Pistons and Pistols (8 page)

“You think so?”

Magpie winked. “I know so. The only thing I’m left to wonder is what on earth he wanted to tell you.”

Gabriella had to admit, she was curious herself. “I’ll let you know, if he gets the nerve to try to tell me again.”

“He will, girly.” Magpie nodded, confident in her own words. “The things I know couldn’t fill a thimble, but of this I’m sure. I do believe he will.” She stood, stretching with a yawn before she said, “This is all well and good, but we need to ready the ship to leave. Jeb must have had some sorrowful news for the cap, judging by the way she wants to hook it out of here so soon.”

Following Magpie up the long staircase, Gabriella said, “They seem awfully close. How does she know him so well?”

Magpie stopped in her tracks at the question. She turned to stare down at Gabriella, eyeing her a moment before she said, very low, “If I tell you, you have to promise to keep it between us. Understand?”

Nodding with excitement, Gabriella was overjoyed at the chance to be included in ship’s gossip for once.

“Jebediah was William Madigan’s first mate.”

Chapter 6

Things Best Forgotten

In which our captain faces old demons and new possibilities

“Kidnapping?” Rose asked, still clutching the message in her trembling hands, staring at the paper in disbelief.

“Wanted for questioning in relation to a possible kidnapping,” Jeb corrected her.

“You’re just playing with me. Please tell me this is some kind of sick joke.”

“I wouldn’t joke about something like that, darlin’. I don’t know who you pissed off this time, but they must have some pretty important friends.”

Ruby did have some pretty important friends. Half of Washington DC had slipped between her sheets at some point or another. If Ruby were able to convince someone to send this blatant lie by the wire, then what chance did Rose have against her?

“What trouble have you gotten yourself into?” Jeb asked.

Rose opened her mouth to explain, but snapped it shut just as quick. The less Jeb knew about the whole affair, the better off he would be. “It’s a really long story.” She eyed the paper again. “And from the looks of things, I don’t have time to share.”

Jeb held out his hands, accepting defeat. “Probably for the best. The less I know, the better.”

She smiled at his echo of her thoughts. Their thoughts were always in tune. So much so that people often mistook them for lovers, or at the very least relations. Jeb told her it was because she thought too much like a man, and that’s why Bill couldn’t keep her under his control. The harsh memory of her husband robbed her of the sentimental moment.

Jeb coughed, as if to get her attention. She looked up to find his dark eyes filled with worry. “What did you come here for? After so long, why now?”

“I just wanted to see you. Do I need an excuse to see an old friend?”

He cocked his head, his flat expression saying he didn’t believe a word of it.

Rose chewed her bottom lip, searching for another lie. She couldn’t find one. “I’m sorry, Jeb. I shouldn’t have come here.”

As she turned, he asked, “What do you want?”

Rose didn’t face him.

“Rose, what do you need?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Fine? Rose, you’re wanted for kidnapping. That’s a far cry from fine.”

Rose stared at the far end of his store, to the door, where she just wanted to run and never look back. But she supposed he deserved some kind of an explanation. “You mean questioning in relation to a possible kidnapping.”

Jeb snorted. “Same difference.”

She turned back to face him and his concerned look. “Don’t worry about me, really. I’m fine. The Widow is fine. We just…it’s just a misunderstanding. That’s all.”

“As good as you are at so many things, Rose Madigan, you were always bad at two. Cooking and lying.”

Laughter came over Rose, and before she knew what was happening, she was in Jeb’s arms, seeking the shelter of his familiar embrace. “God, Jeb. I’m in such deep waters, I feel like I’m drowning.”

“As good a swimmer as you?”

Rose nodded against his shoulder.

“Then it must be one hell of an undertow.”

“You have no idea.” She pulled away from him. “And that’s how it’s going to stay. I’ve brought enough trouble on you just by showing up here.”

Jeb made a small noise of disagreement before he said, “I can handle myself. But I’m worried about you. What do you need?”

Rose smiled as wide as she could manage. “I told you, I don’t—”

Jeb said over her, in slow, short bursts, “What. Do. You. Need?”

The truth was on her lips before he got out the last word. “Coal.”

“Fuel?”

“We only have a quarter of the small bin left. We might make it a few more miles, but even then…” She paused to lower her gaze, shamed by her need. “I can’t pay for it. I’ll need it on credit, Jeb.” She looked back up to him.

Jeb shook his head as he frowned. “I’m sorry, love, that’s the one thing I can’t help you with.”

She huffed, annoyed by his stupid personal policies. “I know you don’t like to extend credit to friends, but I’m hurting here. I’m good for it. You know I am.”

“You’re good all right.” He smiled a moment, but it slipped into another frown. “But I can’t help you, because I don’t sell coal anymore. Supplies, rations, anything else I have you’re more than welcome to, but I don’t deal fuel.”

She furrowed her brow, confused by this turn of events. “Since when did you stop dealing coal?”

“Since the Mechanics got their greedy little fingers in the business.”

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose as she squeezed her eyes shut. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

The Mechanics, a group of theological maniacs, were known for their odd worship of all things, well, mechanical. Unfortunately they weren’t just another run-of-the-mill religious cult. No. In the last twenty years they’d gone from having a few stragglers to counting their worshipers in the millions. Where they once ran their operation from a single tent, now they owned whole cities, and some said they had designs on the entire world. Which came as no surprise to Rose. The group already had the world’s airways in their grip by virtue of inventing and controlling the single thing that kept even her ship afloat.

Compact helium.

It was a simple-sounding idea with a heady scientific basis. They designed a process to compress helium, compact it in such a way that a few square feet of the stuff could lift up to three times the usual weight. This meant that a ship the size of the Widow could haul thousands of pounds of cargo on an airbag that would, at one time, not even have lifted her empty hull. Yet the brilliance of compact helium was its instability, the whole product dissipating to its base components within a few months of creation. This meant it was in constant need of refreshing, at a price, of course.

It was a resource that was cheap to create and continuously in demand.

It was also a well-guarded secret that the group would go to any lengths to protect.

“Times are changing,” Jebediah said. “Especially since President Lincoln was killed, it’s like the men at the top have all gone mad. Worried minds are easy prey to vultures like the Mechanics.”

“What happened?”

“With his death, the markets dipped and the Mechanics moved in. They’ve been buying up mines left and right. Some say they’re trying to monopolize the market, but they claim it’s all for the spiritual good of the people. As it stands, they own pert’ near all the mines in the US. You know what they say. What the Mechanics want…”

She answered the adage true to form. “The Mechanics get.” Except for Jayne, her mind finished for her. It would be a cold day in hell before those fanatics got their hands on her Jayne.

“I stepped out of the game rather than pay another fifty percent in loading fees.”

“Fifty percent!”

Jed nodded. “Yup. And the forms they got ya filling out these days have most folks dropping fuel from their inventory. Which is probably what they wanted all along. The way the price of coal is running, you’re just about better off stuffing your boilers full of diamonds.”

“You’d think those leeches would be happy with controlling lift gas. Now they’re after coal too?”

“I don’t think they’ll be happy until they own it all.”

“You have no idea.”

Jeb raised his eyebrows, but didn’t ask, which was good because Rose couldn’t go into her tinker’s personal history with the Mechanics. She couldn’t explain how Jayne always seemed on edge because she
was
always on edge. The poor thing was so afraid of being found by her old masters that she slept with her boots on, just in case they came for her in the dead of night. Escaping the influence of the cult was unheard of, but to cut and run when you were next in line for priestess-hood? The deed was unthinkable. Yet it wasn’t just impropriety or dogmatic politics that kept the Mechanics searching for her. The young girl lived in constant fear for her life because of the knowledge she possessed. Knowledge that Rose would never ask her to share. Rose would not wish the burden of Jayne’s secret upon even her worst enemy.

Jayne Octasept knew how to create compact helium.

“What are you gonna do?” Jeb asked.

Rose put on her best carefree smile. No need to drag him into her worry. He had troubles of his own. “I’ll think of something. I always do.”

“That you do, but…” Jebediah paused as he turned his attention to his till. In a few quick motions, he opened the register, slipped its entire contents into a worn envelope, then held out the packet to Rose.

She stared at the yellowing envelope, unsure what he was driving at.

“Take it.” He wiggled the packet of cash. “You need it more than I do.”

Rose shook her head. “No. It was hard enough to come here asking for credit. I won’t take a handout.”

“Then it’s a good thing it’s not a handout.”

“Times are changing all around.” Smirking, Rose tipped her head to the envelope. “The Jebediah I remember hated making loans even worse than giving credit.”

Jeb wasn’t smirking. In fact, he looked dead serious about the whole thing. “It’s not a loan either. It’s a gift.”

“I won’t take your—”

“Yes, you will,” he said as stepped out from behind his counter again, crossing the short distance to join her. “If it makes you feel better, then let’s consider it a payment. For what we both know I owe you.”

“It’s too much.”

“No. It’s not enough. You gave us parting pay, Rose. Parting pay? Bill Madigan would have never paid us on our way out. He would have kicked us in the head and told us to get the hell off of his ship.”

“I felt I owed it to you. The way his family swooped in and stole the business right out from under me, I couldn’t afford to keep you all on the Widow’s crew.”

“Yes, but three months’ wages for thirty men? That must have cleaned you out.”

It did. By the time she finished paying all the men their exit wages, Rose had less than she did before she married the bastard. She shrugged and said, “I’m just glad I didn’t have to turn you out empty-handed.”

“If you had, I would never have had the seed money for this store. Just look around, darlin’. This place is yours as much as it’s mine.” He held out the thick envelope again. “Take it.”

She shook her head, biting back tears as she repeated, “It’s too much.”

He pushed the envelope into her blouse pocket, then laid his calloused hand against her damp cheek. “As I said, it’s not enough. Not for what you did or for what you put up with.”

“Jeb—” she started, but was silenced by a single thick thumb against her trembling mouth.

Jeb cradled her face between his worn palms, tracing her lips with his thumbs as he stared into her eyes. “We were all afraid of Bill. That’s why we never did anything about it. What could we do? But you…” He paused to smile at her. “You were never afraid.”