by Rebecca King
Rose grabbed hold of his hand and held tight. Swaying a little as the boat rocked alarmingly in the rising swell of the ocean, she staggered a little and fell against Barnaby’s steadying hold as she struggled to gain purchase with her feet.
“We can do this two ways,” he growled. “I can either carry you, or you can go up there by yourself.”
Rose’s eyes widened. She studied the height of the ladder, and in spite of the situation felt her cheeks heat at the thought of Barnaby witnessing the bare flash of her legs.
To spare her blushes, Barnaby grabbed hold of the rope beside her.
“Copy me,” he ordered. He glared at her dress accusingly and shook his head in disgust. To Reg and Ben he shouted: “You two go on up. We will follow you.”
“I can’t do this,” Rose protested. “I haven’t climbed anything in my life.”
“Well, you have to start somewhere. We will climb together. Just don’t ever let go. No matter how tired you get don’t let go of the rope, Rose. Use your feet like I do. Push your dress out of the way. There is nobody here to see you.” Barnaby released his hold on the ladder and moved to stand behind her when she didn’t move. Placing one reluctant hand on the ropes, he pushed her bodily against the wooden hull and placed her second hand on the rope when she didn’t.
“Put your feet on like this,” Barnaby growled into her ear.
Rose felt the warm rush of air against her ear and instinctively shivered. It was wonderfully reassuring to feel him so close behind her. It gave her the strength to do as he asked. Although she didn’t look up at them she was painfully aware of several of the ship’s sailors leaning over the side of the boat to watch while others fired at the approaching boats. When she still didn’t move, three of them suddenly launched themselves over the side and began to descend the ropes with startling speed. Realising that she was holding everyone up, Rose gritted her teeth and placed one foot onto the rope. Hauling herself upright, she clung perilously to the side of the boat and began to climb.
“Aye, that’s a lass. Keep goin’ up there now,” one of the sailors called encouragingly as he clambered down to the boat she had just abandoned.
Rose couldn’t bring herself to answer him because her teeth were clamped too tightly together to allow her to emit anything more than a small squeak. With Barnaby close behind her, Rose climbed the side of the boat and readily accepted the help from the waiting men to get over the rail at the top. Once there she turned and watched Barnaby climbed to safety and heaved a sigh of relief. It was then that she turned her attention to the sailors in the boat below.
They threw ropes onto the deck with a dexterity that was awe-inspiring. As a group, the sailors on the deck hauled the ropes and lifted the boat clean out of the water, higher onto the ship until it was level with the deck. Once there, they proceeded to tie it to the deck whereupon the two sailors inside jumped out.
“It is impressive isn’t it?” Barnaby murmured.
“I have never seen anything like it,” she whispered.
Suddenly, the boat began to glide through the water. A huge hulk of a man appeared on a deck somewhere above them and began to yell orders. Sailors scattered everywhere and began to climb the rigging.
“We are on our way,” Barnaby announced in a voice full of admiration and relief.
Rose turned to watch the solitary flare of light from the lighthouse recede into the far distance and, for the first time in several days, began to relax.
“Where is Chadwick’s lot?” she asked scouring the sea for sign of them.
“I think they turned back. The waves are getting rougher, and they didn’t like being fired at.” Barnaby looked up when a jagged streak of lightning lit the sky. “We need to get inside. From the look of it we are in for a deluge. Besides, I think the men would prefer it if we were out of the way.”
To Rose’s astonishment, as though they were out for nothing more extraordinary than a Sunday afternoon stroll, Barnaby held his elbow out and nodded toward a small hatch. Bemused, Rose took his arm and allowed him to tug her gently toward the soft yellow light glowing within the hull of cavernous ship. So many questions ran through her mind but she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
“Ah, there you are,” a husky voice boomed suddenly from behind her.
Rose squeaked and spun around.
“Pardon, ma’am, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the man mumbled looking abashed.
The only world Rose could use to describe the huge, beefy man before her was grizzled. He was as old as Croesus, weathered and, if the hardened glint in his eyes was any indication, a seasoned sailor. Rose knew that whatever situation appeared in front of this man, he hit it head on and always succeeded in finding a smooth passage through it. Rather than be afraid of him, she felt herself drawn to his practical strength and liked him.
“Noah, as I live and breathe,” Barnaby growled as he hauled the man into a bear hug.
“Noah?” Rose mouthed at him with lifted brows when Barnaby looked at her over the man’s shoulder.
Barnaby’s grin widened as he released his good friend and onetime colleague.
“Noah, let me introduce you to Miss Rose Higginbotham. She is on her way to help us with one of our investigations,” Barnaby explained. “Rose, this is my good friend Mr Noah Gilmore.”
Rose didn’t know whether to curtsey or not, but a bear-hug like the one he had just given Barnaby was out of the question. She suspected that she wouldn’t survive one if the man chose to be that familiar. Thankfully he didn’t.
“Hello,” she said simply.
“Ma’am, welcome to the Dawn’s Rise,” Noah boomed politely, his arms stretched wide. “Come with me. I will show you to your cabin.”
Rose and Barnaby followed him down a confusing network of narrow corridors and steps until he stopped and flung open a highly ornate door and gestured to the room within.
“Please make this cabin your home while you are here. My men will sleep below decks. The ship’s boy is called Sal. If you want anything shout for him,” Noah boomed.
“Where are we off to, Noah?” Barnaby asked curiously.
“Aye, well, we are now off to the nether regions of Scotland. It should be safe enough up there. The seas are a might rougher around Norfolk, but we should have no problems sailing through them. We should be there tomorrow, but we might be a bit earlier if the winds are with us. We won’t anchor until we get there so you make yourselves at home. We are a well-stocked vessel. You shouldn’t want for anything while you are with us. My men are a good crew who know what they are doing so just relax.”
He turned to Barnaby, his smile dimming a little as his attention turned toward business matters Rose knew she shouldn’t get involved in.
“I need a word with you my boy,” he growled before he suddenly bowed. “If you will excuse me for now, the seas are a bit rough because of the storm so I need to get back on deck. Try to lie down if you feel sick at all, ma’am. It will pass once you get used to it.”
He left before Rose could reply.
“I need to speak with him, Rose,” Barnaby warned her as he turned to the door. “Will you be alright for a while?”
“I suppose so,” Rose replied, reluctant to allow him to leave but unable to stop him. She glanced around the cabin warily. What was she supposed to do for endless hours trapped in this small space? It was nice, but there wasn’t much inside it.
“I hope you don’t mind if I make a suggestion?” Barnaby murmured.
“What is it?” she asked. She was happy to keep him talking if it meant delaying his departure. It was silly really given that they were going to part company at some point anyway, but there was just something about this new experience that terrified her. She much preferred to be on solid ground. She knew what to expect. Here, she was at the mercy of not just the waves but the men who battled them.
“Try to get some sleep,” Barnaby suggested. “Lie down. It will ease any sea-sickness if you sleep as much as p
ossible. When we get to Scotland, we are going to have to travel again, and you know how arduous that can be. I will see if Noah has a surgeon on board. If he does, I will send him down to take a look at that head of yours. I won’t be long.”
Rose nodded and watched him move to the door. Before he left, he looked back at her and smiled. While she hated to see him go her lips curled into a smile when he winked at her before he quietly let himself out.
Once alone she turned her attention to the small cabin. There were little or no fripperies in it. It was a man’s space and consisted of two rustic looking chairs, a small rickety table, a solitary lamp which swung from a low slung beam that swept the entire length of the cabin, and a small shelf which contained a couple of books next to a narrow bunk designed for one person.
Unsteadily staggering toward it, Rose slumped onto the side of the bed and sat there for a moment while she willed her roiling stomach to settle. Thumps and bumps and all sorts of noises began to echo threateningly around her until she began to wonder if they were under attack. When a particularly loud thud sounded directly above her head, she physically jumped and threw herself down onto the bed.
“It will be alright, Rose. You will get used to it.”
Rose sat bolt upright when she realised she was no longer alone.
“I didn’t realise you had come back,” she murmured. She made no attempt to hide her fright, and looked worriedly at him, silently seeking reassurance that everything was normal above deck.
“It is just the men. They are just adjusting the ropes. They are changing things because the winds are picking up. It will be noisy for a while. We are underway and will sail throughout the night. There is another crew asleep downstairs so don’t start shouting if there is a problem,” Barnaby said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
“Why do they need another crew?” Rose asked curiously, temporarily forgetting her fear now that he had begun to explain everything.
Barnaby had to remind himself that this was all very new to her and came so soon after a terrifying ordeal most women wouldn’t be able to endure. She had every right to be a little nervous given what had happened over the past couple of days.
Barnaby walked slowly toward her. “I wouldn’t leave you here if I felt there was any threat to your safety, or this vessel wasn’t capable of getting us where we need to go.”
“If you are sure?” she whispered.
“Do you trust me, Rose?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. She didn’t need to think about it. They had faced too many scrapes together for her to still harbour any qualms about his reliability. She wished she could ask him if he trusted her, but then it wasn’t really relevant. His life didn’t depend on her whereas her life most definitely depended on Barnaby.
“I meant to tell you that the bucket is next to the bed over there.” He nodded to a small wooden pale beside the bed. “And the retiring screen is over there.”
Rose looked at the screen in the far corner of the room. It seemed an odd thing to have in the Captain’s quarters but she didn’t bother to ask why it was there at all.
“How did you know I don’t feel very well?” she mused ruefully.
Barnaby grinned. “Well, your being greener than the sea outside might have something to do with it.”
Rose wrinkled her nose up. “How long have you known Noah?”
Barnaby smiled at her. “I have known him since I was about knee high to a grasshopper. He used to live in the same village as me in Surrey. Strangely enough, he hasn’t been born and bred by the sea. His family are farmers.” He held a hand up when Rose took a breath to ask him something else. “I know that he looks like a salty old sea dog. He is very good at what he does, but this way of life is more of a choice rather than an expectation. He loves it and it suits him. I have worked with him with the Star Elite on several occasions now. If there is anyone I would trust at sea, it is Noah. Sir Hugo has done well to send for him.”
“Who is Sir Hugo?” She had heard of him before.
“He is my boss at the War Office. You will meet him soon enough,” Barnaby replied.
Rose nodded and fell silent when her stomach flipped with nerves.
“I will come and check on you in a while. Everything will be alright, Rose,” he murmured gently for want of some other way to eradicate the awkwardness. He almost wished the harridan was back because an argument would ease this stilted discomfort.
“I am going to see if I can get some rest,” Rose replied waving vaguely toward the bed. “My head is aching.”
“I will see you later.” He was gone before Rose could even open her mouth.
She stared at the closed door for several moments and slowly lay down on the cot. The pillow was surprisingly fluffy and the blankets wonderfully soft. Within seconds she was sound asleep.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Barnaby joined his colleagues around the main table below deck. He immediately became aware of tension hovering over everyone and lifted his brows.
“Go on then,” he said quietly, prompting them to bring him up-to-date. He sensed the news was not good.
“Brace yourself,” Noah warned him.
Ben sighed. “We think Sayers knows more about us than we anticipated.”
Reg leaned back in his seat. “If I didn’t know better, I would think that he knows about the safe houses.”
“What makes you say that?”
“The safe house in London has been compromised. Someone has been in there but didn’t do a good job about tidying up behind them as they left. They rifled through a few bills and the like but there is nothing incriminating there as you know. It is just odd that the safe house has been the only house targeted on that particular residential street. The trespasser’s entry into the house was through the study window like every other house Sayers has burgled.”
Barnaby sighed. The thought of it made his blood boil, but he had to remain calm and logical so he could think about what they were trying to tell him.
“It could have just been a random act of crime, or pot luck that this particular house was the one chosen,” he murmured, but Ben was already shaking his head.
“Not according to Sir Hugo. He is suspicious,” he said.
“He thinks Sayers knows about it?” Barnaby’s voice was as cold as Reg or Ben had ever heard it. There was new level of ruthlessness in his eyes that was rarely seen but gave an indication of the depth of the man’s fury. It immediately made both men wary.
“It is Sir Hugo, and now Simon’s theory. They both believe that someone has been loose lipped,” Reg reported. “Unfortunately, the spy is regularly updating Sayers, and Chadwick, on where we are and what we are doing. Not only did Chadwick know that you were in the area, Barnaby, but he has had men here for the last couple of days watching the safe house here as well.”
“It is why we didn’t want you or Rose there at all,” Ben added.
“How in the Hell would they know about the safe house in Portsmouth?” Barnaby demanded but then fell silent. The only people who knew about the safe houses the Star Elite used were the men who used them. Nobody else, not even the hierarchy at the War Office, knew their exact locations. “Who would do such a thing? Who would risk everyone’s lives like this?”
Barnaby glared at each of his colleagues even though he knew it wasn’t their fault. It was important not to begin to see shadows where there were none but it was difficult not to suspect everyone he worked with now. The likelihood of someone like Sayers, a city dweller born and bred, just happening on the Star Elite’s plans was impossible. It was too random to even believe that he could just happen to choose this particular port in this town and go to the time and trouble to send men to the area ‘just in case’.
That led Barnaby to the same conclusion as everyone else: someone in the Star Elite was a traitor.
“Any ideas?” Barnaby whispered.
Everyone shook their heads.
“No, but if I find out
who the bastard is, I am going to put a bullet in him that will end it. We have men putting their lives at risk. We need to find out who this blackguard is and flush the cretin out, preferably before one of us gets killed.”
Barnaby nodded. If Reg didn’t then Barnaby would. There could be no mercy shown to someone who thwarted the endeavours of justice.
“What are you thinking?” Barnaby asked when he realised Noah had yet to speak and was staring thoughtfully at the table top with a dark frown on his face.
“I don’t want details but, is there any way that Chadwick suspected you might just head to Portsmouth because there was no other large town nearby?”
Barnaby thought about that. There was a safe house near Bude, and the next house after that was in Gloucestershire. It was possible that Chadwick suspected they were heading to Portsmouth and decided to send men ahead to intercept them. However, an inner instinct, an inherent instinct for self-preservation, warned him that it wasn’t likely.
“If they knew the safe house was here, why did they snatch Rose out of the woods like they did? Why did they not let you take her to the safe house and snatch her from there? We know they are adept at breaking into buildings,” Ben murmured.
“We have more men there,” Reg warned. “Out in the open like she was left her vulnerable. They couldn’t risk Barnaby getting her to the safe house because they knew she would disappear and be protected by us.”
“They would be run out of town by the locals if there was a skirmish,” Barnaby sighed.
“If the magistrate didn’t catch them first,” Reg added.
Noah sighed. “I think it is safe to say that they might not have liked the idea of you bringing her into somewhere as crowded as Portsmouth. It would be easy to lose you in the crowds on a busy day.”
“Yes, but the crowds are also perfect if you want to snatch someone off the streets because it is easy to get confused,” Reg reasoned.
“But who would betray us like this?” Barnaby growled. “I hate to even think of it but the more I look at everything the more it becomes obvious that someone has been giving away our deepest secrets.”
