Page 90 of An Extraordinary Lord

Shaking with fury, he sat back on the bench and clenched a fist at the man across from him. “Take me to the barricades.Now.I have orders from the Home Secretary himself to put down the riots.”

“But I am taking you to the barricades,” the man said with exaggerated calmness. “And by the Horse Guard escort you specifically requested, to ensure your safe arrival in Tilbury.”

“Tilbury?” Liggett sputtered. “That’s half a day’s ride in the other direction.”

The undersecretary smiled. “Didn’t I mention? You’re going to the barricades via Botany Bay.”

Liggett’s blood grew cold. “You’re kidnapping a general, impressing me—”

“Kidnapping…facilitating overseas diplomatic travel…” The man shrugged. “There’s such a fine line between the two, don’t you agree?” His eyes glinted icily in the darkness. “By this time tomorrow, when you’re finally found tied up and gagged in the hold by the sailors I’ve paid to ignore you until then, the ship will be out to sea and on its way to the South Pacific.”

“You’re mad! When the Home Secretary learns of this—”

“Of course, they can’t keep you in Australia,” he mused. “The ship’s captain can bring you back immediately—round trip, in about six months. Give or take a month. Or three.”

“I’ll ruin you for this!” Liggett threatened. “I will end your career and have you hanged.”

“Can’t do that if you’re dead,” the undersecretary warned in a low and threatening voice. “You’ve working with Scepter.” The accusation was leveled with deadly certainty. “And we both know what Scepter does to people who fail it.”

At that, Liggett’s blood turned completely to ice. If he wasn’t there to lead the soldiers and stop the riot, if he wasn’t there to be the symbol of strength and leadership that the country lacked, if he was no longer needed—

Scepter would kill him.

“So you might discover that you prefer life in Australia to returning to England.” The undersecretary leaned casually back against the squabs and kicked out his long legs, settling in for the drive to the docks at Tilbury. “Either way, General, I think it’s safe to say that your military career is over.”

The steam from Veronica’s breath clouded the frigid predawn air. “Are we ready, then?”

Filipe stood just at her shoulder and nodded, turning to face her so that each of them looked in the opposite direction down the street and no one could sneak up on them. They fell easily back into the old ways of battle that his father, Jabir, had taught them all those years ago in Portugal.

“The men have their orders,” he answered quietly.

Around them, the City’s narrow streets were alive in the darkness, filled with hundreds of people milling about on the cobblestones and along the brick building fronts. All of them were solemn and quiet, yet an excited anticipation pulsed through them. She could feel it buzzing like electricity, all the way down into her bones.

“But will it work?” Filipe muttered beneath his own clouded breath.

“It will.” Ithadto work. Tonight would be their only chance. Herlastchance. She wouldn’t let Merritt down.

“It had better. I’ve called in every favor I had to make this happen,” he half mumbled to himself. He added, looking away, “Then I paid twice as many men just to make certain we’d have enough show up.”

Guilt pricked at her belly. “You shouldn’t have done that. That money could have been given to people who—”

“It wasn’t the Court of Miracle’s money,” he corrected, his gaze swinging back to hers for only a moment before sweeping on down the dark street. “It was my own.”

Her heart tugged with gratitude even as she chastised, “Youreallyshouldn’t have done that.”

“Fight fire with fire, I always say.” He shrugged a shoulder and tugged at his gloves. “Or in this case, paid rioters with paid rioters.”

She arched a brow. “You’ve never said that.”

“Perhaps I should have,” he said dryly. “Because that’s what we’re doing.”

Exactly that. They’d created their own personal riot. One they could control.

The plan was lunacy…gather together enough people that the crowd could take on a critical mass of its own, send them into the square to join Scepter’s waiting mob, then send their people in a different direction than Scepter wanted them to go. They would direct the riot north, hopefully taking Scepter’s people with them, to move them away from the soldiers before letting it fizzle out completely beneath its own lack of momentum and with the help of the night watch. But this plan was also their only option.

She prayed it would work.

“We’re as ready as we can be.” Her hand strayed to the hilt of her sword. “Now we simply wait for the signal. You’ll rush to the front to guide them, I’ll bring up the rear, and we’ll meet back at the Court of Miracles at dawn.”