by Elin Gregory
"No. Police I think, and a man with a big watch chain on an even bigger belly. "
"Railway?" Briers suggested. "They must be frantic wondering how many more nasty little packages have been left on their lines."
"Good way to destabilise a regime," Falk muttered. "Then sweep in, ensure everyone thinks you made the trains run on time and be hailed as a saviour." He cracked the window and leaned close. "They are talking about communists and assuming a coup is in progress."
"They would have to be," Briers said. "It might not be the Reds, but they have to look at all possibilities. I don't think we should go back to Budapest. There were all the signs of trouble brewing. What do you think, Miles?"
"If it was just us... but I'd prefer not to have my mother in the thick of it."
"Do you think they'll let us go anywhere looking like this?" Falk indicated his own dishevelment. Ruby and Janice's bags had been brought from their compartment on the train so they had been able to change, and Ari had broken down completely when offered Nik's trunk as well as his own modest suitcase, but Miles and his mother were wearing clothes loaned by the Szarkas while their own were laundered, and Briers and Falk were in the filthy evening suits they had been wearing all through the rescue. "We need to get out of Hungary. I have contacts. I can get us a car and we'd be in Austria in four hours."
"They'll be rerouting the trains," Miles pointed out. "Foreign nationals have been attacked on Hungarian soil. They need to be seen to be in control of the situation. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if, in an hour or two, we couldn't catch a train from the next station down the line."
"True." Falk shrugged. "It wouldn't be fast or comfortable, but would anyone look for us on it?"
"And why would anyone be looking for you?" Ruby's voice was sharp. She raised herself up on one elbow and she looked anything but sleepy. Miles felt himself flushing at how easily they had been caught out. It was standard practice not to trust people who seemed to be asleep.
"Oh - bugger," Briers muttered. "Not again."
Ruby glared at them and continued. "Unless, of course, you're not who you say you are. A nice English family on their way home for a shopping spree and their Swiss businessman friend don't normally talk about destabilising regimes. God dammit." Her eyes filled with tears again. "Nik might not have been the sharpest knife in the silverware drawer but at least with him what you saw was what you got."
"Nik couldn't tell a lie to save his life," Ari said. "Even to keep himself out of jail. He thought the whole world was his friend and was surprised and disappointed if that turned out not to be the case. But he bounced back - always. God, I can't believe he's - " He touched an already crumpled handkerchief to his eyes. "He was my best friend and if you were in trouble he'd give you the shirt off his back if it would get you out of it."
"Exactly," Ruby said. "He was genuine, honest. Which is more than I can say for anyone else in this room. I want to know if what happened is your fault. Did the people who are looking for you cause this? Are these people who have taken us into their home in danger because of you?"
Janice shrugged Ruby off and sat up. "Grow up, Ruby. I know you're disappointed but there's no need to take it out on Mr and Mrs Carstairs. No, the question we should be asking is, are you in danger and what can we do to help?"
"But we deserve an explanation," Ruby added.
"You don't deserve anything," Falk growled. "Just as Nik and all the others killed and injured last night didn't deserve that."
"Falk." Miles and Briers spoke together both getting to their feet. Briers made a 'you deal with this' gesture to Miles and went to Falk's side.
Miles took a deep breath and turned back to Ruby. "You want honesty? All right. The fact is, we don't know, now, and we might never know who did it. I can tell you for sure that, in a few hours or days, the government here will announce that someone is to blame and arrests will be made. Those people arrested may be responsible but they may not. The tracks may have been bombed to kill us, or to kill someone else; there were a lot of rich people on the train. Someone might have thought 'why should they travel in luxury when I'm pushed to feed my children?' The person who did it might just have had some explosives to hand and wondered what would happen. They might just have liked big bangs. We don't know, and we regret what happened very much, but we still need to get to London as quickly as possible."
"So you're what? Spies?" Ruby looked him up and down critically. "Couldn't they afford anything better? Like a real girl, for instance."
"Hey!" Briers snapped, but stilled when Miles raised a hand. Ruby was young, had recently had a great shock, had lost a friend and needed to make someone suffer for it. Well - that person would not be Miles.
"That was really catty!" Miles said. "And if you behave like that in London theatres you'll find bits of costume inexplicably missing, or that your fleshings have been dusted with itching powder. Just because you're the - what was it, Briers? The cat's pyjamas?"
"Cat's pyjamas, the berries," Briers snarled, "completely darb."
"Cat's pyjamas, yes that's it. Yes, I'm a man. Feel free to tell me that you knew all along."
"That would be a lie because we didn't," Janice put in. She gave Ruby a sharp nudge with her elbow. "And I'm more interested in the other question. Are you a spy?"
"Yes, I am," Miles said. "A proper one. Most of the time I'm working with ciphers but I dress as a woman when required because men tend to underestimate women and that's a valuable advantage. Not being stunningly gorgeous is also an advantage too because people don't remember me. I get paid for it and everything. Silk stockings on expenses."
Briers put up his hand. "Me too! Only without the stockings."
Falk snorted and nodded. "And before you get bitchy about my friends here I'd just like to say that over the past few years they've probably saved more lives than people have watched your damned pictures. Probably - because that's something else we'll never know. Because if we do our job right nothing happens. We're anxious to make nothing happen again."
Ruby stared at him, her face falling. "I... I never looked at it that way. I thought it was all gun fights and daring escapes."
"We do that too sometimes," Miles admitted. "Less than a week ago my mother and I were being shot at by men with machine-guns and it's a lot less fun than you might think."
"But who are you? Really?" Ari said.
Pritchard slapped Ari on the shoulder. "My name is Pritchard, I am a gentleman's gentleman in the service of a well-respected diplomatic family."
"And we're currently travelling incognito for our health's sake," Miles added. "Can we leave it at that?"
"A diplomatic family?" Ruby frowned. "So that lady really is your mother?"
"Yes, she is."
"And Mr Carstairs is - what? You make a very convincing couple."
"As do you and Janice," Falk said. "Nik would have been a very good cover."
"How dare you - "
"Oh Ruby." Janice glared at her. "It's true. I didn't like it, but Ruby thought it would give us a bit more freedom and safety to have a man about the house. And Nik loved the idea. He thought it would be such fun. I'm sorry, Ari. I know you didn't like it either, but you'd have been so welcome to join us."
Ari eyed Miles and Briers unhappily. "Don't you think this is rather indiscreet?" he said.
"No." Falk's tone had gentled, Miles was relieved to hear. "We are all very much in the same boat. We could all do each other great harm. There is a lot of safety in that."
Briers gave Falk a friendly little shove then went to Miles and slung his arm back across his shoulders. "As you've probably guessed, we are partners. I've been serving my country in various aspects for the past ten years and great fun it has been when I haven't been running for my life or scared out of my wits."
"Not a long journey," Falk muttered. "I too am a spy but for a different organisation. These two men are allies for the moment. I have profound respect for their abilities and integrity, likewise for the la
dies in the other room and for Mr Pritchard here."
"Why thank you, sir. Much appreciated."
"My pleasure, Pritchard, my pleasure."
"Was anyone on that train who they said they were?" Ruby asked.
Ari replied. The quiet desolation in his voice took all the tension from the room.
"No. No I'm not." He cast an unhappy glance at Miles. "I saw you'd noticed. I've been waiting for you to bring it up. To tell everyone."
"Dammit." Briers sat on the bench again and tugged on the back of Miles's borrowed skirt until Miles sat too. "Looks like I owe Miles half a crown. He bet me you didn't come from New Orleans. Where are you from then, Mr Lacroix?"
"It's not Lacroix." Ari had dropped the American accent instead opting for something much closer to home. "My name's Harry Cross. I'm from Whitechapel."
"Whitechapel." Miles gave him an admiring nod. "I would never have guessed that. You're ever so good. There were just a couple of tiny things that made me wonder."
"Tottenham," Briers said. "And that the Scala is a cinema now."
"Oh no, is it? That's too bad." Ari gave him a sad smile. "My given name really is Aristide - my grandpa was from Martinique. I'm going home; Ma hasn't been well, and Dad's foreman in a boot factory. He's had to let people go and some of them ... Well, I'll be giving them a hand. I learned piano from one of our lodgers, a man who had taught at a conservatory. I miss them all."
"But you will be playing, too?" Miles asked.
"If I can find somewhere, yes."
"I know someone who may be able to help," Pritchard said. "Come to supper one night - if you would like to, that is, and once your mother can bear to let you out of her sight again."
"That might be a while," Harry said. "I haven't been home in five years. Oh, she'd have loved Nik so much and he needed a family. There was - you know - nothing between us. He was just - he was my best friend. Best friend I've ever had."
#
Miles got the impression that Ruby had been blowing off steam, having got her energy back, and Ari's obvious misery put an end to her temper. In fact, when Briers pointed out that Miles had recently been injured in hand-to-hand combat with a man who had attempted to throw his mother off the train, her attitude changed even further.
"Oh come and lie down," she said and made room for him. "Janice and I don't mind."
"Are you sure Janice doesn't mind?" Miles asked.
Janice laughed. "Janice doesn't mind at all because Janice is getting up," she said. "I need to arrange for our baggage to be transported and see if I can find Jonah. Ari, dear, why don't you lie down for a bit, too? You must be exhausted."
"I won't sleep," Ari said. "Can I come and help?"
"If you like," Janice said. "But even if you don't sleep, lying down for a bit couldn't hurt."
"I'll help Janice," Briers promised. "Miles, love. Get some rest. The adrenaline must have worn off by now and those bruises must be hurting."
They were, and Miles let himself down onto the day bed with a creak of springs and a sigh of relief. After a moment Ari lay down too - and was still there, an hour later, when Miles woke up. Falk, in pristine linen and a grey suit of very conservative cut, nudged his foot again and offered his hand.
Miles moved with care for his sore ribs, levering up and away from Ari who didn't stir, and accepting Falk's hand to get to his feet.
"Thanks for waking me," Miles said. "What was it?"
"Briers managed to retrieve most of your baggage," Falk said. "He suggested I come in and wake you so you can wash and change. I put what you need plus a jug of hot water in the bathroom. A vehicle will fetch us this afternoon. Briers is still outside refereeing a furious row between Ruby and that appalling Rudd character. Rudd said he hopes she's learned her lesson and we had to stop her from braining him. Briers sent me in because I wanted to as well."
"He's not worth going to jail for," Miles said. "Come and talk to me?"
Miles went into the bathroom and poured out the hot water. He waited until the door was firmly closed before he said, "I'm sorry about Nik. You must have thought a lot of him."
Falk scowled. "Not at all. Well, yes, he was an attractive child - good-hearted as well - but it's Mr Lacroix - Cross - who caught my interest. I was looking forward to showing him where his best interests lay, because no matter how much he cared for Nik, Nik would never have reciprocated. But that was when the object of his desire was alive; I could compete with Nik, and I can't compete with his rose-tinted memory."
Miles considered for a moment. "I think you could. Really - unless you demand immediate results and, unless you just want a fast conquest, then to forget it, there's something to be said for getting to know someone, learning to trust them. Why not stick around? You said you needed to get out from under your new counter-intelligence chief's thumb."
Falk drew his lips down. "Heydrich is an ass, so yes. But this cover is not ideal," he said. "Jan Favre wouldn't sit well in Whitechapel - although I might be able to find someone who would."
"How about being Falk for a change?"
"That would be a considerable change. Would you sponsor me?" Falk asked. "Your people must have a need for reliable eyes in contentious places."
"They would probably prefer you as close to Heydrich as possible," Miles said. "But yes, I'd sponsor you. Briers would probably tell me not to - but I think that I can trust you. You've been a good friend, Falk."
Falk snorted. "I have been looking out for my own best interests. Keeping you and your lady mother alive is just a happy accident. Are you going to let me watch you take your clothes off? Or is that another thing Briers would disapprove of?"
"Oh, he'd definitely disapprove," Miles said and grinned. "Just on principle though. He's never struck me as the jealous type."
"In that case... " Falk leaned against the door jamb and watched as Miles stripped down to his underwear then opened the bundle. Briers had been very thorough, thank goodness. Miles stooped to run his hands up his calves and heard Falk clear his throat. Miles grinned but kept his expression neutral when he straightened up. As he touched his top lip, he could just see Falk in the mirror. Falk was eyeing his behind, well set off by his rather racy pale blue camiknickers.
"I think my legs will do, don't you? But do I need to shave my face?" Miles mused and was delighted to see a slight reddening in Falk's cheeks as he met Miles's eyes in the mirror.
"You look very smooth to me," Falk said.
"Better safe than sorry." Miles poured water into a bowl and reached for brush and soap to lather his face.
"And how is the long distance relationship going?" Falk asked.
"Briers and I meet when we can - three or four times a year, usually, even if it's only for a few days - and we correspond regularly." The razor blade whispered against his soapy chin. "But I do miss him."
"I'm sure he misses you too," Falk said. "I hope you are not making unreasonable demands on him."
"Unreasonable demands?" Miles recalled their Swiss holiday and Briers's suggestion on the fourth night that they just go to sleep, dammit. "We have the occasional snap and bristle. What relationship doesn't have its ups and downs."
"That wasn't what I meant." Falk was frowning. "I was referring to our business. That it is not reasonable to - "
"To expect Briers to be faithful? Oh, good Lord no." Miles paused while he did his top lip. "Do you really think I'm that naive? Briers is a professional spy, and that implies all kinds of duties above and beyond doing the filing. I appreciate his dedication to his job. I have a considerable amount of it myself."
"And it doesn't gall that he expects you to be true to him?"
"He doesn't, Falk." Miles put the razor down before turning. "I just choose to be so, apart from evenings out with several excellent young women of my acquaintance who can be counted upon for good company with no expectations of more. He has never asked me to be celibate - and I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why it's any of your business."
Falk smi
rked. "It's because I find you both endlessly fascinating," he said. "I think I will see if Ari is awake."
When Miles emerged from the bathroom, feeling much better in a crisp navy woollen frock, Falk was in the living room where Ari was chatting to Ma and Diana, who had a lot more colour in her cheeks. Ari looked a lot better too. He had both hands around a cup of coffee and managed a small smile for Miles when he greeted him.
"Where is everyone else?" Miles asked.
"Ruby and Janice are still battling with Mr Rudd," Ma said. She came to him and touched his cheek. "If Ruby had that sword she wielded so expertly in The Outlaw of Nottingham, Mr Rudd would be in several pieces by now. Cynthia ffoulkes-Collinson is there too, enjoying the drama. Her young man is with Briers. They expressed an intention to go back to the crash site and see what they can do until our transport arrives."
Miles wanted to do that. He wanted to step into the space at Briers side - there would be a space left for him, he had no doubt of that - and do what he could, but in daylight he supposed he should make himself useful elsewhere. "I would like some fresh air," he said. "Just to clear my head."
"We'll stay here." Diana shot his mother a meaningful look. "Just in case John turns up."
"Oh yes," Miles felt awful for not having spared Smethwick a thought since he woke up. "In fact I think I will go and see if I can spot him."
"I'll come with you," Falk volunteered.
The air outside was fresh and surprisingly warm. Miles realised his expectations had been coloured by the hours he had spent on his knees in the dark, labouring over the injured and chilled, by the knowledge of how close he and Ma and Briers had been to death. Now the sky was blue behind a scatter of clouds, and when he stepped into a patch of sunlight it felt like a blessing.
"You aren't really going to tramp around looking for Smethwick, are you?" Falk demanded.
"He is a valued employee of my father," Miles said. "And if one borrows something it is only good manners to return it in good condition. I won't go far."
"In that case I will go and join Briers." Falk checked his watch. "It is nearly eleven o'clock. I will ensure we are back by two."