Oliver grinned at her. “Do you intend to fall asleep on me then?”
“No, why?”
“Well, you are going to be coming too so will have to come to the gaol with us as well. Look on the bright side, I doubt even Smidgley would follow you to the county gaol. It is about the safest place for you to be,” Oliver replied. “However, it does mean we have another long and arduous day ahead of us.”
“I don’t mind staying here,” Emmeline offered, painfully conscious of the conversation she had overheard yesterday. “It is really rather beautiful, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Oliver agreed, but that’s all he agreed to. “But no, you are coming with us.”
For all intents and purposes, they were like any other ordinary couple taking an evening stroll around the garden, albeit still wearing dusty cloaks they had worn all day. There was no urgency to their stride, no furtive looks as they scoured the area and, more importantly, no tension. For the moment at least, they both savoured this moment of normality. Neither of them seemed inclined to want to break the silence. It was a brief moment of unity, of togetherness, in a world that was mired in turmoil and confusion. It was a time that they could be themselves, a man and a woman, alone, together, simply enjoying each other’s company.
To Emmeline, it told her that the gentle Oliver who had kissed her what seemed like a lifetime ago now was still there. She hadn’t lost him to the Star Elite. He would resurface when the danger had passed. It was only when she looked at him and their gazes clashed that she realised the Oliver she felt she knew and had come to care about had never really gone away. He had just been carefully hidden. For now, he was back. Oliver now had that same look in his eye when their gazes met that he had had when he had kissed her in the yard at the old safe house.
Hunger. That is what it is. He feels the same as I do.
Emmeline shivered when a wild flurry of anticipation swirled through her. She shivered and stepped closer in an instinctive motion that left her questioning what she was doing, but it was too late to move away again. He had already slid his arms around her and began to tug her toward him.
“What happens now?” she whispered. “With the investigation, I mean?”
“Right now, the men need to rest. We will wait for everyone else to catch up. They will check the area. Then, the men who haven’t spent all day riding like we have will take first watch while others get some sleep. Sometime during the night, we will swap over, probably once or twice so that everyone gets some rest. Tomorrow morning, we will all sit down and decide what we are going to do and go over the finer details. A couple of the men will go to the Red Lion and make note of the layout of the place. Once they are armed with a little knowledge, they will then meet with the watch who are already keeping an eye on Smidgley. Assuming the Smidgleys haven’t left for London, or have guests or anything, we will all set out for the Red Lion just as soon as it goes dark. Once at the Red Lion, we will all get into various positions at the same time. I need to put something into their drink, whatever they order from the inn keeper, and make sure that all of them drink it. Then, we wait. As soon as the occupants of the room are out cold, we will take the people we want and leave the rest. It will only be between when we leave the tavern and when we reach the gaol that things will be fraught. The whole team will have to move quickly and quietly to get our captives to gaol. We will all head off in different directions again, which makes it impossible for anyone to follow us, even the several men Smidgley will travel with. Only one team of men will carry Smidgley with them. That team will take him straight to gaol where the gaoler is waiting for his new prisoner. As soon as Smidgley has been delivered, we will all return here but do the same as we have done together today. We will double back on ourselves several times to make sure we are followed and will, hopefully, converge here again by dawn. It is going to be a long and very arduous night, but hopefully we can have one of the brothers behind bars before dawn, and he will have effectively just vanish with nobody having any clue as to where he has gone. He will be kept in solitary confinement while he is in the gaol. Only the gaoler and one other gaol warder will be in contact with him, but Smidgley will know where he is and know that there is nothing he can do about his predicament.”
Emmeline shook her head at him. “I don’t know how you manage to live this life,” she whispered.
“You get used to it in time. Part of our investigative work is like solving a mystery; unravelling other people’s lies to find the truth behind them. But for the most part it is like a giant game of cat and mouse but during the night and with guns.”
Emmeline rolled her eyes.
Oliver grinned and shrugged. “It’s what we do.”
“I never said anything,” she chided.
“But you don’t approve.”
Emmeline sighed. She stared at the large apple tree Oliver had paused beside while she contemplated what to say. Her entire demeanour changed the more she thought over her argument.
“Someone has to do it,” she replied quietly. “You are fighting for a very noble cause.”
“But.” He knew there was one.
“I just have to wonder if the cause is worth what it might cost you,” she admitted reluctantly.
“It hasn’t cost me anything yet. A few of my friends have found wives and married,” he grinned. “But apart from the odd injury which, I have to say, has not always been caused by the enemy, we are relatively unscathed.”
“For how long, though?”
Oliver sighed. “I should like to say that nobody can touch us, but we have – are – currently facing the most serious threat we are all ever likely to face. We have a traitor amongst us, you see?”
“One of the men?” Emmeline blinked at him.
Given the arduous day she knew they had all endured she struggled to comprehend how someone could then turn traitor and deliberately do anything that would put everyone’s lives at risk.
“No. The men work solidly to protect each other. No, I am talking about the authority who run the War Office. Not all of them have the Star Elite’s best interests at heart and are more focused on their own importance.”
“That happens everywhere,” Emmeline countered flatly. “As soon as this traitor is flushed out he can be stopped.”
“I hope so,” Oliver murmured.
“You doubt it?” There was something in his voice that made her look sharply at him. He didn’t sound so sure. She had to wonder why.