Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Phoebe could smell the Root even before they entered the square.
She quickly stopped Uncle Sol, Keriah, and Mr. Verling, and then she led them down into the front area well of the townhouse around the corner.
She could hear that the residence owners were away from home, and the servants were gathered in the kitchen at the back of the house, leaving the front area dark and quiet.
“Jack’s men are near,” she whispered. “Stay hidden here, and I shall discover where they are hiding.”
Uncle Sol’s eyes were worried, but he nodded to her, and she left them.
She knew immediately that her senses were superior to Jack’s men, for while she could smell the Root wafting off of their bodies and hear their heartbeats, none of them responded to her presence.
Phoebe heard no sounds of brawling from the Coulton-Jones house, unless she considered the loud, rather repetitive argument Mr. Coulton-Jones and Isabella were having with their mother in her bedroom on an upper floor.
Phoebe was surprised she could make out the words even though she was quite far away.
She also heard a deep heartbeat coming from the darkened dining room on the ground floor—she guessed it was Mr. Rosmont, keeping watch over the front door and the front area.
There was very little movement in the house at all, even from the servants. She could hear the heartbeats and the small movements of men on the Root in the small park in the center of the square, watching and loitering. If there were men on the Root inside the house, they were also lying in wait.
She did not understand their hesitation, until she considered that perhaps they were waiting for the family to retire for the evening. It would be the easiest way to surprise Mr. Coulton-Jones and kidnap his mother.
She also didn’t think that the men could hear the exact conversation between the Coulton-Jones family.
Otherwise, they would have known that the two siblings were urging their parent to leave town that very night, making it obvious that they knew of the Citadel’s plans to attack.
The men would have likely entered the house immediately, to take them all unawares.
Five men in front, hidden in the shadows. All of them taking the Root.
Phoebe passed by them unnoticed and exited the square at the other end in order to circle around to the mews at the back of the house.
She had to move more slowly and quietly down the mews road, for while the street was dark, it was also quiet enough that even her footsteps might be overheard by one of Jack’s men.
There were no places for them to hide except in the shadowed doorsteps, but that also meant that Phoebe had nowhere to hide, either.
She heard several heartbeats somewhere down the road, near the mews leading to the Coulton-Jones’s residence.
If she moved closer, she feared that they would notice her, so she stopped and steadied her breathing and listened.
Rather than hearing the entire cacophony of rhythms, she tried to pick out individual heartbeats, to separate them from the symphony.
Seven … no, nine. Perhaps a tenth man far at the end of the mews road, just at the limit of her hearing.
Too many. Too many for them to fight while also protecting Mrs. Coulton-Jones and the servants.
She crept back to where the others waited for her. She hid in the shadows as a carriage passed, then dropped down into the front area.
Everyone’s hearts beat rapidly, their breaths shallow and uneven. Phoebe was moving so quietly that she surprised Uncle Sol, who jerked when he caught the flickering of her shadow, then relaxed as he looked up into her face.
“How many?” he asked in a low voice.
“Five in front, nine in back near the mews doors, with one at the end of the lane.”
“How closely are they gathered around the mews?” Keriah asked.
“Three or four on either side of the door, three in the shadows across the road.”
“How wide is the road?”
Phoebe thought back. “Ample room for a traveling coach.”
Keriah chewed on her lip, glancing down at the leather satchel she carried. “The area is quite large, but if they are grouped closely enough, the powdered sedative may cause their movements to slow.”
“The end of the road nearer to them is guarded by the one man. We would need to approach them from the long end of the mews road.”
“If I rented a horse from the hackney driver at the hackney stand down the street,” Uncle Sol said, “I could throw the powder in their faces as I rode past.”
“You would need to gallop,” Keriah said. “They are on the Root and would be able to stop your horse if you rode too slowly.”
Phoebe shook her head. “I do not believe they are gathered closely enough for all of them to breathe the sedative powder. There are too many.”
“What of the five men in front?” Mr. Verling asked.
“They are hidden in the shadows of the garden square, and spread out from each other.”
“Perhaps we could surprise them?” Uncle Sol glanced around at the four of them.
Keriah looked alarmed that he would ask her to attack a man on the Root. “They would surely hear us.”
“They might,” Phoebe said. “They might not. I do not believe they can overhear Mr. Coulton-Jones’s conversation with his mother—else they would have decided to attack sooner. Perhaps they have not trained their senses, or perhaps they are merely inattentive.”
“Five men in front, ten men in back,” Uncle Sol mused. “They obviously didn’t expect us to walk up to the front door and knock.”
He suddenly stilled. Then, even in the darkness, Phoebe could see him smile. “So that is precisely what we shall do.”