jake said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “We’re going to town.”

  Chapter Twenty-three – Settled Finally Gets Settled

  “Jake taught me a lot of things, but most of all he taught me about death.”

  ~ Captain Jane Wilson

  “It’s how big?” Jake asked incredulously as he stepped into the cellar.

  Jake and Lady Dănești had gone through the hidden door at the back of Qi’s shop and made their way down steep stairs. The dead bodies left over from the attack were gone. Most of the blood at the bottom of the stairs had been hastily cleaned up, but Jake could still see splatters and streaks of it on the walls and ceiling. He gave the Lady an appraising look.

  She must be hell on wheels with those blades of hers, he thought.

  Warm light from electric lamps filled the main area of the cellar, revealing several workbenches. A door occupied the middle of three walls, and at the back of the cellar stood a large, recessed room with a lift that could rise up through steel doors above and exit into the alley behind Qi’s Emporium. Jake stared at what they expected him to escort to the Jezebel and shook his head. “Y’all said it was a package.”

  “It is a package.” the Lady said somewhat stiffly. “It is simply a very large one. Would it help if I put a big red bow on it?”

  Jake took a deep breath and ran his hand over his goatee. “Ma’am,” he started, doing his best not to sound perturbed, “I know you’re from Europe and all, but ’round these parts a box big enough to fill a wagon is a mite bigger than a package.” He leaned over and looked into the back of the uncovered wagon filling the middle of Qi’s cellar. Crafted like fine furniture and made of a lightly stained cherry or mahogany, it measured four feet wide, three feet tall, and seven feet long, leaving little space in the back of the wagon. It had a metal, inlaid frame about two inches wide that ran all the way around the top, with gold mesh showing through a number of triangular openings. Delicately carved dragons covered the entire surface, metal and wood alike. “That’s a box … albeit a very nice one.”

  “Does this change our arrangement, Mister Lasater?” she asked slowly.

  Jake scratched behind his left ear, causing his hat to bounce slightly. “No. When it comes right down to it, it don’t much matter whether it’s a foot on a side or … well … that. We and it are all going aboard the Jezebel, assuming Ming and or Szilágyi don’t manage to finish us off between here and there. After that we just gotta hope the Jezebel is more than a match for Szilágyi’s zepps. Central Pacific is used to dealing with pirates, and their ships are pretty well armed.”

  “Do you think he would actually attack the Jezebel in mid-flight?” she asked a bit doubtfully.

  “From what I’ve seen, Szilágyi strikes me as a man who would do whatever he thinks is necessary to get a job done. And he ain’t one to bluff. I know that much about him for certain.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Playin’ cards with the man,” he said a bit nonchalantly. She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Well, the card game and when he tried to kill me.”

  She still looked doubtful.

  “I’m a really good card player,” Jake assured her. “You get a sense for a fellow after stuff like that.”

  “I’m sure you do,” she said dryly.

  “So what’s inside?” Jake asked pointedly.

  She didn’t hesitate. “Some of my belongings and a fair amount of wealth … enough to set me up and sustain me once I arrive at the keep.”

  “The keep?”

  “I arranged for a secluded and very hidden keep to be built inside a mountain.”

  “Really? Sounds cozy.” Jake looked at the Lady, trying to push aside the tingling feelings that danced along his body when he was around her. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he said gently.

  “What’s that?” she replied and stepped up closer to him. He could smell her perfume, and it nearly broke his train of thought.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? It could get dangerous on your own, even for you and them fancy blades.” Even he heard the hope in his voice, and it surprised him.

  She hesitated for a moment before smiling. “Don’t worry, Jake. I have every confidence that I’ll make it to Denver. I’ll be in good hands.” She took another step toward him and he could feel his heart start to beat faster.

  “When will you be leaving?” Jake stared into the dark glasses and wondered what her eyes looked like. He had the urge to reach out, touch her pale skin, and take her into his arms. It took everything he had to restrain himself.

  “It’s hard to say,” she said gently and, as if she were reading his mind, reached out her hand, running a finger over the back of his metal hand. Jake knew an invitation when he saw one, and this was one door he didn’t plan on leaving closed. He let his urges take over. He grasped her hand in his metal one and gently brushed the fingers of his other hand along her delicate, cool cheek. She leaned into it, lifting her chin towards him as he leaned over, pressing her body up against his. Her dark glasses reflected his own gaze back at him, and as their lips touched and parted, Jake felt a flame spark to life inside his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her body, making the leather she wore creak.

  This is crazy! he thought, as the fire burned. I don’t know a thing about her.

  Their passion flowed like a hot current sparking between their bodies. Kissing fiercely, they breathed heavily into each other. Lady Dănești moaned slightly as they pressed
their bodies together. Their shared hunger took Jake by surprise, and they remained like that for long seconds. He felt a stirring deep inside him that he’d not felt since before the war. He finally pulled away, still holding her in his arms.

  “Who are you?” he asked, marveling at what she stirred within him. She stared up, her lips slightly parted and her face canted to the right.

  “I told you who I was,” she said demurely.

  “You gave me a name … but that ain’t who you are. Why do I feel like I do around you?” Someplace at the back of his mind he heard Cole warning him about her.

  “Would it help if I told you it was destiny?” The word shocked him, and he heard Qi’s voice insisting he had a destiny. The Lady laughed, a lilting sound that reminded Jake of innocence, and then she held him more tightly. “Right here, right now,” she offered, “does it matter?” Her hand slid up behind his neck, and she pulled him down to her again. This kiss burned even hotter than the first, and Jake got lost in it. Time stopped, his heart pounded in his chest, the rest of the world ceased to exist.

  Someone cleared his throat once. Then again. The second time Jake realized that he and the Lady were not alone. Still wrapped in each other’s arms, he raised his head and saw Cole looking at them from the bottom of the stairs. Cole had on his best poker face.

  “Hey, Cole,” Jake said as he and Lady Dănești released their embrace. Jake tried to look innocent, but he knew the impossibility of it under any circumstances. Jake couldn’t look innocent if his life depended on it.