Page 72 of His Wicked Secret
“Audrey, this way,” Avery said, breaking her from her thoughts. She followed him and Daniel upstairs to a pair of rooms. She hesitated when she saw the single bed, but Daniel smiled gently.
“Fear not. I will sleep on the floor.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve slept in far worse places and in far worse conditions,” Daniel assured her. “This floor would rank somewhere in the middle of all the places I’ve been forced to sleep.” He set his small travel case down and walked to the door just as Avery joined them.
“Ah, Russell, just in time. I have to take my leave and locate the man who will get us into the reformist group. You should stay here and wait until I return.” Daniel paused, his hand on the doorjamb as he looked back at them. “Be careful tonight, Russell. Remember, we are in unfriendly territory.” He seemed to hesitate, as though he wished to say something more. Audrey felt the knot in her stomach grow even tighter as he left.
“Avery.” She tucked her arm in his as they stared out the window to watch dusk settle over Calais.
He turned to face her. “What’s wrong?”
“Something isn’t right. Can’t you feel it?”
He nodded. “I do. Every time I leave London. Stay here and do not leave this room until I return. I need to see to something.”
Audrey agreed, but her stomach was knotting violently. She swore she could still feel the ground rolling underneath her, even though they were no longer on the ship. As she watched Avery go, she couldn’t help the feeling of panic creeping in around her. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
* * *
Avery steppedoutside the little inn and noticed a boy begging for coins.
“You, boy,” he said gently in French, waving the child over to him.
“Yes, monsieur?” The boy’s eyes widened as Avery removed several coins from a small pouch and held them up.
“You know where the soldiers stay here?” he asked.
The boy nodded. “Down by the docks, monsieur. They have a place where they sleep and practice shooting.”
“Do a favor for me and I’ll give you all of these coins.” Avery waved the pieces to catch the boy’s focus again.
“Name it!” The boy’s hungry eyes and dirty face spoke of his desperation, and it tugged at Avery’s heart. The lad was probably starving.
“First, you go and buy yourself a bit of bread, a little cake, and something to drink. Then go to where the soldiers stay on the docks and keep a close eye. If they start to leave, you come here straightaway and tell me which way they are headed, understood? There’s more coin in it if you do.”
“Yes, monsieur.” The boy’s eyes were full of honor as he replied.
“Good. I’ll be in the rooms upstairs, the first door on the right.” He pressed the coins into the lad’s palm and watched him scamper off.
Avery watched the lad disappear into the growing gloom. His skin prickled, and a flutter of nerves stormed his belly. During his years of service he had honed his instincts well, and right now his instincts were telling him he was being played. The question was by whom, and to what end?
He was not about to trust Daniel. Anyone who had such stiff loyalty to Hugo Waverly, yet was possibly being intimate with the wife of one of the deadliest men in England, was not someone to be trusted. It made no sense for Daniel to betray him, but there were many things, and many missions, that made little sense in his world.
He did know this much: men like Hugo saw spycraft as a game and men like him as pieces to be played. The question now was whether he was a capital piece or a pawn.
I refuse to let anyone catch me with my guard down. It’s not just my own life at stake, but Audrey’s as well.
He slipped back inside the little inn, studying the men and women having dinner in the taproom. Nothing seemed amiss here, but he wouldn’t ignore the warning in his bones. Danger was on the horizon, of that much he was certain.
21
Daniel had waited long enough. He had purchased a horse and arrived here as discreetly as he could. He entered the barracks of the local gendarmes, assuming one of his many French aliases, Victor Dubois.
After they’d reached the inn, he’d destroyed his English papers, the ones that tied him to Audrey as a man called Mr. Edward Brownley. From now on he was Victor, a man with a long-established reputation in the northern coast of France whom he would use to continue with the mission. But first he had to convince these soldiers that there were two English spies right under their noses. While the gendarmes would deal with Avery and Audrey, he would be on his way to Paris.
The move was callous, but not without purpose. While the gendarmes were focused on their prize, Daniel was all but assured of reaching the reformists unimpeded. In addition, when word of their capture reached Hugo’s diplomatic assets in Paris, they would enact a bureaucratic nightmare within the courts, resulting in as much confusion and finger pointing as possible between various factions. It was believed that this climate would cause the reformists to act hastily, make mistakes, and reveal too much to someone like him in their rush to take advantage of the political chaos.
