The Earl of Morrey (The League of Rogues #13) - Lauren Smith Page 0,77
guessed the man was being suffocated by the weight of the bookcase.
“Who do you work for?” Avery demanded.
The man shook his head, a stubborn set to his features as he contorted, trying to free himself.
“Who?” Avery snarled.
The man shook his head again, still trying to free his arm. Avery saw too late the pistol the man pulled out before he fired. Sharp pain struck his shoulder as he fell back on the ground. He put pressure to the wound and raised his face to the man. Sightless eyes met his, and the pistol fell a few inches to the floor.
Avery’s head fell back, and he breathed deeply through his nose as he fought off the pain. He was alone. His most loyal men were all dead. He had no choice but to seek help elsewhere. He needed Adam Beaumont back in London.
“Avery?” A feminine voice cut through his thoughts. He struggled to sit up, just as he heard the woman cry out.
Caroline Beaumont knelt by his side and lifted him up, but her gaze quickly focused on the bodies of his men.
“Lady Caroline…why are you here?” he asked, pain still making it hard to think.
“I saw you on the street and I wished to speak to you about Adam and Letty…and oh… Avery, what’s happened?” she cried out, her eyes stark with terror.
Avery shook his head. The last thing he needed to do was involve Lady Caroline in this matter, or tell her of the danger he would soon have her brother face. She’d suffered enough when she’d lost Lord Wilhelm.“I can’t—”
“You will. Come on, let me assist you.” Caroline put an arm around his waist and helped him stand. “You need a doctor.”
Avery allowed her to help him. Lord knew he needed it.
She had a coach waiting outside, and one of the footmen who’d accompanied her leapt off the coach to help them.
“Do you have a horse stabled nearby?” she asked.
“I never ride. Too easy to be seen.” He collapsed onto a seat inside the coach. Caroline told her driver to take them home.
“No, not yours. My brother’s,” Avery insisted. He would need Lucien’s help, now more than ever. Horatia and her sister were in Brighton, and they’d taken Horatia and Lucien’s little son with them. It would be safe. Lucien could offer Caroline protection if they needed it, and perhaps more.
“Very well.” Caroline gave the driver the new address and then closed the coach door. She put pressure on Avery’s shoulder using a handkerchief she’d pulled from his waistcoat.
“Avery, tell me what happened.”
His hands shook as he tried to remain calm. He was losing blood. His eyelids were too heavy to keep them open.Caroline slapped his face. Hard. Despite the magnitude of everything happening around them, Avery still managed to be offended by this, and he glared at her in shock.
“Talk,”Caroline said firmly. “It will help you stay awake.”
“One of my men sent me an urgent message. He’d infiltrated a group of men plotting treason. I arrived late to the meeting.”
“And they were the ones who . . .” Caroline’s voice softened.
“Yes. I’m sorry you had to see that, my lady.” Avery closed his eyes again, but he was in less danger of falling asleep now.
“You believe your man was exposed and followed?”
He nodded. “It is the obvious explanation. Before you arrived, I fought a man who’d stayed behind. They knew I would be coming.”
“You know what the men are planning?” she asked.
“To attack Parliament, the day the king makes his speech to the House of Lords.”
“What sort of attack?” Caroline pressed.
“Whitehall will fall . . . King’s speech . . . Fox . . .” Avery repeated Shengoe’s final clues. “That’s all I know.”
“Fox?” Caroline’s eyes narrowed. “Like the animal?”
Avery puzzled over the possible interpretations. “I don’t know. A fox in the henhouse, perhaps? An inside man? An assassin? But it’s not just the king they’re after. Whitehall will fall . . . Foxes burrow . . .A tunnel?” He shook his head, having hit a dead end.
Suddenly Caroline gasped. “Tunnel. You don’t suppose he must mean Guy Fawkes? F-A-W-K-E-S? The gunpowder plot.”
Avery’s eyes widened. Could it be? He considered the possibilities, then cursed. “Yes, that must be it.”