Page 92 of The Gift of Patience
“Get off my ship or I will hurt him,” Singleton threatened.
“My lord, we have the right to search your ship.”
“Take it up with my father. If you return with him and have his consent, then I will stand down.”
You will be across the Channel by then,Ashley predicted to himself.
“Do as he says,” Chum ordered.
Ashley crouched down behind a wooden box, trying to decide if he could manage to get behind Singleton. There was no doubt he was guilty, and when a guilty person’s back was against the wall, figuratively speaking, they were unpredictable and could do anything—including sacrificing their brother. It was no secret there was no love lost between the two, but Chum didn’t deserve the shame this would bring to his family.
Singleton had to realize there was no way out for him. Even if he managed to thwart the search for now, there were several people who had seen the cargo being loaded onto his ship. They could not take the chance that he would escape. Ashley crawled to the next barrier he could hide behind on the ship. He’d never been nautical and barely knew one end of a ship from the other, but he also knew his men would protect him from where they were.
Singleton and Chum continued to argue with the excise man. Renforth had not shown himself for some reason. Had Singleton managed to evade him? It had not been long enough for him to have fully gone to Mayfair and back.
The excise man’s gaze flickered towards Ashley creeping near, but the gleam in the man’s eyes said he saw his opportunity for glory and taking down an entitled lord, and he was not going to let it go. “All of us saw cargo being loaded onto the ship. It’s our right under the authority of the Crown to search anything that comes into port in this country.” He took a step forward. “Now, let him go and move out of the way so I may perform my duty!”
“You don’t want to do this, Brother!”
“You led them straight to me, you fool! Do you think this won’t affect you?”
“I did nothing wrong except be born into the wrong family,” Chum said with disgust.
“Not all of us can be models of propriety, Brother.”
“Move or I will use force!” The officer was growing impatient, but it was clear Singleton had no intention of yielding.
Chum had to know one of his brethren would be there to protect him, because he shoved Singleton’s arm forward while diving for the deck. Singleton threw his knife at the officer, then went for something in his coat pocket to head off the other officer. Ashley was already aiming his revolver, waiting for a clear shot, but Singleton managed to put himself behind Devil, who had stayed back through all of this. Did none of his men have a clear shot?
Singleton turned and took aim at him. Before he could fire, a knife flew into Singleton’s back, his eyes wide with shock as he slumped to the ground.
Ashley closed in. He dared not remove his aim from the man as long as he lived. But when he reached him, there was no life left in the gaze. Chum sat against the wall, the blank stare of battle fatigue on his features. It would be some time before he regained his wits, and that might be for the best right then.
The others started to come out from their hiding positions, but none of them would have thrown a knife like that. He looked around and spotted the barge next to the yacht and groaned. Would that woman ever learn not to meddle?
“She insistedwe move closer to help. How was I to know she would climb onto the next ship and throw a knife?” Rotham protested.
“Not only that, but with more bloody precision than any of our snipers!” Renforth exclaimed half-impressed, half-furious.
No one elaborated since Chum was still nearby and could possibly hear, though by the look on his face, he was somewhere else altogether.
“Manners, you and I will take Chum back to London and inform Lord Ormond. Fielding, you and Baines deal with the bodies and the excise men, and Stuart, if you and the others can take care of the matter of the gang. Have them unload the yacht and return the cargo to the East India docks, then we will see about negotiating their punishment.”
Patience didn’t care what they said as she sat nearby on the barge wrapped in the canvas tarp. The horror of what she’d done still setting in, both angry and terrified at the same time. The scene kept playing out over and over in her mind.
It had had to be done—it was him or Ashley. There had been no choice. She had waited and waited for someone else to take the shot, but the wily snake had shielded himself very well. When there had been an opening, she’d had to take it.
It was some time before anyone thought to wonder where she was. The other barge had been commandeered to take the bodiesback to London, then there was a time where all of the men unloaded cargo and put it back on the wagons.
“Patience.”
She did not wish to talk, for then she might cry and that would be unbearable.
“Patience, talk to me.”
She shook her head a little. She just wanted to leave and be alone with her misery.
Ashley’s fingers slid beneath her chin forcing her face to his. “You will be the death of me, Patience Whitford.”
