A Dangerous Deceit (Thief-Takers)

by Alissa Johnson

  She twisted her lips in annoyance. “It’s not your fault they chose to appropriate your reputation.”

  “It’s not their fault they believed my lies, and I’ll not judge a parent for doing everything in their power to secure their child’s future, nor will I punish the child.”

  “No, of course not.”

  “I felt I had no choice but to keep the lie going. When the press insisted on details of my time in France, I provided them. Vague ones, of course, nothing they could verify or refute. I’d been a child, after all. I couldn’t be expected to remember specifics. I offered anecdotes instead—silly little stories a child would remember. All of them fabricated. They were just lies built upon lies built upon lies. There have been so many now, so…” He ran his free hand through his hair. “The weight of them all is staggering. I don’t know how to rid myself of them. I don’t know how to fix it.”

  “But youare fixing it.”

  He paused with his fingers still in his hair. “Beg your pardon?”

  “You want to claim Edward Mitcham as your father, and so you just did.”

  “Only to you,” he pointed out, dropping his arm. And he wasn’t yet sure if it had been a wise course of action. A part of him felt better for having told her, for having acknowledged Edward Mitcham aloud at long last. In doing so, it seemed as if some part of the weight he’d carried since that fateful day in the Arkwrights’ parlor had lifted. But the rest of him feared what his honesty would cost him. What did Jane really think of his lies, and the world he’d built upon them?

  “I count,” Jane said evenly. “So, yesterday there was only one person in the world who knew what an extraordinary man your father was. Today, there are two. You trust Sir Samuel, don’t you?” She waited for his nod. “Perhaps, one day, you’ll tell him. And then there will be three.”

  “I don’t—”

  “The truth can grow in the same manner as a lie, Gabriel. Slowly, over time. You might tell Lord Renderwell someday. And then there will be four. With their wives, it could be five or six. You could tell your father’s story to your children when they’re grown. And they can share it with their own. And so on, and so on. By the time your great-grandchildren hear the tale, who knows how far the truth will have already spread. Yesterday there was one. Today there is two. In the future, there will be more.”

  “My great-grandchildren,” he echoed. “That is a long time for my father to wait for his due.”

  “Edward Mitcham waited seven years to be with his only son and the woman he loved. I’d say he was a patient man. And he loved you. I think he would understand.”

  “Do you?” He asked, his heart tripping his chest. “That is…doyou understand?”

  ***

  Jane studied Gabriel’s face. She could see the worry in his blue eyes, see the tension in his jaw and in the way he held himself so stiffly. “Before I answer that, I have a question of my own. Why have you told me this?”

  He frowned and fumbled a bit with an answer. “I… Because I could. Because you trusted me and I wanted to give something back. Because you were going to walk away, and if we’re hell-bent on being honest, I have to tell you that I would have said anything to make you stay. Because…” He came to a stammering stop and threw up a hand in frustration. “Devil take it, Jane, I don’t know. Because I wanted to. For the first time in my life I wanted someone to know the truth, and I wanted that someone to beyou. Only you.”

  Jane wasn’t entirely sure what sort of answer she’d been expecting to hear, or even what she’d wanted to hear. She’d only hoped she would know if he said the right thing.

  And he did. Oh, he did. “I’m glad you told me. Your secret is safe with me. I promise.”

  “You don’t have to promise. I already know.” He leaned forward and lightly rested his forehead against her own. “Can you forgive me now, Jane? Please.”

  “Do you mean to keep things from me going forward?”

  He straightened. And rather quickly, too. “I’ll not apologize for doing what was needed to keep you safe. And I can’t promise not to do it again. But how’s this? In the future, if there is something I feel you would be safer not knowing, I will tell you that you are safer not knowing, and we’ll go from there.”

  It wasn’t entirely what she wanted, but she was willing to compromise so long as he was being honest. “I will try to change your mind.”

  “Noted.”

  “Is there anything else you’ve kept from me in the interest of my safety?”

  “No. Nothing.” His lips twitched just a little. “Is there anything else you need to confess to me?”

  “Yes,” she said, and he started in surprise. “I want to tell you that you were wrong earlier, when you said no one had loved you as much as your father.”

  He went still. So still and stiff she wondered if she was making a mistake. But he wasn’t looking away. People looked away when they were uncomfortable, didn’t they? When they didn’t want to hear what came next? Gabriel was staring at her as if the fate of the world rested on her next words. She didn’t know what that meant, but she was going to take it as a positive sign.

  “I love you, Gabriel.” She said the words carefully and clearly. If ever there was a time when she couldn’t afford to jumble them, this was it. When he still didn’t react, a tiny bubble of nervous laughter escaped her. “I amin love with you.” And still he was silent and staring at her. She wet lips gone dry. “I’ve frightened you.”

  “No.” He shook his head, and slowly but surely, a dazed smile began to spread across his face. “No, you have not.”

  “You’re pleased, then?” she asked hopefully.

  “Pleased does not begin to do justice to how I feel. Jane—”

  Lord Renderwell’s head suddenly popped around the library door. “Arkwright.”

  Gabriel didn’t move, didn’t take his eyes off Jane for a second. “Not. Now.”

  “Fulberg says two of his men are missing. He’s making another sweep of the woods where they were stationed.”

  Fear leapt, quick and sharp. Gabriel was off the settee and dragging Jane to her feet in the space of a heartbeat.

  “Is it Mr. Kray?” Jane demanded as he pulled her toward the door. “Or Mr. Jones?”

  “We expected Jones first, but there’s no telling for certain.”

  “Could be either or both,” Renderwell agreed. “Or it might be two men who left their post for a drink. We’ll find out.”

  When they reached the stairs, Gabriel threw a look over his shoulder at Renderwell, who stopped on the bottom step. “Where is everyone?”

  “Lottie is upstairs with the list. Esther and Samuel are gathering the staff, then they’ll take guard here.”

  “I’ll help search the woods.”

  Gabriel kept a firm grip on Jane as he led her upstairs. With his free hand, he reached inside his coat and retrieved a pistol.

  “Where is your gun?” he asked her.

  “In my room. Upstairs.”

  “I want you to grab it and go and wait with Lottie and the others in her bedroom.”

  “Yes. All right.”

  “We’ll meet at the kitchen door,” Renderwell called out to Gabriel. “Three minutes!”

  ***

  The upstairs hall was buzzing with activity as staff hurried toward Lottie’s bedroom.

  Gabriel saw Jane to her door, then headed for his own room in search of extra weapons. He swung open the door, and found Kray standing in the shadowed far corner of the room, pointing a silver pistol at Gabriel’s head.

  “Step inside. Quietly. And put your weapon on the ground, or I’ll put a hole through you and the next person who comes through that door.”

  Gabriel considered the order. Kray had to know a gunshot would bring everyone running. If he were rational, he’d do everything he could to avoid drawing attention to his presence in the house. But a rational man wouldn’t have snuck into the house to begin with. It was a tactical error one step removed from suicid
e.

  Kray might very well take the shot, Gabriel decided. And Jane might be the first person to reach the room.

  Slowly, he set down the gun and straightened again.

  “Kick it here,” Kray hissed.

  “You know I won’t.” He sent it sliding across the carpet to disappear under the bed instead. “It’s a compromise,” he said easily when Kray snarled at him.

  “Leave it,” Kray hissed when Gabriel turned to close the door. “Leave it open and step farther out of sight. Let’s not give anyone reason to be suspicious.”

  Gabriel nodded but took his time walking to the side of the room. As he moved, he calculated how long he would have to keep Kray occupied before Renderwell came looking for him. He estimated that he had a minute left before he was due in the kitchen. Renderwell might assume he’d been briefly waylaid by someone in the hall and give him another thirty seconds or so. Then he’d be suspicious, make his way upstairs—quietly and carefully. He’d fetch Samuel first. Esther would want to come as well.

  Two minutes, he decided. All he had to do was stall for two more minutes.

  “I thought you were smarter than this, Kray.” He kept his voice low as someone raced by the door. The hallway was rapidly emptying, everyone making their way to safety. He had to believe Jane was already with Lottie and the others. That she was out of harm’s way. “You won’t get out of this house.”

  “Got in, didn’t I?” He smiled smugly as a final, brisk set of footsteps passed by. A moment later, the door at the end of the hall shut decisively, and the house was still and quiet. Kray visibly relaxed and stepped out from the corner. “Did you really think a few hired police officers would stop me? I’m a spy, Arkwright. I’ve built a career working in the shadows. I can go anywhere, anytime, do anything, and disappear again without leaving a trace. No one sees me unless I will it.”

  “That’s a very pretty way of saying you had your men create a diversion while you slunk inside like a thief.”

  “And caught a Thief Taker. There’s a sort of justice in that. Where’s the list?”

  Gabriel shrugged, saw no reason to lie. “In the house, guarded by at least a dozen people. You have no chance of getting to it.”

  “Guarded by a dozen women and servants while the men are busy in the woods,” Kray scoffed. “I’ll manage.”

  “They’re armed.” He thought of Lottie and Esther. “They’ll kill you.”

  “Over a list? I doubt it. Not if they’re given a peaceful alternative.”

  “You mean to trade me for the list,” Gabriel guessed.

  “I’ll admit, I’d hoped to find Miss Ballenger instead,” Kray said, sending a cold chill down Gabriel’s spine. “But you’ll do well enough. You should have kept our deal, Arkwright. You could have had the money, the girl, and your life.”

  “There was never going to be any money. If I had taken the deal, you would have shot me the moment I put the list in your hand. You don’t want to sell it. You want to destroy it.”

  Kray tipped his head to the side. “What do you know?”

  “I know there’s no one on that list whose name is worth anything approaching a fortune. I know that by coming here you’ve lost any chance you may have had to hide, or at least deny, your involvement in treason. Which means you know someone on there, don’t you? Someone you’re willing to sacrifice your own freedom, even your life, to protect.”

  “Think you’re clever, do you?”

  He lifted his hands to indicate his current predicament. “Not at the moment.”

  Kray smiled at that, baring all his oversized teeth. “You should have known I would find you.”

  “I wanted you to find me. Why else would I have sent a wire to London that you could so easily intercept? What I don’t know is why you’ve not simply brought whomever you’re trying to save out of Russia.”

  “I have my reasons.”

  “I don’t suppose you’d care to share them with me?”

  “No, I don’t suppose I would,” Kray replied almost genially. “You’re likely to die a curious man, I’m afraid.”

  “No, he’s not.”

  Gabriel’s blood turned to ice at the sound of Jane’s voice in the doorway.

  Kray whipped around to face her, and Gabriel knew the memory of seeing Kray turn his gun on Jane would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  “Jane,get out.”

  She didn’t react to his barked order, didn’t spare him so much as a glance as she entered the room. The gun he had given her days before was clasped in her hands and pointed directly at Kray. “Put down your weapon.”

  Kray let out a mocking laugh. “Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary. You forget, Miss Ballenger, I saw you in the alley in Ardbaile. You nearly fainted when Arkwright had you aim at Fulberg. Put your gun down before you embarrass yourself any further.”

  “You forget…I had no quarrel with Mr. Fulberg.”

  Kray’s laughter faded. “You won’t shoot me. It isn’t in you.”

  “You threatened the people I love.” She braced her feet apart and took very careful aim. “I can shoot you. And I will.”

  Her face was pale, her eyes unblinking. And her hands were shaking. But she meant what she said. He could see it.

  Courageous, loving, unbendingly loyal woman.

  He was going tostrangle her.

  The first real signs of hesitation showed in Kray’s face. “There’s no real need for this, is there? No one has been hurt yet. No one needs to be. Just give me the list and I’ll be on my way.”

  Gabriel took a step toward Jane, desperate to draw Kray’s attention from Jane. “Who the bloody hell is on that list?”

  “He is,” Samuel announced, strolling into the room with Renderwell and Esther behind him. All of them were, naturally, armed to the teeth.

  “About bloody time,” Gabriel snapped. “Jane, come here.” Without waiting for her to comply, he strode to her, plucked the gun from her hands and pushed her behind him.

  “Mr. Kray isn’t protecting an English spy,” Esther said. “He’s protecting a Russian one.” She pointed the tip of the silver dagger she was holding at the man. “You’re a traitor, and Mr. Ballenger knew it. It’syour name hidden on the list—Oscar Kray.” She shot a quick glance at Gabriel. “Lottie figured it out. It was a simple substitution cipher.”

  Panic flashed over Kray’s face, and a heartbeat later, turned to cold resolve. “So it is, and so I am.”

  No, he wasn’t, Gabriel thought. He couldn’t be. A man didn’t attempt to cover treason by openly engaging in more treason. There was no logic in that. Either Lottie was wrong, or Esther was lying.

  “You’re outmanned and outgunned,” Renderwell said calmly. “It’s time to surrender.”

  “It would appear that way, wouldn’t it,” Kray replied. “But, no, I believe I’ll wait until the cavalry arrives.”

  “Jones,” Gabriel guessed. The man was expecting the support of his superior at the Foreign Office, along with whatever men he was bringing.

  “Not quite.” Kray tilted his head and gave him a pitying smile. “You didn’t think I’d be foolish enough to waste all my men, mybest men, on a simple distraction, did you? While my pawns are keeping yours occupied in the woods, and I’ve kept you occupied here—” He broke off at the sound of a gunshot close to the house. Much too close. “Ah, and here they come. Not quite as stealthily as one might hope, but what can one do? I do hope the lads you left to guard the eastern lawn weren’t particular friends of yours.”

  Samuel’s hand clenched into a fist. “You son of a—”

  A shout came from the direction of the front hall. Seconds later, three men Gabriel recognized from Ardbaile came crashing into the room. The red-headed man Fulberg had pointed out entered first, training his pistol on Renderwell. A second man, short and stocky, came in behind him, gripping a knife. The last man, who rivaled Samuel in size, carried a stout club at his side.

  Gabriel tensed and automatically reached bac
k to make certain Jane was well hidden behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Samuel do the same with Esther. Renderwell subtly shifted his weight in preparation for a fight.

  It wasn’t the change in numbers that had all three men bracing for an attack—they’d faced worse odds—but the agitated state of Kray’s men. Breaching the house was a mistake and, from the looks of it, they knew it. They were breathing hard and sweating profusely. Their eyes jumped nervously around the room. The man with the gun was twitching.

  They were wound too tight, teetering on the very edge of panic. One wrong move might set them off.

  Gabriel eyed the distance to the door and calculated how long it would take to get Jane through it and out of harm’s way.

  Too bloody long.

  “Excellent timing,” Kray crowed. He looked around the group. “Well now, what a merry party we make. Where are the other two?” he asked the redhead. “Waiting outside, I presume?”

  The man wiped a sleeve over his brow. “They ran.”

  Kray’s expression darkened. He opened his mouth to respond.

  But he never had the chance to make a sound.

  ***

  In the days and weeks to come, Jane would piece through her memory of the next few minutes in an ultimately vain attempt to make sense of it all.

  She’d been aware of an awful stillness that had settled over the room as Kray’s men came inside.

  Gabriel had reached for her and then…

  A distant shot rent the air, followed by a shattering of glass.

  And then all hell broke loose.

  Everyone moved at once. Gabriel shoved her to the ground behind an upholstered chair with enough force to knock the air from her lungs. Gunfire exploded around her. She heard shouting, the pounding of boots on the floor and thud of fists against flesh. Legs raced past her line of sight beneath the legs of the chair. She automatically followed them with her gaze and saw Gabriel aim and fire at a target on the other side of the room.

  Terror ripped through that first moment of shock, and she dragged in her first full gasp of air. Scrambling up to her knees, she blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of the chaos in the room. She’d lost track of Gabriel. There was fighting all around her, figures lunging and grappling, while broken glass from the windows littered the floor and the tangy smoke of gunfire filled her nose.