Page 15 of King's Man

“My apologies, sir.” The colonel was a prickly sod, especially when his wounded knee was acting up. Which it had been the whole time they’d been suffering the damp misery of this English summer.

“Thames Street,” Talmach told the jarvey as the hackney pulled up and he clambered awkwardly inside, favoring his stiff knee. Nate didn’t offer to help; he’d learned that lesson the hard way. With a grunt, Talmach sat and stretched out his bad leg. “I was saying that you’ll need to be careful around this Hutchinson.”

Nate paused in closing the carriage door. “Careful, sir?”

“The man has the stink of a Tory about him.”

“Colonel,” he said lightly, “not every American in London is a Tory.”

Talmach grunted. “Most of them. Besides, that man looked the part — shabby and prideful. Prickling with hostility.”

Hostility was right, although the reasons were more complicated than Talmach could imagine. But Samhadlooked shabby, worn and weary beneath skin that had paled during his exile. Nate felt a twist of guilt but repressed it hard. Sam had made his own choices and the consequences were not Nate’s to bear. Yet the sight of him so… so diminished left him empty, desolate inside. “Even if he were a King’s man once, does it matter? We’re all Americans now.”

“And some of us are more worthy of the title than others.” Talmach flexed his hand around the head of his cane. “Men like him don’t deserve to call themselves American. They forfeited that right when they refused to fight for their country. I always said we should have hanged the lot of them.” An angry smile stretched his lips thin. “But at least we’ll get Farris, eh?”

“Farris is certainly a traitor,” Nate said stiffly. “I assume Sa —” He covered the error with a cough. “Pardon me. I assume Hutchinson doesn’t know the nature of the document we’re after?”

“No. I’ve told him nothing.” The carriage hit a rut and lurched, making Talmach wince as his leg jostled. “If the man took the enemy’s side against us in the war, you can be damned sure he’d strike a blow for the King now. And he’d certainly shield his fellow dissenters from discovery. You must keep the nature of your mission secret.”

Nate didn’t answer. Five years ago, he’d have sworn that Sam had no interest in political machinations. But Sam had clearly changed. He’d grown hard and bitter, and the truth was that Nate no longer knew him.

One thingwascertain, however: Sam would never trust him, never again consider him a friend, if he knew that Nate was working with the Continental Congress to unmask political dissenters. Good God, Sam would think him no better than Amos Holden. He said, with real conviction, “You can be quite sure that Hutchinson will learn nothing of MacLeod's list from me.”

“Good.” Talmach tapped his cane thoughtfully on the carriage floor. “Something about the man’s name. Hutchinson…”

A quicksilver flash of fear. “You’re thinking, perhaps, of Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts?”

“Perhaps. But that devil sat at the heart of a spiderweb and this man may well be part of it. A cousin, perhaps. Or some other relation.”

“If the man’s exiled here what business is that of ours? He’s paid his price and our interest is in those plotting against us at home.”

“Be wary of him, Tanner.That’sthe material point. The mission’s success depends on your discretion.”

Nate simply nodded. Nevertheless, his gut squirmed uneasily. He feared what the colonel might do if he uncovered the truth about Sam’s Loyalist past. But realistically, whatcouldhe do? Nothing, surely. Talmach’s hatred of Tories might be legendary, but Sam was beyond his power in London.

Even so, a niggle of conscience suggested that he should warn Sam. At least make him aware of Talmach's position and prejudices. But in doing so Nate would have to reveal his own position, and that —

No.

He dismissed the idea immediately. Because if he told Sam the truth, they wouldn't be spending the next two weeks traveling together. Most likely, he'd never see Sam again.

And that would be unbearable.

Pressing his hand over the ache in his chest, Nate felt the ring hanging on its cord beneath his shirt, the gold warm against his skin. Politics be damned, he refused to give up this chance at reconciliation.

Whatever the cost, he’d keep Sam’s secret from Talmach. And keep his own secret from Sam.Christ. What a tightrope to walk.

“I’ll be careful,” he told the colonel.

But unbeknownst to Talmach, Nate had another mission now — a higher mission.

And only two weeks to see it done.

Chapter Five

Of all the wretched reversals of fortune to befall Sam Hutchinson in his thirty-three years of life, this accidental meeting had to be the bitterest. A million souls in London Town, and fate threw him into the path of Nate Tanner.

Why, in heaven’s name? Had he not suffered enough?

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