Magnificent Devices 07 - A Lady of Integrity (17 page)

“Oh, thank you very much,” Claire said waspishly.

“What about the
Stalwart Lass
?” Alice wanted to know. “Once I have my navigator safely returned to me, I can’t leave without my ship.”

“There’s a task for us,” Gloria said brightly, as if cheering on a horse at the races. “We can steal your ship back. I can help—it will be just like helping you get away at the Firstwater Mine.”

Claire and Alice both stared at her, ready to leap like cats on this betrayal of their arguments. And then Claire saw something in Gloria’s face that she had never seen before. It was excitement—and hope—and once again, the longing of someone outside the circle for the warmth and camaraderie within.

To be a part of something, no matter the risk.

Gloria had proven to be an able ally once before. And if she displeased her father by her actions, well, she appeared well able to bear up under the burden. Gloria might not know it, but she had an ace up her sleeve. And Claire would bet her stock in the Zeppelin Airship Works that she would throw in her hand with them when Claire told her what had been simmering in her mind for some minutes now.

This would be a high-stakes game for ladies only … since the gentlemen so bullheadedly insisted.

*

Alice found herself stricken silent with shock when Claire took a sip of her cooling tea and said, “Very well, Ian. You must do as you think best. We will assist you in any way we can, and if that means being ready to pull up ropes, then that is what we will do.”

It was almost funny, the way the menfolk goggled at her. Clearly they’d expected her to put up a fight, and when she didn’t, all the gas was sucked out of their balloon.

Claire raised her gaze over the rim of the teacup to meet Gloria’s. “Are you familiar with the area where Alice’s ship is impounded?”

“No,” Gloria admitted, as though there had been no silence and they were simply carrying on with the discussion. “But I know it’s on the island they call the Lido. It’s a long, skinny sandbar out in the lagoon that forms a barrier between the city and the open ocean. Bathers are allowed on the landward part of it, but the rest is fenced off.”

“Ah,” Maggie said with satisfaction. “I have always wanted to sea-bathe in the Adriatic. Especially in October.”

“As have I,” Lizzie agreed. “Claude, what about you?”

“Never fancied it,” he said, then, when Lizzie’s elbow met his ribs, blurted, “but I suppose there’s a first time for everything.”

“Excellent.” Claire beamed at them. “Except I am sorry to disappoint you. You three will ready
Athena
for lift while Gloria, Alice and I manage the
Stalwart Lass
—and the sea-bathing.”

“But Lady, that’s not fair,” Lizzie protested. “
You’re
the captain of
Athena
. Anybody can steal a ship. It doesn’t have to be you.”

Alice could see Lizzie’s point of view to a point. But she could also see the value of the youngest members of their party staying somewhere safe while everybody else risked their lives on one front or another.

“That is precisely why I must go,” Claire said pleasantly. “I have experience in stealing ships. You have experience in disabling them—which is highly useful in many situations, but not, I am afraid, in this one.”

Her brows drawn down in displeasure, Lizzie subsided … but only until, Alice was quite sure, she could sneak up on an argument from another angle.

“When have you stolen a ship, Claire?” Gloria leaned forward with interest, pouring herself another cup of tea.

Mr. Malvern’s brows rose, and the Mopsies looked at each other. Maggie stifled a giggle—but only just.

“I stole
Athena
from your father,” Claire said with no shame whatsoever. “Or at least, from the Meriwether-Astor Munitions Works, when she was a cargo ship running illegal arms into the Canadas. I do hope you do not mind?”

Gloria paused, as though it took her a moment to digest this information, then waved away the idea as though it were a fly. “Think nothing of it. I have no illusions about him, believe me. If I knew how to fly, I’d steal one myself and head for Edmonton or somewhere, just to get away. I’m glad she’s filling a useful purpose now—or at the very least, an honest one.”

“Right, then.” Captain Hollys clapped his hands upon his knees and rose. “We need to make preparations, and send a message to the Master of Prisons. I must also send a pigeon to John and Davina apprising them of our plans, so that they do not become anxious when the ransom demand arrives. Lieutenant, Mr. Malvern, if you are ready, we must begin.”

“I should like a moment alone with my fiancée, Captain,” Andrew said.

“And I with Elizabeth,” Tigg added, whereupon Lizzie blushed scarlet—stood—and sat down again in a fluster.

“Very well,” Ian said. “I will meet you in the lobby of the hotel in half an hour.”

In the ensuing bustle, Alice took the opportunity to slip out the door and follow the captain down the corridor. “Captain Hollys, if you please,” she said as he stepped inside his room.

He held the door as she slipped in ahead of him. “This is most irregular, Alice. What if someone should see you?”

“I’ve been seen in worse places,” she said bluntly. “Ian, please don’t do this.”

“I am afraid it is already decided.”

“But you don’t know—” She stopped. What was she thinking of? A feminine glance exchanged over a teacup … a discussion of sea-bathing. These were not exactly the kinds of proofs that would make a man change his mind. Not a man who was authorized by Her Majesty to use deadly force.

“What don’t I know?” he prodded. “I do not have much time, Alice. I must see to my arms and send that message.”

“Claire is up to something,” she said desperately. “More than simply stealing my ship back. Don’t do this. Talk to her. She’s only taking the bit in her teeth because you were high-handed with her. You need to work together, not against one another.”

“I understood we
were
working together. It is a good plan. And it will work, I promise you, if we all do our part.”

“That may be, but meanwhile—”

“Alice.” He was standing very close, so close that Alice was forced to tilt up her chin in order to look him in the eyes. They were the color of a storm at altitude—gray and powerful. “Why this sudden anxiety?”

“I—I don’t like the two of you at odds, that’s all.”

“We are not at odds. I am relieved at her willingness to see sense and cooperate.”

“But that’s just it. She isn’t. She’s faking it.”

“Lady Claire?” He chuckled, and in the sound was a hint of bitterness. “Believe me, if ever a woman was brutally honest and open, it is she. No, I am fixed in my purpose … sure of her cooperation … and touched by your concern.”

“But—”

He took her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle push out the door. “I will send a message both to
Athena
and here to the hotel when we have a meeting time and place. Be ready to lift by sunset.”

“Ian, please—”

“It will be all right,” he said. “Thank you for coming to me. It was the act of a true friend.”

So swiftly that she hardly believed it had happened, he leaned in and kissed her cheek. And the door closed, leaving her standing in the corridor, her fingers touching the place where his lips had been.

18

“You must not allow them to continue on this fool’s errand,” Claire said urgently. Andrew stood with her in the turning of the staircase, where three windows arched in the Moorish fashion looked out upon the Giudecca Canal and its busy boat traffic. She gripped his hands with a strength that seemed half pleading, half preventing his departure. “I cannot believe that a culture so blasé about the despicable practice of ransom has not already experienced every possible double cross, and will take all of them into account.”

“That may be true,” Andrew said, “but we will be alert and ready for them.” What else could he say, when those beloved gray eyes held such anxiety?

“Please, Andrew,” she begged. “I believe there is another way—one that will incorporate your breathing globes without attracting the attention of the kraken.”

“Claire, dearest, believe me, I have applied every spare ounce of brain power to that problem, and come up with nothing. Our resources are simply too limited in this foreign place to come up with a better plan.”

“But with Gloria we can—”

He stopped her with a kiss. Time was short, and they had much to do. “I will not say goodbye, but only ‘until we meet again.’ Which, I hope, will be shortly after sunset, aboard
Athena
.”

“Oh, Andrew—”

The pain in her voice nearly undid him, and it was only the thought of her joy when they returned with Jake, whole and unharmed, that allowed him to walk away and return alone to his room. There, he collected the lightning pistol that she had made for him with her own hands. It had not exactly been an engagement gift, but to him it was as precious as the pearl ring that had not left her finger since he had slipped it on. The pistol held her confidence in him, and her concern for his safety, as well as gears and rods, barrel and grip … and the power cell that gave it life.

He could not take her with him, thank God. But he could take the weapon she had made him, and use it wisely.

Into his boot he slipped the knife that Mr. Bowie had made for him in the Texican Territories, and slipped one or two devices of his own manufacture into the pockets of his tweed coat and those of his trousers. They were small, about the size of a walnut, but if one but pulled a pin, they produced a flash and a bang that could disorient even the most seasoned soldier.

When he was ready, he found Tigg and the captain waiting in the guest parlor off the hotel’s lobby. Though not half an hour had passed since they had parted ways, Captain Hollys had just received a reply from the Master of Prisons. Andrew scanned it quickly.

My dear Sir Ian,

I am honored that you solicit my help in such a delicate matter, and if you will permit me, perceived you to be a man of integrity and moral fortitude during our tour today. I will proffer your proposal to his lordship the Minister of Justice, whose unhappy duty it is to oversee these matters, and will convey his reply to you personally.

Please meet me at the door of the church of San Barnaba at sunset. There is a particularly fine painting there of the Holy Family by Veronese that would be worth a moment of your time. You will, of course, come unarmed, and unaccompanied by the delightful young ladies and gentlemen of your acquaintance.

I remain, sir, your servant,

Paolo de Luca, Master of Prisons

Andrew looked up as he folded the letter. “Do you think they will actually go through with it? Bring Jake to trade for you?”

“They are fools if they do not.” Ian Hollys pocketed the letter, then sighted down the barrel of his pistol and broke it to check there were no bullets inside, before he handed it and his ordnance bag to Tigg.

“Sir—” Tigg began in some surprise.

“I am not unarmed. My Smith and Wesson thirty-eight is in my rib holster, and there is a Scots
sgean dhu
that belonged to my grandfather in my stocking. Come. It wants an hour to sunset, and I wish you both to take up your positions as soon as possible.”

Casually, affecting interest in the scenery around them, the three men strolled along the canal and then zigzagged down several narrow lanes. When the alley would have decanted them into the large square in front of the church of Saint Barnabas, Ian leaned against the wall, looking over his shoulder and around the corner to scan it for signs of ambush.

“If you are to meet on the steps, any attack would likely come from outside,” Andrew suggested. “There is no cover in the church’s immediate vicinity, but one could lie in wait in the surrounding alleys, as we are doing right now.”

“But why ask me to go in, ostensibly to look at a painting?” Ian mused. “Unless the rules of sanctuary apply here as they do in England, making it a safe place to perform an exchange.”

“I’m sure that’s it,” Andrew agreed. “Though I am not inclined to observe the rules at the moment.”

“You can’t kill someone in a church, sir,” Tigg murmured, sounding a little shocked.

“We are
authorized
to kill, Lieutenant,” Ian said. “That does not mean we shall do so. I should prefer to disable instead, if at all possible. But in self-defense, one must do as one must.” He gazed out at the square, where families strolled and where the umbrellas of cheerful cafes sheltered tables in colorful groups, where people were drinking tea and stronger beverages at the end of the day. “I do not think it wise to post one of you inside. There is too much risk of discovery. But I believe they will come from the direction of the Ministry, which would put their arrival in that quarter.” He pointed to the corner behind the church. “If one of you takes a seat at that café and the other conceals himself behind the wall opposite, you will both be within hearing. We can stage our own attack in that alley, acting as though we are being set upon and robbed.”

“Dibs on the café,” Tigg said. “Begging your pardon, Mr. Andrew, but the Master of Prisons has already seen you with Captain Hollys. Unless he was at that ball, too, he hasn’t seen me.”

In Andrew’s mind, the young man was far too happy about engaging in all this skullduggery. Nevertheless, he allowed the younger man to boost him up the wall, where he squeezed between iron railings that were clearly meant more for decoration than protection, and took up his post.

Tigg took a seat outside the café and ordered lemonade. He had barely taken the first sip when footsteps echoed in the alley. Two people. Andrew risked a glance over the bricks and his shoulders sagged in relief at the sight that met his gaze.

And immediately, compassion welled in his heart.

Jake looked dreadful. His skin was white, and in the few weeks he had been incarcerated, he had lost weight, to the point where his cheekbones looked sharp and his elbows stuck out under his rolled-up shirtsleeves. His cotton pants were soggy and green at the bottom, and he was barefoot. Bruises discolored what Andrew could see of his ankles, and his eyes—