Stars Across Time (27 page)

Someone with a lantern approached the railing. Andie backed up and crouched under the lower wing. There was a lot of noise coming from the deck—something that sounded like a helicopter was up there, but she couldn’t see it from her vantage point. She couldn’t hear if anyone up there was discussing the situation. Still, she could imagine the conversation if Theron had been captured.
Say... did that bloke fly himself here, or does he have a pilot?

The rope Theron had tied to the float shivered. Someone trying to pull it up? No, someone climbing down. Someone who probably didn’t have good intentions toward her.

She ducked under the belly of the plane, almost falling in as she maneuvered to the float farthest from the ship. During daylight hours, she wouldn’t have tried to hide—even now it seemed ludicrous—but if there was a chance the guards on the deck hadn’t noticed that two people had flown in, she would do her best to exploit that. For all these people knew, Theron could have a twitchy pilot who would toss herself overboard at the earliest sign of trouble.

At first, Andie thought to crouch on the other float, behind the struts attaching it to the frame, hoping the darkness would hide her, but she realized she might be able to climb up on the lower wing and curl into a ball on top of it while keeping below the level of the cockpit. Then someone looking above and under from the other side might not see her.

She glanced at the rope. It was shaking in earnest now. Someone was definitely climbing down. Careful not to make extra noise—or thrust her knee through the lightweight material of the wings—she hefted herself atop it and squeezed as close as she could against the side of the cockpit.

The helicopter’s blades were still whirring up there, so she couldn’t rely upon her ears to tell her if anyone was approaching. Odd that it was taking the pilot so long to land. Or maybe it was delivering some cargo, and the craft had to hover in the air while people below untied it.

A beam of light probed underneath the plane, more like a flashlight than a lantern. She was glad she hadn’t tried to hide on the float. The light bounced off the wing above her, and the plane rocked as someone clambered around. Was the searcher climbing into the cockpit? He would be sure to spot her if he went all the way into it. She rubbed the package of explosives, but they were no good to her here. Blowing up her plane to take out a guard would be overkill, and it would attract attention she didn’t need, especially if she was the only one left who was free.

The seaplane rocked slightly again, and the light disappeared. Was the searcher climbing back up?

Afraid of a trap, Andie did not lift her head. The searcher might be waiting with the light out to see if someone who had been hiding in the water—or on the wing—reappeared to reclaim the plane.

Several minutes passed without a return of the light or any more rocking of the craft. She finally lifted her head. The hull of the whaling ship was as dark as the water, and she couldn’t see far in any direction, but the stars had come out overhead. She glimpsed them as she peered up at the railing again. The comet was already visible, its blurry white tail stretching across the sky behind it. So much for it being an auspicious omen.

As much as Andie wanted to climb up the rope and try to find Theron, she made herself stay in the cockpit with her head below the windshield until all of the smaller boats pulled away from the ship, moving out into the channel to wait until their owners hailed them again. The thrum of the helicopter ended. It hadn’t flown away. It must have landed up there. Such a busy whaling vessel.

When it had been fifteen minutes since anyone arrived, Andie climbed out of the cockpit. She checked the rope, relieved to find it still attached. While she had been sitting there, she had wondered what she would do if the person who had climbed down had untied it to make sure Theron didn’t have a way to escape. But if these people were maintaining this market to make money, then it would be foolish of them to let perfectly good airplanes float away.

Andie climbed the rope, listening as she went, not wanting to scramble over the railing, only to walk into the hands of some guards. Now that the helicopter had landed, it was relatively silent on the deck of the ship, with only the occasional sound of a hatch banging open or closed. She peered under the railing before committing herself to climbing over. A few lamps burned here and there, flame-driven rather than electric, but they did not brighten much of the deck. She spotted a couple of guards at the bow and two more at the stern, but she thought she could make it most of the way to the nearest hatch without them seeing her. The shadows lay thick around this portion of the deck. Two lanterns framed the door, however, so she would have to be careful there. Maybe there was another way in.

She nibbled on her lip as she scanned the rest of the deck, her gaze snagging on open cargo bay doors near the parked helicopter. There weren’t any lanterns next to them. If the drop wasn’t too far, that might be the way to sneak inside.

Andie followed the railing, slipping behind lifeboats and doing her best to cling to the shadows. She made it to the cargo doors without anyone shouting at her. For the most part, the guards were facing the water, rather than the deck behind them. Dozens of boats waited out there, and whoever was running the show had to be worried about troops or infiltrators finding them. Imagine that.

Careful not to make a noise, Andie crouched at the corner of the big double doors hanging open in the center of the deck. The shadows were dense below, and she struggled to gauge the distance of the drop. She could tell there was a lantern somewhere out of sight, but it barely illuminated the cargo area. Dim lighting seemed to be the standard everywhere in this century. Still, she sensed it was a sparse area, with only a couple of crates stacked underneath the doors.

A hatch clanged open behind her. Andie didn’t wait to see who walked out. She curled her fingers around the edge and dangled over the side, her belly pressed against the metal of the doors. She took a deep breath, then let go. As soon as she cleared the door, she braced herself for a jolt of a landing. She came down on the hard metal deck, bending her knees deeply, almost brushing her butt as she sought to absorb the impact. The jolt she had expected came, but no sharp stabs of pain.

“What was that?” asked a voice from the side.

Grimacing, Andie pressed her back to the closest object, a wooden crate taller than she was.

“I didn’t hear anything,” a second speaker said.

“That’s because you were busy looking through that brochure, you idiot. Like you could afford to buy any of those women.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t admire the pictures. Look at this one. Asian girl. You know I like them.”

Andie hoped that wasn’t Min-ji he was ogling.

“Just don’t do anything more than admiring while you’re on shift. Nobody wants to clean up your mess.”

Andie rolled her eyes at the conversation, at the same time hoping the brochure kept them distracted and that nobody came over to investigate. She leaned to the side, intending to look around the crate, but the rough wood gave her a splinter. She glared at the crate. Whoever had planed the boards must have used a cheese grater for the task. Or maybe the crate had been constructed hastily, out in the field somewhere.

With a lurch of realization, she stared at the wood. It was not much larger than the machine Optimus had been fiddling with in the cave. In fact, it was about the perfect size to hold that machine. And it was the centermost piece of cargo under the doors. Was this what that helicopter had delivered? If she had been alone in the hold, she might have tried to pry it open to take a look, but that would make even more noise than her drop from above.

Andie touched the bulge under her shirt, the explosives. Running and jumping with them stuffed in her pants made her nervous, and she wouldn’t mind leaving the package stuck to the side of the crate with a timer set for delayed detonation. So long as she could set it to give her enough time to find Theron and Min-ji. She opened the package to reveal green-and-brown wrapping over a single square block. It reminded her of C-4. A detonator with a timer was attached to the front. It looked like she would only have one chance.

She patted around the crate and peeked to either side, looking for a place she could tuck it away where it wouldn’t be spotted. If someone wandered by and saw the timer ticking down, it might alarm a few people, but the guards would figure out how to disarm it or they would throw it overboard.

Soft thuds reached her ears—someone walking in her direction. Damn, the brochure must not have been enough to hold both men’s attention.

She pressed her back to the crate again, hoping its shadows might hide her. The guard came into view, one hand holding a lantern and the other resting on the butt of a six-shooter holstered at his waist. Look that way, she silently urged, hoping he would find the walls more interesting than the center of the cargo hold. His light pushed back the shadows, and she winced, feeling exposed. She couldn’t ease around to a different side of the crate, either, lest the other guard spot her.

The man’s head swung in her direction. He stepped closer, frowning toward the crate—toward
her
—and holding the lantern higher aloft. He hadn’t identified her as an intruder yet, but it was only a matter of time before he did. Before his hand could tighten on the gun, Andie threw the explosive at him. The green and brown packaging meant nothing to her, but he must have recognized it, because he dropped the lantern to catch it with both hands, cradling it to his chest.

Andie took advantage of his distraction, leaping toward him even as she wondered how volatile the package was. C-4 wouldn’t go off if it landed on the ground, but earlier explosives had been less stable.

She feinted toward his head with a jab. He turned away instead of blocking, his hands still locked on the package. She slammed an uppercut into his side, then kicked him in the back of the knee, taking him down. Knowing the other guard would hear the ruckus, she didn’t have the time to be anything but brutal and quick. She kicked him twice more, causing him to curl into a ball, then dug out the ties Theron had given her. She yanked his hands behind his back and tied them. Unfortunately, she was not quick enough with the gag.

“Burt!” the man yelled.

She stuffed the gag in his mouth, but the sound of running footsteps announced the second guard’s approach. Andie leaped back behind the crate. The guard ran into view, only a couple of feet away. Ready for him, Andie jumped out, leading with a side kick. The powerful blow rammed into his hip, and he spun away from her, flailing and trying to keep his balance as he reached for his weapon. Andie didn’t let him have the time to recover. She smashed her heel into the back of his knee and drove her elbow into the middle of his back. He went down, cracking his head on the deck, and she hurried to tie him before he could recover. As she gagged him, she peered around the gloomy cargo hold, searching for someplace to hide the men. Each one had to weigh close to two hundred pounds, so she doubted she could drag either far. Right now, both men would be visible to anyone who came up that corridor they had been guarding.

One at a time, she pulled them behind the crate. Her back protested even that, especially since the men were conscious and fought her. She had to stop to tie their ankles, as well as their wrists, and then in a bit of artistic flare, she tied their ankles
to
their wrists. Thus trussed, they shouldn’t be able to move much—she hoped. But she worried she wouldn’t have much time before they figured out a way to escape or to be noticed.

She kept the explosive—if she went through with her earlier idea to set it against the crate, the men would see and have that much more incentive to free themselves. Risking stealth for speed, she ran for the corridor, hoping most of the crew had gone to have dinner or watch the auction.

“Keep hoping,” she muttered, doubting she would be that lucky.

T
he gate clanged shut, and a lock was thrown with ominous finality. Theron shifted his shoulders, trying to ease the ache in the muscles, but the handcuffs trapping his wrists behind his back made that difficult. A heavy iron ball had been attached to his ankle via a black chain. Should he escape the pen set up in the boiler room, he would have a hard time not clanking and banging his way up the stairs.

For the moment, he did not want to escape. Through idiocy rather than talent, he had found what he was looking for. The eyes of two-dozen women regarded the back of his head. He glanced over his shoulder without turning around. Normally, he didn’t mind nudity and was happy to carry on no matter what clothing state the elements—or the enemy—had left him in, but he didn’t particularly want to display his manliness for women whose rides here might have given them a particular reason to loathe manliness. He also didn’t want his body to betray him in an inappropriate manner—the women were also naked, after all. They weren’t chained, but he glimpsed a lot of red welts on wrists.

Theron wondered where all of them had come from—had they all been stolen from points in history or were some locals that had been kidnapped from their homes here?—and if Andie’s friend was among the group. The pen was long and narrow, the walls of bars bolted against the hull in the boiler room, and he couldn’t see all of their faces from his spot by the gate.

“I recognize you,” a blonde woman said, squinting at him. She was one of the women from Andie’s group. Barbara? Had that been her name?

Theron nodded, relieved that she was here. He hoped that meant Andie’s friend was here, also. But Barbara did not appear that happy to have had him thrust into the pen with them.

“You were one of our kidnappers,” Barbara said. “The one that kept dragging Andie off to molest her.”

Theron frowned. Was that truly how it had seemed to the others? He had wanted Bedene to believe that was all he had in mind, but he had assumed the women had seen through that in the same way Andie had. He had defended the group more than once.