Seducing the Ruthless Rogue (7 page)

“No.
 
I do have something I want you to do for me, though.
 
You know the contacts that we use in Town.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I need you to make contact with some of them.
 
Ask them if they have heard of anyone asking about maps.
 
Also I want to know if they are aware of any reason why someone would want me to lose my position.”

“Right away, sir.”

Mack quickly shaved and dressed.
 
He stopped at his study and grabbed two pistols, fitting them into a contraption that wrapped around his back and fit snugly about his shoulders, one gun secured on each side.
 
It lay between his vest and his superfine coat.
 
He turned and left the house, almost tripping on a person that sat on the stoop.
 

“Watch where you’re going!” a decidedly feminine voice exclaimed.

“What are you doing perched on my stoop?” Mack demanded once he found his equilibrium.

“Waiting for you.
 
You did say we would be leaving at dawn, did you not?”

“Yes.”

She nodded in the direction of the rising sun causing pink and gold fingers to enter the cloudless sky.
 
“I believe you are a bit late, Director.”

“Did you sleep at all, Miss Graham?”

“I don’t think that is an appropriate topic of conversation.
 
Shall we go and see my father?”

“Of course.”
 
He stepped past her and his superfine flew open just a bit, allowing her a peek at the contraption beneath.

“What is that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That thing holding your guns in place.” She waved her hand to encompass the leather strap.

“Your father made it for me.
 
One of his inventions.
 
It has come in handy more often than not.”

“That’s what I thought.
 
My father had been sketching that design before he disappeared.”

“Are we going to stand here and reminisce about your father and his inventions, or are we going to go so that I can prove to you he is safe and sound?”

“You are a…”

“More than you know.
 
Come, we will have to walk to find a hack.”
 
The two walked in angry silence for three blocks before reaching a hackney stand.
 
Mack hailed a carriage and gave the jarvey directions before helping Miss Graham inside.
 
He entered and closed the door then the coach was off, traveling over the paved street.
 
They traveled for almost a half hour, arriving at their destination.
 
“Cover your hair and face.
 
This is not a neighborhood where we want to attract attention.”
 
He was pleased to see she did as she was told before following him out of the coach.
 
She was turning in a slow circle when he started moving into the building.
 
“Are you coming?”

He walked up two flights of stairs, but slowed as he approached a door at the top on the left.
 
The door stood open a few inches.
 
Mack pulled one of the guns free and cocked the hammer.
 

“What are you doing?”

“Stay here.
 
In fact, get over there in that corner and stay out of the way.
 
If someone comes out of that room, make yourself as small a target as possible.
 
Move, now,” he growled in a whisper.
 
He waited until she followed his instructions before approaching the apartment door.
 
A grizzly sight greeted him in the apartment.
 
Tools and gadgetry lay scattered all over the floor as well as every available surface.
 
The bedding on the bed was half hanging off the mattress.
 
In the middle of the floor lay a man face down in a congealing pool of blood.

“Papa!”
 

Chapter 4

Cassie snuck up behind Mack, planning to stay there until she saw the sprawled body on the floor.
 

“Papa!” she cried, slipping past the director.
 
Before she reached the body, she felt an arm like a steel band around her waist.
 
She was yanked backwards against a firm, male body.

“What did I tell you?” he growled against her ear.

Cassie squirmed, bringing an elbow back into Director McKenzie’s rib cage.
 
She felt his grip loosen immediately, and made the most of it.
 
She spun in his hold and while he bent over cradling his rib, she hit him in the lower back with both fists, bringing him to the ground.

“Stop,” he groaned, as she ran toward the inert form.
 
“Not your father,” he rasped out.
 

Unhearing in her panicked state, she dropped to her knees and rolled the man over.
 
Unseeing green eyes looked at her from an unfamiliar face, a cut low across his throat indicated how he met his demise.
 
A grimace of agony would be forever frozen on the man’s face.
 
She quickly let go of him, letting the body fall back into the position she had found it in and rose.
 
Cassie looked down and saw rust colored stains on her dress and cloak.

“Satisfied?” A voice penetrated her hearing.

“What?” she asked, turning to see Director McKenzie struggle to his feet.

“I told you to stay the bloody hell out of the way.
 
What did you think you were doing?”

“I thought it was my father,” she argued.

“You could have very well gotten us both killed.
 
What if the murderer were still here.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said, lifting her chin defiantly.

“Sure you could,” he replied sarcastically.

“I’ve taken care of you twice now, haven’t I?”

“And that’s another thing.
 
The next time you decide to use whatever it is you do on me, I swear I will save myself the hurt and just shoot you and put you out of my misery.
 
Understand?”

“Are you threatening me, Director?”

“No, Miss Graham, I don’t make threats, I make promises.
 
Now, get over here and let me take a look.
 
That is if there is anything to see after you have disturbed the scene.”

Cassie huffed and moved over to the entrance.
 
She stood and quietly watched him walk around the room, studying every nook and cranny.
 
She attempted to hold her dress out so that the blood-soaked spots where she had knelt on the floor would not touch her body.

“Did the man have any family?”

“What?” Director McKenzie asked, sounding distracted.

“Did he have any family?”

“No.
 
We now try to recruit men and women that have no family.
 
Easier that way when this type of thing happens.”

“That is a bit cold-hearted, isn’t it?”

“But necessary.”

“Do you have any family, Director McKenzie?”

“That is a bit personal, Miss Graham.”
 

“Shouldn’t you send for someone?”

“In due time.”

“Could you open the window?”

“It will contaminate the crime scene.
 
Go into the hall.”

Stubbornly refusing, Cassie stood there, shifting from one foot to the next as the man studied every aspect of the room for the next hour.
 
The smell began to increase as the day began to grow warmer.
 
Just when she thought she would have to show her weakness and leave the room, he announced that he was finished.
 
He carefully shut the door and took her arm to lead her down the stairs.
 
Cassie did not want to admit it, but she found his grip comforting.
 
When they stepped outside, she took a deep breath, glad to smell London’s offal once more over that of a decomposing corpse.

The director assisted her into the carriage before giving the driver a destination and climbing in after her.
 
She lowered the window on her side of the hack, hoping for a breeze or a whiff of fresh air.
 
Cassie held herself stiffly and felt McKenzie’s eyes on her.

“What is it, Director?”

“I just wanted to know if you were all right.
 
Seeing that sort of thing can be traumatic more often than not.”

“Yes, well, I have a strong stomach and was raised by scientists, so I am perfectly fine,” she replied looking him in the eye.

“Excellent,” he said, relaxing against the seat.

“Where are we going now?”

“To inform the Runners of the incident.”

“Why not your office?”

“A murder in London is their jurisdiction,” he answered easily.
 
“After that, I will take you home so that you can clean up.”

“That would be most appreciated.
 
I apologize for earlier.
 
I, um, hope I did not injure you.”
 

“I’ll be fine.”
 
They traveled the rest of the way in silence.

***

After depositing Miss Graham at her house, Mack found himself standing outside his brother’s mansion.
 
He knocked on the door and waited patiently for it to be opened.
 
He had almost talked himself into turning around and leaving when a man opened the door.
 
Mack still found himself trying to get used to not seeing Hamlin, even though he retired to the country a few months ago.
 
In fact, he left just about the time he and Gabe’s grandmother decided to retire to the dowager house.
 
He chuckled to himself wondering if his brother had pieced together that puzzle yet.

“Come in, sir,” the butler bid him to enter.

“Thank you, um…”

“Riggs, sir.”

“Yes, Riggs.
 
Forgive my manners.”

“Completely understandable, sir.
 
I expect you are here to see His Grace?”

“Yes.”

“Allow me to show you to the study, and I will let him know you are here.”
 

“Thank you, Riggs.”

Mack sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, awaiting his brother’s arrival.
 
He heard the clomping of boots long before he saw his brother.
 
When Gabe did enter the room, his cravat was askew, his hair was standing on end, and he was missing his superfine and weskit.
 

“I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”

“Not what you’re thinking,” Gabe growled.
 
“The baby is teething, and this is the first time she’s been quiet in hours.
 
Mikala and I were just about to lay down for a few minutes.
 
We were up most of the night.”

“Don’t you have a nanny employed?”

“Yes, but Diana was running a fever.
 
Mikala was up walking the floor with her, when she wasn’t ill herself, and I couldn’t sleep without Mikala beside me.
 
Why am I rattling on about this?
 
You will know what it’s like when you get married and have children.”

“Hah!
 
I can’t believe you two are willing to go through this again.
 
I think I will just be the wonderful doting uncle that spoils everyone.”

“That’s what Thorn Wulfe thought he would be as well, but it didn’t work so well for him, did it?”
 

“No, it didn’t,” Mack agreed.
 
“Poor son of a bitch.”

“You didn’t come at this hour to hear about the baby and Mikala.
 
What’s on your mind, Mack?”

“Where do I begin?
 
Ever since that incident with my secretary turning over secrets, I have found it difficult to trust people in my office.”

“Yes.”

“Being removed from my position has not changed anything.
 
There was information that I could not leave behind regardless of the order or who it was given by.”

“Go on.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I trust you and Liverpool implicitly, but I can’t say that about everyone,” his brogue was thick today.
 
“I believe there’s a traitor in the War Office again.”

“Another?”

“I’m surprised there haven’t been more, what with the way this war has drug on, and now the upstart colonists have decided they will try to take us on as well.
 
We are surrounded by war.
 
War provides people opportunities they might never have had before.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Sir Graham is missing.”

“Pardon?”