Authors: J.E. Moncrieff
“Cheers, boss,” said John with a grin. He nodded and clapped them both on the shoulder. As he did so, the door to the adjoining room opened and Jake stepped out fully dressed in his black compression clothing with weapons and technical equipment attached, followed by a wet-faced Charlotte walking out behind him and wiping her eyes.
“Are you ok?” asked John quietly. She nodded and hugged him as she began to well up once more.
“We thought we’d lost you once,” she said. “It took everything we had to get you out. Now you’re going back in and if you two get caught, I just don’t know how we’ll save you.” She turned and hugged Jake as tight as she could.
“If we get caught, Char, you have to run. All of you. There is no coming out this time if that happens. Maybe if Courtridge survives he’ll try but it’ll be too late to catch you up for the portal. If we’re caught, we’re caught and we just need you to go. Take the evidence we’ve got and survive.” She watched him, nodding, as tears welled in her eyes again. “But this time we won’t be set up,” he continued confidently. “We have surprise and there are a big group of us with weapons. It’s going to be ok.”
“I love you,” she whispered to him through her tears. “Don’t you die on me now, ok?”
“I love you too,” Jake replied, making John look at David and Chris questioningly, earning only shrugs in reply. None of them had realised the depth of Jake and Charlotte’s relationship until their final goodbye, and John made a vow to help Jake survive beyond all else. They kissed deeply and Jake whispered something to her making her smile beautifully through her glistening tears. Then he turned to John, his face determined.
“You ready, Boss?” he said.
“You bet,” John replied. “One last ride then we’ll be out of this shit-hole.”
Jake nodded and grinned.
Saying their goodbyes, Chris switched on their equipment and they left towards their meeting places.
Courtridge paced the sitting room of De Lyon’s house while the owner watched him from his chair.
“I don’t have all the answers, Edmund,” said De Lyons as he weighed up the beast of a man marching before him. “They’re all brave men. I doubt they’ll let you down.”
“Yes but that plan? Do you think it’ll work? If it doesn’t, we’re all dead men and that includes you too, Samuel.
“I know, but I think it will.”
“You think it will with Sykes dead? Without him the numbers just aren’t certain and since the breakout of Rougemont, who knows how they’re playing the security in there.”
“Would you rather Rougemont was still in there? Or hanging on the hill for that matter?”
“I thought so at first, Sam. I didn’t trust them and William didn’t do much to ease my mind, but now? I know they have their own agenda, but if it fits with mine, then I’d rather have them by my side in this fight than any other. Besides, that rogue Jake is uncontrollable without his brother and he’s too dangerous to be out of control.”
De Lyons laughed.
“He certainly is. I agree with all you said. But now you have them both, and you’ve used them in the right places.”
“Yes, but is it enough? Are we rushed?”
“It must be now. The Duke is away with half of his men and you’re a wanted man. We can’t do this with a full outfit of soldiers inside without Sykes. So you cannot wait and neither can we. One week early is not too early, despite the changes. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”
“But Sykes…”
“There isn’t time to cultivate another like Sykes, Edmund.”
“You think there is enough through the front?”
“Of course, and it will work. There’s plenty for the inner gate too. The key is speed, stealth and surprise and the men know that. We’ll hit them in their heart and drag those boys from their clutches.”
“Your confidence inspires me, Samuel. And your ruthlessness is wonderful, which leaves only one thing to discuss.”
“Spence?” De Lyons asked, smiling.
“Spence,” Courtridge confirmed.
“What do you want to do?”
“I need him held responsible.”
“Ok, so do you want to leave him in there to be captured?”
“No, he may say too much under pressure in the cells. And that won’t benefit me at all in my situation.”
“Well, what if we send a letter of warning, which of course will arrive to late, stating that William Spence is plotting this kidnap and assassination. We seal it in your name and we beg them to be vigilant of attackers. Then we will simply catch him afterwards and hold on to him. Once the letter is in the right hands, we can deliver him. If he needs to be killed to keep him quiet then we deliver them his corpse. It matters not either way.”
“Samuel, as always, you have shown me your genius, and finally there is a light to aim for.”
“Are you ready to go, My Lord?” De Lyons said as he checked his own straps and mail. Nodding, satisfied, he pulled a black cloak over him and slipped up the hood to look out darkly, displaying only his blonde beard and his straight, white teeth. He nodded at the large silhouette of Courtridge as the Lord himself fastened his cloak and sword.
“God be with you tonight, Samuel,” said the bear-like, bearded face peering out of the hooded shadow.
“And you, My Lord. God be with all of us,” De Lyons replied as together they filed out of the small house and into the dark, abandoned streets.
Twenty-Five
With only star-light to see by, Jake found himself once again looking into the darkness as the water rippled silently around the tiny boat like black-velvet. The only sound came from the oars cutting through the tide like butter and the creak of the boat as they were drawn up to the wall ready to plunge into the icy cold once more. As they neared the third stake in the wall, they drew the oars in and drifted into their spot. Jake watched the outline of Spence opposite him and nodded to confirm his readiness. The shadow nodded back in reply and although the darkness hid their faces, Jake could feel the eyes of the knight burn into him with hatred. They’d agreed a truce before they’d started for the sake of the plot, but with the man opposite him responsible for setting them up and leaving them to die on not one but two occasions, only the knowledge of Spence’s fate to follow the kidnap kept Jake from killing him on the spot.
He was shaken from his thoughts as the silent man next to him felt his nylon clothing with his fingertips and grunted his appreciation of the strange, foreign material. With a smile, Jake clapped him on the shoulder and, drawing a breath, plopped backwards into the water to disappear from sight.
He surfaced once for a deep breath before disappearing again, then once more to indicate that the hole was ready to swim through. He ducked under the water, followed closely by the oarsmen one at a time, and then finally by Sir William Spence.
Inside the tunnel, Jake waited for the others and lit the torch that had been left for them. He looked around the cold, stone tunnel before the others arrived and chilled at the memory of his desperate escape from the same darkness only a week or so before. He glanced around and shuffled about on his knees while he gathered up the four crossbows and accompanying bolt bundles that had been taken in by Courtridge’s men the night before, after the attack in the alleyway.
Slowly the three men arrived, each gasping for air as they surfaced and dragged themselves up onto the dry, tunnel floor.
“Jesus,” gasped the largest of the group as he laid and rolled out of his own soaked, woollen cloth before once again feeling Jake’s nylon and chuckling in wonder. “I nearly fucking croaked it in that water, boy. Thank god we aren’t going out that way.”
“Everybody well?” Jake asked, handing out the bows. His response was three silent nods, each showing a clear blanket of nerves that disguised a dangerous and violent excitement barely contained beneath it. “Let’s get going,” he said, grinning back.
He led the small team of killers through the low tunnel until he spotted the wall ahead. Extinguishing his flame-torch on the wall, he indicated for the others to do the same and crept up to the wall to look through the unsealed cracks.
The fact that they were still not sealed gave Jake an indication of the devious mind-set of the occupants within the castle that they sought to invade. Peeking through the gaps, he confirmed his suspicion as he saw the guard positioned inside the wall to raise the alarm in the event of an intrusion.
“Is that snoring?” asked a deep whisper from behind, making him smile. He looked back through the cracks and said a silent thank you to his lucky stars as he watched the lone soldier lying slumped and asleep against the wall in the tight space opposite them. He turned back to the men.
“Who’s a good shot?” he whispered.
Two of the men laughed.
“I’m not bad,” said the smallest of the
m with a husky growl. “What do you need?”
“Right,” said Jake. “The hole is too small to get through quickly, and there’s one sleeping guard through there. If we move the blocks and try to get him we’re screwed.”
“Screwed?” asked the big man.
“Yeah, you know, dead. So we’ve got to be quick. See where he is first, then when I slide the block away, do him with the bow as he wakes up. Kill him in one though. That block will wake him and you’ll have one shot to shut him up. Face, throat, heart, whatever it takes, just kill him. Do it quietly and don’t miss.”
“Got it,” husked the bow man, taking Jake’s orders without question. “I’ll pin his bloody head to the wall.”
Jake checked the crack again before sliding aside for the traitor behind him.
“Ready?” he whispered as the man moved back and cocked the cross bow, holding it at shoulder level.
“Aye,” he said.
After a silent show of three, two, one on his fingers, Jake shoved the stone through as fast as he could, waking the guard as it rubbed the stone below and smashed to the floor by his feet. In the same instant, the guard’s eyes and mouth sprang open in shock as his face was obliterated by the bolt that smashed under his cheekbone and tore open his jaw. Exactly as the vicious bow man had promised, the young soldier’s head was pinned to the wood behind him.
Jake shook inwardly as he heard the celebrating cackle of the other three, and said a silent prayer for the young, innocent man lying dead before him. As they all slowly fed through the hole into the tiny space, Jake checked the route onwards was clear and Spence slid the blocks back into place.
They were in.
“Who comes there?” asked the soldier on the outer gate of the Tower as he squinted into the darkness. He tapped the gate behind him as four figures cleared the darkness into his view in the distance, and was reassured at the sound of the gate opening as the second guard from inside came out to meet him.
“What do you reckon?” he asked as he held the gate ajar. He had been instructed to remain cautious at all times so kept his route to safety available while they assessed the threat and decided whether to challenge the men or retreat to a more sensible defensive position.
“I don’t know,” the other said. “Have you called them?”
“Of course I have. They didn’t answer. Looks like they’re trying to be quiet but they’re not hiding or anything. They’re taking their time too.”
The second guard looked into the darkness at the shadows as they finally crossed a flame-lit area in the distance along the river bank. The glint of metal across red was all he needed to see and he chuckled. “You silly bugger, look at them, they’re soldiers.”