Read Online Seleste deLaney - [Badlands 02] by Clockwork Mafia - Free Book Online Page A

telling Ever meant more of the princess’s rage directed at Henrietta. But the queen would have the resources to look into the attack, which would make all of them safer in the end.
    “It is possible. I hadn’t planned on going through any of my father’s files in depth until we reached Laurette’s fortress, but perhaps I should start now.”
    Spencer gave a curt nod. “Do that. And, Catherine, after you resupply the gunboat, help her. While no one’s dying and we’re not being shot at, we should get as much work done as we possibly can.” The warrior woman stalked away and Spencer slid into the captain’s chair.
    “Someday folks’ll just let us do our job, I promise, Cap,” Mahala said from her position at the helm.
    “You mean we’ll go back to picking up and delivering goods like any other merchant ship?” Spencer snorted. “Never happen.”
    Worried he might be right, Henri strode back toward the hold. Skirts in one hand, she eased down the ladder and took a look around. There wasn’t a place on board that didn’t have painful memories attached to it, cargo hold included. The hatch they’d originally pulled a dying Ever through stood less then ten yards away—covered now—and the portholes that had allowed her father’s clockwork birds in to attack the princess stood open once more. Henri shivered. She couldn’t do anything more about the past, but if there was an answer to this most recent trouble among her father’s things, she would find it.
    Using one of Noah’s tools, she slid the end of the metal rod under the lip of the crate and shoved down. The bar clattered to the floorboards and she fell to her hands and knees as the lid flew off. Henri’s breath caught as she gaped at the container. It had been sealed. They had all been sealed. She’d checked every crate before it left her hands.
    But someone had already opened it.
    Henri’s gaze shifted to the ladder as she stood, dusting off her skirts and trying to act casual. She prayed Catherine and her weapons arrived soon, because Henri knew, without question, she wasn’t alone.
    * * *
    Tobias hadn’t expected to have the crates and boxes in the hold to himself for the whole journey, but he had planned on finding something before being interrupted. In a matter of moments, he would be discovered. He turned over scenarios in his mind just as he would in front of a jury, searching for the one most likely to meet approval.
    Damn . He would have to surrender. Anything less and he’d immediately be viewed as a threat. He quickly assessed how this would alter his plan to get Mason’s research back to Don Lupo. Nothing had changed. Just enough truth to save his life.
    He stood, stepping from the shadow of the crates with his hands held open in front of him. “Dr. Mason.”
    Henrietta jumped and let out a little shriek as she spun. The pry bar in her hands sliced through the air... and his trousers, the tip of it digging into his flesh. He collapsed to one knee as pain lanced through his leg.
    That...was not part of the plan.

Chapter Six
    When the clockwork pigeon returned with a message that Don Lupo was on his way, Gambini set his people in motion. Moments later, a portly man with a thick mop of black hair strode into the hotel lobby, and Gambini straightened, standing at attention though it made him tower over the other man.
    “Giuseppe.” When Lupo motioned, Gambini embraced the head mafioso, planting the obligatory kiss on his cheeks. “So the Hawk is in flight?”
    “Yes, Don Lupo. One of the boys managed to tag the ship before it escaped. We can follow them.”
    “Mason’s daughter was aboard.”
    Though it wasn’t a question, Gambini still treated it as one. “Yes. Michael found out where she was headed and arrived early enough to confirm she made it on the ship with the last of the boxes from the senator’s lab. We have reason to believe Tobias St. Clair stowed away. One of the boys thought he saw him.”
    “So the little