“Of course it could. You might be shocked at what desperate men might do.” He opened his door.
The image of the two men who attacked her at Vauxhall Gardens passed through her mind and she shuddered. “I don’t think I’d be too surprised.”
“Then stay here, please.”
Once he was out of the carriage, she watched him trot down the path until he was out of sight.
Leaning back against the squabs, she closed her eyes and tried to envision what was happening. Had they really found their way to where her father was being held?
She jerked into a sitting position. Why hadn’t she questioned Laurence more fully about how he knew where to find her father?
Knowing the answer, why she didn’t question him didn’t make her feel any better. When he was with her, she was too focused on him to doubt anything he said, but now that he was gone, she had to wonder. Was he really trying to help her father? Or was he one of the people who had taken him? Had she foolishly put herself in his hands?
How else would he know where her father was being held if he weren’t holding him himself? His friends couldn’t be clever enough to find her father as quickly as they had. After all, it was almost as if she and Laurence had driven straight to this place in the countryside. As if it were a preordained destination.
Bile rose in her throat. How had she been so stupid? No wonder Laurence didn’t seem too concerned about what would happen to her when they returned to town. He had no intention of helping her or her father.
Thinking fast about how she could get away, she settled on a story to tell the coachman.
Letting out a long moan, she cried out, “Help.”
When the coachman came around to her side of the vehicle, he peered inside. “What is it, Miss?”
She rolled on the bench with her arms crossed over her stomach. “I’m so sick, I need to find a place to relieve myself.”
“Don’t be messing up the carriage. There’s a stream nearby. Do you think you can make it that far?”
“I don’t know.” Hetty let out another long moan and twisted from side to side. “Maybe I can try.”
“You must make the attempt. Let me help you out of the carriage.”
Allowing him to open the door and assist her, Hetty made several more sounds of discomfort. The coachman seemed to be falling for her subterfuge.
Once she was on the ground, for good measure, she let out another long moan.
He stepped back and pointed to his left. “It’s that way. I’ll be right here. Give you some privacy.”
She staggered away and kept up her act until she was sure the man could no longer see her.
As soon as she was away, she stood straight and ran as fast as she could in the same direction she’d seen Laurence go.
There was no guilt for not staying at the carriage. If Laurence thought she was going to take a vow to sit still while he did whatever he was planning to do with her father, he was wrong.
Had he planned all along to take advantage of her father’s generosity in allowing him to use his laboratory and then later betray him?
As Hetty ran along, she tried to figure out why Laurence would do such a thing. How could she have misjudged him so? He’d seemed so wonderful and now what had he done?
Stopping to catch her breath, she put her head down, leaned over and took in great gulps of air.
When she looked up, she was near a large manor house. It was made of limestone and had a number of floor length windows across the frontage of the property.
Moving slowly and deliberately toward the closest side of the structure, Hetty soon found herself at the edge of the wall. She needed to get a peek inside.
How risky was it to move to the window?
Glancing around to assess the situation, Hetty saw two men she didn’t recognize over near what appeared to be the stable block.
Realizing if she could see them they could see her, she ducked behind the edge of the wall.
Assessing that side of the house, she searched for a way inside.
An open window halfway down the length of the structure caught her eye and she slipped through it.
Luckily, no one was around to see her and she took up a hiding space behind a tall bush in an ornate urn taller than her.
Now that she was in the house, she was at a loss what to do. If her father were here, she would have to search the entire house. All three wings—at least those were the ones she could see from the outside.
Daunted on where to start, she took a deep breath and tried to focus on the architecture of the manor and how it might possibly be laid out.
“Come this way, Thorndike. We have some more issues to discuss.”
Hetty almost gave herself away when she recognized Henry Hammond’s voice wafting down the corridor to her right. She bit back the squeal that threatened to come out. What was he doing here?
Had everyone in Oxford been fooled by her father’s alleged abduction? Was this whole thing some scheme between her sire and the man he wanted her to marry?
She covered her mouth with her hand. If she didn’t, she was afraid she would lash out in anger at Hammond for what he’d forced her to do in coming after her father.
Her knees threatened to buckle under her. Hammond hadn’t forced her to do anything. Her own rashness had gotten her where she was. Had this been the plan all along? Get her to ruin her reputation so she’d have to marry the man?
No. She wouldn’t believe it. Her father wouldn’t want that when he could merely demand her obedience. He valued the family name too much for that. But if that wasn’t what this was all about, then what was?
There was nothing to do but to find her father and make him explain himself.
Laurence and his men gathered at the stable block and discussed the best way to get inside without being seen until they were set to move.
He was glad to see Hugh Bannerman had made it and shook his hand as soon as he saw him. “I’m glad you could come and assist. I was afraid you’d be otherwise occupied. When I sent the note, I wasn’t sure if it’d reach you in time.”
“Good to see you. We’ve been eagerly anticipating capturing these men and closing out your mission. What can I do?”
“I’ll lead the way and we’ll go in through the kitchen.” Laurence pointed to the two on his left. “You both can make your way to the top floor. According to the man I have inside who was hired to take the place of a footman who became ill, the main group of men are staying on the second floor. The lady of the house is away so we needn’t worry about her. In fact, the word is the family is all gone except for the master of the house and he’s given most of the staff a few days off.”
“That’s good. I was concerned about who would be inside,” another man Laurence had never met previously said.
“I think they planned it this way, of course. They’ll be wanting privacy so they can do what they need to do and then leave to make the delivery to whoever they have as a contact for the French.”
“Don’t we need to wait until we’re sure they actually plan to commit treason?” the same man asked.
“I don’t know you, sir, but I believe we have what we need. Our man inside has collected enough information to prove that already even with the limited access he had to move around in the rooms where they’re settled. I’m confident we’ll find more once we have the men in custody.” Laurence was piqued at the man’s arrogance. He didn’t mind discussing details of a mission, but this gentleman seemed to think Laurence wasn’t competent for the task at hand.
“I apologize. I didn’t mean anything by my questions.” The man stuck his hand out. “I’m Peregrine Ellis.”
“All right, Ellis. You seem to be someone who wants to take charge so I’m going to allow you to lead the search downstairs. We want to be sure all the men who have conspired are gathered and disarmed as quickly as we can.”
“Where will you be?” Ellis asked.
“I’m going straight to the room where my
man has stated all the men had been having their meetings. I’m taking four of you with me, including Bannerman. We need to get control of whoever may be in that area. We don’t want them to hear us downstairs and start to burn any evidence before we can get up there.”
“That makes sense,” Bannerman said. “When do we go?”
“My man inside said there’s a servant’s staircase from the kitchen.” Laurence pointed to four men, each in his turn. “You, you and Hugh, come with me up those stairs.” He pointed to a fifth man. “You will stay behind us and make sure no one follows us up the stairs. I’ll send down this stone,” Laurence held up a rock, “once you hear it hit the door, you can move on and take into custody any man you find.”
“And the rest of us?” Ellis asked.
“Fan out into the house and subdue anyone you see. Tie them up and we’ll make sure they’re all taken to the great hall.”
All the men nodded and Laurence assessed them. “Everyone ready?”
At their expectant looks, Laurence smiled a grim smile. “Then let’s make sure we capture all the traitors. Good luck.”
They all ran across the yard to the house, Laurence hoping no one would peer out any of the windows and notice them.
Once inside the house, it was easy moving to get to the servant’s staircase to the upper floors. Maybe too easy.
Wondering why the house was so silent, Laurence held his hand up and whispered, “Make as little noise as you can coming up these steps. We don’t want to alert them to our presence.”
They tiptoed up the risers and finally arrived at the door. Laurence pushed it open slightly then jerked it back the moment he saw a man passing with a bottle of some kind of liquor in his hand.
Waiting a couple of minutes before peeking out again, Laurence eventually poked his head out to assess the risk of moving.
Letting the door close again, he turned to his men. “There was a gentleman going down the hall with liquor so we may be lucky. If they’re already celebrating and are far into their cups, they may be easier to take.”
Opening the door, the five men headed down the hallway. They spread out and went two at a time to each door, first listening to see if there was any noise from that room and if not, opening the doors and entering to be sure no one was hiding inside. They covered most of the corridor quickly that way.
Finally, there were only two doors left. Laurence pointed to the one on the left as he heard noises coming from there. “Over here,” he mouthed the words.
One of his men, the burliest one, grabbed the knob and at the same time he turned it, he shoved his shoulder against the wood and the door almost cracked as he pushed it open.
The others ran into the room after him. There was only one person inside.
The occupant glanced up. His mouth fell open in a gape that would have been funny if there wasn’t an urgency to make sure the other coconspirators didn’t get away.
“Tie him up,” Laurence said.
The man opened his mouth, but before he could let out a sound to warn his compatriots, Hugh Bannerman darted across the space between them and clapped his hand over the man’s lips.
“Thanks. I should have thought of that first.” Laurence turned to the other two of his allies. “Come with me. We’ll leave these two to guard the room and the first prisoner.”
They left and fanned back down the corridor to the main staircase. Laurence was hopeful that some of the others had been captured by the other agents on the lower floor.
Concerned that he hadn’t seen Mr. Hale, Hammond, Roundtree or Talbot, Laurence pushed his doubts to the back of his mind. They had to be here. Had to.
A loud crash from the main hall alerted him to some kind of altercation down there. He increased his speed.
At the bottom of the staircase, Ellis held Hammond by the scruff of the neck. Hammond was kicking at everything in sight and had knocked over and broken what appeared to be an expensive vase. The blue and white colored shards were all over the floor.
Ellis let go of Hammond for half a second then punched him in the face. When Hammond hit the floor, Ellis grinned up at Laurence. “That’s one way to subdue him, right?”
Laurence shook his head. Whatever worked was fine with him. “Tie him up and see if you can find anyone else.”
The rest of the men moved down the stairs and circulated around the house. Laurence was on a quest to find Talbot, Roundtree and Hale. He needed to get them. Needed.
He finally found himself in the gallery where the family who owned the house kept their hall of ancestors’ paintings. He peered behind a few of the largest ones that were floor to ceiling. Also peeking behind a couple of tapestries, he was about to give up and move to another area of the house when he noticed the tip of what appeared to be one shoe behind a particularly hideous tapestry of a unicorn being gouged by a devilish character in a red cape with horns.
Shuddering at what kind of people owned such a work of what he wouldn’t call art, Laurence unsheathed his knife and crept up on the gory tapestry with the man hiding beneath it.
He gave a moment’s thought to Polonius, but determined not to stab the man without knowing who he was, slid under the edge of the tapestry himself.
The man had been looking the other way, but as the cloth over him lifted, he turned. Talbot.
“Put your hands up and cooperate or I’ll have to force you.”
Talbot laughed and reached behind his jacket for something.
Laurence didn’t give him a moment to finish the action. He tossed his knife at the man and it went into Talbot’s chest right below the heart.
Thankfully, the thrust was enough to knock Talbot sideways and Laurence was able to lunge forward to try to disarm him. Laurence juggled the firearm that had been behind the other man’s back and almost dropped it before he could get a proper grip on it.
Talbot rushed at him and knocked Laurence to the tile floor.
Landing hard, Laurence let out an “oof” and the gun slid across the space, out of reach.
Letting out a bellow, Talbot pulled the knife out of his own flesh. It made a squelching noise and blood bubbled out of the wound and covered the man’s shirt. Laurence didn’t have time to react to the sight and sound before the cutlery was almost in his own skin. He rolled away at the moment Talbot attempted to make contact.
Laurence threw his leg out and kicked the knife out of Talbot’s hand.
Now with neither having a weapon, they scuffled around on the tiles exchanging blows until Laurence was able to get in a stiff hit to Talbot’s jaw, knocking the other man unconscious.
Once he was sure his foe wasn’t going to offer further resistance, Laurence stood and regained possession of both weapons.
Taking Talbot’s gun and shoving it into his own waistband beside his recovered knife, Laurence made his way back to his prisoner and knelt beside him.
He grabbed Talbot’s upper arm and assisted him to his feet. “Come with me to the main hall and we’ll get you some medical attention.”
Talbot looked down at his shirt. It was covered in blood. He went pale. “I cannot believe you did this. What are you doing here? Why did you attack me?”
“There’s no need to pretend. We all know what you’re planning. I’m here to stop you.”
Talbot sagged against Laurence’s side. “I think I’m bleeding to death.”
“I’m not sure. You could be. With all that moving around and jerking the knife out yourself, you could’ve done some damage to your insides. All the more reason to cooperate with us. So you can be treated.”
“I’ll come quietly, but you’ve made a big mistake. You’ve made a right problem for yourself and you’d better hope I don’t die.”
Laurence tried to brush off the man’s words. Surely they weren’t wrong about the treason. He needed to not allow Talbot to make him doubt his mission. After all, the man had been hiding and had been the first to pull a weapon. Neither action was that of an innocent person. “Keep your m
outh shut.”
Leading Talbot to the grand foyer was slow and tedious.
Finally nearing the area, Laurence was surprised to hear a female voice yelling, “Put me down, you brute.”
Chapter Nineteen
Hetty kicked the man who held her by the collar of the boy’s shirt she still wore. She made contact with his shin hard enough for the sound to reach her ears.
“Ouch, you little brat. Stop that.” The man had the nerve to actually shake her.
“Put her down,” Laurence said as he came around the corner, leading Mr. Talbot.
Talbot looked the worse for wear with blood all over his clothes and a right eye that was closed and puffed up as if someone had whacked him with a fist.
“Her?” the man asked.
“Yes, Ellis. It’s a lady and I’ll thank you to let her go.”
The man released her shirt and Hetty moved away from him. She turned to Mr. Talbot. “Where is my father?”
“Your father? I’m sorry, I don’t know.” Talbot clutched his stomach. “I find I can’t seem to focus.” He fell to the floor without even trying to catch himself.
“Good Lord, Laurence, what did you do to him?” Hetty dashed over to Talbot and felt his forehead. She looked up at Laurence. “I can’t tell if he has a fever. His skin isn’t hot. Where is the blood coming from?”
“I stabbed him before he shot me.” Laurence turned to Peregrine Ellis. “Can you find someone to tend to his wounds while we try to locate Hale?”
“You’ll never find him,” Henry Hammond called out. “We’ve got him hidden and he’ll starve to death before you ever locate him.”
Hetty stood and ran at Hammond, “You tell me where he is.”
The man Laurence called Ellis stopped her in midflight as she threw herself at Hammond.
Ellis swung her around, her hat fell off and one braid came free of its pins.
“By God, you did bring a girl on this mission, Fortescue. What were you thinking?”
“He didn’t have a choice.” Hetty put her hands on her hips and glared at Ellis. “Now, you can do one of two things.”
Lightning Strikes Twice (The Heart of a Hero Book 4) Page 18