Chapter 113: Turncoat Part 4

O'Brien pushed her up the stairs, staying between her and the attackers. The lead man ran up the stairs waving a club. O'Brien kicked him down the stairs, blocking the rest long enough for Cal to make the top. She ran along the hall. If she could get to the hatch, she could escape and bring reinforcements. A man stepped out of the shadows, a long knife in hand. O'Brien pulled her back of the man's reach and pushed her into her office. He slammed the door behind him. Cal picked herself off the floor in time to see Tallinan's arm come around O'Brien's neck. The point of his knife penetrated the front of O'Brien's uniform. The Chief Petty Officer collapsed soundlessly to the floor.
"I would love to stay and chat." Tallinan wiped his knife on O'Brien's shirt. "But I have a man to meet." He kicked Cal back against the wall. She lay gasping for air. "Weak, like this whole damn country." The man reached behind the bookshelf and pulled out the journal where Cal had been recording the changes she'd made in the plans. "My insurance." Tallinan hefted it. "I found it a while back and figured out what you'd been doing. Clever." He stuffed the plans from the desk in the back of his shirt. "Time to go." He threw papers into a pile then poured the contents of a flask on them. Lighting a match, he dropped it onto the papers which burst into flame.
Cal pushed herself up, but Tallinan went out the door. She heard banging on the other side and it didn't budge when she kicked at it. The room filled with smoke. She didn't have long. The window was her first thought, but she didn't think she'd survive the drop.
There was one possibility. It could be suicidal, but it was still better than burning alive. Cal snatched up her leather satchel, pulled the desk away from the wall, then kicked the panel to the hallway. She'd jammed it to keep it from opening accidentally. It took a second kick to open it. The flames behind her flared up as a draft blew in through the opening. Cal ran through it and kicked it shut behind her. Coughing in the smoke, Cal ran down the hall, pulled open the other door and ran up the stairs to the roof.
A shot rang out below her and a shadow ran across the Academy ground toward the gate. Tallinan.
Indistinct shouting came from the other end of the Shed where the main doors were. An explosion rocked the building, sending Cal to her knees. She ran to the storage barn on the roof and snatched up the Kite. It didn't take much time to assemble it and check it. Two more explosions shook the Shed, and flames broke through the roof not far away. Cal threw the harness she'd made around her, clipped herself to the wing and before she could doubt herself ran and threw herself off the roof.
The harness held her, letting her get her weight on the strap. She pushed her weight back and the nose of the wing came up and she glided in a wide curve. Landing too close to the Shed would put her in the hands of traitors. The shadow of Tallinan passed through the gate out into the city.
Heat rises. Cal swung back toward the Shed. The building had collapsed as she'd jumped. Now as she flew over it the hot air threw her high into the sky. Her clothes crisped in the heat, but she held her breath to keep her lungs safe. Once out of the direct heat Cal circled higher, then glided to where she'd last seen Tallinan. He ran down the street, stopping a couple of police officers and pointing back toward the Shed. One ran toward the fire, the other pulled out a whistle to blow, but fell when Tallinan punched him in the head. The Petty Officer kicked the downed man. Cal ground her teeth in rage. As Tallinan ran away down the street, Cal saw a coach waiting for him. It was dark, unmarked.
"No, you don't." She pulled her weight forward and swooped like a hawk, levelling out ten feet above the cobbles. The wind froze her as she rushed forward. Closer to the traitor now, she dropped further. At the last second, instead of passing over him, she threw her legs forward and unclipped herself from the Kite.
Her feet landed in the centre of his back and drove him face down into the cobbles. The Kite broke out of her grip and crashed into a building. Tallinan lay motionless on the cobbles. The coach moved toward her, but then the piercing sound of a police whistle split the night and booted footsteps approached from behind Cal and the coach rattled away into the night.
"Pardon me, Ma'am, but what is going on?"
"Treason and murder." Cal pointed at Tallinan. "Secure this man, leave the fire to the Navy."
Other whistles sounded and officers appeared a couple on horseback.
"I need your horse." Cal stopped one man and recognized the Inspector.
He jumped off. "Go."
"Inform the prince and move that thing out of sight." Cal pointed at the Kite. She shoved the journal into his hands. "Put this with it. Guard it with your life."
"Where are you going?"
"After a traitor." Cal leapt onto the horse and urged it into a gallop. She turned the corner and saw the coach ahead of her. This road was broad and the coachman had whipped the two horses into a flat run. Cal clung to her mount and prayed it didn't slip on the cobblestones. She knew this road; it led to the Kershian embassy. She couldn't let the coach make it there. Up ahead, she could already see where the road made a grand curve to approach the Embassy straight on. The coach would have to slow to make the curve.