The Spymaster's Lady (34 page)

She said, “Vauban stole the Albion plans,” and she watched the words stab to the heart of Soulier.

“That is impossible.”

Behind her, Grey stiffened, deep in his muscles.

“He stole them to pass to the British. Not for the money. It was never for the money.” She could not clear the lump from her throat. “It was…With gold as payment, even a small amount of gold, no one would suspect Vauban.”

“No one would believe that of him.” Soulier sank heavily into the chair. “He conceived a faultless operation. As always.”

“He planned for months, alone, in secret.” Her feelings were chaotic, even after so many months. “I think…I think Vauban went a little mad when his sons died in Egypt.”

Soulier looked away, his lips tight. “Other men have lost sons.”

“His sons died for nothing. Napoleon sailed home to hold parades and put sphinxes upon the feet of his tables. Émile and Philippe died in the fever and stink of Cairo, deserted by the man who led them there. They died for a Corsican's vanity, Vauban said.”

How could Soulier not understand? He had been Vauban's friend. How could he look like that, shocked and condemning? “He was old and tired and sick. He lived his whole life in the service of France. He lost everything in the Terror—his home, his family, his wife.”

“My child, I was there. I know.”

“Only his boys were left. Then Napoleon threw their lives away on a grandiose whim to rule the East.”

She shook herself free of Grey and began to pace the room. She could not stay still. The Frenchmen, Soulier's agents, followed her with their eyes, waiting for what she would say. Soulier's pain whipped at her with silent lashes.

She steadied her voice. “And now Napoleon planned another vast expedition. To England. That is why Vauban stole the plans. He said Napoleon had betrayed the Revolution.”

Soulier passed his hand over his forehead. “Always, he was the dreamer among us. The idealist. But this…”

“There would be no more pointless battles overseas, Vauban said. No more French armies abandoned. He would prevent it.”

Soulier lifted his eyes to her. “You were under his orders, Annique. If he told you to help him in this…”

Did he think Vauban would lay that upon her? “But no. He told me nothing. He brought me to Bruges to run the small errands, as always. To watch for the British. But Leblanc…”

Leblanc fought the men who held him, knowing what she would say next. Hatred washed over her in tides. She took shaking, hot breaths before she could speak. “Leblanc's small worm in the Military Intelligence of England, Tillman, told Leblanc where the British would deliver the gold. The Englishmen were betrayed, first, by an English.”

She turned to Grey. He remained expressionless, his eyes level and cold. It was to him she spoke. “Leblanc lay in wait. And killed. And took the gold. He has done endless murder for that gold.”

When she said that, he nodded, just a fraction. Leblanc was dead from this moment. He might still walk and talk for an hour or a week, but he was dead. Soulier saw this. She did not think Leblanc yet realized.

“She lies. I swear, Soulier, this is lies.” Leblanc writhed in fury and fear. Long scratches showed red on his face. “It was Vauban. Only Vauban. I know nothing of this.”

She did not bother to look upon Leblanc. “I was with Vauban. Leblanc came to the inn with the blood of those murdered men still upon his clothing.” She remembered the shock and the sickness. Vauban's incredulous anger. “Leblanc knew Vauban must have the plans. He demanded them, as the price of his silence.”

“The bitch lies. She lies in her teeth. I was in Paris that day. I can bring a dozen men to swear this.”

“He was there. He hid in the farmhouse of Paul Drouet that night, in Brésanne. No.” She snapped, “Be silent, maggot. Your men, Plaçais and Vachelard, are dead by your secret order. The family Drouet burned in their beds. It has been unhealthy to know this thing about you, Leblanc. But one daughter escaped and lives. There is a witness.”

The willingness of Yves and the other guards to keep violent hands upon Leblanc increased by the minute.

“You will not listen to this whore, this bitch in heat, who sweats and grunts under an English dog.”

“You killed Maman when I was blinded and useless. And three Englishmen in Bruges. And two of your own men. And the family Drouet at their farm,” she stared into Leblanc's eyes, and her voice cracked, “even the children. The good God alone knows how many others. All for gold…” She could no longer speak.

Leblanc was a cornered rat, teeth bared. “You will regret this, Soulier. Fouché will crush you like an ant when I tell him this.”

Soulier had become like ancient ice in the mountains, frigid and blue and glittering. “You are a greedy man, Jacques. Greedy enough that I believe this atrocity of you. It is the answer to some questions that have occurred to me this last year. And why else would you try to kill Annique?

“She lies,” Leblanc hissed.

“You are stupid beyond belief to think you can attack in my own house someone I have given sanctuary. To do this to a woman Grey chooses to protect…Do you not realize, you idiot, that he has a dozen men outside? That this is his trap for you? That he has come for you tonight to hang you?”

Grey was at her back, and she could not see his expression. Leblanc did. He paled to the color of a fish belly. He did not like to look upon his own death, for all the death he had meted out to others.

Soulier threaded the thin sword cane into its concealing scabbard and secured it with a quick, vicious twist. “I will spare Grey his trouble, if he agrees. I will deliver you to Fouché, to make an example of. He will relieve his spleen by separating you from your head. You permit, Monsieur Grey?”

Grey's voice was quiet into her ear. “Annique, Leblanc is yours. Shall I hang him for you? Or you can kill him with your own hands, if that's what you need. Anything you want.”

The thought of laying hands upon Leblanc to kill him made her sick. She shook her head quickly.

Grey said to Soulier, “Take him. Get him out of here. We need to talk. Alone.”

Soulier waved impatiently. “Yves, put him…I do not know. I do not keep a cage for such rats in my house. Put him somewhere and watch him. The pantry. All of you go. Yes, all. Do not let him escape.”

Leblanc was dragged from the room, leaving threats behind him like the trail of a snail, departing.

W
ITH
L
EBLANC GONE, THE ROOM WAS ODDLY
quiet. She rested within Grey's arms, her cheek pressed against his sleeve. Truly, love plucked away all one's common sense. She was tempted to cling to him and feed off the strength of him and feel safe. She had not known such temptations existed until she met him.

When she pushed herself free, Grey let her go with one instant of hesitation that said he did not want to.

“Soulier must be told the truth of what I have done,” she said, which was warning enough, for an astute man like Grey, that she was about to lie in a serious fashion.

This was the last throw of her game. This was what she had planned through her days at Meeks Street, lying by Grey's side, playing chess with Galba, teaching Hawker to juggle knives. If she lied well enough, she would end the threat of invasion, yet lay no advantage into the hands of the British.

Soulier sat, urbane and well-tailored, framed by the chair with its high tapestry back. He might have been a courtier of the old king, receiving an ambassador at Versailles.

She must make him look upon her, not Grey. Grey was unprepared and might make some small revelations upon his face. “I did not speak of the Albion plans in front of the others. I knew you would not wish me to.”

“Then do not speak of them now.” Soulier was testy with her.

“I must.” She stood square in front of him. She had stood thus many times, reporting or receiving orders. “You have guessed most of it. The Albion plans are ashes. Vauban burned them in the fireplace of the inn that night, rather than give them to Leblanc.”

“You have said enough.”

“He gave them to me first, to memorize.”

Soulier conveyed the need for discretion with an angry, emphatic shake of his head.

“The British know about my memory. I have spent days at Meeks Street copying out the plans, page by page.” She made a picture of that in her mind, so vivid and exact it did not even feel like a lie. “They have them now.”

It was done. France would not invade. England was safe. Now she must face what would come to her.

Soulier stared at his hands that rested, one upon the other, on the pommel of his cane. “You did this for Vauban.”

“He asked it of me. In Bruges.”

“Then he has condemned you to death.” Soulier leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Even I cannot save you.”

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. There is a difference between knowing one will die and hearing the sentence pronounced. “I have accepted the consequences of my actions. I delayed leaving for England for a long time, hoping Napoleon would turn aside from this invasion, and the plans would come to nothing, but it did not happen. I did not wish to die, you understand. And I was injured and made blind.” Her mouth felt dry. “Which complicated matters. Leblanc has been a complexity, as well.”

“Annique,” Soulier said gently.

“Yes?”

“Be silent. I am thinking.” He opened his eyes to frown at her. “And do not stand there like a loaf of bread. This room is disordered beyond belief by the men you brought here to fight over you. Do something useful.” He closed his eyes again.

That was comforting. Perhaps Soulier would think of a way to save her from Fouché. It was not impossible.

Grey was saying nothing, for which she was grateful. He knew, better than anyone else, that the Albion plans were not in British hands. For the moment, he played her game.

She set the small table upright and put the silver tray upon it and knelt to gather shattered glass from the lamp chimney into the palm of her hand. Such mundane activities. Spying is a life of boring, ordinary tasks, performed while death scratches at the window. She had been seven when Soulier told her that.

Matters did not go so badly. Leblanc had not shot her, after all. The oil lamp that fell from this table had not set itself afire to burn her to death. She had told a convincing lie to Soulier, who was a master in detecting lies. Soulier had not yet been compelled to kill her. And she had, perhaps, prevented the invasion of England. Altogether, she had much to congratulate herself upon.

Soulier opened his eyes. “You did not give the Albion plans to the British Service.”

Her stomach dropped like a stone. She had not been believed, after all.
Diable.
“Soulier, I have—”

“Do not chatter. It is Leblanc who just sold the plans to the British.”

“Leblanc?”

“
Exact.
I am in a state of shock. Monsieur Grey is even now informing me of Leblanc's guilt. He does this in a pique of revenge, for Leblanc's culpability in the matter of gold and murder at Bruges, which he has just discovered.”

She did not glance at Grey, who was doubtless being impenetrable. “I see.”

“You, my child, were never in Bruges. You were somewhere else entirely. Dijon perhaps.”

“That is a dull town. I am delighted to have been there.” She put broken crockery upon the silver tray. “It is convenient of Leblanc to be so guilty.”

“Is it not? He will deny everything and tangle himself in a dozen lies and not be believed. Fouché delights in simplicities. We shall fasten one more crime upon this
salaud
, who has committed so many. He can only die once, unfortunately. And you, child, will not pay for Vauban's folly.”

“It is not—”

“You have sufficient folly of your own to pay for,” Soulier said sharply. “Which I must now deal with.”

Grey's footfalls as he stepped forward had become the tread of a fighter, balanced and light. Tension, fierce and invisible, twisted in the air. “Then you deal with me.”

“You saved her life tonight, Monsieur Grey, when my men failed me. I am in your debt. But she is safe now, with her own people. You must leave her to us.”

Grey said, “This isn't negotiable.”

“She is mine, monsieur. And I will not give her up.” Soulier hesitated, then laid his cane aside, slanted against the arm of his chair. “But I am wise enough not to challenge you directly. Come. Sit. Let us discuss this like civilized men.”

Grey picked an overturned gilt chair and set it upright so it confronted Soulier. He sat, and he pulled her to stand next to him, his arm around her. “Talk.”

“
Eh bien.
We shall be blunt, as you English prefer.” Soulier leaned toward him. “You have achieved the Albion plans. That must content you. As you care for my little one, I ask you to leave her with me and go. Make your farewell as tender as you wish, but part from her quickly. It is the kindest way.”

“I'm not letting you have her.”

“Do you know so little of me? Do you fear I will do revenge upon her? We French take into account the human frailties. For a woman such as Annique, we will forgive a great many frailties.”

“I don't give a damn what you forgive.”

The silence lengthened. She heard the gilt clock on the mantelpiece very distinctly, ticking. She had not made plans that stretched beyond this room and facing Soulier. She had not expected Grey to come. Whatever happened, she would remember that Grey came for her.

Soulier sighed. “I had thought Annique's…unwisdom…was one-sided. She is young, and infatuated, and believes, just a little, in fairy tales. She does not understand that a relationship between the two of you is out of the question. You and I, Grey, we know this. If you take her with you in this selfish fashion, you will destroy her life. Quite literally. Fouché will see her dead within the month. Leave the Cub with me. I will arrange that no harm comes to her.”

“She leaves here with me.”

“Most touching.” Soulier regarded Grey steadily. “You make me the villain in this play. But it is you who brought Annique to this disaster she faces. You have used her, Grey, without taking any thought for her at all.”

“Listen, you son of a bitch—”

Soulier raised his hand. “Let me finish, please. Because you have seduced her away from France, Fouché has put a death order upon her. There is nowhere—not in the deserts of Arabia, not upon the face of the moon—that she can hide from such an order. I must clean up the debacle you have made of her life. I will bring her to Fouché and turn his wrath aside. I will prepare her to earn his forgiveness in the only way she can, if she is to live. This pretty love affair you have between you will make it horribly painful for her.” His eyes glittered, black and opaque as onyx. “My Fox Cub is a woman of rare quality, beyond the price of jewels as an agent. Unique. You have come close to ruining her. I am angry at what you have done to her. Very angry.”

“She's British Service.”

“Silence!
Mon Dieu.
You shall not say that!” Soulier rose from his chair, enraged and shaking. “Not even in this room when we are alone. Not even to me. Do not whisper it. She is not recruited to you. All may be forgiven—except for an agent to turn. You make her death certain.”

“She's mine. Her mother was ours.”

Deep, unconditional love swept across her. Thus Grey paid for her freedom with that great secret from his store of secrets. He was like a rajah laying down the legendary ruby of his kingdom to ransom his woman.

Soulier stared. “Lucille?”

“She was British Service.”

“
Nom d'un nom d'un nom.
No. I cannot believe.” Soulier strode away with an abruptness that belied his years and crossed the room. “It cannot be.”

“From the first day she arrived in France. I could show you reports twenty years old. She was always ours.”

“
Ma belle
Lucille. That such a thing could be.” He drew a curtain aside and faced into the night. It was a long minute before he spoke again. “Lucille…I knew she was the best France had. I did not realize she was the best England had instead.” One could not see Soulier's face, only hear his voice. “She was…
lumineuse.
Nothing so ordinary as beauty. I was one of many who loved her.”

“I'm told she was a remarkable woman.”

“And she belonged to England. We shall be the laughingstock of Europe if this leaks out.”

“It will. These things always do.”

After a minute, Soulier let the curtain fall. He began to chuckle. “Oh, Lucille, how you would laugh to see me
étonné
like this.
Mon Dieu
, but I shall indulge myself by telling this to Fouché, to his face. It will pay back many, many difficult moments I have had with him.” He limped his way back to the tapestry chair, shaking his head. “My beautiful Lucille. You will tell me now that she was English…Yes, I see you will. It is enough to make a grown man weep to contemplate how many of our secrets have slipped to you over the years through those pretty fingers. What a very great deal of trouble I shall be put to, cleaning up this mess.”

He lowered himself to the chair, muttering, “
Mon Dieu, mon Dieu
, what did that woman not know. I shall be busy for months.” Soulier reached his hand out. “Annique, come to me.”

He had been protector and teacher for so many years. She took his hand and looked down at him.

“Those secrets you gathered for me…The ones you carried back and forth for me in your pretty head. They are all in the hands of the British, are they not?”

She nodded.

“You were a double agent even when you were a child?”

To pretend she had lied to him all her life, that she had played a role to Vauban and to René and Françoise…There are some lies one cannot tell.

“I see. Not quite the British agent then. Lucille did not tell you.”

“Annique was always ours,” Grey said. “I have reports she wrote before she learned to spell.”

“Doubtless you do, but I do not think my Cub sent them to you. No,” Soulier said. “We shall let it pass. I am not hungry for her blood, God knows. I am still trying to think of a way to keep her.”

She could only be silent. Soulier's ingenuity was formidable.

“Alas, Annique, we have not treated you well, have we? Vauban makes you the ass for his load of madness, and Leblanc menaces you with knives and guns. I was dilatory and did not find you in time. You have fled to your mother's people instead of to me, and I have lost you forever. Leblanc should be killed several times over. I will attempt it. And Pierre, your father?”

“Ours,” Grey said.

“
Morbleu
, but this must not become known. Pierre Lalumière is one of the martyrs of the Revolution. A man of passionate ideals. If he had not died young, perhaps there would have been less bloodshed in that time we all wish to forget.” A spasm of dismay passed across his face. “Do not tell me, Grey, that he was British.”

“I'm afraid so.”

“I would not have believed it. A mind so enlightened. Next you will tell me Voltaire and Racine are the products of your Oxford University. No. Do not say it. I do not want to know. The world is a disillusioning place altogether.” Soulier collected his cane and wrapped it in his hold and spoke low. “I will admit, just between these walls, that I am not sorry Vauban succeeded in his final folly. Napoleon has developed a taste for grandiose gambles, which should be discouraged. Our First Consul is not lucky upon the water. Oh, take her and go, Grey. She is your agent, and untouchable. She will doubtless drive you mad.”