Everland(23)

“You lost them?” I growl. “How can a little girl and an even littler boy get away from my army?”

“I don’t know, Captain,” Smeeth says, shifting from one foot to another. “One minute they were there, the next minute they were gone. There was nowhere for them to go. No buildings or alleys. They just vanished.”

I rocket from my seated position, halting in front of Smeeth. “Vanished? What do you mean vanished?” I say, spittle raining down on his face. Spinning, I punch the front grille, leaving four scratches in the metal where my brass rings strike.

Smeeth shudders but doesn’t make eye contact.

Leaning against the Steam Crawler, I snatch my revolver from my hip and methodically spin the cylinder, removing each bullet. “I’m beginning to have my doubts about you, Mr. Smeeth. Maybe I should have let you perish with the rest of your English countrymen.” I pocket the ammunition, leaving only one bullet in the chamber. I knew Smeeth’s days were numbered, but I had hoped to keep him around for just a while longer so that he could be of some further use to me. “I thought I saw something unique in you. It’s not often you find a soldier who will betray his queen. Perhaps I was wrong about you.”

The hammer snaps in place and I lift the barrel of the gun, its aim set on the small spot between Mr. Smeeth’s dark eyes. He gasps as I squeeze the trigger. As the hammer slams back in place, the copper cylinder spins.

Click!

“I’m growing weary of your incompetence. We need those girls now!” I shout.

Smeeth trembles beyond the gun’s barrel.

“You will find them. I will not return to Germany empty-handed. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to disappoint my mother, or worse, me!”

Sweat drips from Smeeth’s forehead. “It is my fault we lost them. It won’t happen again.”

Click!

Again the cylinder of the revolver spins.

“I’m certain my reptilian pets would relish fresh meat instead of the rotting corpses that inhabit the sewers,” I say, pulling the hammer back again.

Smeeth’s face blanches as he gives a quick nod. “I understand, Captain.”

Again I pull the trigger.

Click!

The gun doesn’t discharge. “Do you realize how valuable those girls are? They may be the last and are our only ticket out of here.”

Smeeth trembles as he wipes the sweat from his head. “I’ll find them today. I swear!”

Click!

“I cannot, will not, go back to Lohr Castle without a cure. And I refuse to stay in this rotten place any longer. Do you understand me, Mr. Smeeth?” I ask.

“I do, Captain,” Smeeth whispers with the little breath he can take in.

Click!

Smeeth winces as I pull the hammer back.

“Only one chamber left,” I say.

“Wait! Captain, there’s something else!” Smeeth says, shrinking to his knees beneath the gun’s barrel with hands lifted in surrender. “We’ve got another girl. It’s not Bella or the young lass traveling with Pete, but still a girl.”

Surprised, I sit back, keeping my aim on Smeeth. “Another girl?”

“Yes, sir. Found on the outskirts of Everland. She’s on her way to the lab right now.”

I drop the barrel from Smeeth’s head. “Interesting. That’s two girls other than Bella in a few hours. There have been so few of them left, but perhaps I was wrong. Maybe there are other girls. The girls are all but extinct. But I wonder …”

“Wonder what, sir?”

“How many more girls are out there? What if Pete is hiding them? What if he’s being more than just chivalrous, but is protecting the girls because he also knows that one of them is the Immune?” I say as more questions than answers tumble through my thoughts.

“It’s possible,” Smeeth says.

“What sort of condition is she in?” I ask.

Smeeth sighs and stands. “Sick, but better than most. I’d say early stages of the virus based on the information I have received. We won’t know until the Professor has a look at her.”

As if tied to a stone and thrown into the ocean, my hope sinks. She can’t possibly be the girl the Professor is looking for. I rally from my disappointment, reminding myself that sick isn’t dead and there’s still a chance she could be useful. I reach in my pocket, pull the rest of the bullets out, and refill the revolver’s cylinder. “Well done, Smeeth. You’re not completely useless. Do you or your men have any inkling of where Pete, Bella, and the others might be hiding?”

Smeeth’s chest heaves as he breathes a relieved sigh. “Not yet.”

“Find them!”

Smeeth spins, ready to bolt.

“One more thing, soldier,” I say.

He stops and hesitantly turns. “Yes, Captain?”

I stand and slide the door of the Steam Crawler open. Its hinges wail in protest. “Release the crocs.”

Smeeth’s face pales before he nods and hurries off, shouting orders at several soldiers.

My single eye takes in the view, searching for something, some clue I know I must be missing, before I climb into the Steam Crawler. When both doors close, the internal air is drawn out by the engine’s fans. When the whooshing sound dies down, alerting the driver that we are safely within the airtight vehicle, I snatch up a bottle of rum from the center console. Taking a long pull from the bottle, I welcome the warmth as it soothes my temper.