Warren swallowed again. He retreated a step, and bowed. ‘No, Sir. Of course not, Sir. Your word is my command, Sir.’
‘Indeed it is.’ Mr Ambrose stuck the ground plan back into the bag, slung it over his shoulder and took out of the coach another one, which he handed to Karim. ‘Stay here, Mr Warren. Guard the coach, and wait until at least one of us returns.’ He turned away from Warren, towards the entrance of the alley and number 97. ‘Karim, we’re going in. Stay behind me and watch my back.’
‘Yes, Sahib!’
I thought it was about time to make my presence known.
With a little smile, I stepped forward, out of the shadows, and raised a hand. ‘And where do you want me, Sir?’
A Man’s Work
To see actual surprise on the rock-hard face of Mr Rikkard Ambrose would have been too much to hope for. But I had the satisfaction of seeing one of his eyelids twitch about half a millimetre when he caught sight of me.
‘Mr Linton…!’ he breathed.
Karim jumped back, uttering another incomprehensible curse.
‘She really is Ifrit, Sahib! She can walk through walls and appear out of thin air!’
‘Actually,’ I remarked, smiling at him, ‘I drove here in a cab. Sorry to disappoint you.’ My eyes flicked from Karim to Warren. Apparently, he was too startled to have noticed Karim’s slip of referring to yours truly as ‘she.’ But really, it was not Warren’s reaction to my appearance, or Karim's, that I was interested in. Slowly, my eyes drifted back to Mr Ambrose.
His face was still devoid of anything akin to emotion. But there was a muscle twitching in his chiselled jaw.
‘A cab?’ he said, as if it were the dirtiest of words.
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘And this cab, I suppose, is not in the vicinity any more to take you right back to where you came from?’
‘No, Sir.’
‘I didn’t think so.’
Stepping closer to me, he lowered his voice to a chilling whisper that only I could hear.
‘I am not commonly given to expletives, Mr Linton, yet under the present circumstances I find myself justified in enquiring what the bloody hell you think you are doing here!’
‘Coming with you,’ I said cheerily, though the tone of his voice made my whole body quiver.
‘Did I or did I not tell you to stay away from this, Mr Linton?’
‘You did, Sir. But it is after hours. You cannot tell me what to do now.’
Thunderclouds full of lightning flashed in his dark eyes.
‘Did you or did you not hear what I discussed with Warren, Mr Linton?’
‘Yes, Sir. I did.’
‘And? Well?’
‘Well what, Sir?’
‘Tonight’s operation will be deadly dangerous. The moment we are spotted, we will be shot down like animals. Our corpses will be thrown from the docks and never again see the light of day!’
His words sent a cold shiver down my back. To die… to actually die. I had never contemplated it before. I was nineteen, still so young, and had hardly seen anything of the world. And I could die tonight, if I continued on this mad course. Why not turn back? Why not turn away from him, let him go alone? He surely wouldn’t fault me for it.
‘Never see the light of day again? My, my.’ I shook my head. ‘I’m sure that would worry me a lot, once I was dead. Terrible fate for a corpse.’
What was I doing? This was no time for sarcasm? This was serious!
Yes, it is, a tiny voice in the back of my mind said. Deadly serious - which is exactly why you have to go with him.
‘Never, ever joke in my presence again, Mr Linton,’ Mr Ambrose said in a voice that could have frozen an erupting volcano. ‘I do not appreciate it.’
‘Really? I would never have guessed.’
‘The same goes for flippancy, Mr Linton.’ He stepped forward until we were almost nose to chiselled chin. Damn, he was tall! ‘I meant what I said. This is dangerous.’ For a moment I saw a flash of something in his eyes that I think I was not supposed to see. Anxiety, maybe? For what? For the recovery of his lost file?
Or for you?
No! Impossible!
It was gone too quickly for me to see, in any case. Again, a coating of frost closed the brief opening in his armour.
‘I know that it is dangerous,’ I said impulsively, reaching out to touch him. ‘That is why I have to come.’
Hell’s whiskers! Why did I just say that? What if he interpreted something into it that I hadn’t meant? Or worse, what if he interpreted something into it that I had meant? I snatched my hand back before it made contact with his face.
Quickly, I added, trying for a lighter tone: ‘After all, I can’t let you go in there with only him for protection.’ I gestured at Karim. ‘You’ll be dead before you take two steps.’
Though my words had been too low for him to have heard, Karim seemed to have guessed the general message of my gesture. He gritted his teeth, and his massive right paw closed around the hilt of his sabre.
Mr Ambrose took another step forward. We were now standing almost close enough to touch.
‘And what,’ he hissed, ‘makes you think that I will take you along? I could have Warren take you and hold you here until Karim and I have returned. He might be afraid of Dalgliesh, but even he should be capable of restraining someone like you.’
Heat rose to my cheeks. I knew what he meant - someone like me: a girl.
‘Don’t count on it,’ I growled, putting my hands on my hips and returning the cold glare he shot at me with fire in my eyes. ‘I’ll bite the first man who dares to touch me! And I’ll scream bloody murder, too!’
Mr Ambrose, who had just been about to signal Warren, froze.
‘No, you won’t,’ he said in a low, threatening voice. ‘You won’t make a sound, understood?’
Immediately, I saw I had found my perfect weapon. ‘I won’t if you take me with you,’ I offered. ‘Otherwise…’ I let the sentence hang in the air with dark promise.
Mr Ambrose’s hands clenched into fists. His eyes flicked from me, to the exit of the alley and his goal beyond, and back again. I knew exactly what he was thinking. If I screamed, the guards would hear. His precious operation would have to be postponed.
‘If you scream, I will sack you,’ he threatened.
‘You can’t sack me for something I do after hours. I could paint Buckingham Palace in pink, and you wouldn’t be allowed to throw me out. So, what is it to be?’
Silence.
I quirked an eyebrow at him.
‘Well, Sir?’
More silence.
‘Oh well… as you wish.’ Opening my mouth, I took a deep breath.
Before I could utter a single syllable, Mr Ambrose was on me. His hand clamped down over my mouth, his hard arm shot around my waist, pulling me towards him. Suddenly, my back was pressed against a hard wall of sinews and muscle. I struggled, but it was in vain. His arms held me as tightly as iron fetters. Only that iron fetters would probably not have felt quite so interesting. After a few moments, my resistance waned. I became very aware of his fingers on my lips, almost as if I were…
‘You,’ he said in a tone imported straight from Iceland, ‘are an insufferable nuisance.’
His arms tightened even more for a second or two, holding me closer than iron fetters ever could. Besides, iron fetters could never make my heart rate pick up like it did just then.
‘You also,’ he continued grudgingly, ‘have some courage and loyalty. More than I would have expected from a-’
He cut off.
Yet I knew what he had been going to say.
All of a sudden, he released me, and I stumbled away from him, turning as I did so. He was staring at me with his totally unreadable, sea-coloured eyes, the gloom of the alley making them appear even more dark than usual.
‘You can accompany us,’ he said. ‘But if you get us caught, you are dismissed, no discussion! Understood?’
‘Um… I thought if we were caught, we would be shot.’
‘I will dismiss you before we are shot, Mr Linton.’
‘Yes, Sir! I understand, Sir!’
Turning away, he motioned to Karim. Suddenly he was all business again.
‘Show Mr Linton the plans, Karim.’
Karim’s beard bristled in outrage.
‘But Sahib…!’