Chapter 107: Keep Your Enemy Closer Part 2

That takes care of people coming in through doors. What about the windows?" The 'guard' asked.
"Two windows. One is in my office and another in a meeting room. Neither opens. They've been painted shut."
"So, we can watch for people leaving the building by monitoring the doors and windows. What if someone opened the hatch and passed out a package?"
Cal turned the hand-wheel and pulled the door open. The hinges screeched, making O'Brien wince.
"I still have a hard time believing you did that purposefully." O'Brien looked out the door and waved at someone.
"The door opens toward the main path between the Academy building and the checkpoint at the gate. There are always people walking there. We've yet to open the thing without having someone wave at us."
"Good." The other man nodded to himself. "We should be able to keep you secure, and prevent any theft of plans."
"That's the idea." Cal led the way back to her office where Bundo sat in a chair in the corner reading a book.
"Tallinan is out at the moment, so no tea. The stove is in his office."
"Not a problem. Now that I've been oriented to the place, I know where I need to put my men."
"I'd like to you to take a message to Admiral McAllen for me." Cal leaned against one of her tables. "Tell him I have space in my house for two 'students'."
"Understood." He smiled faintly.
Cal saw O'Brien and the liaison man out of her office and went to work. She was trying to create an overall plan for the airship so they could spot holes in the design. The sheet she worked on was in fact several sheets glued together, large enough to cover an entire table top. Even then some of the details were too small to show and several supplementary drawings covered the other tables.
The amount of progress they'd made was encouraging, but the road ahead was still a long one. One of the biggest challenges would be sourcing the amount of cloth they needed for the envelope and the hydrogen to fill it. She'd get Tallinan to put out feelers. The sooner they had those things in hand the better.
"Time to go, Captain." Bundo stood up and stretched.
"Right," Cal put her pencil down and stood back to look at the drawing. It looked like an airship. She felt an echo of her awe at seeing the Ferandican airship the first time. "Help me roll these up and put them in the file room." They tidied up Cal's office. She picked up the rolls of plans the teams had put in the box outside her office.
All of it locked securely away, Cal followed Bundo out to the steam carriage. The guards outside the Shed door secured it and double checked.
"Have a good evening, Commander," one said.
"Thank you."
Bundo opened the steam valve and they chugged away through the gate. Cal watched to see which way he would take home this time. There were only two places they had to pass on every trip. One was a bridge. Taking a different bridge would add an hour to the trip. The other was the last stretch of road to the house.
"You must have spent every day since we got here exploring the city."
"A hunter must know the ground." Bundo tilted his head toward a building. "That is the only building on this block with an outside ladder to the roof. All the others have trap doors from the attic space." He pointed his chin at one on the other side of the street. "That one has access to the sewers from the basement."
"I'm impressed." Cal looked around. "I need to start paying a lot more attention to these things."
"Perhaps; you have me to watch for you." He swung around a corner. "If you spent too much time trying to learn the lay of the land, you wouldn't have time to do your work." As the carriage rattled around another corner, Bundo slowed to examine the bridge and the entry to it. "Hold on, something is wrong."
"Do we take the long way around?"
"Don't have enough steam." Bundo thumped the wheel. "Hans is waiting on a part to fix a leak. A trap we know about is one we can reverse. Be ready to move if I say."
To Cal's puzzlement, Bundo trundled onto the bridge slower than he usually took it. The paving was rough and she normally had to hang on tight. A steam carriage zoomed out of an alley and blocked the bridge behind them. A horse-drawn wagon pulled across the exit. Bundo braked and cut the steam.
"Watch the rear," Bundo said. "Let me know how many come at us." He handed her a tangle of ropes. "I'm told you know how to use this."
Cal kept her eyes scanning the bridge as she sorted out the harness and put it on.
"There's a coil of rope already fastened to the car. Grab hold and get ready."
She found the rope and checked the knot attaching it to the carriage. There was a clip on the rope. Moving it to her harness to attach the rope to her took only seconds.
"Four coming from the rear. Looks like they have clubs rather than knives or guns."
"Six from the front. Get ready." Bundo leaned forward to take hold of a lever she hadn't noticed before. "When I say go, throw the rope over the portside railing and go over with it. There's a boat moored below us. Get in the boat. Wait for me there."