Blood Diamond: A Pirate Devlin Novel (17 page)

He held out the map to Devlin. ‘We shall go to the Palais Royale and wait for the diamond to be taken to Ronde. Then we will break into the lapidary before work on the diamond begins and exchange it for the replica.’ Law drained his glass. ‘And that will be
all
we will have to do.’

Devlin took the smaller map, scrutinised it as he began to pace again. He tapped at his sword as he took in the streets between the palaces. He stopped and turned.

‘And the duke would not suspect me being brought into the palace with you?’

Law considered this. ‘I have many aides and stewards. I’m sure it would not matter.’

Devlin resumed his walk around the room, then slapped the map back to the table. He had memorised what he needed.

Law carried on. ‘Without knowing where Philippe hides the gem I do not see any other recourse than to take it once it leaves the safety of the palace. At least then we would know when it leaves and where it is. I am privy to that much, I’m sure. It would certainly be safer than robbing one of the most guarded places on earth, Captain.’

Devlin picked up his glass and swallowed the dregs before holding it out for more. Law obliged as Pitt checked the measure, concerned he would be left short.

Devlin waited for his glass to brim, his eyes lost in thought. He drank for one moment. Then he began.

‘The diamond is in the Palais Royale under the regent’s protection,’ his voice rang out as if reading a purser’s list of victuals and recounting them to his own. ‘You tell me the only chance to take it is when it is removed to the jeweller. That is a fair enough assumption. But not wise. It is more probable that once it is removed it will be more protected. At present only the duke knows where it is,’ he laid down his glass.

‘That is only one man to trick it from. If this jeweller sees the gem and then the replica he will know it’s been cuckolded. This is his craft. But if he is given the replica and only the replica he will know no different. I agree that he would not check that which was handed to him by his master. I believed it real myself and I’ve used diamonds for coin.’

Law began to protest but the tone that controlled a hundred men brushed him aside.

‘You wish to take me into Paris as your aide. Wait for the diamond to be taken to the jeweller. Replace it. And then take it back to England. What of you, Law? Are you to come also?’

‘No. I will wait until my bank and company fall – as surely as they will – and then flee to Belgium, where I am granted passage to England.’

‘So your position will be to remain after the theft. And do you suppose nobody will question that your trusted aide has suddenly disappeared? Would it not raise some suspicion?’

Walpole began to hide a smile with his hand and leaned back, confident now that he had chosen well. In a different life, one in which he had been better born, this lean young man could have been an asset. He had outlived most of his kind and had bested the finest set against him, as every report that Walpole had studied in several languages attested. It would be a crime if he had to die. He stood in front of the head of the Bank of France, the First Minister and a lord, had pulled a pistol on the Prince of Wales and had only removed his hat to wipe his brow. Terrible indeed if he had to die.

Devlin finished wiping his brow. ‘It occurs to me that you gentlemen have never stolen anything in your lives. Nothing that Law has said will happen: I’ll be dead else. I’ll meet you in Paris, Mister Law. That’ll take three days. Take the diamond from the regent himself and make the change there.’ He touched his hat to Walpole. ‘Then I’m after bringing it back to you. Eight days and I can get back to the sea. With all my crimes forgotten.’

Walpole closed his eyes and nodded.

Law found his voice. ‘No, Captain! I have stressed that I do not know where the regent keeps the diamond and—’

Devlin cut him with a look. ‘
You
do not know where he keeps the diamond. Don’t judge me by your own ignorance. I’ll not put my life into the hands of men I don’t know and who don’t know theft from gaming. I’ll find you when I’m in Paris.’

Law jumped up. ‘The diamond cannot be taken from the palace!’ He gestured to the map, rapped his finger upon the trio of buildings. ‘Look at it! Look! That map is true! Fifty guards patrol day and night! More than three hundred servants and twice more in ministers! It is not a ship upon open waters, it is a fortress!’ He went to grab Devlin’s coat then lowered his hand wisely. ‘The plan is good, Captain. Come with me to Paris and follow it and we will all live to tell the tale. I beg of you.’

Devlin patted Law’s shoulder. ‘Don’t beg of me. Paris. Three days. Wait for my word.’ He turned to Walpole. ‘Minister, I’m going. Come and tell me what else I need to know.’ He was already at the door.

Pitt expected no farewell and got none. The door closed leaving himself and Law alone.

‘Bloody bogtrotter,’ he scoffed. ‘You’ll be lucky if he even makes it to Paris, Law.’

Law sat and folded away his map. ‘I feel, Londonderry, that I shall be most unlucky if he does.’

Riding in the coach back to Leicester House, Walpole had given up trying to spot Devlin’s escorts during their slow progress. He brought his head back inside. ‘They hide well, if they followed us at all.’

‘You may have want of such skill,’ Devlin said.

‘You more so, Captain. I chose you because you seemed discreet of your kind. Our lives almost touched when you dealt with that gentleman in Charles Town two summers ago. I had tried to kill him several times myself. That is how I knew I had found my man.’

‘Don’t call me that. That won’t help you. How am I to France?’

‘There is a plague in Marseille, come from Cyprus. Naturally northern France and Paris would not appreciate this plague reaching them. My design is that you portray yourself to be a plague ship. That should deter any curious patrols. The problem will be that since you refuse to accompany Law, how will you get to Paris?’

‘That’ll be my problem.’

‘I would not propose that you conduct yourself as you have done in London. You cannot sail a pirate up the Seine.’

‘I know that. What happens when I bring the diamond back?’

‘You will go to Falmouth. Where you should have come to London. I will set a fellow to meet you there as of next week. No names. He will spot you. There is an inn on the quay, a shipwrights’ inn, alongside the customs house and prison – make of that what you will. You must be there by September fourth. My man will leave on the fifth. We must present some promise of the diamonds by the eighth or all is lost. However, we will insist on a party to attend you. To attend that our interests are being adhered to, naturally.’

‘A chaperone! Aye, for why trust me else.’

‘A logical precaution. No personal discrimination. Our man shall be in charge of the replica until the exchange is made and you return with the diamond. This is not a mark of distrust against you, Captain. Your men may have other plans for the diamond. They may question your loyalties if they know it is in your hands.’ Walpole lowered his voice.

‘And you will not bring your ship of brigands back into this city. Your reward will be waiting for just
you
. Am I clear?’

‘As diamond, Minister. So who’s to wet-nurse me through my voyage?’

Albany Holmes was a good choice. Devlin may have been able to sway or intimidate someone else. Someone who had no bones against him. As Walpole had put it: ‘He has no interest in befriending you and more than enough interest in ensuring the success of your task, without having any attachment to the government.’

Devlin had abandoned Albany at Ascension Island, after taking the ship he was on. That had been on the adventure of the porcelain letters when the man Ignatius had taken Peter Sam. Devlin had taken a brig, the
Talefan
, from Madagascar, and Albany and his companion had been his ruse. The manner of his marooning, together with the disrespect and stealing of his goods would grate with Albany; maybe even a little revenge was heating him. There would be some sport ahead, no doubt, with Albany at his side.

Devlin waited outside the trade entrance of Leicester House. His men would be catching up somewhere about. He needed to get back to them, back to his ship. All these people moved too fast, talked too much. He was used to being the one who walked against the crowd but this was just a lost feeling, like a wild animal cowering not from the hunter but from his shouts and spear rattling.

The carriage wheels, the clomp of horses and rushing feet, the hawkers, the handcarts, the blur of faces. For what? What truly was the rush? Had these people not seen the sea? He looked up at the towering stone all around. No. Perhaps not. They could not even see the sun.

Albany Holmes rounded a corner of the house. Boat-cloak almost to the floor, leather portmanteau slowing him down, the solemn face of the man did little to remove the mirth from Devlin’s face. Aye, there would be sport enough to be had with Albany Holmes.

His wig had gone and there was just short brown hair beneath a simple tricorne, a sword at his side, silk hose and buckled shoes. He looked like a young man now, without his wig, but just as arrogant as the day Devlin had met him in a filthy tavern in the hills of Madagascar.

‘You do not carry your sword-cane any more then, Albany?’ Devlin asked as the man fell in beside him.

Albany ignored the remark. The cane had been thieved when he had fallen in with the pirates. ‘Am I to take it, pirate, that you are to address me informally during our companionship?’

‘Want to challenge my tone, Albany?’

Albany walked on.

Entering the square, Albany sought a carriage from the few that always loitered around the entrance to the house. He spied a large bald man with red beard and greatcoat striding towards them and took the approach as an offer. He held up his bag to push it into the man’s chest.

‘Here, fellow. Careful with it now.’

The giant elbowed him aside as he passed and Albany stumbled backwards, struggling to regain his balance like a newborn foal. He saw the pumping of hands between Devlin and the brute.

‘Cap’n,’ was all the giant said.

Albany had never seen Peter Sam. At the time of his passage with Devlin the big man had been taken from the pirates, held hostage in the Americas and ransomed for the price of a porcelain cup. Devlin had sailed across the ocean to bring his quartermaster back into the fold. In the handshake Albany saw nothing but crude men attempting manners. He did not see the past where one man had tried to kill the other, where both had wiped blood from their mouths. Devlin’s pistol was forever scarred with the stripe of Peter Sam’s cutlass. They had rescued each other in two long adventures that had cost both of them many friends.

Albany saw none of this in the touch of hands and slapping of shoulders. The two pirates saw everything but in a moment it was gone and the hard faces returned.

‘Who be this streak of piss, Cap’n?’ Peter Sam judged Albany up and down.

‘He is back to the ship with us, Peter. Now, Albany,’ Devlin bid Albany to walk with them. ‘This be Peter Sam, my quartermaster and second, but you’d be wise to listen to what he tells you more than me.’

The black look from Peter Sam confirmed the advice. Albany adjusted his bag and walked on. As they moved silently up the left side of the square, Albany became aware that others had joined them as if they had sprung out of the ground beside him. They were now five abreast and London stepped aside to let them through. To his shame Albany found the power of the street parting before them stirred his blood easily as much as any hunt.

He found his voice again. ‘So . . . Captain . . .We are to all be squeezed together again on that little brig of yours. The
Talefan
was it not?’

Devlin laughed. ‘Ho, Albany! That would explain how little you think of me to be sure! Wait ’til you see what I have to show you, then measure me so!’

From the casement windows above, the prince and Walpole watched the ragged party leave the square. Stanhope and Townshend were still at the table, nodding at each other’s affirmations of undoubted success, pulling their watches at the same time, late for their clubs.

‘You are sure the diamond will be enough, Walpole?’ the prince asked as he watched Devlin’s back turn the corner and disappear.

‘Just enough for the tide, Your Highness. Law has worked it out to the utmost. He has a head for figures that is almost uncanny. Uncut the stone is worth almost half a million. Cleaved, its children can be insured for company assets three times that. The company will become great diamond merchants overnight. The stock will rise. France will fall thanks to Law’s paper money that he has convinced the regent to back. The South Sea Company will be second only to The East India Company and shall gain time to rebuild. The Americas will come good. We are at least not running out of slaves.’

‘But if he fails? How so us then, Walpole?’

‘Then you may well become king sooner than you had hoped, Your Highness. Only you will be king atop of the largest dunghill in Europe.’

The prince sighed. ‘I trust in a pirate.’

Walpole gave half a smile to his prince. ‘We have all become pirates now, Your Highness.’