Shattered Dreams

by King, Rebecca

  “Put me down, I am not going anywhere with you,” she gasped. She braced her feet on one of the trees to stop him dragging her into the woods, and locked her knees when he pushed her harder. “You wait until the men come after you. You are going to regret this, you oaf.”

  “I told you to shut up.”

  “Go to Hell,” she snarled.

  Whatever else she was about to say was silenced by the loud retort of a gun being fired in the garden. Tilly froze and twisted around so she could see, and cried aloud when Marcus suddenly dropped onto the floor face first, and didn’t move.

  Tears blurred her vision and she knew that time had suddenly run out. Everyone else who worked for Harry, were out and about on the investigation. It could be hours yet before any of them came back. Was Marcus dead? She had no idea where he had been hit, or even if he was still alive.

  “You can’t leave him,” she snapped. “He might be dying. You cannot just leave him.”

  When neither man appeared to have even heard her, Tilly’s frustration grew to mammoth proportions. She opened her mouth to demand they stop only for pain to explode in the back of her head. The world went black, and she collapsed without a murmur.

  Zack stared at the gap in the trees in horror and then turned toward Marcus, who lay perfectly still on the floor.

  Marcus had told him to stay inside, but that was before he had been shot. Indecision made the young boy hesitate as he studied first the trees, then Marcus. He wanted to go after Tilly, but then also needed to fetch help for Marcus too. What should he do?

  Panic made him feel a little sick. He needed someone; anyone, to tell him what to do. Tears streamed down his face as he raced out of the house, and fell to his knees beside the fallen man.

  “Marcus? Marcus? Can you hear me?”

  Marcus groaned at the fierce pain in his side. He knew from the sticky warmth along his abdomen that he was bleeding, but had no idea how badly he was hurt. Right now he couldn’t feel anything apart from the deep burning sensation that seemed to run all the way through him. As darkness swirled around him, he tried to focus on the young lad’s voice. Eventually, he managed to beat the darkness and, with a grunt, opened his eyes to look at Zack, who was shaking his shoulder frantically in an attempt to get his attention.

  “Get inside and lock the door. Don’t open it until Harry gets here,” he whispered before the darkness sucked him under once more.

  “I have to find Harry,” Zack suddenly gasped. He stared in shock at the steady pool of blood beside his friend, then lurched to his feet and took off around the house. To his utter horror, when he turned the corner, he ran into the awfully familiar figure of Mrs Dandridge. He slammed to a stop and stared at her in fear.

  “Going somewhere boy?” She snarled in callous delight as she grabbed the back of his shirt.

  Zack’s scream shattered the silence, but he was no match for the height and girth of the adult, who dragged him relentlessly toward the trees after Tilly and Suzanna.

  Within seconds, silence settled over the garden.

  Harry hauled Barnaby to his feet and waited until his friend was steady before he let him go.

  “When the woman went into the house, I looked at my watch,” Barnaby grumbled when Harry asked him what he could remember. “I saw Cruickshank and Dandridge leave the house. Some bastard hit me because I can’t remember anything after that.”

  “You are not where we left you,” Harry replied with a frown.

  Indeed, Barnaby had been hidden in the woods to the side of Bolsworthy’s house. He was now at the rear of the outbuildings at the end of the garden.

  “How did you get here,” Joseph asked.

  Harry shifted his weight and glanced at the house. “Who hit you?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone,” Barnaby frowned as he tried to remember the details, but couldn’t remember anything apart from the explosion of pain in the back of his head. “I saw Cruickshank and Dandridge leave and went to follow them, but couldn’t go down the driveway.” He nodded to the building. “I came around the back of here, and was going to catch up with them down the road, but must have been ambushed.”

  “They circled around and caught you,” Harry sighed.

  Barnaby frowned at Joseph. “Where’s Joshua?”

  “He is keeping watch on the house, and will follow the Bolsworthy woman if she leaves,” Harry assured him.

  “Did they know we were inside?” Joseph demanded.

  Harry shook his head. “I doubt it, or they wouldn’t have had the conversation they had.”

  “Come on, let’s get you back to the Rectory,” Joseph suggested.

  He dragged his friend’s arm over his shoulders to take his weight, and guided him slowly through the woods in the direction of their temporary home.

  When they eventually reached it, they all but dragged Barnaby through the front door, and lay him down on the chaise in the sitting room.

  “I am not dead,” he groused, and immediately sat back up again.

  Joseph rolled his eyes. “I am lying you down so you don’t fall down,” he grunted.

  Harry frowned at the silence that greeted them.

  “Tilly?” he shouted. He sauntered into the hallway when there was no answer.

  “Is anyone home?” He glanced over at Joseph. “Something’s wrong,” he snapped, and drew his gun as he crept cautiously into the kitchen.

  As soon as he opened the door and saw the kitchen door wide open, and Marcus lying in the garden, he knew, deep in his gut that Tilly had gone.

  “Joseph! Quick!” He yelled and raced outside.

  Marcus groaned and, at first, didn’t respond to Harry’s demands to wake up. When he did, he peered blearily up at his friend and gave him an apologetic look.

  “I am sorry, Harry. I lost them,” he growled.

  “Get the doctor, quickly,” Harry snapped at Joseph.

  The pool of blood beside Marcus warned them both that he had lost a lot of blood.

  “I don’t need a doctor,” Marcus protested. “Just get me inside.”

  “Where were you hit?” Harry demanded as he tried to find the wound.

  “In the side. Hurts like hell,” Marcus replied quietly. He tried to move, but had to grit his teeth against the instinctive cry of pain that threatened to escape when he eventually managed to roll over.

  “Do you think you can manage to get inside?” Harry asked and studied the garden for any sign of which way Tilly had gone.

  Marcus seemed to read his thoughts. “She was taken toward the woods, Harry. Dandridge and Cruickshank took her.”

  “I think they have Suzanna and Zack as well,” Harry warned him. “They got you out of the way first though.”

  “Damn it,” Marcus swore. “They must have had help I didn’t see.”

  Impatience made Harry’s voice brisk. “Let’s try and get you inside. Then I am going to see if I can find where they have gone.”

  Eventually, once Barnaby was in a chair and Marcus was lying on the chaise, Harry stood to catch his breath and study his colleagues. They were battered and bruised but not likely to die anytime soon. He really didn’t want to leave his colleagues alone when they were injured, but he desperately needed to find Tilly. The thought of what Dandridge and Cruickshank might do to her – them – now that they had them, horrified him.

  He fought to keep his panic under control and dug deep for his years of experience in order to remain calm and be able to think logically.

  If his heart wasn’t so deeply involved, he would have succeeded. As it was, he now knew that he loved her; with all of his heart; completely; totally; absolutely. Nothing in the world mattered to him more than Tilly, and it was imperative that he get her back – for his sake as much as hers.

  As though Barnaby had read his mind, his colleague pierced Harry with a dark look.

  “We are going after them.”

  “You are injured. You need to stay here,” Harry snapped.

  Bar
naby growled. “I am coming.” The determination in his gaze when he stood up was all Harry needed to see, and he nodded his thanks to his friend.

  “Give me my gun,” Marcus whispered. “I will shoot any bastard that comes in here; male or female.”

  Barnaby handed him his loaded weapon. “Just don’t shoot yourself,” he warned dryly to which Marcus snorted; then winced as pain lanced his side again.

  Harry hated to do leave him but, right now, three innocent people had just been kidnapped by Dandridge and his cohorts. It was imperative that he, Joseph, and Barnaby, got them back, preferably before Dandridge got the opportunity to show everyone what he had brought them all to Tooting Mallow for.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Tilly felt bile rise in her throat and struggled to swallow it. Pain reverberated around her head, but she wasn’t sure if it was the knock to her head that made her feel sick; or the violent swaying of the blacked-out carriage she was in.

  The horrendous noise from the wheels, along with the squeals of protest from the horses that pulled the carriage, warned her that they were going at a speed that was considerably faster than was safe or wise.

  When the carriage bounced over something in the road, she was jostled on the seat so forcefully that she nearly ended up on the floor. She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling with a frown.

  “Thank heavens you are awake,” Suzanna immediately gasped.

  Tilly’s eyes met hers. They both looked at Zack, who sat pale and trembling beside them.

  “Where are we going, does anyone know?” Tilly asked as she cautiously sat upright. Aside from a small headache, she was fine – for now, but had to wonder how long she would remain that way.

  Suzanna and Zack shook their heads. “You were both knocked out by those two,” Zack informed them, and nodded to the coachman’s seat behind his head outside.

  “Dandridge and Cruickshank,” Tilly snapped in disgust.

  “Mrs Dandridge got me,” Zack told them morosely. “I can’t believe I ran straight into her. I was going for help for Marcus.” He looked at them both solemnly. “They shot him.”

  “Don’t worry yourself about it, Zack. I am sure someone has found him by now and he is receiving the help he needs,” Tilly assured him with a sympathetic smile that was more of a grimace. “They caught us all off-guard.”

  “We were told to stay inside,” Suzanna sighed sadly. She wasn’t accusing Tilly of anything, and had been just as happy as everyone else to have the back door open so they could wander in and out of the garden whenever they liked.

  “I know. It is my fault. I should have shut the door behind me.”

  “No, it’s not your fault,” Suzanna replied flatly. “None of this is our fault. It’s theirs. They brought us to Tooting Mallow. I have no doubt they were the ones responsible for making sure we had no choice but to go to the poor house. They are the ones who have kidnapped us, for God knows what purpose. Everything that has happened to us is their fault.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to wait until we reach the final destination to find out what they want with us,” Tilly sighed. “I am not going to be dragged meekly into any of their schemes.” She looked from Suzanna to Zack. “I think we have to get out of here.”

  “I am not going to do what they want either,” Zack echoed defiantly. “I am with you.”

  Suzanna nodded, but looked worriedly from one to the other. “What do we do though? I mean, we can hardly jump out of a moving coach but, if we don’t, then we have no choice but to sit here and wait until this stops. By that time we will be at their mercy again.”

  Tilly winced. Suzanna fell silent as the carriage began to shudder violently as it passed over a particularly rutted part of the road. They all braced themselves as best they could, but the carriage tipped onto two wheels wildly before it bounced onto the other two, and then started to sway.

  “We are going to be dead before we get there if they carry on like this,” Suzanna grumbled.

  They fell silent when the sound of someone shouting outside broke the nervous tension within the carriage. Zack tried to pull the window down to see outside but it was stuck firm. He then tried the door but, frustratingly, it was locked.

  “Do we make a lot of noise to get them to stop and then fight them?” Zack asked them over the rumble of the carriage wheels.

  “I don’t think they will hear us,” Tilly sighed. “Besides, I don’t think we are any match for them.”

  She hated to admit it, but the men would easily overpower two women and a young boy. She closed her eyes and immediately thought of Harry. She tried to think what he would do in this situation. It was difficult because she wasn’t a man, and didn’t know the kind of work that Harry got himself involved with. However, being able to focus on him began to calm her fears, and that allowed her to think logically.

  The carriage was old and creaky. The seats had long since seen better days, and the floor was caked in years of muck.

  With her eyes firmly locked on the door, she lifted her skirts, and sat on the floor.

  “What on earth are you doing?” Suzanna asked, and quickly urged Zack to look at the opposite door, and not at Tilly’s legs.

  “Getting us out of here,” Tilly muttered. With that, she lifted her legs, and kicked at the door with all of her might.

  At first, it didn’t budge, and she had to brace herself against the seat several times when the carriage bounced wildly but, when it did eventually settle, she continued to kick at the wood panelling just beneath the handle. The noise she made was smothered by the bangs and clatters of the carriage, and the loud squeals of the horses, and it gave her the opportunity she needed to try to break the wooden door open.

  “Let me try,” Suzanna urged when it was evident that Tilly had started to grow tired.

  They swapped places and this time, Suzanna started to kick at the door.

  “Move over,” Tilly ordered.

  Together they squeezed into the tiny space between the seats.

  “On the count of three,” Suzanna said. “One, two, three.”

  They lifted their feet, and both of them kicked at the door with all of their might.

  Immediately, the wonderful sight of empty fields was visible through the now open door. Tilly and Suzanna quickly grabbed each other so they didn’t fall out into the road, and quickly shushed Zack’s cheer of delight. Once they were safely perched on their seats, they stared out of the door while they tried to decide what to do. Tilly put her hand out and caught the door, and held it so that it didn’t swing wildly and start to bang against the side of the carriage, and alert the driver to what they had done.

  “We need to jump out at the next corner,” she announced firmly.

  “Why the next corner?” Zack asked Tilly with a frown.

  “Because the carriage has to slow down to go around the corners. It can’t take corners at this pace because it will fall over. It has to slow down. When it does, we have to jump out.”

  “What then?” Zack gasped, and fell silent when Suzanna and Tilly threw him exasperated looks.

  “Let’s just get there first. Whatever happens, we will be a lot better off than we will be if we reach the destination those two oafs have planned for us. It’s time for us to leave. Now.”

  When the carriage began to slow down, Tilly snuck a quick peek out of the door, and heaved a sigh of relief when she spied a bend in the road up ahead.

  “About another minute,” she whispered, and beckoned Zack to the door. “When it slows, jump down before it goes round the corner. Then they will be heading in the opposite direction. Whatever you do, get out of sight and stay there. We all jump together.”

  “One after the other,” Suzanna corrected. “We cannot risk injuring ourselves by falling onto one another.”

  “I don’t want to do this,” Zack whispered hesitantly.

  Tilly took hold of his shoulders in firm hands. “You have to, Zack. Think of what Harry would say
to you. We need to get back to make sure that Marcus is alright. We cannot do that if these idiots keep us under their control. They could be taking us back to the poor house.”

  She didn’t think that was the case. Although she had been out for the count, she was fairly certain that they had been travelling for long to be anywhere near Tooting Mallow. However, without passing a road marker, she had no idea which way they were being taken.

  She suddenly wished that Harry was there. She missed him. She loved him. She needed his solid strength beside her.

  It was ironic really, how life could change. Only a few short weeks ago, she had wished that she had never set eyes on Tooting Mallow, or the people in it. Now that she had met Harry, and realised what a wonderful person he was, she couldn’t wait to get back there so she could be by his side.

  She watched the landscape roll past and knew that whatever it took; however long she needed to walk, she would not stop until she reached him again.

  Thankfully, the carriage began to slow down even more as it approached the corner. It bumped along still, which meant that the jump they made was going to be risky, but they really had no choice in the matter if they wanted their freedom.

  “Ready?” She glanced back at Zack and Suzanna, who nodded firmly.

  Tilly took a breath, closed her eyes, grabbed Zack’s hand, and threw herself out of the carriage door. The branches of the bush scraped painfully into her side as she fell, but she wriggled and squirmed until she flopped in an unceremonious heap behind the thick hedge, blessedly out of sight of the road.

  She lay on her back and stared blankly at the sky for several long moments, and listened to the steady hum of the carriage disappear into the distance. She was aware of grunts and low moans from beside her, and turned her head to peer at Suzanna and Zack, who looked horrified and jubilant at the same time.