by Claudy Conn
Bean looked up at him and said, “Coo … I know all will be right with ye on it.”
“Depend on it, lad,” the duke said and nodded to the elderly retainer as he pushed Scott forward and said, “Do you know how to handle a pistol, Scott, my man?”
“Grew up with guns in m’hands.” Scott grinned. “But what the deuce is going on?”
“Right then,” the duke answered and led him outside, where his driver held his horses standing. As they got inside he said, “Blackburn Alley as fast as you can go.” He turned to Scott, and his voice was a low threat. “A man or two dies today.”
“What?” Scott was now beside himself.
“They took Felicia and Becky, and I have no doubt it was the two men that escaped us the day we found and rescued Becky from them at the cottage.”
“How?” Scott sat forward now, fear taking over his features.
“I am going to guess that this day’s work was a crime of chance.” He secured his pistol in his belt and handed a gun to Scott. “Are you up to it?”
“Someone took Flip and my Becky? By damn, I am up to it!”
~ Twenty-Three ~
FELICIA’S EYES OPENED with a snap.
She immediately choked on something and realized that a piece of wool was in her mouth. She tried spitting this out, but when that didn’t work, she found that rubbing it against the side of the hackney interior wall served very well. It was dislodged enough to spit the remainder of the way.
She then realized her wrists were tied at her back.
She looked across at Becky, who was slumped over, and she got up, sat beside her, and nudged her. “Becky … Becky, wake up, do … you must. Becky!” Realizing that Becky also had a gag in her mouth, she bent and pulled it out with her teeth. “There. That is better. Dear Becky, you must wake up.”
In response, Becky groaned. Felicia grimaced and said, “Oh, Becky, I am so sorry.” With these words, she nudged her again with her shoulder. “You must wake up. We have to find a way of untying each other.”
Becky frowned and tried to focus but said, “No … no.”
“Becky, you have to wake up,” Felicia insisted.
Becky did indeed open her eyes and made another sound, much like a groan, as she tried to sit up. “What? Where?” Becky asked as she looked around.
“We have been abducted by those two men who escaped when we freed you … they must have seen us and decided to finish the job here and now. Becky, they will kill us. They won’t leave witnesses. They will get your father and my … the duke to pay a ransom, and then they will kill us. We have to escape now. We don’t have a choice.”
“Oh, no … this is all my fault. They took you as well … oh …” Becky whimpered.
“Stop. Here,” Felicia said and turned her back and her tied wrists to her friend. “Try and undo my ties, then I will do yours.”
Becky worked the knots as best she could. Their position was awkward, her fingers though free were clumsy, and it took a great deal longer than Felicia had hoped.
Once free, however, Felicia made short work of Becky’s ties. “We are fortunate that our abductors are complete idiots.”
“They are swine,” Becky added.
“Yes, and that too, so remember, we must get away as fast as we can. This, Becky, is going to hurt. The road we are traveling is cobblestone. That is good, as they must go along at a slower pace. It is bad because when we jump, we will trip on the uneven stones. You must try and stay upright and then we must make a run for it. Are we clear?”
“Yes, yes, but, oh … Felicia, I don’t feel quite well …”
“That is because you have a bump on your forehead the size of a small egg. You are no doubt dizzy and feeling queasy. Ignore it as best you can. Our lives depend on our getting away. Understand, dearest?”
“Yes, yes. I won’t let you down.”
“Good girl.” Felicia took a breath. The horrible fact was she was herself feeling unwell. She had taken a double fist to the head, and she had tasted blood. From the stickiness running from her forehead to her chin, she was quite certain she was still bleeding. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she and Becky had to jump out and escape the villains.
“If they see the cab door open, Becky, they will pull up and give chase, so we have to be fast, and do not, no matter what, let go of my hand,” Felicia cautioned.
“Right, I quite understand,” Becky said staunchly.
Felicia opened the door, looked back, and whispered, “Now.”
Even as they jumped, landed, tripped, fell to their knees, and got up, Felicia saw the hackney come to a screeching halt.
“They are on to us. Run!” Felicia screamed even as she tugged on Becky’s hand.
* * *
Felicia and Becky ran through an alley. They were hampered by a toothless man of uncertain age and gin breath who reached out to touch them and managed to trip Becky as they pulled away from him.
Becky screamed, but Felicia simply ignored him as she pulled her friend along in an effort to get to the next avenue and turn north.
They were in the poorest, filthiest neighborhood and in a great deal of danger from the inhabitants as well as from their pursuers.
“Whot ye doing, dearie? Need some help?” said a buxom woman who stepped in their path.
Felicia sidestepped her as Becky screamed again, and the unknown woman laughed robustly.
Straight ahead, she saw a wide avenue. They had to make it to that avenue … they simply had to. Felicia didn’t really know where she was going. She was simply running on instincts.
The next moment could have been disastrous, but Becky cried out a warning just in time.
A man had stepped out of a doorway and put out his leg, no doubt thinking to trip them up. Once again, Felicia sidestepped and kept Becky weaving with her.
The avenue was reached, but at her back Felicia heard one of their assailants yell, “Stop ’em … ye’ll be rewarded, ye will. Stop ’em.”
All at once, she heard something of a crowd gather at their backs, and her heart sank. They were in awful trouble. Becky wasn’t well. Could she manage to keep running? She was herself not feeling terribly steady. Dreadful … they might need to duck and hide?
She didn’t look back as they ran down the middle of the wide avenue, avoiding horse-drawn wagons and ragged hawkers who were on their way home for the day.
She knew Becky couldn’t take much more, and even as they ran, she began chewing her lip and looking for somewhere to hide and catch their breath. She had to do something, but what?
She led Becky to a small alley and ducked into a doorway. Luckily, when she tried the door, it opened. They took the stairs as fast as they could and made their way to the roof, where they stopped and each of them sucked in air and steadied their legs.
Felicia eyed her friend and touched her shoulder. “How are you, Becky?”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about me. I can manage,” Becky said staunchly.
Felicia walked slowly over to the ledge of the roof and saw the next roof was not such a wide jump though it was a foot or so lower. Becky approached, and they exchanged a glance before Felicia asked, “Can you jump the distance, Becky? ’Tis not that wide, but there is a drop. Do you think you can do it?”
“I can.”
“I won’t let go of you,” Felicia said, taking her friend’s hand again. “Don’t you let go of me either, and we’ll manage it together.”
“I trust you, Felicia. Yes, we will do it together.”
“Right … so we shall …” Felicia said as she made Becky back up with her. “Let’s get a running start, shall we?”
They made the jump with feet to spare and stood for a moment hugging one another and nervously laughing before Felicia, still holding her friend’s hand, motioned for them to move across the roof so she could survey the next one.
As it happened the two buildings shared one roof, and with a sigh of relief they slowly made their way unnoticed by
the people below.
The next roof proved to be too far to take on, and Felicia stood frowning as she made up her mind. “Right then. We need to recoup, so breathe in and out for a moment, and then we’ll take the stairs … there.” She indicated with her chin a small structure that housed the stairwell that would lead below.
“Yes, and then … wait for it to be clear enough?”
“Oh, it will never be clear enough, Becky. This part of town never is, but we are dirty enough and mussed up enough to fit in, and that is what we shall do. We will walk slowly and easily with the crowd.” Felicia smiled with more conviction than she felt.
Quietly and slowly they made their way down and found themselves in a dirty hallway at the end of which was a glass door that led to the street.
When they went outside, no one paid them any mind—Felicia was correct: in their present disarray they did fit right in.
They made their way as leisurely as they could down the avenue, trying not to stand out in any way.
“My heart is beating so fast, Felicia,” Becky said breathlessly.
“Yes, mine too,” Felicia answered.
Suddenly Felicia heard a man’s shout, and she closed her eyes. One of their assailants had found them.
She turned, with Becky leaning into her, and discovered one of her would-be-captors peering at them through a press of people in his way. He shouted, “Ye don’t know the ins and outs of Blackburn, do ye? No, ye don’t. We’ll have ye in no time, we will.” He laughed as he and his villainous friend broke free of the crowd, and Felicia took Becky’s hand and ran once more. “We’re coming … me and Styles, we won’t give up till we get what is coming to us.”
All at once, Felicia and Becky were stalled by two large men who stood in their path and sneered at them. Felicia knew they would get no help from that quarter, so for the moment they were trapped. She turned to face heir abductors, her eyes darting all around as she looked for a means to escape.
“Best do as Lew tells ye if ye don’t want to get hurt,” Styles said and leered at them.
“Here is the thing.” Felicia stood straight and took on the air of the duchess Ashton once told her she possessed. “You can’t collect any money unless you have proof of life.”
“Eh? Whot ye mean, proof of life?” Styles said.
“Our people will want proof that we are alive and unharmed. If you hurt us … they won’t pay you a shilling, but they will hunt you until you are found and brought to justice.” Felicia answered with a haughty sneer. “You see … my guardian is a duke and has the Prince Regent’s ear.” She was satisfied to see a look of shock take over both men’s ugly faces.
“Oi don’t loike this,” Styles told Lew.
The men blocking Becky and Felicia at their backs suddenly vanished, and Felicia smiled as she and Becky took a step back and away. Now, at the right moment, they could bolt.
“Aye,” said Lew, “but … how was Oi to know?”
“Yer friend there, she don’t look so well. Aye, maybe yer guardian is a duke, right then, but Oi’m guessing ye don’t want her to bleed … do ye?”
Becky put up her chin. “I have bled before.”
“Touch her, and I will see you hung,” Felicia snapped with such power that both men looked warily at one another again.
“Could be all a hum … how do we know yer guardian is a duke?” Styles asked.
“Now, Becky,” Felicia whispered, and hand in hand they turned and ran.
It was then she looked down the busy avenue to see a coach wielding its way. It was then she saw that coach’s door open wide and a titan jump to the street, followed by her dear Scott.
Felicia stopped in her tracks and pulled Becky to the curbing. Just when she knew she and Becky could never outrun the two at their backs … he had come.
Ashton seemed to glow as she gazed at him. Indeed, it was as though he had descended from heaven. He glittered with bright sparks and shards of light right before her eyes.
He had jumped out of the coach and, once again, was coming to her rescue.
Becky said on a hushed whisper, “Scott … oh Scott …”
Scott had Becky tucked into one arm, his pistol leveled at the blackguards, while the duke told them, “Don’t move. I am a very good shot.” With his free hand, the duke gathered Felicia against his side and cast her a quick appraisal.
* * *
The duke had his pistol aimed as he held Felicia against himself and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. When he saw her, dirty and disheveled, bleeding, and yet still so very brave, he thought his heart would explode with all the emotions that raced through it.
Fear had gripped it these past moments; now, all he could think was that she was, as Scott had first told him, indomitable.
She was here, she was safe, and, he could see, she was ready to take on the world. How he adored her.
Was there, ever, any woman like to her? No, the answer was no.
His hand itched to pull the trigger of his leveled pistol and forever end the life of the brutes that had dared to lay hands on her and Becky.
One of the miscreants said to the other, “Now whot do we do, Lew? We ain’t got the morts … so whot now?”
“Shut it, Styles.” Lew glared at him.
“Ah,” the duke directed at Lew, “doesn’t seem like such a wondrous plan, now, does it, you blackguard.” He had a sudden urge to put down his pistol and tear the swine apart with his own two hands.
Lew gave the duke a worried grin and said, “Well then, whot now? No harm … we’ll be on our way.”
The duke bent, and without taking his eyes off the scoundrel he kissed Felicia once more and said, “Get in the coach, at once. Take Becky and obey me in this, for there will be blood.” The duke could see that Scott was hugging Becky to himself, and he said, “Send her with Felicia into the coach and out of this.” He held her for one moment and said, “Tell my driver that at the first sign of trouble he is to take off and get you and Becky safely away.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts, my sweetheart, just do as I say,” he told her firmly.
Felicia seemed to consider his words and for once, he was pleased, did not argue but took Becky’s limp hand and said, “Yes, Glen.” She turned to her friend and said, “Becky … come with me, I must get you off the street.”
Scott touched Becky gently as he guided the ladies safely towards the coach and turned around to see that the duke had his gun leveled at the two blackguards. He leveled his own as well.
“I wouldn’t move a muscle if I were you,” the duke said. “As I told you, I am very good at hitting my target, and I am aiming for a spot between your beady eyes.”
Lew obviously knew they were in a bind. “Lookee, I don’t have no quarrel with ye. We’ll call it a day and just head on home now. Even, we are … we’ll call it even.”
“Will we?” The duke shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Shall I drop the one with the knife?” Scott asked, his lips drawn with fury.
“I think not,” replied the duke, but at that moment Lew made the mistake of lifting his pistol, apparently hoping to get off a shot.
The duke put a bullet in his hand, sending Lew’s gun flying. The other dropped his knife and began running, and Scott took chase.
Lew was screaming, and the duke walked up to him and with one blow knocked him senseless. He dropped to the cobblestone and appeared down for the count.
The duke turned to see if Scott needed help, but the young man had overtaken Styles, jumped him, and dropped him to the ground. He dragged Styles back and threw him down to his knees in front of the duke, who said while reloading his pistol, “Thank you. Now it would appear that you two have a problem. This is how you will solve it.”
From the coach he heard Felicia swing the door wide and shout, “Ashton!”
He turned in time to see that Lew had come to, reached for and retrieved his pistol, and had it aimed with his uninjured hand.
/> One shot!
Lew now had two bullet wounds, one for each hand. He would never be able to use a gun properly again, the duke thought with satisfaction.
The duke bent, picked up the pistol, and tossed it towards Felicia, who smiled at him, retrieved it, and went back into the coach.
“Here is what you are going to do,” the duke told both men. “And mark me, this is a warning I would heed if I were you. Get out of London. After I see to our ladies, I mean to bring the beadles to this neighborhood and canvas it for both of you. Are we clear?”
“No one will tell ye where we are hiding,” Styles said doubtfully.
“Won’t they? I have plenty of the ready, and I am willing to give it freely. So you tell me, won’t they lead me right to you both for that a nice purse?”
“Aye, then, we’ll get out of town, we will,” Styles said. “I’ll just see to his hands … and off we’ll go.” Beside him, his friend was groaning and bleeding freely.
“Now—you will go at once. You haven’t time to see to his hands until you are out of London. And I am going to give you just one warning never to come back. If you do, I will shoot you both quite dead. Understood?”
“Aye, Oi don’t like London, never did. We prefer the highway,” Styles said as he helped his friend to his feet. “We’ll be off now … aye, that we will … ye’ll have no more trouble from us.”
“Oh, I know that. You have to ask yourself how I found you so quickly. Ask yourselves that and remember, I have eyes everywhere. If ever you bother me or mine, you will wind up dead. I have half a mind to shoot you both dead here in the street and be done.”
Lew’s eyes got big as blood dripped to the cobblestone from his open wounds, and he said, “We be going, aye … right now.”
“Indeed, and as soon as you are out of London, get those wounds cleaned, or you won’t see the next day—gangrene, you know,” the duke said with a show of pleasure. “Remember, within the hour, you had best be out of town, for I mean to return here with the beadles and ferret every corner of Blackburn.” The duke and Scott then watched the two slink away.
“Why did you let them go? We should have taken them in!” Scott said angrily.