Miss Whittier Makes a List (30 page)

“
Why you ...
.
”
Adam reached for Spark, but Lease grabbed the back of his coat.

“
Now, now, gentlemen!
”
the colonel admonished again.
“
Monsieur Winslow, I sugg
est that you read your document, so t
he captain can sign it.
”
He giggled.
“
At least, if he has enough unbroken fingers to sign it.
”

Adam snapped open the paper, stood in front of the captain and ship
’
s surgeon, and read his catalog of injuries, some real, most imagined, dealt them on the last voyage of the
Dissuade.
He paused to scowl at the ca
ptain, who leaned back in his ch
air now, silent in the face of such accusation.

When Adam finished, his last words sti
ll ringing in the hall, he slapped down t
he paper in front of Captain Spark. Colonel Aillet procured quill and ink from the buffet and set it on the table before the captain, after clearing a space among
the
dishes.
“
I wonder that England allows such men as you to go to
sea,”
he said as he dipped the qui
ll
in the ink and handed it to Spark.

The captain looked up from his own contemplation of
the
document spread before him.
“
And you have waged a humane war?
”
he asked quietly as he took the pen awkwardly in his hand. Hannah winced to see his swollen knuckles and
the
way he sucked in his breath as he applied pressure with his
ar
m.

The scratch of the pen seemed loud in her ears. She turned away, unable to
bear
the sight of Spark in such pain. She met Lease
’
s glance, wondering at
the li
ghts that flickered in his own eyes. She had seen nothing but defeat and melancholy mirrored in them before, but now they glowed
with
a
brilliance
th
at
made
her shiver. Is thee truly mad, she wondered as Colonel Aillet presented the document to Adam with a
flourish
.

“
Yes, yes, soon his head will roll,
”
Aillet assured
the
m. He nodded in Lease
’
s direction, too.
“
And
yours
, doctor.
”

Lease whirled aro
un
d, his mouth open.
“
And what h
ave I done to deserve such a fat
e?
”
he as
ked,
his voice rising unpleasantly.

Colonel Aillet spread out his hands, palms up.
“
Surely you do not think Napoleon wi
ll
be inclined to spare you? I am certain that Dr.
Guillotine
wi
ll
be happy to extend pro
fessional courtesies to you, too.”

Lease
grabbed Aillet by the front of his uniform
.
“
I think not, Colonel,
”
he hissed,
“
especially when I show you what is in this bag. I believe I have a dispatch from the
Bergeron
that you will be grateful to s
e
e in Napoleon
’
s hands. Only consider how he will thank you.
”

Spark looked up from the table then, and tried to rise.
“Go
od God, Andrew,
”
he said, the devastation in his voice unfeigned.
“
You were suppo
sed to destroy that!
”

Hannah looked from one man to the other, and then at Adam, a question in her eyes. Adam shook his head and edged closer to her.
“
Sits the wind in that quarter?
”
he murmured.
“
I think our surgeon is playing a deep game with
France
.
”

Hannah shook her head.
“
Thee doesn
’
t understand, Adam!
”
She stared at the surgeon, wondering why he had told no one else about the infamous dispatch, which he had bandaged to the captain without his kledge.

His eyes burn
ing into the surgeon, Captain Spark tried to rise from the table, only to sink back in pain.
“
Damn you, Andrew,
”
he shouted.
“
I think you are ma
d that you would betray your king and country!
”

Lease on
ly smiled and turned his full att
ention to the colonel, retrieving his medicine satchel from the table and leading the colonel to the buffet.
“
I merely wish to maintain my head
’
s co
nn
ection with my neck,
”
he said with a backward glance and a smirk at the captain.

“
Hand it to me,
”
the colonel said, snapping his fingers in his urgency.

“
Patience,
mo
n
colonel,
”
the surgeon said.
“
I had thought the French liked ceremony. What say you to offering me one of those cigars you have been smoking, and then I show it to you? Over here, too, where the light is be
tt
er.
”

The colonel smiled and selected a cigar, and a match, which Lease took from his hand. Smiling broadly, he led the colonel to the balcony and struck the match against the stone tracery.

Captain Spar
k
stirred uneasily.
“
He doesn
’
t smoke,
”
he murmured
.
“
I wish you would stop him, Adam.
”

“
And he doesn
’
t have the dispatch,
”
Hannah said, her voice low.

“
Tally-ho,
”
the surgeon said distinctly as he opened the medicine satchel and dropped the match inside.

Everything happened at once. Hannah looked at the captain, and then with a strength Hannah wouldn
’
t have credited, he grabbed her and pulled her e colonel floor. He tugged her under the massive dining room table and fell on top of her at the same time Adam dropped beside them and the medicine satchel exploded.

The concussion from the blast seemed to ricochet from wall to wa
ll
and then inside her head, even though Captain Spark clapped his hands o
ver her ears. Chunks of stone c
rashed onto the dining room table, and all the glasses and china on the sideboard tinkled into shards as the three of them huddled close together. When the
roo
m was finally silent, the captain took his hands from her in time to hear a similar explosion in the harbor, and another.

Adam was the first to stand. He dragged Hannah from under the table, his hand trembling, his voice high
pitched.
“
Hannah, was this his diversion? Oh, God, how could he?
”

The two of them helped the captain to his feet.
“
How could he not?
”
said the captain, looking at the gaping hole where two men had been standing only seconds before. He took Hannah
’
s
ar
m.
“
I do not wish to appear callous, but let us not look a gift horse in the mouth. Lead on, Adam. Andrew showed us the way out, and I think he, Mr. Fu
tt
rell, and the Marines have created enough diversion for us to get to the harbor.
”

They descended the stairs slowly, a step at a time, clutching the captain between the
m
as soldiers raced past them, hurrying toward the sound of the explosion in the banquet hall. Ha
nna
h held her breath, wondering why the Fr
ench soldiers did not stop them,
but they appeared intent upon reaching the dining room to report to the colonel. Hannah shuddered to think how fa
st they would come down those st
airs again when they found the colonel in as many pieces as the chinaware and crystal. Somewhere deep within the walls of S
ã
o Miguel, she heard a woman screaming.
“Poor
Madame Aillet.
”
she said out loud.

They were met at the outer archway by a phalanx of red-coated Marines and sailors waving cutlasses.
“
Thank God.
”
Captain Spark said, and pitched forward, unconscious. The Marine with the broadest shoulders picked him up and threw him over his shoulder like a bag of feathers and set out at a dogtrot for the harbor, which was ablaze now with burning shops and fired boats.

“
Begging your pardon, ma
’
am,
”
said a sailor Hannah recognized from her days aloft in the lookout. He picked her up and raced after the Marine, while Adam ran alongside, grinning from ear to ear.

Soon they were in the harbor and surrounded by
more Marines and sailors returni
ng from other pa
rt
s of town. They carried with them squawking chickens and piglets trussed within an inch of their lives and other souvenirs of a sleepy town which, until the
Dissuade
sank in its harbor, must have thought itself far removed from the troubles in Napoleon
’
s
Europe
.