“Let me fetch you some tea. Come along, Amy,” Mrs. Abbot said.
Amy stood her ground. “Mr. Benson’s been in a fight.”
The woman shook her head and promised to fetch tea as quick as a bunny. Eli could not care less about the damned tea. He had eyes only for his brother, Rob, who appeared to be enjoying a cup and engulfing a sandwich at the end of the drapery table. Two strangers sat on stools nearby.
“It looks like you may have found our villains, Eli. What do you have to report?” Rob asked.
“Care to introduce your friends?” Eli retorted, wary.
“Hickock and Holliday are inquiry agents on contract to…various government offices,” Rob said. He meant, no doubt, Viscount Rockford’s shadowing organization. The same one Rob worked for. Contract, though, not employees.They must be free agents.
Rob continued, “They have some ideas about crime networks. But first, where did you acquire that delightful bruise? I am assuming at the Happy Cock. What did you find there?”
Wil pushed a stool over to the table for Eli. He looked at the avid faces waiting around him and turned his gaze to his brother. He’d get no more details about Rob’s contacts. He described his visit—and treatment—at the Happy Cock. Questions asked; reactions given. “They wouldn’t let me anywhere near the stairs or back rooms. One thing is certain: they’re all afraid of something. So are the neighbors.”
He pulled out his notes and sketches, describing his survey of the building. “Finally, I took a look out back. This is a sketch of the rear. Odd little extension, that.”
“Well done, Eli. Excellent reconnaissance,” Rob said, sliding over the sketches. His words soothed Eli’s pride, battered by his inability to rush the place.
“They have the means and the muscle to do something like Fanny’s abduction,” Eli said. “We know Edward’s threats are tied to that place. But I saw no way I could get in. Not on my own. If that’s where they have her, we don’t have much time.”
“You did the right thing. You could have been killed, and it might have spooked them into moving her.” Rob glanced over at Amy, pulled her close, and spoke softly, “Could you please ask Mrs. Abbot to bring me another of those wonderful sandwiches?”
When the little one ran up the stairs, Rob watched her go before saying, “Holliday here has some experience with white slavery in this part of the country. He thinks they may mean to have her transported.”
“Transported? Indentured to the colonies?” Eli couldn’t make sense of it.
Rob glanced at the agents. “Holliday thinks the Barbary Coast.”
“Young, fresh, and untouched. She fits the pattern,” Holliday murmured.
Eli sat as if a boulder had descended onto his head. Slavery. In his worst nightmare, he hadn’t considered it. He’d feared rough treatment or forced intercourse at the tavern itself. If they meant to keep her intact to transport her… “Dear God,” he breathed.
Wil had moved closer to him.
Eli put an arm around the boy. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.” Eli glared at Rob. “But obviously my brother believes you’re mature enough to understand what we’re up against.”
“I want to help.” The boy’s jaw trembled.
“You already have,” Rob said. “Wil found Mr. Reilly there, who saw two men carrying a woman out of the alley, but they disappeared before he could react.” He indicated a man dressed as a day laborer, toward the back of the room.
Reilly gave a slight salute.Former soldier, Eli thought.
Rob quickly confirmed it. “Reilly served as a sharpshooter in the Peninsular War. He was able to give us a description. Valuable skill, that. I can use a good man like that.”
“But now where does that leave us?” Eli asked.
“If the intent is transport, we have a bit of time but not much.”
Hancock spoke up, tapping Eli’s sketch of the rear of the Happy Cock. “That is an odd extension. There may be a second door on the other side. Flat roof, though. That’ll help.”
“We’ll need people watching the front as well,” Holliday murmured.
“That’s the plan?” Eli asked, outraged. “We watch?”
Rob nodded ruefully. “I don’t like it, either, but taking her when they move her is safer than a frontal assault that would risk injury to Miss Hancock and others.”
“But what if Holliday is wrong and they don’t plan to move her?” Eli demanded. “Every second counts. They could…” He glanced at Wil. Eli didn’t need to put his fears into blunt words.
“The likelihood is they’ll move her under cover of darkness. If they haven’t brought her out by morning, we’ll catch them sleeping.” Rob held Eli’s eyes. “Eli? Agree?”
Eli nodded. He had little choice. Reilly moved closer to the table, and they began a detailed discussion of tactics and assignments. Tea and a sandwich appeared at Eli’s elbow, and he realized he was hungry after all.You can’t go to war starving.
He listened patiently, adding observations about places the criminals might hide a carriage and four and where they might intercept it. One thought echoed through him.If the sun comes up, I’m going in there. Even if I have to go alone.
