Chapter 21 #2
I complied, knowing that now was not the time to argue, though my nerves strained with panic that Sidney might be hit.
When he continued to inch forward and there was no volley of shots, I sat upright, peering cautiously through the windscreen.
Our carriage house lay a short distance ahead in the light of the headlamps, its doors standing wide-open.
My heart leapt in my chest. “Did you leave them open?”
“No.”
The depth of his voice, the tone, sent a chill down my spine. It was undoubtedly the way he’d sounded when he and his troops had their backs up against the wall or he was about to order them over the top.
“Maybe … maybe Nimble or Max opened it.” It was a desperate guess made as I frantically searched the mews around and behind us even as the motorcar continued forward.
“Doubtful.”
What was their plan? No one was inside the carriage house and there was no other way in. Did they intend to corner us? But where would they come from?
Sidney seemed to hold more answers than I did. “As soon as I park, I want you to exit your door and go around to the rear. But do not leave the carriage house until I’m with you. Do you understand?”
I nodded, and then, realizing he wasn’t looking at me, squeaked, “Yes.” I grasped my handbag and the door handle, preparing to leap from the vehicle as we passed between the doors. My muscles strained as I swiveled my head to watch the mews behind, waiting for men to disengage from the shadows.
“Go!”
I hurtled from the Pierce-Arrow and skidded to a stop near the rear bumper, cowering up against the steel and nickel.
But no one moved toward us and the only sounds I heard as Sidney turned off the engine were the click of his door and the crunch of gravel beneath his feet.
He rounded the bumper, reaching for my hand, and pulled me behind him as we approached the garden gate.
“Keep close and do whatever I say.” His voice brooked no argument, and I realized then that he feared that whoever had opened the carriage house doors was lying in wait inside our garden.
He thrust the gate open with such force that it smacked against the wood on the other side. I supposed this was meant to catch anyone lurking there by surprise and perhaps even knock them off their feet, but it only succeeded in eliciting a snide quip from the darkness in the opposite direction.
“A little louder, Kent. I’m not sure the entire bloody block heard you coming.”
My breath stuttered, but not necessarily in relief.
“Xavier,” Sidney snapped. “What are you doing here?”
Alec stepped forward into the dim evening light. “Believe me, I wouldn’t be if it wasn’t important.”
I could sense more than see him assessing me as I continued to cower behind Sidney, even as he reached out to close the gate.
“So you’re not here to feed me intelligence I can report?
” I attempted to jest, thinking of the message Bennett and Ames had delivered for O.
Despite my bluff, I knew it was only a matter of time before I would have to tell O something.
“I see you were warned,” Alec murmured, drawing a swift glance of bafflement from Sidney, though he hid it well.
“Let me reassure you, I’m here alone. And I hope you know me well enough to realize that I would never hurt you.
” He took another step closer. “That I’m doing everything in my power to see that you aren’t hurt. ”
I realized what he was saying and wondered if he was disobeying orders by being here. That is, if Collins was the one who wished to see me dead.
“There were men stationed along our route home,” I warned. Though I questioned now how they could have known it when we hadn’t even known which way we would travel ourselves. Maybe they weren’t IRA. Maybe they’d merely been interested in the Pierce-Arrow.
Alec straightened to alertness. “How close?”
“The nearest was two blocks away, but … perhaps I’m wrong.”
He fell silent, seeming to consider this information and how it fit into his plans, but then shook his head, changing topics.
Taking one final step, he was now close enough that I could read the intensity in his eyes.
“You’re going to receive an invitation tomorrow from the Harringtons for a house party this weekend.
You and Ryde. I want you all to accept.”
I blinked in confusion. We barely knew the Harringtons, having met them during the course of a previous investigation. I glanced at Sidney to see if he shared my perplexity. “Why?”
“You don’t need to know why. But you need to accept.”
If Sidney’s tone earlier had given me chills, Alec’s was turning my blood to ice. “Alec, what is going on?” I demanded. “You can’t just issue an order like that and not expect us to ask questions.”
My husband bristled. “Is this to keep us out of the way of another assassination?”
Alec’s feet shifted, growing agitated. “I cannot tell you why. I will not, for your own protection. But I am begging you. Verity …” His voice actually broke, his eyes boring into mine as he pleaded.
And then he did something even more astonishing by turning to my husband and addressing him by his given name.
“Sidney, please. For the love of God, listen to me now! And I will never ask another thing of you ever again.”
I couldn’t speak, not with fear clogging my throat, but Sidney nodded. “All right, Xavier. If it’s for my wife’s protection, we’ll do it.”
“I have your word?”
I worried the challenge in Alec’s voice would set Sidney on edge, but if anything, my husband seemed to grow more compliant. “You do,” he declared resolutely.
Xavier exhaled a long breath, his head and shoulders slumping. Then without another word, I watched in bewilderment as he turned to exit through the gate.
“Collins knows she saved his hide, doesn’t he?” Sidney abruptly demanded. “That she could have given you all up, but she didn’t.”
Alec’s head turned so that he could look at me, the light illuminating his features just enough that I could see the remorse written there. “Yes.”
With this last word, he slipped through the gate and was gone, leaving me in even more confusion than before. The only thing that was clear was that something was very wrong, and Alec was caught up in the middle of it.
He had told me once after I’d discovered he’d defected to the republican cause that no matter what side he happened to be on, he was always on mine. I hadn’t known then whether to believe him, but I did now. And I was suddenly terrified of what that meant for him.
“I don’t like this,” I said to Sidney. “I don’t like this at all.”
He was quiet, I thought sharing my unease, but when he spoke it was clear he was furious. “Do you know what I don’t like? Discovering my wife is keeping secrets from me.”
I grimaced, knowing his anger was justified.
“When were you warned? How?”
I explained about the telegram from Kathleen, and I tentatively admitted how Ardmore had confirmed it.
“Ardmore accosted you at the Shelbourne?!”
I shrank back from him at this explosion of temper.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“There was nothing you could do,” I replied in my defense.
“I could have pounded him to a pulp.”
I scowled. “You would have done no such thing. Because if you had, you would have been arrested. And then who was going to protect me?” I arched my eyebrows. “Max?”
Perhaps this was a low blow considering it had been Max who was protecting me when I’d first discovered Sidney was still alive and pursuing the traitors at the expense of everything else, including our marriage.
“Verity,” he growled, looming over me. “You still should have told me. We’re a team, remember? Or was that a lie?” His voice was tempered with hurt. “A bit of convenient fiction.”
“No, of course not.”
His gaze swept over my features, what he could see of them in the twilight, his tone softening further. “You should have told me.”
I inhaled past the tightness in my chest. “I know,” I admitted, lifting my hand to rest it against the center of his chest. “But … I was afraid.”
“That I would do something stupid?” he deduced and then sighed. “Maybe I would have.” His eyes pinned me in place. “But you still have to tell me.”
I nodded compliantly.
His arms wrapped around me. “And we’re going to the Harringtons’.” I didn’t voice any opposition, but he continued. “If Xavier is that insistent, then your safety must depend on it, and I’ll not risk that.”
“But why does it depend on it?” I whispered in apprehension. “What’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “And I think I’m afraid to find out.”