by Clay Moore
The more she knew of William, the more she realized what a stick in the mud Fulbright had been. William did not have all the money globally. Still, he had class, an exciting job, and a severe attachment to her. He was also acting like a father, administering punishment, playing ball with Johnny, and even teaching Johnny about conducting an investigation. Johnny considered William to be more like a big brother, but the time for punishment, there was no waiting. The swats were duly administered, and Johnny went off to deal with the sentence independently.
She liked how her men turned out in their formal wear. The other married ladies remarked how dashing William looked in his tuxedo. They also heaped praise on Johnny, especially his manners.
She wondered at William’s acquisition of manners. Then she remembered his training at West Point. Among the book learning at West Point, They had to learn how to eat a meal at the commander’s table. They all learned to dance and danced with the local young ladies. Etiquette was something that had to be discovered. Formal dinners were laid on, and the men were paired with one of the area’s belles.
She wondered why he had not found one of these belles desirable. She asked that question.
He said, “They were overripe and soft like fruit left on the tree. Each of these women were used to getting their way at home. I am not one to be run over.”
“What about me?”
“When I object you listen to my objections. More often than not you use my objections.”
She smiled at that memory. More often than not, William’s objection was well-founded. She learned not to match tactics with the Chess Champion of the Army. Had he kept to the Army, he would have been a lot higher rank. Perhaps Stuart would not have done the ride around the Union army that he seems to do so often.
She often thought of herself as one of his conquests. It was easy for him. He was tall and carried himself as a man who was used to conflict. It was through her son that was William’s way into her heart. She watched the tall man playing with her son. Her son’s cherubic face adorned with a smile, the first time since she had to tell him that his father had died in the war.
The request from the Government to bury her husband with honor in the new national cemetery came as a relief. It was a chance to come to Washington DC, where her brother now lived and worked. That first meeting with William was very unladylike, but a very womanly reaction to William Hazard.
When she sent her letters to William asking him to see to it that her brother find a woman, she had no idea what William would employ.
Rowena looked at Gladys sitting next to her brother. He had never looked better in his life. I think Gladys just thought of it as a passing fling. The engagement ring on her left ring finger showed Thomas’ need for her. The fact that she wore the ring openly told everyone that the love was not one way.
She did worry about her brother eventually getting Gladys pregnant. When she questioned it, he smiled and told her that Professor Hazard had schooled him in the techniques that a man could take. Of his methods, he had mastered coitus interrupts.
It was working with her and William. So far, she had not missed one of her cycles. She could not wait until she could have a child of William’s. She prayed that child would be a girl. Johnny would love having a little sister to dote on and show her his world as he knew it.
A squeeze of her hand by William brought her back to the dinner party. A question had been put her. She had no idea of the question that had been put on her.
“The director asks after the health of the Library,” said William.
“It is now being well used. I have at least forty to fifty sign-ins a day. I don’t allow check outs since the attempt to steal one of the volumes.”
“She was the Secret Service Employee who stopped the spy, permanently.”
“William was kind enough to give me a Derringer and some instruction in it.”
“I bet he did.”
She felt William stiffen beside her. William threw his napkin on the table he stood up. “That is a base accusation. Would you care to retract that last statement?”
The gentleman that let his tongue wag was being challenged. William’s reputation as a fighter was deadly. His exploits as an agent were circulated in the halls of Government. A few people not of the Secret Service had seen firsthand that he was a deadly shot and a pretty good swordsman.
The man had been caught passing government gossip without understanding the situation. He saw the engagement ring on her hand; He was on dangerous ground. William had made her his. Almost a year from now, he would be a married man. He could be excused when he was so close to the actual marriage.
“I apologize. I was merely passing on government rumor about you two.”
“I accept your apology. I would be profoundly grateful if you would do all you can to quash these rumors. I have the honor to have won Rowena’s heart and her hand.”
William offered her his hand; She gave it to him. He kissed the palm. When he stopped, all at the table clapped. William sat down. Thomas stood up.
“We were going to wait, but Rowena and William were so kind to offer their wedding as the venue for our wedding, we accepted. Gladys has consented to be my wife. We will be married at the same time as Rowena and William.”
Thomas took Gladys’s hand and kissed it as William had done Rowena’s hand. Thomas was being educated in romance 101 by William. Thomas had a different bent on love. He mixed the traditional things that William was so good at with his Gadgeteering, things like writing Gladys’s name in Electricity. The article that he wrote on that feat of electrodynamics in a Gadgeteer journal made his former University offer him tenure and a pay raise.
He was reticent to return to academia. If he shuttered himself off from the real world, he would stultify. This job was full of problems to solve, which got his creative juices flowing. Then there was William, who would point out obvious things that Thomas looked over. As a friend, he was Loyal and trusting. As a muse, he was absolutely perfect without even knowing it.
Thomas looked around him. He realized that things were being firmed up in people’s minds. He noticed that Johnny sat next to William instead of his mother. That the way of little boys and their father and father figures. His sister looked up at William with more contentment than she ever hade with Fulbright. The fact the Thomas knew Fulbright only as Fulbright showed the relationship he had with the arrogant high society prick.
He chuckled to himself. William was having more of an effect on him. His language was coarsening, but people were more likely to do as he commanded now. This was something that William called it the voice of command, and Thomas was developing it.
The evening wound down after the dessert. The Director saw the guests out. Then he thanked William and Thomas for a delightful evening. He went to bed. Everybody went to bed.
*****
The only ones still up were the guards along the defensive line and alone, an old man driving a cart. In that cart were Fifteen of his Guardsman automata. He stopped in front of the house that Peter Sykes told him the Secret Service was using as a Secret Headquarters. They had the plans from the metropolitan government; He sketched out the lay of the land inside the house. The Toymaker wrote the master tape for these guardsmen. Then he produced copies of the tape.
Evangeline made copies of the program tape and inserted it in the Guardsmen automata. Now he had fifteen of the guardsman automata.
The old Toymaker drove to the edge of the property. There the Toymaker did a final wind-up of the guardsmen. He set them down at the side of the property. He engaged the button, and each automaton ran towards the house. Each guardsman, instead of just one spike, carried ten spikes as reloads.
The Toymaker had no illusions. The same two men paid a visit to him, probably looking for a reason to get a search warrant. They openly carried an unusual looking pistol. The leather had a worn look that gunfighters had. These men brought with them the air of authority. They had to be agents of the Secret Service.
They were very close. If they looked in the basement, they would find all they needed to understand the automata. He just hoped that Evangeline realized why they had to move the workshop to that culvert in the sewers.
He got back on his cart and dove back to his workshop home. He went to bed to await his automata’s return.
During the night, the heart attack that was presaged by the pains in his chest occurred. He passed way in his sleep.
*****
William had a hair-trigger while he slept. It took him a few nights to register the usual sounds of the house. Now when something alerted him, he walked out with his pistol in hand. Tonight it was the whining sound of small clockwork power mechanisms.
Ever since Gladys took over his life, Thomas went to bed and fell asleep. Thomas’s work had not been affected. That means his own clockwork mechanisms were dormant for the night.
William reached for his pistol belt. He got up and strapped on the gunbelt. Thus only clothed in his gunbelt, William walked out of his room. He looked around and saw the night lights on along the corridors of the second floor. He saw the automata making for the door of the Director’s office and bedroom.
William went back into his bedroom. He woke up Rowena with a hand over her mouth.
“Be quiet, Rowena. You have your derringer?”
“In the nightstand.”
“Get it and go into Johnny’s room. Barricade yourself there. Wait for someone you know to come and tell you that all is clear.”
Rowena nodded. She reached over and pulled open the drawer. Rowena pulled out the derringer and a handful of bullets; She went into Johnny’s room. William heard the lock being turned.
Relieved, William knew that he had to wake up someone else. William crouched down and crossed over to Thomas’s bedroom that he shared with Gladys. He put a hand over Thomas’s mouth.
Thomas started awake. He saw that it was William who was naked, but wearing his gun belt. He looked at William in the eye.
“Toys have breached the house.”
Thomas nodded. He slipped out of bed; He grabbed his gun belt. Gladys threw out a hand, stopping Thomas.
“Where are you going lover.”
“Toys have breached the house.”
“I’ll get my gun.”
“No, you are not.”
She smiled and put a hand against his face. “I love you Thomas, but I am a Secret Service agent. Three pairs of eyes are better than two pairs of eyes.”
“Okay,” said William. “Just like you were taught. You are bringing up the rear.”
Gladys went to her wardrobe and pulled out a simple robe. She tied it around herself. Then belted her gunbelt. When she joined the two men, she realized they were both naked.
They crouched down and moved toward the office of the Director. The three toys at the door worked together to get enough height to turn the knob. William pointed at that to Thomas. Thomas whispered into his ear.
“The toymaker is getting better at controlling his creations. Watch out their instructions may have gotten better. They actually may be able to simulate our thought process.”
William looked at Thomas like he was crazy. Then he saw the interior of that one automaton. The tin tape with the dots reminded him that this was not out of the realm possibility. He nodded back at his partner.
They continued their crouching walk toward the now open the door to the Director’s office. Just as they reached the door. There was a minor explosion. That set them on their rears.
William was the first up. He did not think the need for stealth was required. William ran into the office. He saw that one of the three Guardsmen was pointing his rifle at William. William dropped to the floor. He fired at ground level at the Guardsman; They could see the other two Guardsmen. One was climbing the string as if it were rope. When it reached the table on which the safe rested, the automata rushed over to the opened safe. He went through the stack of papers. Then the Automata decided on a small stake of documents.
William could see the blueprints for the breach loading naval gun.
“Thomas, did you see?
“Yes, it was able to discern what it needed to take from the safe. We have to stop it. And get the plans back.”
Gladys was more of an action girl. She thought that William and Thomas talked too much; Gladys drew a bead on the Guardsman with the plans. She fired her magnetic gun.
The remains Guardsman on the floor picked up its rifle and fired the metal spike. Gladys tried to jerk herself out of the fire’s path, but it still hit her in the shoulder. Thomas shot the guardsman automata. Then he went to his fiancé. He was joined there by William.
“I’ll tend to her, but I need you to go into my rooms and bring back my medical bag.”
Thomas dithered, looking at the spike in Gladys’ shoulder.
“Go get my medical bag, damn you. It’s in plain view on my night stand. I have another of the magnetic guns in my drawer. It already is in a gun belt. Let’s make sure the Director is still alive. If he is, he gets the gun. I suspect that these three were not all of the arrows in his quiver. Now go!”
“Yes, Thomas; Go. I’ll be fine,” said Gladys.
Thomas ran out of the Director’s room. He came back shortly with the gun belt and William’s medical bag. Thomas deposited the bag with William. Then he knocked on the door to the bed-chamber.
A fragile voice answered the knock saying, “Yes, who is that?”
“Doctor Thomas Derek. I’m here with William Hazard and Gladys MacLeod.”
There was a sound of a bolt being pulled. He still opened the door in his nightgown; Thomas presented the Director of the Secret Service with the gunbelt.
“Welcome to agent work, Director.”
CHAPTER TEN
Protecting the Breach Loading Gun Plans
*****
THE DIRECTOR TOOK the gun belt and wrapped it around his nightshirt. He took the plans from Thomas as well. He put those in his briefcase. There was one place that was safer than even the Secret Service Secret Headquarters. He would have to store it in the White House. At least a company of Army Infantry was encamped on the White House lawn. He just had to live out the rest of this fight.
“How many more of these toys do you think are out there?”
“There is one man, and so far as we know he was the only one making these toys. I would say no more than ten or fifteen of the automata,” Thomas spoke with the authority of long consideration.
“You forget his daughter. She had the nimble fingers of youth. She could continue to build these toys while he handled the sales part.”
“I still don’t think much more than a dozen. I imagine that he expects to loose these toys. There is a capital outlay that he would have to recoup with his pay from the Confederacy.”
“You think he is a person who thinks slavery should be allowed?”
“Perhaps he is for state’s rights and couldn’t give a hang about slavery.”
“He is a foreigner who found a land that was ripe for his toys. He probably sells them through an ad in one of the boys and girls magazines. I think his nationality is German,” said William.
He grabbed a pair of medical pliers. He drenched the pliers in alcohol. Then he grabbed the spike and pulled out the way it had come in. As soon as William had pulled out the spike, the wound started bleeding. He drenched a cotton ball in the alcohol. William put it on the wound directly. Then he bandaged it to hold it in place.
“I can see why Rowena loved you so much, William.”
William looked down, and for the first time, he realized that he was naked. He blushed, and Gladys chuckled at his discomfiture.
“We got to put some clothes on,” said William. “You get your clothes on, Thomas. I’ll tend Gladys that leaves the Director and me as able bodied men and one wounded woman. Then you come back and I will get my clothes on. We do this until we all have our clothes on. Then we need to search the house.”
Thomas nodded. He went out and came
back carrying clothing for them all.
“I thought this would be quicker,” explained Thomas.
He handed William his clothing and Gladys hers. Both people put on their clothes as quickly as they could. Though Gladys needed help from Thomas in raising her arm.
It seemed that the plans were the object of these strange toys. By placing themselves in this room, they were putting themselves in danger. That was the reason for their existence as an organization. They were in the protection racket. Why not protect plans as well as people?
William oversaw the construction of a barricade across the door. It would give them cover while also making an obstacle for the automata had to cross. They did not have long to wait before the first automata appeared on the second floor.
The device seemed to look in their direction. As if it was considering what to do, it backed up.
“Could they communicate with each other?”
“You mean with wireless?”
“Yes, with dots and dashes like that tape in their bodies.”
“Morse code? The punched tape is morse code?”
“Yes. That would work well. All he would have to learn the specific language that the automata can know. Human language is too variable and changes all the time. A specialized language just for the small brains of the automata.”
“The reason for the metal tape is that you can rewind and play back a sequence very quickly.”
“Yeah, you could also store the coils of metal tape almost indefinitely.”
Thomas took out the knife he carried in the sheath behind his neck in his coat, just like William. Good ideas are good ideas. Like William, he was not a polished knife fighter, but he liked what the knife could do in his hands. The knife he carried was more of a tool. It could kill, but it could also cut wire and rope. In a pinch, he could stab with it. If William had seen it before, he kept quiet about it.
Thomas realized how much he copied William in what they did on their job. Thomas was the gadgeteer. William went to uphold the law and bring the lawbreakers to justice. Thomas willingly went into the field to learn how his gadgets worked in the wild.
