Page 19 of No Man's Land

“Oh yeah? What kind of infection?”

“A deadly one.”

Josef frowned. “How come I never heard anything about it at the front?”

“Becausewe’re trying not to cause panic.” He took a deep breath and, more calmly, said, “Listen to me, Josef. This thing you’re poking about in is dangerous.”

“This ‘infection’?”

“It could get you killed.”

“It’s already getting people killed.”

Alex’s grip eased, but he didn’t let go. Josef wished he were less aware of the warm weight of his hands. “We’re handling it.”

“How?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

“Yes, I do. I have a bloodyrightto know that.” Irritated, he shrugged out of Alex’s grip. “The people have a right to know what their government is doing—here at home, in the war, and across the whole bloody Empire. You can’t keep us in the dark no more. I won’t let you.”

Alex’s jaw bunched, and he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have come here.”

“No, you shouldn’t.”

Snatching up his hat and gloves, Alex snapped, “I was trying to protect you.”

“You were trying to silence me.”

“Funnily enough, in this instance, they amount to the same thing.” He looked like he was about to leave, yet he remained standing by the counter—taut, aristocratic, and troubled. His gaze touched Josef’s and held. And held. Andheld. Josef’s heart started pounding against his ribs as if he’d been running or fighting. Or something else entirely. In a softer voice Alex said, “For what it’s worth, I very much enjoyed ourtime together in Poperinge. I think back on it often, and with fondness.”

So did Josef, which only irritated him further. He said, “You mean the time you seduced me and stole my camera?”

“I didn’t…” He closed his eyes with a sweep of dark lashes and sighed. “Well, it was what it was, I suppose.”

And what itwaswas bloody confusing.

Saying no more, Alex donned his Homburg and strode to the door. At the last moment, before he opened it, he turned back around. “If you value your life, Shepel, stay away from this business. No good can come of your involvement. And plenty of ill.”

Without waiting for a response, he pulled open the door with a sharp jangle of bells and disappeared into the skulking fog.

Chapter Seven

Nothing was more likely to encourage Josef along any path of action than being told it was forbidden. Especially when the man doing the telling was a bona fide thieving aristocrat.

Which was why, the morning after Alex’s visit, Josef found himself standing on a cold street with his notebook out, staring down into a hole in the ground.

“And it was Tuesday, when the body was found?” he asked the man warming his hands over the brazier. A breeze had got up in the night, shifting the fog enough that a pale sun was visible through the mist today. Not that it provided much heat.

“Tuesday, aye. First thing. Couldn’t hardly miss it.”

“And can you describe its position?”

“Flat on its face.”

Josef looked up, saw a gleam in the man’s eye. It was about all of his eye that was visible, the rest lost in the deep lines of a face used to outside work. “I mean its location in the tunnel,” Josef explained. “Was it directly beneath the hole?”

“Nah.” He jerked his head to the left. “About twenty yards that way.”

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