Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

I thank you for telling me, but you must get out of here. We do not know when the gang will arrive with the goods. There is no crew here for them, and I suspect they will be angry when they find there is no one to receive them. Perhaps you could row across to Taywards."

Ashley pointed out which of the piers belonged to his brother, and the ferryman gave his acknowledgment. "If you wait there, we might have need of you. You will be paid handsomely for your time."

"It's yer coin, guv. I'm 'appy to oblige."

The five stowaways covered themselves up again as the man released the ropes and began to push away from the pier. Ashley was hard-pressed not to laugh at the sight, but it was a very serious matter, and Chum had no idea what was about to occur. Ashley wished he could warn him.

The boat had not made it far at all when the sound of horse-drawn wagons approached. There was still no sign of a crew—or of Singleton. He listened as the wagons pulled to a stop and soft-stepped boots approached the yacht. Devil did not have to look very hard to realize no one was there.

He cursed under his breath, but Ashley heard it. He wished he could reveal himself and tell Devil to leave, that Singleton was likely setting him up to take the fall, but doing so would jeopardize everything.

One of the other men came forward. "What do we do? I don't trust we'll be paid if we just leave the goods on 'is boat."

"No. We have to take them elsewhere."

"What about the dock across the way where you been keepin' lookout? We could wait and see from there."

"Do you happen to have a barge in your back pocket?" Devil asked impatiently.

"I'll find one," Shorty said, then hurried away.

Now they were in a pickle. Ashley highly doubted that the others across the way would see them coming and move away in time. Why had nothing in this investigation gone according to plan? Hopefully, Renforth was having better fortune discovering where Singleton had gone and what his plans were. At the moment, Ashley was completely dependent on a gang leader to make quick decisions. He only hoped the hold they had over Devil was enough.

Somehow, Shorty managed to find a barge with a ferryman. Ashley did not how that had happened. Quickly and quietly they loaded the crates onto the barge.

"Take the wagons back to the warehouse, then return here and await my signal. I will wait across the way with the cargo."

"Aye, aye, sir," Shorty said mockingly, then disappeared.

That was quick thinking. Only then did Ashley dare open the door a very small bit to try to speak to Devil who, on the alert, turned at the sound of the door creaking.

"Take the barge across to the Taywards dock, but beware, there is another one there. You may tell them what is happening."

"Do you think the gent will come?"

"I cannot say. He took off towards London, and my commander followed."

Devil cursed, echoing Ashley's sentiments exactly.

"Beware. The excise men may be about."

"Aye, and my men will be back soon."

Where were Chum and Manners? They must be nearby. Had Chum yet realized this was his brother's yacht?

"I feel like I need to find Chum and tell him first." Ashley tried looking out the small window, but saw no hint of their hiding places.

"You have no idea where he is. It was one thing to whisper to Devil, but you do not know who's about. What if Singleton is lying in wait?"

"Where the devil is he, and where is Renforth?"

"At this point, there's nothing we can do but wait. Normally, you're not so impatient, Ash. Might it have something to do with the blue-eyed beauty waiting just across the water?"

Ashley gritted his teeth.

"She's your perfect match, you know. I hope you won't let her go over some misguided sense of honour all of us seem to have. We all feel unworthy having seen and done the things we have—besides being second sons as though it makes us unworthy somehow."

"You are dashed philosophical tonight, Fielding."

"Observant," he corrected. "This job leaves a great deal of time for overthinking everything. But watching the two of you together makes me somehow wish for even a chance with such a one."

"Such a one," Ashley muttered. Such little words for such a handful.

There was no more time for his friend to continue with the most uncomfortable conversation. Ashley knew he'd be a fool to let Patience go. If she'd even have him. She was hardly what could be called a traditional miss. Perhaps she was toying with him and had no intention of anything more than flirtation. It was a sobering, sickening thought.

Fielding put the spyglass back to his eye. "A small skiff in the distance."

"How many people?"

"Only one, I believe. Could be someone coming in for the night." Fielding handed him the glass, and he took a look. The person was not rowing hard, but being carried along with the current. When they came close, they began to turn towards the docks. There was little to decipher about the person, whomever they may be. A cloak with a hood shrouded them. They paddled closer and closer, and Ashley's hand went to the revolver at his waist.

"A crewman perhaps?"

"An odd way to travel, I would think, before a long voyage."

They slid right into where the barge had been before, put away the oars, and hooked a rope around one of the posts on the pier. As they climbed from the small skiff onto the pier and passed right before them, they could not see their face. The person climbed on board Le Coquette , then immediately went below deck.

Would Devil return to investigate? Ashley was almost certain, if he looked, he would see the barge approaching again.

With so much at stake, there was devilish little going on, even though the tension was thick in the air as though a storm was about to erupt. He wanted action and he wanted Patience tucked away safely in her bed.

As predicted, the barge with the cargo approached, but could not dock due to the skiff. The ferryman angled as close as he could, then Devil jumped to the pier and followed the other man down below deck.

Emerging again alone a few minutes later, Devil then somehow signalled to his gang who crawled out from nowhere like worms from the depths of the earth. They worked efficiently and put the crates down into the hull within minutes. It was frightful how quickly they offloaded the stolen goods then escaped into the night. No wonder the gang was sought-after.

Just as Devil himself emerged, Chum walked up. "This is my brother's ship," he said in disbelief to Devil. "Is he down on board?"

It was plain to see Devil did not wish to answer. He angled his head towards the boat without speaking.

"Oh, no," Ashley whispered. "Why would he do this?"

The timing could not have been worse. The excise men arrived at the same time and surrounded the ship.

"Are you the owner of the ship?" a uniformed officer in a tricorn hat demanded.

"It belongs to my family," Chum answered. "But there must be some mistake."

"I've orders to search the ship." He placed the warrant against Chum's chest and then proceeded to board the ship as the furrow between Chum's brow grew deep as realization crossed his face. He looked up towards where he knew his colleagues must be, then climbed aboard the ship himself.

"This is not going to end well," Fielding predicted.

"Shall we try to help?"

"That's not in our script. We lead the authorities to do the messy part."

"Neither is Chum jumping into the middle of apprehending the culprit," Ashley argued.

A string of curses assailed Ashley's ears. Fielding very much liked to operate by the rules, but this was a grey area. It involved one of their own.

"You may stay here and see if you're needed." Ashley was not waiting to find out. He slipped from the shed, and could already hear shouting and the sounds of a probable scuffle taking place. He hurried to the gangway and feared he was too late. Singleton was holding a knife to his brother's throat while two excise officers pointed guns at both of them.

"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 insisted we 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 bodies back 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."

"I believe, in fact, it was quite the opposite."

He smiled with devastating effect. "There's my girl."

"I want to go home."

"I know." He took her into his arms with a gentle kiss to her head. Somehow, her subconscious allowed all self-control to let loose along with bodily control. Her teeth started to chatter and she cursed. Warm arms came around her body as it began to shake and she couldn't stop the cascade that fell from her eyes, hating the weakness and seeming dependence on another.

Ashley simply held her until the well had run dry. "The first time is the hardest. Not that killing a person ever becomes easy."

"What will happen to me?"

He sighed, then seemed to settle in for a lengthy talk.

"You mean will you be punished?"

A nod of acknowledgement was all she could muster.

"I suppose it's time to explain things to you."

Patience remained quiet, lest he change his mind.

"You may have noticed that my troop does not exactly perform normal duties."

She nodded.

"The duties we performed during the war did not precisely fit in with that of the Household Guards. When delicate matters arose, especially with Renforth's connections, we were asked to look into some sensitive matters, then one thing led to another. We have been doing it ever since. Our specialty is making situations disappear."

"Such as this one. Who do you officially work for?"

"That is a fine question and one I'm not sure I can or could answer."

She squeezed his hand and let him continue.

"This matter will go away with minimum fuss. When arms were stolen from the government, it quickly became apparent that information had been leaked from high channels."

"So Cholmely's brother will not be publicly branded a traitor?"

"Only if there's no other way to prevent it. It would be an embarrassment for our government as well as Lord Ormond and Chum. There is still the matter of discovering where Singleton obtained the information, but I have little doubt it will prove that Layton and Beckett were involved. They were likely desperate to find a way to pay Rupert's scheme, as it were."

"And what of Rupert's death?"

"It will be death by misadventure attributed to the attack by highwaymen."

"And my part will be swept under the rug."

"It will not be mentioned. While your actions were most admirable and heroic, Singleton's death will also be attributed to unfortunate events in no way linked to the stolen arms."

"That is harder for me to understand."

"Since he's already dead, the innocent involved would suffer more. Think of Chum. His family's title would most likely be stripped and they would lose all of their lands and estates."

"Oh, I see." A wave of emotion hit her again and she held back tears. "I thought I would lose you," she said softly. "I could bear almost anything but that."

"It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me, Patience. If you think you can put up with me, that is."

Was he saying what she thought he was? She looked up into his eyes, the deep blue watching her, vulnerable.

Before she could assimilate an answer, he pulled back the tarp, and directed the ferryman to take them back across the river. Slowly. Then he pulled the tarp back over them and adjusted her comfortably back into his arms. She wished they could stay like that forever, ridiculous though it may seem.

Instead of words, he showed her with a tender, yet passionate kiss that sent little arrows of sweetness deep into her heart and took hold. In his arms, his touch and lingering kiss almost drove her troubles from her mind.

Breathless with passion, it was hard to make sense of her reality while wrapped in Ashley's arms, hidden from the world beneath the canvas tarp, riding across the river.

"I never thought to marry, Patience. But I can't seem to stop thinking about you when you're not with me. It seems you are essential to my happiness."

"Even though I drive you crazy?"

"Especially because of that. I do not think any other sort of female would do for me. Ours will not be a traditional marriage, but you seem to understand and perhaps relish that fact."

A faint smile made its way to her lips.

"You are a gift, Patience."

"I will remind you of that often when I vex you," she teased, though it was she who felt as though she was the one who'd received the most precious gift. With him, every day would be a new adventure, and everything else would be all right.