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The captain grimaced and frowned, and after a moment’s hesitation he laid out the truth "Stolen The Free Croas taken by a red-haired crook called Felton Brink--and don’t ask me why," he added fast "If I knew, I’d have an easier tih here, have you? You couldn’t ot a head that looks like a fire pit, and he’s piloting ht, I know you would--but he’s calling her Clehtfully "No, I haven’t heard a thing about that, or I’d have been less startled to see you on ht hear so that was not disappointed, exactly, but rather resigned He said, "I’m not surprised They filled up outside of Topeka, and can probably run another couple hundred miles I don’t know if Brink knew I had contacts in Kansas City, but I do know he’s sticking to the rural roads and airways as ?"

"Haven’t the faintest idea," Hainey said "If I knew, I’d try and sneak underneath hi, to steal my war bird It was da paid, and paid gloriously," Halliway said through another mouthful of alcohol "If the poor fool kneho he was stealing froain, and Haineyfor a man to do, now is it?"

"Not at all But you know that better than anyone, don’t you?"

"I’ve seen it in action," Barebones said "Yes sir, I surely have But I’ve never crossed you before and I won’t start nohich doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have a bird to give you But then again…" he said, and fiddled with the corner of his glasses

"Then again?" Hainey prompted him

He considered whatever he was on the verge of saying, and when he had his thoughts laid out correctly, he said, "Then again, and this is strictly off the books, you hear ht?"

"Absolutely"

The hotelman lowered his voice for the sake of drama, since no one in a position to overhear would’ve cared "Refresh my memory, now Your Free Croas a war bird you…acquired, shall we say, froht"

"Well let’s say, for the sake of argue fixed over here at the Kansas City docks, and I think she’s going to be fixed up sometime in the next day or two She’s on her way back to New York to get a few ive it a top-level ball turret Your fellow here," he pointed at Lamar, "he boosted a crashed-up bird back into the air?"

"Sure did," Lae in tenthis for the sake of argument, but maybe he could even fix it so it for a little ride"

Croggon Hainey wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the suggestion, but it wasn’t a terrible one and he didn’t shoot it down outright He said, "It’s not a bad idea," while he pinched at his chin, where there was no stubble for hihtfully stroke "What’s this Union bird’s na her Valkyrie"

4

The passenger docks in Chicago were out past the slaughter yards, and Maria got a good whiff of them as the coach bore her swiftly toward the seibles that waited there Out theshe watched not quite nervously, not very happily, as the red-brick city sped by--its streets and ays gray with the soot of a thousand furnaces, and its roads rough with unfixed holes A particularly pointed jostle threatened to unseat her hat, so she clutched it into place

She read and reread the infor her thu that she’d have to o about it

Maria had never flown in a dirigible before, but she wasn’t about to adure out the details as she went She was no stranger to ihtest if this weren’t her first case, and if she didn’t have so ht to be considered a point of flattery that Pinkerton was prepared to start her off with soht to feel insulted, wondering if he would’ve given such an assign if they would’ve received the saht about it

But she wasn’t in a position to be picky, so when the coach deposited her at a gate, she paid the driver, gathered her skirts into a bunch in her fist, and strode purposefully in the direction of a painted sign that said, "Ticketing" Lifted skirts and all, filthy slush swept itself onto the fabric and squished nastily against her leather boots She ignored it, waited behind one other man in line, and approached the thin-faced fellow behind a counter with the declaration, "Hello sir, I beg your assistance, please I have a ticket to Topeka, but I need to exchange it for passage to Jefferson City"

"Do you now?" he asked, not brightening, lightening, or showing any real interest He pulled a e of his eye socket, and wiped it on his red and white striped vest

Instinctively, she knew this kind of h to handle with the appropriate tactics The ticket man was thin-limbed and sour, overly enthused with his tiny shred of authority, and bound to give her hassle--she knew it even before she clarified her difficulties