Elias reached inside the sleeve of his jacket and, like a magician, pulled a long thin black cane with shiny silver pommel clear. Rapping it against the floor he disappeared, reappearing a few feet further along the corridor, behind a startled guard. He twirled the cane like a baton and brought it up under the man’s chin, lifting him off the ground and sending him crashing to the floor.
‘Impressive,’ Elias remarked when he saw the trail of bodies Davis had left in his wake.
‘As far as I’m concerned,’ Davis remarked coolly, ‘if you’re Veritas, you’re fair game.’
‘A sentiment we share,’ Elias mused, as Davis calmly retrieved a spare magazine and reloaded. ‘You and I are going to have to have a conversation when we get out of here.’
Davis stood and glanced around.
‘Let’s get moving, before more of them show up.’
Elias nodded and they took off, stepping over bodies, but as they rounded a corner they skidded to a halt, finding themselves walking straight into the barrel of a gun.
Nate stared at the two strange men, while trying to hold Theo upright as he aimed the gun at them.
‘How do you get out of this shit hole,’ he demanded.
‘Not a clue,’ Davis replied as he eyed the gun and his eyes flicked across to Theo, who was staring at him wide eyed.
‘Dviss?’
‘Wait, you know him?’ Nate asked Theo.
‘Olias uncel,’ he slurred.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Elias demanded.
‘Paralytic drugs. I gave him something to counteract them, but they haven’t worn off yet,’ Nate returned suspiciously as his grip tightened on the gun. ‘Who the fuck are you?’
‘Uh, we’re here to rescue him,’ Davis pointed to Theo.
‘Took your time,’ Nate scowled.
But Theo wasn’t listening. His wide eyes were locked on Elias, his mouth hanging open as he wondered whether or not he was still hallucinating, because right now he could swear he was looking at his dead brother Logan.
‘Hello Theo,’ Elias’s gaze locked on his brother.
‘Not posssibul,’ Theo swallowed as his mouth started to tingle and the feeling began to return.
Nate stared more closely at the impeccably attired rescuer, dressed in black and carrying a highly polished cane, but when he really looked at his face, he saw the very distinct resemblance to Theo.
‘You two related?’ he asked.
‘My name is Elias Black,’ he nodded. ‘I’m his brother.’
‘You’re Elias Black?’ Theo replied in shock.
‘I haven’t been Logan Beckett in a very long time Theo… it’s a long story,’ he smiled. ‘One which I’m sure Olivia would be happy to tell you.’
‘Olivia?’ his eyes widened, ‘where is she? Does Faraday have her?’
‘No,’ Elias shook his head. ‘Faraday doesn’t have her, he never had her, and your children are at home, safe with Jake and Roni.’
Theo let out a breath and his legs nearly gave out beneath him in relief.
Nate lowered the gun, his head turning at the sound of voices down the corridor behind him.
‘Time to go,’ Nate rushed out. ‘I don’t suppose you know a way out of here?’
‘We’re just kind of winging it here,’ Elias grabbed Theo’s other arm and wrapped it over his shoulder.
Between them, he and Nate dragged Theo, as Davis covered their backs and began firing. They ran down twisted corridors which all looked the same, with no idea where the hell they were or how to get out of the rabbit warren.
‘WAIT!’ Davis suddenly shouted.
They skidded to a halt around a corner. Nate ducked out from under Theo’s arm leaving Elias to hold him up as he crouched by the corner and began firing.
Davis pressed his hands to the wall beside them, then the side of his head, as if he were listening, although what the hell he could hear over the sound of gunfire and the alarm Elias had no idea.
‘There’s a passageway behind this wall.’
‘Are you sure?’ Elias demanded urgently.
‘I’m sure,’ Davis nodded. ‘I think it may be part of the original tunneling from when they built this place. They collapsed the entrance and sealed it, then built this wall in front of it. If we follow the tunnel it must lead out somewhere.’
‘It’s your call Davis,’ Elias replied. ‘I trust you.’
Nate stopped firing, realizing he’d run out of bullets. Growling in frustration he hurled the gun away and turned back to find the corridor behind him empty. Elias, Theo and the weird white-haired guy were all gone.
He could hear the guards rushing down the corridor toward him; any moment they would round the corner and he would be a dead man.
‘Son of a bitc….’
He felt himself grabbed roughly by the shoulder and yanked backward; he didn’t even have time to yell out in shock. It was the strangest feeling and that was saying something considering he’d tried almost every recreational drug in existence and even some non-recreational ones too.
It felt like he was melting, like his whole body was made of goo and something solid was sliding through him, or maybe he was sliding through it, he wasn’t exactly sure. Suddenly he emerged in a dark corridor of rough stone walls. It was dimly lit by an old-fashioned lamp which Elias had found mounted on the wall and somehow lit.
Nate leaned forward, pressing his hands to his knees as he retched hard.
‘Sorry,’ Davis winced, ‘I didn’t have time to warn you.’
Nate lifted his head and tried to say something but just started heaving again.
‘Just try to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth,’ Davis told him sympathetically. ‘It will pass in a few minutes.’
‘We should be safe here for the moment,’ Elias kneeled down next to Theo who was propped against the wall, his feet bare and still wearing scrubs. ‘You should rest, catch your breath.’
Theo wasn’t listening, he was still staring in shock at the face he never thought he’d see again.
‘I hate to say it little brother,’ Elias smiled, ‘but you look like shit.’
‘And you’re looking pretty good for a dead man,’ Theo replied.
Elias closed his eyes and sighed.
‘I watched you die,’ Theo whispered painfully. ‘I held you in my arms as you took your last breath.’
‘I know,’ Elias answered quietly. ‘It’s a long story, one I promise I will tell you, but we need to get out of here.’
‘We can’t,’ Theo shook his head and tried to stand. ‘I have to go back.’
‘Go back where?’ Elias replied in confusion. ‘In there? Theo we just busted our asses to get you out.’
‘I can’t leave without her,’ he insisted as he clawed his way up the rough wall so that he was standing.
‘Who?’ Elias frowned.
‘Six,’ Theo breathed heavily, ‘I can’t leave without Six.’
‘Who’s Six?’
‘She’s my friend,’ Theo stared at his brother, his eyes pleading. ‘I can’t leave her with them.’
‘Theo,’ Nate interrupted, still looking a little shaky, ‘I told you, she’s gone. They took her and we can’t go after them. They’ve got too much of a lead and we don’t know where they’re heading.’
‘Saint Germain,’ Theo replied. ‘They said they were taking her somewhere called Saint Germain.’
‘Paris?’ Elias frowned in confusion. ‘Okay, listen Theo,’ he grasped his brother’s face gently. ‘I swear to you I will do everything in my power to find your friend, but right now, we need to get you out of here.’
‘It feels wrong,’ Theo whispered painfully.
‘I know,’ Elias nodded, ‘but I swear I will find her for you. Do you trust me?’
Theo took a shaky breath, still reeling from the fact his brother was standing in front of him and had been revealed as the mysterious Mr Black of the Black Orchid Company. Although at least now it made sense why he’
d funded Theo’s new life in Mercy and why he’d bought the portrait he’d painted of their mother.
He wasn’t sure he trusted his brother, but right now he didn’t have any other options, so he simply nodded.
‘Good,’ Elias turned to Nate, ‘and who are you exactly?’
‘Nate Morgan,’ he introduced himself, with a rueful smile. ‘Ex- member of the Veritas, Neuropyschopharmacologist, ex-professor, drunk, recreational drug user and lobster fisherman.’
‘Okay,’ Elias blinked. ‘I take it you’re coming with us?’
‘Where are we exactly?’ Nate frowned.
‘Rome,’ Davis replied.
‘Rome?’ Nate repeated slowly. ‘I wouldn’t mind hitching a lift back to the States.’
‘I think that can be arranged,’ Elias nodded.
Elias lifted Theo’s arm and slung it over his shoulder, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a curiously old-fashioned pocket watch. He flipped it open and glanced at the time. There was some sort of inscription on the inside of the lid, but Theo didn’t have the chance to read it before Elias snapped it shut.
‘We need to hurry,’ he told them urgently as he shoved the watch back in his pocket.
‘Why?’ Theo frowned in confusion as they began to stumble along the old abandoned tunnel.
‘Because,’ Elias glanced across at his brother, ‘there’s somewhere we need to be and we’re running late.’
25
London January 9th 1863
The Grand Opening of the Metropolitan Underground Railway.
Olivia looked up as Elias entered the room and closed the door quietly behind him.
‘Is everyone here?’ she asked.
He nodded with a deep frown.
‘I still don’t think this is a good idea,’ he replied in frustration. ‘I should be going with you.’
‘I know,’ she soothed him, ‘and I would have you with us in a heartbeat, you know that, but we have to keep Eve safe. We’ve exposed her to the Veritas already, we can’t go waving her under their nose, especially if Faraday is there.’
He huffed, clearly not placated.
‘I still don’t like it.’
‘Just keep her safe,’ she said gently. ‘You know where to meet us?’
‘Hyde Park,’ he nodded.
They’d finally decided that Hyde Park was possibly the best place for a jump point. As the Hourglass could not transport them across distance, only time, they had to find a place that not only still existed in the present day, but that was safe and would be more or less empty. With that last particular point in mind, they’d carefully calculated how many years, months, days and minutes they’d need to jump, to time their arrival in Hyde Park carefully. They’d decided on midnight, under the cover of darkness and given that it would be late summertime in which they were arriving, they just hoped there would be no special events going on.
‘I’m still not sure taking Eve with you into the future is a good idea,’ Elias told Olivia carefully.
‘To be honest, I’m not either,’ Olivia admitted as she perched on the edge of his desk, ‘but I don’t see any other choice. We can’t let the Veritas get their hands on her and I can’t protect her while she’s a hundred and fifty years into the past. Theo adapted to the present, she will too.’
Elias sighed and leaned against the heavy oak desk beside Olivia.
‘Strangely enough I find that I’m going to miss you Olivia,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve really become quite fond of you.’
‘I’m really very fond of you too Elias,’ she smiled as she nudged him with her shoulder. ‘Got something for you.’
‘What?’ he looked up as she handed him a small leather hinged box.
‘Call it a belated Christmas present,’ she handed it to him, ‘or a going away present. Something to remember our time together, other than the Christmas photograph.’
‘You know Mr Pierce still refuses to talk to me. I had to deal with his assistant,’ Elias chuckled.
‘I know,’ Olivia grinned. ‘Smiling in photographs, it’s all so very un-Victorian.’
Elias looked down as he opened the box with a small almost inaudible creak, to reveal a shiny pocket watch. He lifted it out of the velvet lined box and flipped open the lid. There on the inside was a small inscription in elegant lettering.
‘Time is a storm in which we are all lost…
For Elias,
With Love Olivia.’
‘Olivia,’ he whispered, ridiculously touched. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been given a gift, especially not one so heartfelt.
‘Elias,’ she told him gently, as her hand closed over his, ‘we’re family, don’t ever forget that. I wish I didn’t have to leave you here alone. This life… this strange life we live, where the laws of time don’t seem to apply to us, means that I will see you again very soon hopefully, but you will have to wait another century and a half before I’ve even been born. But the ones we love, we are never truly parted from, whether its across distance or time. I’ll be waiting for you and I expect you to take care of yourself.’
He stared at her, his eyes dark, but before he could speak, they were interrupted by a knock as Scarlett opened the door to the study.
‘It’s time Olivia,’ she told her quietly.
Olivia nodded as she pushed herself up from the desk and leaned down, dropping an affectionate kiss on Elias’s lips.
‘No more visiting the alley of lost souls, okay?’
‘I promise,’ he replied as he watched the two women leave the room.
Olivia entered the parlor to find Luthor, the gentle bear of a man, neatly dressed in a smart suit and heavy coat, wearing a bowler hat over his bald head. Beside him stood his tiny little wife Ada, bundled up in a warm winter gown and wearing a velvet half coat edged in fur.
Beside them was Lucien, who, instead of wearing his usual workmen’s clothes and flat cap was dressed smartly for the occasion, something that didn’t seem to sit well with him judging from the frown.
However, as the railway didn’t officially open to the public until the following day, this day was for a ceremonial run from Paddington to Farringdon and a banquet, by invitation only, at Farringdon Street Station. Knowing the Veritas, Olivia was willing to bet a goodly number of them would be present.
Despite it being by invitation only, Elias had managed to score them tickets. Olivia still wasn’t sure how and began to wonder just how deep his pockets were.
‘Miss,’ the maid appeared and curtseyed, holding out Olivia’s own deeply lined velvet coat with fur collar.
After fastening her coat and putting on her gloves she turned to Scarlett who was similarly attired.
‘Are you ready?’
‘Yes,’ Scarlett nodded, glancing over to the small carriage clock on the mantle. ‘We should get going. We need to be at Bishops Road within the hour to make the train.
‘Right,’ she turned to face Lucien, Ada and Luthor. ‘Does everyone know what they’re doing?’
They all nodded and murmured their agreements.
‘Okay,’ Olivia breathed in, ‘stay close together. Ada, as soon as we reach Farringdon, Lucien will show us where he thinks the secret entrance is. Once you’ve located it, Luthor you have to get her out of there immediately. We don’t want either of you put at risk.’
‘We’ll be fine,’ Ada told her briskly. ‘Stop worrying about us Olivia; it’s not the first time any of us have dodged the Veritas. We know what we’re doing, and we know the risks. This is what we do, our kind. We stick together and we have each other’s backs. It’s how we survive.’
Olivia nodded. ‘Okay, let’s go then.’
‘Do you want to say goodbye to Eve?’ Scarlett asked.
‘No,’ Olivia shook her head. ‘If all goes according to plan, they’ll meet us at Hyde Park.’
They emptied out of the house and onto the street. Lucien offered his arm to Olivia, while Scarlett took Luthor’s offered arm and walked with him and
his wife. Lucien and Scarlett, while not openly hostile to each other, seemed to be inherently mistrustful of one another. Which, Olivia supposed, was to be expected given that he was Hell born and she, Heaven born.
It wasn’t really that long before they reached Bishops Road where Paddington Station was situated, although admittedly, Olivia cheated slightly and smoked them all over a good distance.
Once they arrived, they joined the throngs of excited people, chattering animatedly with wonder, marveling at the modern technology of being able to travel at speed beneath the ground. The small group of them crowded together as they began the descent by stairs to the new platform below ground.
It was nothing like the new modern platforms of the London Underground with their deep level tunnels. This new wonder had been built using the cut and cover method which meant the actual tunnels were only a few feet below ground level.
It was still freezing as they crowded onto the platform that was filled with smoke from the steam engine. It was much wider than the modern-day platforms, allowing for two tracks side by side traveling in opposite directions.
The entire interior was exposed, neat lines of brick, as was the huge curved roof. Along each side of the curve, at the edge of the ceiling and spaced at intervals were deep arches, angled upward and lined with white porcelain tiles to reflect as much natural daylight as possible from up above.
But now the daylight was dying, and the platform was mostly lit by glowing globes suspended from the ceiling by metal holders. On the platform itself were wooden benches set in alcoves evenly spaced along the walls, but no one was sitting. They were far too excited, crowding along the edge of the platform as they headed for the carriages.
Lucien reached for the brass handle of the tan colored carriage and turned, pulling the door open to reveal deep maroon leather padding on the interior of the door. Stepping back to allow Olivia and the others to enter, he held her elbow politely as she gathered her wide skirts and climbed up, settling herself on the cushioned bench as the others climbed in after her. The door closed and it was just the five of them enclosed in the tiny section, with Luthor taking up most of the space.
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