Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker #1)(55)
When he came up his father was saying, “—see if any of the other crews had any success, then send word back to the ship.”
The half-men nodded but didn’t respond. They loosed the skiff’s sail and it pulled away from the dock. Nailer watched them go, wondering if he would ever be rid of his father. No matter how far he ran, no matter how he tried to hide, always the man was there. Nailer started swimming beneath the boardwalk, easing his way to the buoys. He didn’t know where Tool was, but Lucky Girl was supposed to be cleaning pots for a fishhouse down on the water’s edge. If his father caught sight of her, it would be all over. Tool… Tool would have to take care of himself.
When he got to Nita, she was excited. She took her hand out of the murky brown water that she was washing dishes in and pointed out to a ship in the harbor. A new one that had just arrived.
“That one! Dauntless. It’s one of the clippers I’ve been looking for.”
Nailer glanced at the ship, chilled. “I don’t think so. My dad’s here. He’s got goons with him. Half-men. I think he’s linked up with your swank uncle, Pyce.” He tugged her away from the cook shop. “We need to lie low. Disappear for a while.” He searched the crowds for signs of his father. The man was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there, or that he didn’t have others searching. The man was sly. Had a way of popping up.
“No!” Nita shook his hand off her arm. “I have to get onto that ship.” She pointed. “That’s my ticket out. All we have to do is get to it.”
“I’m not sure that’s the ship you want. My dad was just talking about a ship. It’s a big coincidence to have your ship and my dad show up at the same time.” He tugged her arm. “We need to lie low. My dad sounded like he had more people with him. They’re going to spot us if we don’t duck and cover.”
“So you just want to let Dauntless sail away?” she asked, incredulous.
Nailer stared at her. “How come you aren’t listening to me? My dad is here with half-men. Swank dressed, all of them. And he was talking about a ship.” He nodded at the ship. “Probably that one.”
“Not Dauntless. The captain is Sung Kim Kai. She’s one of the best captains my father has. Absolutely loyal.”
“Maybe not anymore. You don’t know what’s happened since you went running. Maybe someone else is commanding.”
“No. It’s not possible.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Nailer said. “You know I’m right. My dad and the Dauntless showing up on the same day? It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“It wasn’t Dauntless that was chasing me before,” she said stubbornly. “It was Pole Star. I trust Captain Sung.”
Nailer hesitated. “We’ll check,” he said finally. “But we’re not just going to walk out and get snagged like a couple of crawfish jumping into a pot. It’s too big a coincidence to have my dad and your ship show up at the same time. It’s probably a trap.” He tugged at her. “Right now we have to get out of sight. None of this matters if they bag us while we’re gabbing in broad daylight. I’ll go out again tonight, check things out.”
“What if the ship leaves before?” she pressed. “What then?”
“Then it leaves!” Nailer said heatedly. “Better not to get bagged than to rush things on a hope. Maybe you’re eager to get yourself caught, but I’m not. I know what my dad will do if he catches me and I’m not risking it. There’ll be other ships, but you won’t get a second chance if we screw this up.”
“There’s worse things than hope, Nailer.”
“Yeah. Getting caught by my dad would be at the top of my list. What’s yours?”
Nita gave him a dirty look, but he could tell she’d gotten the point. She’d lost the feverish excitement that had first filled her. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.” She carried her basin of cracked pottery back into the fish shack, and came back a minute later.
“They won’t pay me for today unless I stick until dinner.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Nailer could barely contain his fear and frustration. “We need to get out of sight.”
They hurried down the boardwalk and then slipped into brackish waters, wading until they reached one of the old mansions that filled the area. The bottom floor was entirely flooded, and the place was caving in on itself, but the upper floors held a slew of squats. Tool had convinced the gang who ran the place to let them crash in one of the rooms above. He had chosen it because one of the upper windows afforded a view down to the boardwalks, and also out to the ships. A decent squat, and with Tool as their protector, no one bothered them. Lucky Girl was glad enough to have a place to crash that she had barely complained about the snakes and roaches and pigeon nests that they shared space with.
Together, they climbed the creaking stairs, stepping over broken and mildewed missing steps and finding their way around the holes and gaps in the floors to their room. A rusty spring bed without a mattress lay at one side, but they didn’t keep anything else in the room.
Nita went to the window and stared out at the ship. She looked like the little kids who squatted outside of Chen’s, hoping for scrap bones. Starving. Desperate and starving for something that they weren’t quite sure would come to them.