by Connie Mason
“Oh, no! Please, God, no.”
She sank to her knees and sobbed into her hands. Julian was going to die and she couldn’t do a thing about it.
Lara didn’t know how long she remained like that. Daylight waned and the lantern sputtered out. The room grew dark. She heard the scurry of tiny feet and panic rose hard in her throat. She climbed onto a crate and gathered her skirts about her. There was nothing left for her now but to wait.
A scraping noise at the window caught Lara’s attention. More rats? A whisper of sound sent her off the crate and to the window.
“Who is it?”
“Lara? Is that you? Thank God I found you.”
The voice wasn’t Julian’s, she was sure of it. But it was as familiar as her own.
“ ’Tis Rondo. I’ve been hours searching for you. This building is enormous; every opening is locked or boarded up. I saw you through the slits in the window but waited to make sure you were alone.”
“Rondo! What are you doing in London? How did you find me?”
“ ’Tis a long story, I’ll tell you later.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Get you out of here. But first I have to find something to pry these boards off with.”
“Hurry,” Lara urged. “The Jackal intends to kill Julian. He’ll be here soon.”
“The Jackal?”
“Aye, the man who wants Julian dead. You betrayed Julian to the Jackal’s men. Oh, do hurry, Rondo,” she added on a note of desperation.
“I’m sorry, Lara. I swear I’ll make it up to you. I’ll be back.”
Lara listened to the silence outside the window and felt a glimmer of hope. Who would have thought Rondo would show up in London? So many unanswered questions, but none of them mattered right now. What mattered was getting out of this dangerous situation and saving Julian’s life.
Rondo returned a short time later. Lara heard him at the window. “Rondo, is that you?”
“Aye. I found a metal pipe in the alley. It should do the job. Stand back.”
Excitement pounded through her as Rondo used the metal bar to pry off the boards. When one of the nails gave way, Lara nearly cheered. Another nail popped loose and one board fell away, but the space was too narrow for her to climb through. She waited with bated breath as Rondo pried furiously at another board.
Suddenly Lara froze. Voices. Coming from beyond the locked door. “Quiet,” she hissed. “Someone’s coming.”
She could see sweat dripping off Rondo’s forehead, but despite his frantic efforts she sensed defeat. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
“You have to leave, Rondo. Quickly, before you’re discovered.”
“I won’t leave you, Lara.”
“You have to. Pass the pipe to me through the window. It may be of some use to me.”
“I can’t leave you,” Rondo repeated.
“Go Rondo. Now. You have no weapon, you’ll be killed. Go to my father. You know where he lives. Tell him where to find me and ask him to bring help.”
She must have gotten through to him for he thrust the pipe at her through the window and disappeared. It wasn’t a moment too soon. Seconds later the door opened. A man she didn’t recognize pushed through. He looked like a thug. Could he be the Jackal? Then someone entered behind him and a chill skittered down her spine. Instinctively she concealed the pipe in the folds of her skirt as she gazed into the face of the Jackal, a man she knew at once.
“You!”
“Good evening, my dear. I trust you approve of my hospitality.”
“You’re the Jackal? The man who wants Julian dead?”
“Surprised?” the Jackal asked smoothly. “Where is your Gypsy intuition? I thought you’d have figured that out by now. I’m sure your lover has.”
“If you’re referring to Julian, he’s my husband. We were married in Scotland.”
“Mansfield married you? That does surprise me. I thought he merely wanted you for bed sport. I can’t imagine Mansfield tainting his noble bloodline with Gypsy blood, not that it matters. Your husband will die today, and you with him.”
“My lord, look there!” the Jackal’s hired thug exclaimed, calling his attention to the window. “The wench was tryin’ to escape.”
The Jackal stared at the window, his face a mask of rage. “Blast that Crockett! He said this room was escape-proof. What did you use to pry off the board?”
Lara tightened her hold on the pipe hidden in the folds of her skirt. Her words dripped with sarcasm. “My hands.”
Tolliver whirled around to face her. “A smart mouth won’t save you, my lady.” He turned to his hired thug and snapped out orders. “Wait outside for Scorpion, Barnes. Position the others in various places around the warehouse. There may be trouble. Bring Scorpion to me as soon as he arrives. Leave the light, there’s another outside the door.”
“What if Scorpion ain’t alone?” Barnes asked.
“He’ll be alone,” the Jackal said with confidence. “He fancies his Gypsy wench too much to disobey my instructions. If for some reason he isn’t alone, take care of him yourself and let the others handle his companions. Remember, however, I prefer to kill Scorpion myself. I want him alive so I can watch his face when I kill his wife. I want him to know she’s the second woman to die for him.”
Barnes set the lantern down on a crate and left the room. The Jackal took a menacing step toward Lara. “You’re a fetching little witch. There’s just enough time before your husband arrives to sample your charms. I’ve never had a Gypsy, and I’ve heard they’re hot and eager for it.”
“Don’t touch me,” Lara said with deadly calm despite her racing heart.
She retreated, until she felt the wall at her back. The Jackal pressed forward. His body pushed ruthlessly against hers. She felt his erection rising thick and threatening between his legs and sucked in a breath of courage. He grasped her breasts with both hands, his fingers hurtful on her tender flesh, and rage emboldened her. When he leaned down to seize her lips with his, she placed her hands on his chest and shoved hard. He stumbled backward.
It was now or never, she thought as she whipped out the pipe from the folds of her skirt, put all her strength behind it, and swung it toward the Jackal’s head. Caught off guard, he raised his arm to ward off the blow. The pipe landed midway between his elbow and wrist with a sickening crack. He howled and cradled his arm against him.
“Bitch! Bloody, Gypsy bitch! You broke my arm!”
“I wish it were your head!” Lara cried, eyeing the door with renewed hope.
She took one step, then another, but the Jackal reacted swiftly despite his injury. Raising his good arm, he backhanded her. She crumpled to the floor, clinging to consciousness by a slim thread.
“That will teach you.” He pulled a pistol from his belt. “You’ll be the first to die. Your lover will watch you draw your last breath before I kill him.”
Julian hired a hackney to take him to the docks. He instructed the driver to let him out at the far end of the street and cautiously made his way on foot to the abandoned warehouse. He felt eyes following him and knew he was being watched. Ignoring the prickling sensation at the nape of his neck, he paused before the warehouse door and tried the latch. The door opened beneath his hand, but before he could enter, he felt the business end of a pistol pressing into his back.
“ ’Tis good ye came alone,” Barnes snarled. “Inside with ye, Scorpion.”
Julian froze. “Where’s my wife?”
“Ye’ll see her soon enough. Move.”
The steady pressure of the gun in his back persuaded Julian to do as Jackal’s hired thug directed. He entered the cavernous room and paused, his gaze darting about to get his bearings. Barnes picked up the lantern sitting on a crate near the door and prodded Julian forward.
“Are you taking me to Lara?” Julian asked. “Is the Jackal with her?”
“Ye ask too many questions,” Barnes growled. “See that door yonder?” Julian nodded. “Walk
toward it.”
Julian approached the door, his body tense, his senses alert. He knew the odds were stacked against him and he’d gladly give up his own life to spare Lara’s. The only bright ray in the otherwise dismal future was the hope that the message he’d sent to Lord Stanhope had reached its destination, and that Stanhope had gotten through to Lord Randall. But would help arrive in time?
Barnes nudged Julian in the back with the pistol. “Stop at the door.”
Julian halted before the closed door. His body tensed when he heard a thud on the other side of the door, and another strange sound that sent chills down his spine. Nothing, not even the threat of death, could prevent Julian from flinging the door open and rushing inside. He skidded to an abrupt stop, rendered motionless by the scene unfolding before him.
Lara lay motionless on the floor. Was she hurt? Dead? Rage exploded inside him. He raced to her side and dropped to his knees. With gentle care he lifted her head. She groaned and opened her eyes. Julian breathed a sigh of relief.
“Julian. Why did you come? The Jackal is going to kill you.”
“He can try, my love.” When she tried to rise, he helped her to a sitting position. “Don’t move,” he warned. Then he rose to his feet and spun around to confront the Jackal, his teeth bared in a snarl.
“So it is you. My suspicions were correct.”
The Jackal’s left arm hung limply at his side. Julian eyed him narrowly, speculating on his injury and wondering whether his feisty Gypsy wife had caused it.
“Scorpion. How good of you to come,” the Jackal said through clenched teeth.
“What happened to your arm?”
The Jackal’s eyes glowed with dark malice. “Ask your lover. I’ve decided she’ll be the first to die. Before I kill you, I want you to tell me how it feels to have two innocent women die for you.”
“Bastard!” Julian snarled. “Why? Why would a man with your background turn to smuggling and murder?” The longer he kept the Jackal talking the better the chances of help arriving.
“You’ve never had empty pockets,” the Jackal spat. “You’ve never worried about going to debtors’ prison. Not the high and mighty Earl of Manchester. You don’t know what it’s like to face a bleak future.”
“So you turned to smuggling,” Julian contended.
“At least I have funds to maintain the lifestyle I enjoy. Smuggling is quite lucrative, actually, that’s why you must be eradicated. Randall will never know I’m the Jackal after you and Lara are dead.”
Keep him talking, Julian told himself. “Why were you courting Stanhope’s friendship?”
“At first, ’twas merely business. Later, after I figured out that Scorpion had been aided by Gypsies, I wanted to keep tabs on Stanhope in the event his Gypsy daughter was involved. My suspicions proved correct, for it wasn’t long before you were sniffing around Lara’s skirts. Your identity as Scorpion has been known to me for some time.”
“Let Lara go,” Julian demanded. “Killing her will solve nothing. ’Tis me you want.”
“I can’t let her live. She knows too much.”
“Julian …”
Until now Lara had kept blessedly silent. He turned toward her, his expression dark with warning. “Let me handle this, love.”
She started to rise and he helped her up. He felt her trembling beneath his hand and pulled her close.
“Step away from him, my dear,” the Jackal said smoothly. “I promised you’d be the first to die and I meant it. I want to get this over with quickly, so I can have my injury treated.”
“She’s not moving,” Julian confronted, shoving Lara behind him.
Silently Julian contemplated his chances should he decide to rush the Jackal. It might work if the Jackal’s hired thug wasn’t in the room. He stood just inside the door, his beady eyes and steady gun trained on Julian.
“Don’t even consider it,” the Jackal warned. “My men are placed strategically around the building. You wouldn’t get far, even if by some miracle you got past Barnes and out the door.”
He raised the pistol with his good hand and pointed it at Julian. “I wanted the wench to die first, but I suppose it doesn’t matter which of you goes first. You’re both going to die.”
“Drop to the floor, I’m going to rush him,” Julian hissed in a voice meant for Lara’s ears alone.
Three things happened at once. Julian launched himself at the Jackal, Lara hit the floor, and the gun went off. The bullet went wild as the Jackal fell beneath Julian’s weight, and the pistol went skittering across the floor. The Jackal fell on his broken arm and screamed.
Barnes aimed his pistol at Julian, but Julian used the Jackal as a shield, spoiling Barnes’s shot.
“Don’t shoot, you fool!” the Jackal screamed. “You might hit me.”
Barnes looked confused, then he turned and aimed at Lara. Lara scrambled for the gun the Jackal had lost. Barnes had Lara in his sights when the remaining boards covering the window shattered and a man’s lean, lithe body hurtled through the opening. The man lunged for Barnes. Barnes fired. The bullet found a home in soft flesh. The man grunted and fell. Light from the lantern illuminated his face, and Lara screamed his name.
“Rondo!”
Julian was stunned by Rondo’s sudden appearance through the window. What in bloody hell was he doing here?
The Jackal, obviously in great pain, was easily subdued, but Julian didn’t dare release him to see to Lara and Rondo. A quick glance told him that Barnes was reloading, and that frightened the hell out of him, for he knew instinctively that Lara would be Barnes’ next target. Rondo was trying to rise but appeared too hurt to be of much help. Then Julian spied the Jackal’s pistol, which had flown out of his hand when Julian rushed him.
“The gun, Lara, the gun!”
Everything was happening so fast Lara found it difficult to take it all in. Rondo was hurt and Julian was fighting for his own life. She had to do something. She realized the Jackal’s pistol was within reach even before Julian alerted her. She stretched out her arm, curled her fingers around the weapon, and brought it toward her. Her hands were shaking as she raised the pistol and aimed at Barnes, who by that time had reloaded and had his gun trained on Lara.
Without allowing herself time to think, Lara squeezed the trigger. Barnes screamed and dropped his pistol. It discharged harmlessly into the wall. Lara stared at the weapon in her hand and dropped it as if it had bitten her. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she could shoot another human. But the threat to her own life, the life of the child growing inside her, and Julian’s life was more than enough justification.
Unfortunately Barnes had more stamina than Lara had counted on. She watched in horror as Barnes retrieved his pistol and started to reload, albeit awkwardly. The blood soaking his sleeve seemed not to bother him as he calmly raised the weapon and took aim at Lara. She heard Julian scream her name and braced herself for the pain that would rip through her body with the bullet. All she could do now was close her eyes and pray.
Lara heard a burst of gunfire but felt no pain as her eyes flew open. Barnes was lying on the floor, and beyond him, a man wearing a uniform stood in the open door, calmly reloading his pistol. Unable to comprehend what had just happened, she watched in trepidation as a tall, powerfully built man pushed past the dragoon. He wore authority like a perfectly tailored coat.
The man who entered behind him was as dear to her as Julian. “Papa!” Lord Stanhope opened his arms, and Lara flew into them.
“Lara! Thank God. I feared we’d get here too late.”
“You couldn’t have arrived at a better time,” Julian said. “Lord Randall, may I present the Jackal to you?”
Lord Randall eyed the Jackal with contempt. “Lord Tolliver. I should have known. You’ll hang for this. You have betrayed my confidence and your own country for personal gain.”
“I would have succeeded but for Scorpion,” Tolliver snarled. “He’ll pay with his life.”
From
Lara’s vantage point she saw something no one else seemed to notice. Though Tolliver’s left arm still hung limply at his side, his right arm and hand were free. As Julian shoved Tolliver toward Randall, Tolliver reached inside his coat pocket and retrieved a small pistol. It must have been loaded and ready to fire for he whirled abruptly and shoved the pistol in Julian’s gut.
Lara screamed a warning but it was too late. The gun exploded. Fortunately Julian had reacted the moment he felt the gun pressing into his gut. At the last possible moment he managed to shove Tolliver’s arm upward, deflecting the shot and taking the bullet in a less vulnerable part of his body.
Almost immediately men swarmed around Tolliver, taking him in tow. He was dragged from the room, screaming for a doctor to treat his broken arm. Lara tore herself from her father’s arms and raced to Julian’s side, sobbing in relief when she saw the steady rise and fall of his chest.
Randall knelt beside her, concern wrinkling his brow. “Is he alive?”
“Aye, but he’s losing a dangerous amount of blood.”
“ ’Tis best not to move him until a doctor arrives. I’ll send for one immediately. Press on the wound, it may help to stem the flow of blood.”
Lara tore a piece of her petticoat and wadded it into a pad. Then she opened Julian’s shirt, placed the cloth over the wound, and pressed on it. The pad turned red and she increased the pressure, relieved when the flow slowed.
“I just checked on Rondo,” Lord Stanhope said as he came up to join them. “He’s alive. I don’t know how he got here or why, but he needs medical attention.”
“Rondo saved my life,” Lara said.
Randall rose to summon help.
“How is Mansfield?” Stanhope asked.
“I’ve felt better,” Julian groaned. “You arrived with Lord Randall and the dragoons in the nick of time.”
“Julian!” Lara cried, overjoyed to see him alert. “Thank God! Lord Randall sent for a physician.”
