Amelia’s face hardened. Mentioning the goldagain had been a mistake.
“No,” Amelia said. “It’s too dangerous. And,because you know its secrets and criminals know of you,you’re too dangerous.”
A clunk sounded behind her. Cedar tossing thelodestone at one of the flying creatures?
Before she could turn around to check, metalclashed. He was attacking the cicadas. That was her cue.
Kali sprinted toward the water, gripping thedrill in both hands.
Amelia sneered and pushed a lever on hercontrol box.
With the river roaring in her ears, Kalicould not hear the click-whirs of the machines, but she knewCedar could not take them all down at once. They would be pursuing.Pursuing and shooting.
Balls hammered the granite bank, bouncing offlike hail. None struck Kali, but she sprinted faster anyway.
Three strides from the shallows, she touchedthe flash gold flake with her thumb to turn on the drill. Cedarsurprised her by running past her. He leaped into the air, clearlyhoping to jump over the shield on the boat and land on Amelia. Shesaw him coming, though, and hurled something. A small black ballexpanded into a net, entrapping him in a heartbeat.
Kali splashed into the shallows, high-kneeingit to the back of the boat.
Though the net entangled Cedar, his momentumtook him into the pilot’s seat. He crashed down on top of Amelia,who shrieked in anger.
Kali reached her destination, the furnace andboiler at the back of the boat, but frigid water reached to herchest, and a strong current tugged at her body. She spread herlegs, trying to brace herself on the slick bottom. She would needleverage if she meant to succeed at her task. Something akin to acat fight was taking place in the pilot’s seat, with both peopletangled in the net.
“Cedar!” Kali called. “Get out of there!”
Stones shifted and moved beneath her feet,and the current threatened to suck her into the rapids, but shefound a big rock to brace her boot against.
Amelia screamed in pain.
A splash sounded-Cedar obeying her order.Good.
Kali closed her eyes, tucked her chin, andpressed the drill to the side of the boiler. As soon as she feltthe tip pierce the metal casing, she dove down, hoping the waterwould provide her some protection from the-
Boom!
Even though she knew what to expect, she hadno way to defend against the raw power of the boiler failure. Thewater did little to soften the blast wave, and it hurled her intothe stony river bottom. Her back slammed against the rocks. Herbreath escaped in a burst of bubbles.
For a dazed moment, she could do nothing. Thecurrent swept her off the rocks, and she forced her stunned limbsto work. She kicked and stroked, hoping she was angling toward thesurface, but the powerful water defied her efforts. It swept herout of the shallows and into the rapids where she picked upspeed.
She clawed her way to the top only to bebattered against a sharp rock. She managed a gasp of air, but thetorrent forced her underwater again. More rocks barred her way, andshe bounced between them until her hand caught on something.
Rope?
If so, it was narrow, but she wasn’t going tocomplain. She twined her fingers around it and lunged for anotherpiece with the other hand. Not rope, a net.
As soon as she gripped it with both hands,she felt herself being hauled out of the current. Her head brokethe water. Rivulets streamed into her eyes, but she dared not letgo to wipe them, so she merely trusted it was Cedar.
The current lessened, and her knee bumpedagainst the bottom. Shallow water. She heaved a sigh of relief.
Strong hands gripped her by the armpits andpulled her out of the water. Before she could so much as wipe hereyes, she found herself crushed into a soggy hug. She did not relaxinto the embrace immediately; she craned her neck, searching forAmelia and the vessel. Kali had been swept a good hundred metersdownriver, and she could barely see the bank where she’d started,but she squinted and spotted a couple of cicadas, flying around,lost. One crashed into a tree and went down. Others were alreadysmashed into the ground. Kali did not see Amelia or the boat.
“You sank it,” Cedar said. “She wentdownriver in the rapids. I got her with my sword through the net,but it wasn’t a mortal blow. I don’t know if we’ve seen the last ofher or not.”
“The last of her for today, I hope.”
Kali let herself slump against Cedar forsupport and warmth. Now that she was no longer thrashing to escapethe current, shivers coursed through her body. Though May lackedthe harsh bite of a Yukon winter, it held no warmth either, and acold breeze needled her through sodden clothing.
Cedar released her. “We better fetch our gearand get out of the area before those prospectors come looking forus.”
“Agreed.” Kali jumped up and down. Her teethchattered.
“Did you bring a change of clothing?” Cedarasked. “Or only tools?”
“Of course I brought clothing, and don’t youpick on me about how I packed. Not when you brought a rock.”
“A lodestone.” He grinned. “And it came inhandy, didn’t it?”
She tamped down her own grin and sniffed.“Moderately, I suppose.”
“You’re still a hard lady to please, Isee.”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
EPILOGUE
Kali lined the crosshairs up with theman-shaped target tacked to the wall of her workshop. This wasgoing to make a mess. She ought to test the device outside, but shedid not want to explain it to passersby. More people were streaminginto Dawson every day, and it was hard to walk out the door withouttripping over someone.
Her finger found the trigger, and she tappedit. The weapon responded perfectly. A chunk of potato shot from thebroad wooden barrel, sailing across the workshop until it thuddedinto the neck of her target.
“Spud to the jugular.” Kali lowered theweapon. “Embarrassing way to go.”
Her front door creaked open, and Cedar duckedinside. Milos, she reminded herself, determined to start callinghim by his real name.
Clean-shaven and dressed in a nicebutton-down shirt, he strolled toward her. He gave the SAB a pat onthe way by-it had taken her an entire day to fix it up so she couldbring it home-and halted when he spotted the potato launcher.
“You made one?” A grin split his face as hereached out to touch it. “I didn’t truly expect you to… Can I tryit?”
“Of course. You didn’t think I’d makesomething so silly for myself, did you?” Kali put it in his handsand grabbed the other half of her potato. “It’s like an old muzzleloader. You stuff your ammo in through the barrel. It’s bladed soit’ll shave your spud down if it’s too big. Then you need to crankthat lever a few times. It pumps air into the large-volume chamberwhere it builds up pressure. When you pull the trigger, thatcontrols the dump valve and…” A concerned furrow creased Cedar’sbrow so she stopped the explanation, pumped the lever, and pointed.“Just pull the trigger.”
“I may not be bright enough for this one,” hesaid dryly.
“No, no, you knew about the lodestone, andyou set a still to blow up in about thirty seconds. I don’t evenknow how you did that. You’re smart.”
His eyebrows flew up. “Did you justcompliment me?”
“Er, maybe.”
“Huh.”
Cedar pointed the spud gun, but did not fireright away. He met her eyes. “I just saw Bosomhall limping up thestreet, his arm in a sling.”
“Oh,” Kali said, not certain how shefelt.
She had wondered if he made it out alive. Onthe one hand, she did not hate anyone enough to wish death on aperson. On the other hand…it would have been better for her ifSebastian had never returned from the wilderness. Before, greed hadmotivated him to strike at her. Now, revenge might addextra…color to his plans for her.