Chapter 15 #2
The little pass-through window opened and a large, ruddy face appeared in the opening. The man looked down at Robbi and then stole a glance to each side, unable to see him or Payne from his limited vantage point.
“Deliver the message and git,” the guard sneered.
“This message be fer Guv, only. His direction, not mine.” Robbi shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her if the boss hung and quartered the man for not letting her inside.
“The boss won’t be back for some time. Come back later.”
“I’m supposed to wait. Anythin' could ‘appen to a bloke me size ‘angin’ around out ‘ere.” ?The man eyed Robbi up and down, his corpulent jowls shaking as he lifted one corner of his mouth and sucked saliva through blackened teeth.
A deep, low grunt followed just before he slammed the miniature door closed.
Simon exchanged a look with Robbi, then Payne before three heavy locks clanged open from the inside of the door.
Simon yanked Robbi behind him and Payne pulled a short tipstaff club from his waistband, the brass tip glinting in the light as the door began to open.
Payne shouldered the door with all his strength and sent the weighty guard stumbling backward as he rushed inside.
The guard raised a pistol just as Payne cracked the brass end of the tipstaff across his wrist. A howl filled the air, and the man’s pistol clambered across the floor.
Simon rushed through the opening just behind Payne and crouched low; prepared for the next line of defense against their intrusion. Robbi slammed the door closed behind them and rushed to grab the pistol from the floor.
The guard tripped and fell as he retreated. “You broke my wrist!”
“I’m going to break more than that. Where are the rest of your men?” Payne demanded as they eyed the interior for more guards.
“It’s just me. They’re all out rounding up—” He clamped his mouth shut, refusing to continue.
“More girls?” Robbi growled. The man eyed Robbi as she continued. “Use your gobber and talk, unless you want me to shoot off your bits.” Robbi pointed the guard’s pistol between the man’s legs.
“The two other bludgers went with the boss. He received word of some girls he’s been looking fer.”
“What girls?” Payne demanded.
“Some piece who caught an earl, supposed to ‘ave a bunch of sisters. Says he’s been looking fer ‘em since he off’ed their dad. Then he saw her image in a gossip rag and nearly went stark raving mad. He insisted they nab her tonight.”
Robbi’s face turned white. “Caillen.”
“Fuck!” He breathed. “We have to go.”
Robbi grasped his arm as he started to storm out. “But we can’t leave without Edeen,” she said, her eyes rounding with fear for both her sisters.
He grabbed the man by the collar and brought his face to his. There was only one man desperate enough to go stark raving mad. And it was him. “Where are the other girls?” He snarled, a beast coming alive inside him ready to tear the guard limb from limb. “The ones you caught this evening.”
“You mean the whore and her maid?” He grunted.
He shook the man. “Where is she?”
The guard pointed toward the stairwell. “Second floor. That’s where they’re all kept.”
Simon threw the guard away from him and ran for the stairs with Robbi close behind. “Stay with him, Payne. Robbi, don’t you dare point that pistol in my direction while you’re running.” He said over his shoulder.
“I know how to handle a pistol,” Robbi yelled back.
“Watch for other guards. It could be a trap!” Payne yelled after them as he began tying the man up with a nearby piece of rope.
“We know!” Simon and Robbi yelled together.
On the second floor, they opened the door and were struck with the smell of human waste and misery. One lantern illuminated the room from the far corner, offering minimal light due to stacks of haphazardly organized crates throughout the room.
“Edeen!” Robbi yelled.
He would have glared at her, but he was too busy watching for a guard to come around the corner as he approached the narrow pathway on the opposite side of the room.
“Robbi? Robbi is that you?” A tentative and hopeful female voice called back.
Robbi began to run toward it, but Simon grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket, nearly pulling her off her feet. He raised one finger to his lips and whispered. “Ask her how many guards are in the room.”
“Edeen, how many guards are with you?”
Joyous laughter broke out on the other side of the room. “Get over here and get me out, scamp.”
Robbi smiled up at him and he released her jacket before she took his arm with her. They ran to the Blair sister Simon hadn’t seen in ages. What he saw, however, nearly stopped him in his tracks. Edeen was wearing only a corset and drawers.
“That is taking a disguise a bit to the extreme, dear sister,” Robbi said as she eyed the locks on a five-foot-tall cage that encompassed the entire west end of the room. The sheer number and ages of girls inside the cage were enough to make his skin crawl.
“How many girls are in there?” He asked, trying to look anywhere but at Edeen.
“Thirteen, counting me and Violet,” Edeen responded. “But the other girls say there were more before we arrive who were just…” She hesitated. “…moved.”
The implication of where the girls had been taken steeled his resolve. They had to work fast to get thirteen girls out of this hell before the other guards returned.
“Bugger,” Robbi muttered as the lock pick slipped without triggering the latch. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she concentrated on the task. He gazed at the girls ranging in age from as young as eight, to as old as Edeen’s twenty.
“Violet’s here?” He asked, sending a silent prayer up for Pembrock’s sister.
“She’s in the corner over there. She’s with Elizabeth Weldon.” She lowered her voice. “Her brother refused to pay her ransom. Said he didn’t believe she was alive, and if she was, she was better off dead.”
Simon drew back as if her words had struck him. Viscount Weldon was Ross’s cousin and had recently had his engagement broken off when his fiancé eloped with another man. Weldon had his sympathy, until that moment. Now he wanted to pound the man senseless.
“Yes,” Robbi whispered as the lock snapped open and she pulled it from the door. Edeen picked up the youngest girl and carried her in her arms. “Don’t worry, Cora. I’ll get you to your mama, I promise.”
Simon looked down at the little girl with strawberry blond hair and cherub cheeks. Tiny bare feet dangled from Edeen’s hip.
“They took our shoes in case we escaped.” Edeen’s voice hardened with hatred. Shrugging out of his jacket, he smiled gently at the young girl in her arms. “Let me hold you while Miss Edeen puts on my jacket.”
Cora looked up to Edeen who said, “It’s alright. He won’t hurt you.”
Slowly he reached out for the girl who hesitantly went to him while watching Edeen for any hint of trouble. Once Edeen had the jacket on, Cora nearly leapt from his arms.
Two girls Edeen’s age came forward, the smaller of the two, hugged a big-boned girl who sniffled against her friend’s shoulder. “Just leave me. My brother doesn’t want me back.”
“You must go back, Elizabeth. It’s better than the alternative,” Violet said as she met Edeen’s gaze. Both girls knew as well as he did, Lady Elizabeth’s future looked bleak.
Simon addressed the girls. “Listen to me. I am going to lead the way. We must be quick and quiet, and you must listen to every word of my instructions. It is imperative for our safety. Is that understood?” Anxious, frightened faces of various shapes and coloring looked up to him, and then to Edeen.
“He’s a good man,” Edeen assured every one of them. “One of the few men I would trust with my life.”
Simon wasn’t sure if he should be honoured by her words or offended by the way the girls hadn’t trusted him prior to Edeen giving him her approval.
Edeen and Robbi lined the girls up two by two, and they made their way to the stairwell where he turned and held his finger to his lips in one last signal to be silent.
They slowly made their way to the bottom of the stairs, their bare feet noiselessly marching as if they were a trained regiment.
Midway, he turned to ensure each girl was hale enough to make the two blocks to the hackney.
Their expressions were as somber as if he were leading them to the gallows, not freedom.
How he would get them to safety, he had no idea. He just had to get them out.
Nodding to Robbi and Edeen in the rear, he returned his focus forward.
Simon reached the bottom of the stairs and began gathering the girls into a group.
A loud crack of wood resounded through the first floor as the heavy door they’d entered through slammed open.
A man dressed in all black with light brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard stormed into the warehouse with a pistol drawn.
A momentary silence encompassed the room.
The bound guard reacted first. He swept Payne’s feet out from underneath him with a swipe of his leg and knocked Payne to the floor. The newcomer was there instantly, pressing his pistol to Payne’s head as the spy regained his footing.
“Anyone moves, and I’ll blow his head off.”
“Untie me, mate, and we’ll ‘andle them with no problem t’all,” the guard’s eyes shimmered with the anticipation of violence.
“I don’t know who you take me for, but I’m not your mate,” the newcomer sneered.
Simon shifted backward, silently moving the girls behind the steps, until the man yelled, “Freeze right there, or I’ll blow his head off.”
Simon blocked the girls from view. “You’ve already said that. If your threat had bothered me the first time, do you think I would be moving now?”
Payne’s eyes narrowed. Except he wasn’t watching Simon. His gaze was fixed to the side where the wisp of a shadow slinked along the wall.
The man pulled back the hammer on his pistol.
“Fuuuck!” Simon yelled at the ceiling, desperate to cover Robbi’s stupid ploy.
The girls behind him gasped.