He laughed. “And what would those be, Miss?”
“You may either stand there and berate Laurence, or you may assist us in locating my father.” She whirled around and marched up the stairs. Over her shoulder, she said, “I presume none of you have checked the attics yet?”
“I’m coming,” Laurence said. She heard him mount the staircase behind her.
“Wait a moment, she may be fierce, but I expect she may need our help,” Ellis said.
She glanced back, glad to see one of the other men in the hallway was standing watch over the ones who’d been tied up. Still concerned about why Talbot was stabbed as well as why he had a gun, she was most happy to note Hammond’s discomfort and displeasure. Maybe he wouldn’t be such prime husband material now in her father’s esteem.
Finding no one upstairs, in the attics or in the servant’s quarters, Hetty wanted to cry. She wouldn’t allow herself the luxury of doing so and instead turned her anxiety into a rant at Laurence. “Why would you tie up all those men down there? If you don’t know where my father is, how do you think they are the ones who took him? If he’s not here, what right do you have to take those men prisoner?”
“There are some things I can’t explain to you.”
“You better start. I came here with the purpose of finding my father and you promised to help me.”
“You two need to set aside whatever this personal animosity is and focus on the mission,” Ellis said. He shook a finger in Hetty’s face. “I have no idea who you are and why you’re here, but if you’re one of us, I suggest you obey the orders of the man in charge instead of berating him in front of his inferiors. Be sure I plan to report your behavior to Jones as soon as we return to London.”
“Jones? Man in charge? Inferiors? What are you talking about?” Hetty glanced from one man to the other.
Laurence’s face had gone white.
“Will someone tell me what exactly is happening?” She stared at Laurence. “I thought you had some of your gentlemen friends helping us to find my father. Clearly, this is another kind of project altogether. I may be merely a female, but I am not stupid. What is this really about?” Hetty flung her hand out to encompass the attic room.
“This is a mission to stop a French spy ring and you’re interfering in it. “ Ellis lunged for her. “We need to tie you up with the others and finish the task.”
“Stop. Let her go. We don’t have time for this,” Laurence said.
“You’re the one who violated protocol. I think I need to relieve you of command.”
“No. You don’t have that authority.” Laurence practically snarled at the other man.
“While you two decide who is in charge, my father is somewhere near here and in danger. I’m going down to the waterfront and see if I can find him. That’s the only place we haven’t been yet.” She pivoted away from them both and made a dash down the stairs.
Hearing them pounding after her, she didn’t pause or slow her pace. Running past the group of men in the foyer and straight at the front door, she was glad it opened with a push and not a pull.
By the time she got to the porch, she thought her lungs would explode, but she kept moving.
She ran until she reached the river at the foot of the hill. There was no choice then but to stop to breathe.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ellis said as he arrived at her side.
Laurence was right behind him. “Why did you come down here?”
“While I was hidden behind a large urn, I heard Henry Hammond talking to some man he called Thorndike. They were discussing a ship they were to meet that would take them through the Bristol Channel and around past Plymouth. Since my father isn’t in the house, I think he must be on the way to this ship. I have no idea who would be with him, but since you and this Mr. Ellis seem to be some sort of government officials, I would presume you do.”
“Roundtree. I bet it’s Roundtree. He was supposed to be here and we haven’t seen him yet,” Ellis said.
“Will you stop being indiscreet in front of the lady? You’ve spoken rashly in her presence twice now.” Laurence’s face was red.
Hetty was almost positive he would come to blows with the other man momentarily.
“Never mind that. If they have a ship waiting that can take them to France, we need to make haste.” Ellis looked down into Hetty’s eyes. “What else did you hear?”
“That was all I heard. They didn’t say France at all. I wonder that they didn’t take a more direct route if that’s where they were planning to take my father.”
“It’s a longer way, but it’s almost all by sea and would be unexpected by anyone who was trying to stop them from selling secrets to Napoleon.” Lawrence raised his hand to a young lad in a small boat who happened to be rowing past. “I say, may we rent your conveyance?”
“Yes, sir. Where are you needing to be going?” the boy answered.
“Have you seen a larger ship nearby? Waiting?” Ellis asked.
“Since these docks here on the Avon near Bristol have been in disrepair, most wait downriver a ways.” The boy scratched his head. “Seems I saw one earlier.”
“Can you take me and this man there?” Laurence asked.
“Why sure. Come on aboard.”
“I’m coming, too,” Hetty said.
“No. You’re safer here.” Laurence tried to move her aside.
“Listen to me.” She grabbed his arm. “I can help. You know I can mimic Hammond. What if we get onboard and Roundtree is hiding my father? I could pretend to be Hammond and tell them it’s safe to come out.”
Laurence stood for a moment as if undecided. He looked at her, but didn’t respond.
Taking that as a promising sign, Hetty said, “You know I’m right. We have to try.”
He nodded once then assisted her onto the small boat. “I think it’s too dangerous, but I don’t see an alternative.
Ellis stepped on last and shook his head as he did so. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“He does. I can’t say I know what he’s doing acting as some kind of leader of your group of men, but I can say I know him well enough to know he’s competent.” Hetty sat beside the boy on his bench.
“I have to tell you, the opinion of a young girl dressed as a boy who has caused a lot of chaos does not carry much weight for me.” Ellis sat in the front of the boat and peered into the distance.
Hetty didn’t much care what he thought of her. She was worried about her father and so she ignored the angry man in the bow.
They moved through the water slower than she wanted, but there was nothing she could do about it. She hoped the men on the larger vessel were waiting for Hammond and the others to arrive and they hadn’t given up and already set sail.
Finally, they saw the ship. Hetty shoved her hat down on her head harder.
Laurence addressed the boy, “Do you have any items my friend and I can use to cover our heads or faces?”
“There’s some cloths over there.” The boy tilted his head toward the stern.
Ellis crawled in that direction, the boat wobbled and some water splashed over the side getting them wet.
When they pulled alongside the ship, Laurence gave a whistle.
A sailor stuck his head over the railing and called out, “What ho?”
“Permission to come aboard and join our friends who’ve paid our passage.”
“We heard there was six more o’ye. Where be the rest of yuns?”
“Delayed. They’ll be on in a little while.” Laurence raised his hand to catch the rope ladder that came down.
“Captain sails at dark so they best be gettin’ on wi’ it.”
“Yes, sir. We know,” Ellis called out.
“I ain’t no sir, mister. Just ole Jack Tar here.”
Laurence placed a foot on the ladder. “I’ll go first. You follow me, Hetty, and Ellis, you bring up the rear.”
“Never said I agreed to having this chit on our mission, but I se
e that we can’t leave her behind at this point, therefore, I will help her onboard. Be assured I’ll be reporting your behavior. It’s a good thing you have your family money and your job at Oxford because I’m going to make sure this is your last government assignment.”
“You two can bicker later. Right now, we need to save my father.”
“Your father is probably on the way to France to eventually join Napoleon in Russia. Be assured, he will be our prisoner as well as Roundtree and the others,” Ellis said.
Hetty barely resisted the urge to slap the odious man, but she swore to herself once this was over, she was going to kick him in the shins again. Harder this time.
When she landed on the ship’s deck beside Laurence with Ellis still behind her, the old tar said, “Wotcher bringin’ that little mite wit’ ye fer?”
“He’s small, but wiry. A great help when we need someone who can get into small spaces.” Laurence glanced around the ship as Ellis stepped on board. “Where are the others?”
“In one of the cabins. They been acting mighty strange. As if they was hidin’ or somethin’. The old sailor wheezed out a cough. “Lord knows I ain’t a askin’ no questions.”
“Lead us to the cabin,” Ellis said.
Hetty followed along behind the men and tried to keep her mouth shut. She’d never been on a ship before and was amazed at all the people and activity. It was almost like a city on water. There was a lot to observe and take in.
They followed the old man down a set of steps and Hetty realized how the stories she’d heard about hard it was to travel by ship were true. Even she, as short as she was, had a hard time not feeling trapped with the ceiling so low.
Stopping in front of a door, the sailor rapped on the wood. “You got some visitors.”
“Who is it?”
“Three men. Two big and one small,” the sailor said.
“You know better than that. I need the code,” the voice from inside the room said.
Laurence turned to her with a wild look on his face as if he hoped she had the code word.
Having no idea what it could be, she shook her head and mimicked Hammond’s voice. “You know that code idea was silly. Just let us in. We’re tired and want to sit down.”
“Did you hear from Roundtree? Did he get the lens?”
“He’s on his way. It takes longer than this to get to Oxford and back. He said he’d cross at Dover once he got it and we should go on.” Hetty prayed her instincts were right and that they’d sent Roundtree to her father’s latest hiding place to retrieve the new lens he’d developed.
The old sailor wandered off as Hetty was speaking in Hammond’s voice. After giving her an odd look, first. She wanted to laugh as his expression since she knew he was trying to fathom how such a small person as she was had such a deep voice.
The sight of the door handle turning seemed to alert Laurence and Ellis to action.
Almost before the door was opened, the two of them had shoved it backward and they were in the room.
Hetty followed after and let out a gasp of dismay at the sight in front of her.
Chapter Twenty
She ran forward to the bunk past Laurence and Ellis as they subdued the other man in the cabin.
On the mattress was her father. His head was wrapped with a bandage that had blood seeping out of it. His face was almost purple with bruising and swollen. It even looked as if his jaw was out of alignment. A sling was on his arm.
“Father, Father, are you all right?” Hetty knelt beside him.
“Ah, no. I must be dying. Here I am dreaming my dear girl is here with me. I hope that son of mine will take care of her and my Penelope.” His head moved from side to side on the pillow causing more blood to roll out of the bandage and down his cheek.
“You’re all right, Father. I’m here. It’s Hetty. I’m really here.” Tears fell on his shirt where she leaned over him. What had they done to him?
“Laurence, look at him. They’ve tortured him. What will we do?”
“We have to take them off this ship. We’ll get him to a doctor.” Laurence had his prisoner by the arm. “Come on Peregrine. We need to get all our captives to London and Hetty’s father to a doctor.”
“We also need to get to Dover to stop this Roundtree,” Ellis said.
“I know where he’s going,” Hetty said.
“Then you can tell us and we’ll stop him there first,” Ellis said.
“You seem to think you can tell me what to do and you’re quite mistaken.” Hetty turned her back on the man who’d done nothing but annoy her since the second they met.
She patted her father’s hand. “We’re going to get you well.”
“Lord, thank you for allowing me to have this moment with my daughter before my death even if it is merely a delusion of a failing mind.” Her father’s words made Hetty’s heart want to burst in sadness.
Holding out hope that he would be all right, Hetty sniffed back her tears as Laurence called for assistance.
A couple of crewmen arrived in the room and Laurence said, “Please let your captain know I need to speak with him. We need to have someone row us to shore and provide a way for us to take this injured man with us without harming him further.”
One of the men dashed out of the cabin and soon returned with a man dressed in a greatcoat and black boots shined to a brilliant sheen.
Laurence took the man who clearly was in charge aside and spoke to him quietly as Hetty stayed beside her father. Her sire kept up a stream of conversation with himself about his impending death. Hetty chose to believe this was a good thing. After all, if he were really dying, wouldn’t he not have the strength to do all that talking?
Ellis stood silent with his hand on the arm of the man they’d taken prisoner.
Soon enough, the captain left the room and returned with a number of men. They were led off the ship and to a small tender to be ferried ashore.
Her father winced at every movement of the small vessel, but at least he was still awake and semi-alert. Hetty kept squeezing his hand to encourage him to hang on, but after a few moments, it didn’t seem as if he realized she was still there.
She whispered prayers under her breath all while trying to think of the best way to get him the help he needed as well as protect his invention from being taken across the channel to the enemy. There was no possibility that he was part of the plot to take it there. It was clear to her from his condition that he’d been beaten in order to get information for the emperor. Sure of it even without seeing the rest of his body, Hetty was determined to make sure her father wouldn’t be falsely accused of treason.
If Laurence Fortescue and his vile friend, Mr. Peregrine Ellis still had it in their minds that James Hale would’ve betrayed his country, she was going to make them apologize to him. How Laurence could have thought it in the first place was a mystery to her. Surely he knew the man who’d taken him in better than that?
The bow of the small boat eventually hit the shore, pushing mud aside in the shape of the vee of the prow.
Laurence handed Hetty out of the boat and she waited for them to remove her father. They weren’t quite as close to the manor house as where they’d earlier gotten on the river, but near enough for Ellis to run to fetch a wagon to put her father in.
While he was gone, Hetty knelt beside her father again as the smaller boat returned to the ship. “You owe my father an apology.”
“I know. I can see he was treated pretty roughly by those men. Surely if he were part of their conspiracy, they wouldn’t have needed to do that.”
“You can’t still be thinking he was part of it.” Hetty was aghast.
“No. But the truth is, he has to answer some questions about his behavior. He’s been a known associate of some men who have definitely committed treason. We’re going to want to know why and what information he might have given as well as received from his dealings with them.”
“He’s got to get well first. You certainly can’t
interrogate him in the condition he’s in.” Hetty stood when she noticed the cart coming. “We have to get him to a doctor.”
“I know. I think you and he should stay here while Ellis and I go back to Oxford. You can tell me where the item is Roundtree is seeking may be. I’ll send for a doctor on the way and call on your mother as well. She can come and keep you company until he’s well enough to return home.”
“No. We have no idea who lives in this house and if it’s someone who was conspiring with Hammond and Talbot, I’m certainly not going to even consider staying here and leaving my father to whatever other punishment they may have for him for losing out on his invention.” She shook her index finger at him. “In fact, I’m ashamed you would even suggest such an idea. If you’re such an important man in the service of the King and Prince Regent, you should be smart enough to figure we’d be in danger if left here.”
“You have a point, but I was merely trying to make some arrangements for Mr. Hale to heal. It’s dangerous to keep him moving in the shape he’s in.”
“I agree, but I think it would be worse to leave him here. You have to take these men you captured to London anyway so you can transport my father with them. You also have the carriage to return.”
“What will you be doing?” Laurence quirked his eyebrows.
“Riding a horse as fast as I can to Oxford.”
Ellis stopped the cart. “Let’s take him back to the house.”
Laurence shook his head. “Change of plans. You and Bannerman take him with the other captives to London. I have a rented carriage that some of our men can ride in and help guard the prisoners as well. You can alternate rest periods in the carriage and guard posts in the cart.”
“And what will you be doing?” Ellis asked.
“Miss Hale and I will be riding straight through to Oxford. To stop Roundtree.”
“Wait.” Ellis held up his hand. “Let me understand this. You’re leaving me and your friend Bannerman here with an invalid who is in dire need of a doctor, some prisoners and the rest of our men while you go with the chit to capture Roundtree?”
“That’s correct. And the longer we stand here and debate it, the farther away Roundtree gets.” Laurence squatted at one end of the makeshift bed Hetty’s father was on. “Help me load him so Hetty and I can find some horses in the barn to borrow.”
Lightning Strikes Twice (The Heart of a Hero Book 4) Page 19