Barely an hour after
bidding their new friends farewell, Paul had wiggled his way into the
group of men hired to provide manual labour in moving the furniture
that belonged to the previous occupants; some of which was being
donated to the officers of the army who had commandeered other
buildings, less well stocked and the rest being moved to the cellars
or retained for their purely functional purposes.
This had been an
ongoing process – the first few days had only shifted four or five
pieces because they had to be transported so far. Now they were down
to the large scale moving of smaller pieces which would involve them
moving through most of the rooms in the property.
He focussed on the work
to begin with – shifting the furniture was repetitive and
relatively undemanding and the nature of the task provided
opportunities for banter. Enough men had offered themselves up for a
day or two of work in exchange for pay or food that they saw nothing
odd in his situation. He had created a tale of being a footman in
Italy to explain his height and physique, as well as his formal
French, but had come to France to join the army. He was looking for
old connections before signing up, but had not been able to find any.
Now he was gathering enough money to provide for his wife, then he
would leave her here.
Before too long they
had cleared out the first two rooms. Paul asked an innocent question
about the plan for working through the rest of the property, based on
his long experience of packing up large properties for his wealthy
“masters” and as a result he was sent to seek out the rooms
across the property and advise on which was the most effective to
clear out.
He started from the top
of the property, reasoning that there was no need to go to the extent
of exploring the attics – it was likely the device was being
investigated and tested so it would be in an open space, easily
accessible. He had resigned himself to this first day being dedicated
to reconnaissance only, but on the second floor in a converted back
bedroom he saw the device lying in a pile of various pieces of
weaponry. He was alone, so quickly extracted it and carried it along
the hallways until he discovered a room with an overstuffed set of
chaise longues and rammed it down the back of one of the cushions.
He returned to his task
and took conscientious details as he returned to the group of men
refreshing themselves in the mostly deserted kitchens downstairs. He
repeated back everything he'd particularly noticed; specifically
referencing the sense in assembling the furniture that could be
dismantled and stacked as a job lot. After a lengthy list he did also
suggest moving all the stuffed furniture to a single room as they
would be cumbersome to move and might as well be put out of the way
while they worked on other, more rewarding tasks.
The leader agreed and
the first task was to put all the stuffed furniture into a room on
the ground floor. The rest of the day was moving and stacking chairs,
tables, desks and other hard furnishings into carts. At the end, all
the men left, but Paul had left his jacket draped over the arm of his
chaise and separated from the group before leaving. Once near the
device he was able to use it to travel out of the city. He and
Melissa had arranged a meeting point a mile or two from the place he
had travelled to by the device (it seemed that the device was
reliable as long as it was more than a mile distance from itself) and
it took him almost half an hour to trek there over rough countryside.
As he neared Melissa, he noticed that the device began to fade. Soon,
it was completely transparent, although, in a peculiar way, he could
see the memory of what it looked like.
When he finally
encountered Melissa, her device was the same – mostly transparent,
but still somehow real.
She was visibly
relieved to see him and insisted on hearing his tale before allowing
the two of them to repair to their next destination. That was a barn,
only a few hundred yards away, where there were two horses Melissa
had saddled and prepared in advance. The two of them mounted and took
off across the countryside.
It was dawn before they
reached the safe space. Melissa dispensed with pretence, formality
and patience of any sort. She simply walked to the door, opened it
and called for Michael and James. James' head appeared around a door
almost immediately, and seconds later he was embracing Paul with
delight. Michael followed shortly after, more groggy than his
companion.
After the initial
greeting, Melissa informed the other two that she and Paul would stay
here but that she needed them to take the device to Andy. She didn't
waste time describing what it was or did, just made it very clear
that they were to deliver the device only to Andy and then escape
before the French realised the importance of what they had done.
After that, they would need to flee. She and Paul would wait here and
rest. When the others arrived (although, to protect Phillip's agents
they would meet up at the inn in a village two miles to the west
which James and Michael had heard of but not yet visited) they were
likely to be under pursuit and they would ride to the coast – or an
alternative safe space.
The two men took the
spare device which Paul had wrapped in his coat, and left her and
Paul. She stared at her own device for a short while and after ten
minutes it was becoming more solid. As she saw that, she fell asleep.
Two hours later she awoke, cursing. Paul, like her, had been unable
to stay awake, but was positioned sat upright in a hard chair and her
sudden sounds were enough to jerk him awake. The fall off his chair
completed the job of rousing him.
It hadn't been much,
but both were chock full of adrenalin and were ready to move in a few
minutes – ablutions were not, at this stage, particularly
important; a quick hedge stop was all each of them required.
They set off to the
neighbouring village and Melissa was deeply relieved to discover
there was no sign of the other two – or of anyone travelling past
their agreed landmark in recent history. For the rest of the day Paul
and Melissa took turns to rest and keep watch, both trying to ignore
the pangs of hunger which set in as the initial burst of adrenalin
wore off until finally, about half an hour before the sun set, James
and Michael appeared. They saddled up and leaped onto their horses.
Their vantage point was on a hill and they could see the others were
under pursuit. As they had agreed, they others skirted the bottom of
the hill while they charged off down the other side. Charging through
farmers fields, and around a copse they dived over a hill and into a
new set of fields as darkness fell.
It was this point at
which Melissa began her cursing. She had absolutely no way of knowing
if the French could see them. Also, it was terrifying doing this,
having observed the appalling condition in which the French farmland
had been in during the day. In casual conversation Paul had mentioned
the hazards of a horse stepping into a rabbit hole and expounded at
some length on how dangerous or stupid doing exactly this was.
They rode for half an
hour more before Melissa was satisfied their pursuers had lost them.
The horses really couldn't go much further anyway. She pulled up and
rotated. The others followed her example and the four of them
strained to hear the sounds of hoofbeats. There was none. She slumped
in relief and exhaustion over her saddle. Now was the time. She
climbed off her horse and Paul, with the knowledge of what was
happening next seized her horse's rein while he objected. She was
confused for a while, but when he explained in detail that it was
unfair to the animals to leave them there she bowed to his way of
thinking.
It wasn't that she
didn't care aobut the animals, more that she had absolutely no ideas
of the practicalities of life. In her mind horses fed themselves the
way humans did, btut Paul's passionate explanation helped her to see
the horses as she had seen the people in London slums – they would
be exceptional in the right circumstances, but if she abandoned them
here, they wouldn't live the best kind of life for them. She asked
Paul where they could leave the animals temporarily before she
arranged a longer term solution. He thought, them told her of a small
village he knew well. He was able to give her an almost exact
distance and direction from London so she was able to calculate the
co-ordinates in relation to her home in London.
She calibrated the
device, while Paul indicated to the others that they should dismount.
They arrived in the British countryside shortly after and unsaddled
the horses and removed most of the other tack. Paul showed her how to
use grass to wipe down the horse and make it as comfortable a
possible. Then he looked around and identified their location by the
presence of a spire. Confirming that he knew the field and trusted
the owner, he agreed to return to London. Michael and James were
utterly exhausted by their day and bewildered by recent events and
simply accepted events.
While grooming the
horse she had been thinking about the situation they had left in
France and realised the yacht was still moored just off the coast.
She had to return Michael and James there as soon as possible or a
massive manhunt would begin, triggered by an overly helpful crewman
seeking his employer. Once they were settled, she took them back –
this time much closer to the yacht. They would return to England in
the expected manner and Phillip's men would not notice anything
amiss.
She and Paul returned
to London – first depositing him in his bedroom, then returning to
her own. She was unsurprised to see Mary asleep on the chaise at the
foot of her bed. She smiled and began to disrobe. The noise was
enough to disturb the other woman who had trained herself to stir at
the slightest sound from an ill patient. Mary, knowing her employer
well, took one look at the coating of grime, with sweat streaks
running through the otherwise even coverage on her face, and said she
would return with water in the immediate future.
Melissa completely
disrobed in her absence and was draped in a light robe when she
returned hauling two pails. One was hot, the other cold. Mary
explained that, upon discovering her absence and the returned ball
gown, she had come to the conclusion her mistress was off with a man,
and to protect her had put about the story that she was ill. To
ensure that her return would be covered as much as possible, she had
insisted on a pail of water being kept hot day and night. It had
meant however, that she was alone in this room more or less
continuously for he duration of Melissa's absence. Her boredom had
led her to sleep early. On Melissa's enquiry, she reported it was
just after 10:00 pm.
While bathing, Melissa
begged for some food. Mary ordered a light dinner, to be served in
the dining room. After she ate that and returned, not having to feign
exhaustion, Melissa discovered that her marvel of a hench woman had
provided a significantly more substantial repast including bread,
butter and a meat pie. The only drink was lemonade, but Melissa
simply devoured and drank everything made available.
