The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (Steampunk Chronicles #2)(11)

Dalton stared at him for a moment, his icy gaze searching Jasper’s face for any sign of a lie. But Jasper was a good liar when he needed to be—a trait he’d never been proud of until now. The other man laughed. “No wonder he’s here. I’d hunt you down myself.”

Jasper’s smile was thin. “You already did.”

More laughter. Then Dalton gazed at him with something that looked like respect. “It is good to have you back.”

“Does that mean I get to come and go as I please?”

“Why would you want to do that? When there’s no one in the city you’d call a friend?”

And there it was. Dalton wasn’t calling him a prisoner, but they both knew there was no reason for him to wander about the city unless he planned to visit someone—such as the Duke of Greythorne. One wrong move on Jasper’s part and Mei would be dead faster than he could blink.

Dalton continued, “You’ll collect my device today. Do this and perhaps I’ll liberate Miss Mei.”

“It’s impossible to get it in one day,” Jasper informed him. “It’s not in just one spot.”

Dalton scowled. “You took it apart?”

“In case anyone found it—they wouldn’t know what it was.” Jasper didn’t even know what it was, but he knew it was dangerous, otherwise Dalton wouldn’t want it. He’d also known that breaking the thing down would buy him more time if Dalton ever caught up to him.

Too bad he hadn’t thought that all the way through.

Dalton considered this. “I’m not sure whether I should commend your intelligence or put a bullet in your brainpan.”

As he scooped up yolk with a bite of steak, Jasper shrugged. “At least no one else has gotten their hands on your device.” No one that he knew of, at any rate.

That cold blue gaze pinned him to his chair. “Where is the first piece?”

“O’Dooley’s,” he replied. It was a sporting club on the barest fringe of the underworld—a place where workingmen and fancy gents could enjoy an evening of bloodshed and brute violence.

He could see that Dalton approved of his choice. “There’s a fight tonight. We’ll take in some entertainment, and you’ll collect what’s there. Where’s the rest of it?”

Jasper shook his head. “The only guarantee I have that you won’t hurt Mei is the fact that I’m the only one who knows where the pieces are.”

Dalton leaned forward, all traces of goodwill gone from his features. “I could kill her just for spite.”

The thought made Jasper’s stomach turn over on itself. “You could, but then you’d never get your gadget back.”

“I could make you tell me.”

“No,” Jasper assured him. “You couldn’t.” Because Dalton would be dead if he hurt Mei.

Dalton opened his mouth, but Jasper cut him off. “There’s no negotiating to be done. I get your machine back, and you let me, Mei and my family alone. Give me your word or shoot me now.” His heart punched hard against his ribs as he waited for his former friend, now his enemy, to respond.

“Fine.” Dalton offered his hand. “But for the duration it takes you to get the device, you’re part of my gang and you do whatever I tell you to. Idle hands do the devil’s work, after all. You try to burn me again, and I’ll slit her throat myself.”

Jasper swallowed the rage threatening to send him over the edge and accepted the handshake, sealing the bargain. He could drive a fork into Dalton’s neck before the screw drew his next breath, but then he’d just bring more trouble down on himself. No, he had to do this right if he wanted Dalton out of his life for good.

And now Griffin was in town. The thought both worried him and gave him hope. If Griffin was here, it meant he was still his friend. But he didn’t want to risk Griffin’s safety, especially if Sam, Miss Finley and that pretty little Miss Emily were with him. Then there was the fact that if they tried to help him they might very well get themselves killed. Still, if anyone could help him get out of this mess and save Mei, it was Griffin King and his friends.

“Relax,” he heard himself say as he reached for another biscuit. “You’re in charge here. I’m not going to burn you.”

But if he could find a way to save his loved ones and destroy Reno Dalton, he’d do it. Even if it cost his own life. *

“You know Griffin is going to pitch a fit when he finds out what you’ve done.” Emily chewed on a fingernail as she spoke.

Finley shrugged before taking hold of her friend’s hand and pulling it away from her mouth. “Not if we bring back information on this Dalton fellow, which is exactly what we’re going to do.”

“Did we have to go to the worst part of the city to get it?”

She’d shrug again, but that might seem facetious, as though she didn’t take Emily’s fears to heart. They were in the worst part of town—Five Points was a lot like the slum areas of London, but with a tad more pride—looking for information on a criminal. There were bound to be those who took offense to their snooping about.

Finley was fairly certain she and Emily could look after themselves, and if Griffin was angry that they had taken matters into their own hands, that was his problem. She was still a little angry at him for last night—more because he hadn’t kissed her—and he hadn’t spoken to her since. How was she supposed to react to that? How was she to know when he acted all interested one moment and then walked out on her the next?