Chapter 26
Sitka; Three Days Later
“How many of the Caldwells’ ledgers do we have in all?” Sacha asked as they climbed the steps to the office on the second floor of the warehouse.
“Eight,” Yuri answered, striding up the familiar stairs despite the darkness shrouding him, his brothers, and Jonas, who had finally arrived from Juneau. “Two a year, going back four years.”
“One records the actual number of seals taken versus the number reported, and the other details who was paid to ignore the discrepancy.” Alexei closed the outside door behind them, shutting out the winter chill. “You have to give them credit for keeping meticulous records. I’m almost envious.”
Sacha let out a low whistle. “Four years is a long time to steal over two hundred thousand dollars a year from the government and not get caught.”
“Looks like they’re about to get caught now.” Mikhail reached the top of the stairs first.
“I expect to be up late tonight taking a nice long look at everything, but no one else has to stay,” said Jonas, Evelina’s husband and the Deputy Marshal for Alaska.
He was right about it being late. The children were all in bed, but Jonas had wanted to see all the ledger information, and Alexei had wanted to wait until everyone was in bed to discuss it. This wasn’t the type of thing they could have someone overhearing.
More and more ledgers had trickled into the stream of donations coming from the Caldwells over the past few days.
Rosalind had never once shown up at the library, so Yuri hadn’t had a chance to ask her about them.
They did manage to send Bryony up to the governor’s house with a book-donation form for Rosalind to fill out.
She only saw Rosalind for a few minutes but said that she looked unharmed. Other than that, Yuri’d had no contact with her, and that still made him worry.
When no ledgers had come in the crates today, Alexei had said they should have a meeting.
Jonas had arrived in town yesterday with Kate and Nathan.
Jonas had been largely quiet since they’d told him about the ledgers, only saying that he wanted to see everything together before deciding the best course of action.
“Has Rosalind sent over evidence of anything else?” Mikhail asked. “I find it hard to believe this is the only area in which the Caldwells are trying to circumvent the law.”
“The seal-harvesting ledgers are all we have. If she finds something more, she might keep it for herself in case her father tries to find her after she leaves. That was the original plan.” Yuri reached the top of the stairs and looked for the lamp that usually sat on the windowsill of the second-floor office of their warehouse, but it wasn’t there.
“I left the lamp at my desk last night. Let me light it.” Alexei’s shadowed form headed deeper into the office.
“How many days until you and Rosalind leave?” Mikhail nodded toward the harbor, his shadowed form still visible beneath the thin layer of clouds only partially concealing the moon.
“Two.” At least that’s what they’d agreed on last week, but it would help if he could actually talk to her and make sure that was still the plan.
What was he supposed to do, just stay up all night on Friday, waiting for her to arrive at their house so they could sneak her onto the ship and leave before dawn?
He’d like to have things a bit more organized than—
Something caught his eye outside the window that overlooked the shipyard. “What’s that?” It almost looked orange.
He went for a closer look.
“Just a minute,” Alexei called. “I found the lamp. Now I just need to light it.”
“No, keep it dark.” Yuri spoke quietly, just loud enough for Alexei to hear him across the office. “Someone’s down there.”
“Where?” Mikhail was instantly by his side, surveying the shipyard.
“There.” Yuri pointed. “Behind the dry dock.”
It was hard to make out the figures beneath the hazy light of the moon, but three shadowed forms eventually came into view, moving between the dry dock and stacks of timber stored beneath the dry dock’s roof that kept the ship from getting too wet when they were working on it.
That flicker of orange appeared again, and only then did Yuri realize one of them was carrying a lantern.
Except the flame looked too large and wild for a lantern. Could it be a torch? Yuri’s heart thudded against his chest.
The three figures joined together underneath the post holding up one corner of the dry-dock roof, and suddenly, the one flame turned into three.
“Fire!” The word left Yuri’s mouth like a gunshot. “They’ve got torches, and there’s three of them!”
Mikhail bolted for the stairs.
“Let’s split up and see if we can stop them before they burn anything.” Alexei followed Mikhail to the stairs.
“I’ll take the one by the dry dock,” Mikhail called from the stairway.
“I’ll circle around the back of the dry dock and make sure no one burns the lumber.” Yuri raced after his brothers.
“I’ll start the sea pump and grab the hoses.” Sacha thundered down the stairs behind them. “Just in case they manage to light something.”
“Am I the only one that’s armed?” Jonas called over the noise of their racing footsteps.
There was no time to answer. Mikhail opened the door, and they burst outside, scattering.
A shipyard didn’t run without its own emergency system.
Years ago, they’d installed a manual water pump and hose system that drew seawater directly from the harbor, more to clean bilges and hulls than fight fires, but it worked for both.
Yuri raced across the muddy ground, veering behind the dry dock until he spotted a figure heading toward the lean-to where they stored dry lumber for their ships.
Yuri lengthened his stride, trying to keep his steps as light as possible so the arsonist didn’t realize he was there. He closed the gap until only twenty feet separated them, then ten, then five.
He must have made some kind of noise, because the man turned.
“Drop it!” Yuri growled.
The arsonist whirled back around and ran faster.
Yuri surged forward and tackled him before he could reach the lean-to.
They crashed to the ground, the torch skittering into a patch of mud, where it flickered and died.
A punch landed against Yuri’s jaw, but he swung his fist right back, using twice the force of his assailant.
The man grunted but twisted beneath him and caught Yuri in the ribs with his elbow.
Yuri shifted and drove his knee into the man’s side.
Another punch flew toward his temple, but this time he saw it coming and ducked, then swung his own fist toward the man’s face.
It met his cheekbone with a satisfying crack, and the man grunted.
The fight left him for a fraction of a second, but that was all Yuri needed to pin the man’s wrists above his head.
He thrashed and tried to twist free.
“I don’t think so,” Yuri muttered, tightening his grip and pressing his weight downward until the struggling slowed. “One down!” he shouted to his brothers.
“The other two are running!” Mikhail’s voice rang out from the opposite side of the dry dock.
Yuri glimpsed two shadowy figures vaulting the fence next to the lean-to. Alexei and Mikhail raced to the fence, but the arsonists had been too far ahead.
“You got one?” Jonas sprinted toward Yuri, his pistol drawn.
“Yeah.” Yuri stayed on top of the assailant until Jonas arrived and trained his pistol on the man. “The others hopped the fence just over there.” He nodded toward the spot.
Both Alexei and Mikhail were heading his direction.
Alexei reached them first, his eyes still surveying the fence. “I’m tempted to try chasing them even though we don’t know which direction they went.”
“Do you want me to?” Mikhail heaved out a breath, his chest rising and falling from whatever chase he’d given to the other men.
“No,” Jonas said. “We don’t know anything about them. They could be armed.”
Sacha arrived with a length of hose slung over his shoulder. “Pump’s running, just in case we need it.”
Alexei wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. “At least we stopped them before they could light anything.”
Yuri pushed himself to a standing position, giving Jonas a chance to handcuff the arsonist and ask his name.
The arsonist refused to give it, but Yuri didn’t care. The man would spend at least one night in jail, and Jonas was quite good at interrogating criminals. They’d likely have the man’s name before morning.
“I’m just glad we were in the office when they came.” Yuri tried to brush the mud from his sleeves. “Can you imagine if we had been in bed?”
Alexei rubbed his jaw. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“I’ll give you one guess who’s behind this,” Mikhail muttered.
“Maybe so, but let me take this one to the prison to see how much information I can get out of him.” Jonas hauled the arsonist to his feet and jerked him forward. “We’ll handle the rest in the—
Whump!
A burst of light flared in the back corner of the shipyard, flames erupting from the base of the lean-to.
“No!” Mikhail yelled.
The fire caught fast, racing over the dry stacks of wood with a crackle that soon turned to a roar.
Sacha ran toward the blaze, uncoiling the hose over his shoulder as he went. Yuri raced to help him, then grabbed the end of the hose and aimed it at the base of the flames.
Sacha released the lever on the nozzle, and seawater gushed out, causing the lumber to hiss and smoke.
But the fire had already spread to the next stack of lumber.