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“Never once? Are you certain?”
“Well,” the engineer said. His tone oozed contrived carelessness. “Since you’ve asked me to reconsider, I’ll have to think on it. I’ve done a lot of traveling in my time. ”
Yaozu said, “It’s possible I’m mistaken. At any rate—” He held out the pouch to the captain.
Cly took it and stuffed it into the pocket with his lists. It made a heavy bulge against his chest, but he was layered up against the blight, and it did not show through his clothes. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. ”
“And I’ll appreciate receiving everything I’ve asked for. Make no mistake, this is a vote of confidence. ”
“I’ll be back in one piece, with all your goodies. ”
“Oh, I know you’ll be back,” Yaozu said, glancing over his shoulder. “I can count on the fact that you’re too smart to come back empty-handed. ”
“Thanks,” Cly said, ignoring the unsavory implications—not because he doubted Yaozu’s sincerity or capacity to be unpleasant, but because he had no intention of letting him down. He’d be back, and they both knew it.
Briar arrived, emerging from the station house with Mercy, who had finished making her revisions. The nurse gave her list to the captain, and she told him, “It’s no small thing, you doing this. They trust you around here, don’t they?”
“I hope so,” he replied.
In his other vest pocket, he had an envelope of money from Lucy O’Gunning, gathered from the patrons at Maynard’s, and to that envelope, he’d added Mercy’s contribution—gleaned from Dr. Wong’s patients, and those she’d helped to patch up in the months since she’d arrived.
Briar made a point to stand away from Yaozu. She couldn’t ignore him, but she didn’t have to like him, and she felt no compunction to be friendly. She told Mercy, “Cly’s good for it. And you must be the new fellow, Kirby Troost. ”
“Yes, ma’am, and you’re the lady sheriff I’ve heard so much about. I do hope you’ll pardon me if I don’t remove my mask. ”
“Why on earth would you remove your mask?”
“I’m not wearing a hat, and it only seems polite to remove something when meeting a lady. ”
She laughed and said, “At least you didn’t offer to take off anything else. Where’d you find this one, Captain?”
“Tacoma. I’ve known him for ages, but don’t believe everything he tells you. I like him better than I trust him. ” He said it as if it were a joke, carefully devoid of weight. Then he added, “Anyway, I was starting to wonder if you were going to make it. ”
“And let you leave without seeing you off? Not a chance. Is everything ready? You’ve got everything you need, and everything’s working all right? I hope you’ve tested everything, and double-checked everything, and—”
“All of it, and some of it twice,” he assured her.
From within her mask her voice was muffled, but he could still hear the worry when she said, “I don’t mean to nag you like you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s just that New Orleans is an awful long way away. ”
“You gonna worry about me?”
She admitted, “More than I’d like to. Three weeks?”
“Three weeks,” he promised. “And if I’m running any longer than that, I’ll send word by telegram. Tell Princess Angeline to keep her eyes open at the Tacoma taps, or get a friend to check it. She’s got friends all over the place, anyway. I swear to God, that woman knows half of everyone on the coast. ”
“Just about,” Briar agreed. “I’ll flag her down next time she passes through. ”
Underneath the Naamah Darling, the retracting steps quivered as Houjin descended. The seventeen-year-old Chinese boy was accompanied by fellow Mandarin Fang, who had served as Captain Cly’s first mate for over a decade. Both were wearing long sleeves, long pants, duster coats, and gas masks, lest the blight cause itching rashes on whatever parts were exposed.
Houjin cried, “Hey! Are we going to hit the skies, or hang around here all day?”
Fang said nothing, because he had no tongue. But his posture echoed the question, feet apart, arms folded, head cocked to the side.
Cly took a deep breath. It was hard to do so inside the mask, where every intake was hauled through the filters that kept the air from killing him. He said, “I think this wraps up all the official talk, and there’s no reason we can’t be on our way. Everybody inside, and buckle up. I’m right behind you. ”
“Behind us?” Houjin asked from the foot of the steps.
“You heard me. ”
