Hiding Rose (Saved By Desire 5)

“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?”