Chapter Thirty-Nine
“I think this is it,” Freddy whispered, pointing at the fencepost.
Gabriel held the lamp close to the whitewashed wood. Seconds later, a blue cross flared into sight. His muscles tautening, he said in a low voice, “Excellent work. I’m proud of you, son.”
Freddy’s smile was wobbly. “Are we going to get Thea now, Papa?”
Gabriel eyed the brick building beyond the fence. A number of such small country manors were spaced along the banks of the canal. This one was partially hidden by trees, the crumbling stone a spectral silver in the full moon. No lights shone from the windows, and the property had an eerie, abandoned feel. A place where ghosts lurked. Behind the house, water flowed as dark and steady as a vein.
“She’s in the basement?” he said.
“Yes, Papa. To the right side of the house. I got out through the venting hole, but I don’t think you’ll fit through,” Freddy said in a worried voice.
“I’ll figure it out.” He turned to the others. “Strathaven, take care of Freddy, will you?”
The duke nodded gravely. “He’ll be safe with me.”
“Ready, Marius?” Gabriel said.
His comrade nodded, pistol in hand. “Let’s finish this once and for all.”
“Papa, you’ll be careful won’t you?” Freddy said with a quiver.
He cupped his son’s cheek. “Always. Now be a good lad and keep watch with His Grace. We’ll be back in no time.”
He jerked his chin at Marius, and the two of them set off. They crossed over the fence, approaching the house by the field rather than the pebbled drive. They moved stealthily, in the old, coordinated pattern, covering one another as they neared the house. They paused behind a hedgerow. Through the leaves, Gabriel had a view of the right side of the manor and saw the bushes Freddy had described. The hole must be behind them.
He made the gestures. I’m going in. You cover.
In answer, Marius nodded and cocked his pistol.
Gabriel rounded the hedge and sprinted toward the side of the house. He made it to the bushes and crouched, parting the brush. The hole was there, just as Freddy had said.
His blades drawn, he called softly, “Thea?”
Silence. His heart raged. If anything’s happened to her…
A rustling. Chains clanking. Seconds later, he heard her tremulous reply.
“Gabriel?”
Relief shot through him. “By the window, love.”
Her face surfaced from the darkness, her eyes wide. “Gabriel, you must run. He’s back—”
He heard a thunderous crash. Thea whipped around, screaming, yanked from sight an instant later. In her place, metal glinted, and Gabriel threw himself to the side just as a blast came from the hole, the shot tearing through the bushes. He rolled to a crouch, pressed against the wall of the house, knives ready; he couldn’t let them fly for fear of hitting Thea. He heard scrambling from within, Thea crying, Let me go, the sounds of her being dragged from the room.
“Marius, take the front. No one gets out,” Gabriel shouted. “He has Thea!”
Marius was already clearing the hedgerow toward the front entrance.
Gabriel raced to the rear of the house. The windows were shuttered, preventing him from seeing inside. Dead brush surrounded the courtyard, trunks piled upon the graveled path that led to a small dock some fifty yards away. A barge bobbed on the dark waves. Cicero’s escape route.
Over my dead body.
He heard sudden blasts of gunfire from the front. Marius at work.
The rear door opened, two cutthroats charging out, their guns blazing. Gabriel ducked the fire, rolling smoothly behind the trunks. In the instant his enemies took to reload, he aimed, releasing his blades simultaneously. The men fell to the gravel. Gabriel paused to yank his weapons from their unmoving bodies before continuing on.
He crept through the open door, his senses on high alert. A room of empty shelves. No movement here. Footsteps overhead. The floor above. His blood pumping hot and fast, he headed out of the room toward the sounds.
In the paneled corridor, he saw the darkness lightening up ahead. The foyer and access to the upper floor. Two doors between him and the foyer. He moved on, knives at the ready. Floorboards creaked, doors opened, and two brutes tore into the hallway. Gabriel went in low and fast, his right blade slicing cleanly upward, his left crossing his body in a deadly arc. Blood slid hotly over his fingers, bodies thudding to the ground behind him. He kept right on moving toward Thea.
Toward the only thing that mattered.
He took the stairwell up, following the sounds. He kicked open the door at the top. A ballroom. The balcony windows were open, white curtains whipping against the dark sky, ghostly reflections dancing along the mirrored walls. At the far end…
Thea. My love.
Cicero stood behind her, an arm around her throat and a pistol held to her head.
Options flashed. Flick of the wrist and Gabriel would have the blade embedded in the soft giving spot between Cicero’s eyes. Or a curving throw to that place in the side of the neck, the one that made a man bleed out within a minute. He could do either before Cicero even pulled the trigger.
And Cicero knew it. Which was why the lily-livered bastard was using Thea as a shield.
“Let her go,” Gabriel said, “and I’ll kill you quickly.”
“That was always your problem, Trajan. Talented killer,”—Cicero shook his head mournfully—“terrible negotiator.”
Gabriel’s fingers itched to make the kill. But he couldn’t risk Thea getting harmed.
Keep Cicero talking. That’s his weakness. Wait for an opening.
“I haven’t your talent for selling our country’s secrets to the highest bidder,” he said evenly.
“But you do have a rare aptitude for ruining my plans.” Cicero’s smile bared his teeth. “Normandy still wasn’t enough to teach you a lesson, it seems.”
“Clever of you,” Gabriel said, “pretending to be taken prisoner along with me and Tiberius. Screaming so loud we believed you were being tortured.”
“I had a sore throat for days.” Cicero’s grin widened.
“How did you survive my dagger? I saw you fall.”
“I was wearing a vest of chainmail. In such situations, I always take precautions.” The spymaster shrugged. “For years, your knife made quite the souvenir. Pity I had to pawn it.”
Gabriel’s grip tightened subtly on the hilts. “Money? Is that what this is all about?”
“My dear fellow, money is what everything is about.”
He had to distract Cicero, get Thea loose…
“You have money,” he said evenly. “You married an heiress.”
“Alas, my access to her fortune is not as I had hoped.” Cicero smiled thinly. “I would have managed, however, had Octavian not caught my trail. The codger never knew when to stop, so I had to stop him. For good. But then you got on the scent.”
Half a foot—that was all it would take. If Thea was just half a foot away from Cicero, Gabriel could safely go in for the kill. He willed her to recall the moves he’d taught her.
Surprise the bastard. Attack him. Free yourself.
“You’ve led me on a merry chase,” he said.
“It is rather refreshing to share my triumphs. Seeing as how dead men and women don’t talk,”—Cicero dug the gun’s muzzle deeper into Thea’s temple, causing her to wince and Gabriel’s fingers to twitch around his blade—“I suppose there’s no harm in indulging a little, is there? I planted the documents you discovered in Tiberius’ safe. And the blackmail note, supposedly from the Spectre, that you found in my desk. Do you honestly think you could find something of mine if I didn’t intend for you to see it?”
“Why try to kidnap Freddy?”
“For leverage over you—you’d do anything I said with your boy’s life on the line. Eventually, I would have ransomed him back to you.” Cicero’s arm tightened around Thea’s neck. “But now I have someone just as good, don’t I? Enough parleying. Throw your weapons toward me, or I’ll put a bullet through her pretty head.”
Gabriel made the calculation. He couldn’t risk Thea. He tossed down one knife, and it skittered across the floor toward his enemy.
“No, Gabriel, don’t—” Thea’s cry was choked off by Cicero. Her hands grasped futilely at the arm crushing her windpipe.
His heart thundering, Gabriel urged her with his eyes. Come on, princess. You’re strong. Remember what I taught you.
Her eyes widened—from lack of air or awareness?
“The other one, too,” Cicero snapped.
With no choice, Gabriel threw away his remaining weapon.
At that moment, Thea acted. In a flash, she let go of the arm choking her and brought her elbow back, connecting with Cicero’s solar plexus. He grunted in surprise, and she lifted her right foot, stomping on his instep. His hold on her loosened, and she jerked free, stumbling to the side.
“Little bitch—”
Before Gabriel could get to his knives, Cicero recovered, taking aim and firing at him. Gabriel dove out of harm’s way, the bullet shattering a mirrored wall, glass raining everywhere. He rolled, his fingers closing around a jagged shard. Twisting to face his enemy, he let it fly.
The glass glittered in the darkness, a deadly star, and it hit true.
Gabriel staggered over to Cicero. The other lay blinking, the shard planted in his neck, crimson bubbles gurgling from his lips. A dark, glossy pool spread beneath him. Gabriel watched, unflinching, until the traitor’s eyes went blank and unseeing.
“Gabriel?”
Thea ran up to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. Held her close.
“Are you all right, love?” he said.
“I’m fine.” She was trembling all over. “Just a bit shaky at the moment.”
“’Tis the aftermath. It’ll pass.” He looked into her beautiful eyes. “I’m proud of you, my fierce princess.”
“What about you? I know you never wanted to kill again—”
“I did what I had to. And that is what I’ve always done.” He kissed her softly on the forehead. “I’m at peace, knowing you and Freddy are safe and that no one will suffer at the hands of the Spectre again.”
Her gaze shimmered. “I love you.”
“And I love you. With everything that I am.” Emotion swelled, and he didn’t try to fight it. He cupped her precious face in his hands. “It killed me, thinking that I might not have the chance to tell you. I was a fool not to recognize what was in my own heart. But I swear I’ll make it up to you. You’re going to tire of having a husband who tells you day and night how much he adores you.”
“I don’t think I could ever tire of that.” Her smile warmed his soul.
The romantic moment was shattered by the sound of gunshots in the distance.
“Damn, I’d best check on Marius,” Gabriel muttered. “He must be losing his touch.”
“Marius?” she said in surprise.
Retrieving his weapons, Gabriel flashed her a quick grin. “I’ll explain later.”