Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“Jesus, they have executed him,” Jasper breathed.

“He has been useful in helping them kidnap people, I suppose,” Oliver hissed.

“I think there is a message here,” Niall warned. “Denzel has been executed because he brought us to their door. Now they have drawn us into their world they intend to execute us too.”

“Jesus. We are not going to die,” Jasper growled as he watched the thugs converge around Denzel’s body but turn as one toward them and start to approach.

“Not today. Just keep your mind focused on the job,” Oliver warned.

“I was,” Jasper protested. But when he looked at his colleague, he knew from the doubt evident on Oliver’s face that it was obvious who he had been thinking about.

“Ready?” Niall asked. “I’ll take the ones behind us. You take the mob at the far end of the street, Jasper. Given Oliver’s eyesight is failing because of his age and all that he can take the bastards closest to us.”

Oliver threw a curse at his friend but softened it with a grin of mischief. “Ready?”

“As I will ever be,” Jasper growled.

“When you can get free, Jasper, go back to the safe house. We have to tell them not to let Marilyn in,” Oliver growled.

Jasper nodded, his face grim. They all knew they had been set up. While they were busy fighting for their lives in the arse end of London, Marilyn was most probably going after Molly and Oscar. Because time was short, the men grimly set to work.

Molly paced backward and forward in front of the fireplace. While flames roared hungrily against the grate, the heat that emanated from the orange fury did little to banish the foreboding chill that pervaded her bones. She rubbed her hands up and down the warm flesh of her arms but couldn’t take her mind off the worried churning of her stomach.

“Do you think they will find them?” Molly asked for about tenth time in as many minutes.

“Will you stop asking,” Oscar snapped.

“I am just worried, that’s all,” Molly protested with a glare.

Harry carefully folded his cloak and placed it precisely on the corner of the table. He paused for a moment, then looked frankly at Oscar. “Go and fetch your cloak, and Molly’s too, will you? It won’t hurt to be prepared.”

“For what?” Molly demanded.

“Where are we going?” Oscar asked curiously.

“Nowhere. While we are safe here, we have to make contingency plans,” Harry warned.

“What’s that?” Oscar squinted but had never heard the word ‘contingency’ before.

“We have to decide what to do should Denzel turn up here,” Harry explained.

“Do you think he will?” Oscar paled and sidled closer to Molly.

“No. But anything can happen. If he does, I want us all to agree on a plan of action that will keep us safe and, hopefully, put Denzel behind bars where he belongs,” Harry replied.

When Oscar had fetched the cloaks, Harry urged him and Molly to take a seat at the table. He then handed a piece of folded parchment to Molly. “The War Office is marked on this. I don’t know how well you know London, but I have sketched a route out that is going to get you there and keep you on the busy main roads where there will be many witnesses should anything happen. Stay covered in a cloak, keep your hood up, and use the route I have put onto this map. Don’t stop to talk to anybody. Inside the map is a folded note and enough money for you to buy food. Whatever happens, do not get into any carriages. Not even ones that look like they are driven by ordinary jarveys. It might be driven by someone from Rigley Row. You won’t know the difference. You wouldn’t be the first person to be snatched from London’s streets and whisked away in a fake carriage, and you wouldn’t be the last. Unfortunately for us, you would be impossible to find again because I doubt that Denzel would take you back to Rigley Row. That would be asking for trouble. Just get out of this house any way you can if Denzel, or Marilyn, turn up but only if anything happens to me. Keep together. Stay as quiet as you can. Use hand signals instead.” Harry demonstrated a few he and his colleagues used on a regular basis. “Get to the War Office as swiftly as you can. Sir Hugo has left word with the guards there that you are to be granted immediate access should you arrive. Wait there until Sir Hugo, Jasper, or one of us you recognise turns up to talk to you.”

“What happens if you can’t get to us?” Oscar whispered, now looking absolutely horrified.

“Someone will,” Harry replied firmly and with absolute confidence in the fact.

“What about Jasper?” Molly asked.

“Jasper will be fine. He is a strong man and more than capable of dealing with whatever is going on out there. You have to stay safe for him,” Harry warned. “He is going to kill me for telling you this but he is just as affected by you as you are by him, Molly. You are going to have to wait until this is all over, but I have no doubt that as soon as everything is settled around you, Jasper will make his intentions clear. You won’t be moving on without him, so you will need to bear that in mind when you make your plans for the future.”

Harry hoped so in any case because Jasper was going to be one Hell of a miserable bastard if Molly left before he could return. While the man was as dumb as a house brick, and clearly hadn’t realised yet just how deeply he had fallen for the young woman before him, Harry suspected it would only be a matter of time before he did.

It looks like I will have to attend another wedding then, he mused wryly.