A King's Commander (45 page)

“Swear it on a Bible, Lewrie,” Twigg's eyes twinkled, “no harm will come to this ship you love so much, her hands, nor you. This will not involve artillery, nor steel. A single night's . . . light duties?”

“Means I'm the only one daft enough to listen to you, you mean,” Lewrie shot back, topping up his glass. “Or . . . damme!” He 
showed them a sly grin. “You mean to use me as bait again. Here in Leghorn? We don't have to sail? That sounds like Choundas has learned where
Jester
lies, and has sent some bully-bucks to Leghorn to do me in! Coached to town, did you? You
said
you did. To keep an eye on the assassins he's dispatched, right? Did he come himself? And you want me to trail my colors where you can catch him and kill him?”

“Told you he was imaginative, too, Peel.” Twigg sighed in disappointment, like a tutor bored and despairing of a pupil's lack of wit. “Though not
always
clever when he is. No, Lewrie, Choundas has pressing work up north, he can't abandon his duties to suit his personal desires, You run no risk of assassination. Choundas will await your death until he can arrange it by his own hand, a face-to-face
rencontre.
He'll not be satisfied with a report. I don't
believe
that you're in any danger. Your admiral, and Captain Nelson, would never have issued these orders for your cooperation with me, else. Besides . . .”

Twigg leaned forward, elbows on the desktop, the cabin shadowed as evilly as a conjured-up companion of Satan. And he was snickering!

“Knowing you as I do, I am certain you'll find this duty to be rather . . . enjoyable, in fact. Now, will you refuse me, sir? Disobey orders from your superiors? I must admit to you, sir, that there is no other person in the entire Royal Navy who may perform this task, since it most vitally
concerns
you, and you alone. It may very well be the last thing I ever ask of you, and we'll call it ‘quits' after.”

“Enjoyable,” he grunted with deep suspicion. “Then quits?” “As enjoyable as the night in the brothel on Old Clothes Street in Canton, Lewrie,” Twigg tempted, like the hoariest pimp in Macao.

“What, the night I got my head bashed in by Choundas's cox'n?” Lewrie griped. “Hellish fun, that was! What's the chore, then? As I seem to have no say in the matter, anyway . . .”

“Why, to allow yourself to be seduced, Lewrie,” Twigg replied, beaming in triumph of his small victory. “You're hellish-good at that, I know.”

“Seduced?” Alan gaped, rocked back on his heels in utter shock. “Have anyone
particular
in mind, then, do you?”

He pictured the ugliest, fubsiest, most-raddled and bewhiskered old mort in all creation who, unfortunately, possessed information just vital to Twigg concerning Choundas', and French, intentions.

“I most certainly do, sir,” Twigg cackled again. “It is my wish that you rattle Senator Marcello di Silvano's mistress, Lewrie. Signorina Claudia Mastandrea.”

“What?”
he cried. “Why her? Mean t'
say . . . ?
”

Lord, you'll remember it's orders, for King and Country, he pled. Though suddenly not quite so averse to the duty as he might have been.

“Because we have discovered that she is a French spy, sir.”
“What?”
he reiterated, beyond shocked. “Beg pardon, you . . .” “Why else do you think she'd
ever
be interested in you, sir?” The old schemer hooted with joy of his revelation.

T
ell
him, Peel,” Twigg instructed, once Lewrie had calmed. “You recall the ledger book, sir,” Peel began, getting to his feet to make free with a fresh bottle of a much better wine from Alan's cabinet. “The enigmatic heading, ‘U-R'?
Not
the initials of a single person . . . rather a corporate entity, Captain Lewrie,” Peel said, with a military man's proper deference to a naval officer's title. “As you commented to my employer, he told me . . . a group of three, twenty, even sixty? Quite right, sir.”

Peel at least was crisp in his delivery, the perfect soldier, reeling off a situation briefing, compared to Twigg's infernally circuitous maunderings.

“It has two meanings, one for the inner circle, one for the outer.” Peel smiled. “It stands for
‘Ultimi Romani,'
that is to say . . . ‘The Last Romans.' It spans Italy, every kingdom or republic, made of substantial men with what they deem progressive, idealistic Republican and patriotic sentiments. A cabal of romantics quite infatuated with the unification of Italy, first and foremost, like the early Republican era of ancient Rome. Secondly, for the expansion of a unified Italy on the world stage, which will come to resemble somewhat the scope of the Roman Empire. All Italy, of course, all Mediterranean islands, all of North Africa, Egypt, the Levant, Turkey, and the Ottoman possessions in their grasp again, as well as the Holy Land and eastern Adriatic coast. With the Austrians removed as occupiers.”

“To achieve this,” Twigg interjected, “they've entered into a Devil's bargain with France, to drive the Austrians out, overrun the peninsula and topple every sovereign state, using French occupation as the catalyst for revolution. Become a unified French possession. For a time, only. Until they may negotiate, or take by force, their later autonomy.”

“Counting on the Coalition, sir,” Peel went on, once Twigg had his nose back in his brandy, “to so weaken France, they can play silly buggers in the Mediterranean. See France so weaken England, Prussia, or Austria that once they have autonomy, by hook or by crook, we'd welcome them as allies at the proper moment, and acquiesce to their greater ambitions, which involve Savoia, the French Riviera, and Provence, maybe even a portion of Spain. They hold that eventually the entire Mediterranean must be Christian, but most importantly, Roman. And that the rest of the great powers wouldn't mind seeing Moslem power kicked back across the Bosporus and the Red Sea. Catholic Christian, o' course.” Peel chuckled, with a raised brow.

“So they'd get in bed, so to speak, with revolutionary atheists to gain it?” Lewrie pondered.

“Indeed, sir. Anything to further the cause.” Mister Peel smiled. “‘U-R' has an inner meaning, much like Masonry. We're fairly sure that it refers to a particular set of collaborators. They're quite cleverly compartmented, so the exposure of one minor, regional group would never expose the whole. ‘U-R' also stands for one man, ‘Ultimo Romano,' who may be in charge throughout Italy, or merely the pocket in this region. The Greatest Roman of Them All, sir?
The
Last Roman? From this man's correspondence, we've discovered a tantalizing clue to a larger cabal, to which he seems to be answerable, which goes by the enigmatic-notation of ‘Pee-Numeral One.' Either a higher council that pulls all the strings, of which he's a member, or a single person. P as in Pope or P as in Papa? Pee-Primo, or the First One? God only knows, Captain Lewrie.” Peel shrugged, giving him the honorific title of his post. “By tracing correspondence from Gallacio and Randazzo, we have found the regional leader's identity. Signore
Marcello di Silvano.”

“Why that two-faced, canting . . . hound!” Lewrie fumed. “He's written me, so humble, so supportive . . . !”

“So politically astute?” Twigg laughed. “Who'd be suspected of treason the least, than the patriot who brays the loudest? Signore
di Silvano wears a half-dozen faces, depending upon whom he's dealing with. I expect he found gulling you with sympathy and friendship to be an amusing exercise, no more. Just keeping his hand in, practicing his pose of hand-wringin', puppy-eyed insincere mendacity.”

“So, you want me to bed his mistress, and somehow winkle information from her 'bout his plans?” Lewrie frowned.

“God
no,
Lewrie!” Twigg boomed, almost wheezing with amusement. “Bless me, but you're far too thick for that! No, sir.
You
are the one to be winkled. Signorina
Mastandrea knows what she's about, you let the professional do her work.”

“You're certain she's a French spy, then?” Lewrie had to ask. “No doubt about it, sir,” Twigg informed him. “A gift to the senator, 'bout the time Savoia was overrun. Like your Corsican doxy, she's of mixed parentage, French and Italian.
Not
from Bergamo, as she tells people, but Breil, near the old French border. Got her marching orders from my opposite number, to go to Genoa and cozy up to Silvano, who had the means to pass messages, and was already in contact with the French. Huge landowner, do you recall, estates all up and down the Riviera? Estate managers and overseers, goods-carts to and from those farms pass all the time, even through Austrian-held lands. That's how she contacts her employers, and how di Silvano services his local Roman patriots, by land and sea. Intercepted a few of his, found one from her and read it. Rather laughable encryption, actually . . . wouldn't think a
woman
was capable of mastering such, but she did. Were she a man, I'd have found a tougher code to crack, I expect.”

“She doesn't work for Choundas, then?” Lewrie inquired, rather earnestly. Though he couldn't feature a woman so beautiful even being in the same province as Choundas, much less agreeing to do his dirty work. Even in his younger days, scrubbed up and looking human!

“Her superiors have sometimes given her tasks that might serve his interests, and his squadron's,” Twigg allowed with a breezy wave of one hand. “But she is not in
his
direct employ. And what is this concern, sir? Sweet on her, are you? I forgot, you've already contemplated topping her. A most fetchin' morsel, ain't she. Sorry that I interrupted your courtship in Genoa, might have been advantageous for you two to have an existing relationship. But back then, she had me fooled. I took her as nothing more than a silly, round-heeled slut, too stupid to stay faithful to a rich and vengeful master. All sheep-eyed over the pretty young sailor. There is a risk the senator might not enjoy her chore with you. Taken a fancy to her, no matter they've a working relationship. She and the senator are on intimate terms, I know for a fact. So intimate, and exclusive, since he ditched t'other mistress he had, at Paris's bidding, that he dares to sport with her bareback . . . do you get my meaning? You might not even need cundums. No, Lewrie. Your job will be to play her fool, then let slip to her what we
wish
you to let slip, once she's got you in the proper frame of mind.”

“And that is . . . ?” Lewrie snorted, still dubious and edgy, no matter how pleasurable his duty might be, how he'd fantasized about Claudia Mastandrea. Twigg had dreamt it up, after all, so . . . !

“Choundas, of course,” Twigg sniffed. “Him and the Austrians.” “The Austrians . . .” Lewrie drawled, now totally confused. “Finest army in Europe, sir,” Peel stated, most drolly. “And, the slowest.”

“We pay them a hideous sum of money to stay in the Coalition,” Twigg sighed wearily. “I do not know whether their emperor has
ordered de Vins to delay his campaign another season, so they may touch
another
four million pounds sterling of ours . . . or whether General de Vins is a raging fool. All their damned generals! War is a German's trade, sir. That's when they earn their highest pay, and get the most adulation, so why wrap things up too early, then go back to barracks and be bored to death? Or perhaps General de Vins is much like our poor Hotham, too timorous and dithering to risk failure. Either way, the nub is that we owe the Austrians another installment in gold. No way to ship it downriver along the Rhine, with the Frogs at its mouth, nor through Hamburg overland. It has to come by sea, to Vado Bay, which is de Vins's only link to the sea. A substantial sum of money, Lewrie.”

“And so . . . ?” Lewrie asked, getting suspicious again.

“We have allowed
certain
information to be overheard by local informers that such a shipment was forthcoming,” Twigg related, going weaselly and twisting in his chair, a sure sign of trouble. “That it was to come from London, to Gibraltar, then to Port Mahon at Minorca, then up to San Fiorenzo Bay, since it carried the coinage to pay Admiral Hotham's fleet. Then it would put into Vado Bay, to be delivered to the Austrians. Should it not arrive, Austria might withdraw troops from the Genoese Riviera. Should France get their hands on it they'd be dancing in a positive
shower
of ‘yellow-boys,' enough to purchase anything they need, and prop up their new currency at home. Restive . . . the Frogs at home, d'ye see. Subsequently, we've revealed the sum to be around £200,000, the name of the ship to carry it . . . and the name of the escort. HMS
Jester.
”

“Now wait a bloody minute, you said it was . . . that we'd . . . !” “Be easy, sir,” Peel suggested quickly, “you'll burst a blood vessel, keel over in apoplexy, I swear! What better bait can there be for this fellow Choundas? He was a pirate before, the lure of gold is almost irresistible. Plus the hope that you are the escort. Two birds with one. Plus what a coup, with such far-reaching repercussions, were he to weaken the Coalition, or lay all northern Italy open to the French Army with a single deed. With his convoys so savaged recently, and his repute in Paris sinking, he must do something to recoup his own estate. There
will
be a ship at sea, a ship much like yours, painted in the same color scheme. The merchantman, though, will be a two-decker 4th Rate, of fifty guns . . . a naval vessel. Even does he fetch
two
corvettes to take her, he'll be confounded. Even does he escape a second time, his fame will be broken. And there are many French officers who'd love to see him come a cropper.”

“It will be eminently plausible, Lewrie,” Twigg explained with a sly look. “Nelson has lost the services of
Resolution
and
Speedy
for the moment, so he has nothing to spare. Hotham husbands every frigate or sloop of war at San Fiorenzo, and is already short himself.
Jester
is just refitted, though, currently unemployed. And, because of your supposed errors at Bordighera, and Ushant, you're not particularly welcome at either San Fiorenzo or Vado Bay. Yours is the only warship to be spared as escort, or dispatch vessel, for the nonce.”

“While the real shipment, I take it . . .”

“None of your concern, sir!” Twigg snapped. “The less you know, the less you might blab, by accident. Signorina
Mastandrea has already reported to her masters, I know it for a fact. Know their orders to her
verbatim.
She's to come to Leghorn, which she has, confirm reports from local informers anent your ship's state of repair, what orders you might have . . . and when
Jester
may be expected to sail,
and
arrive at Vado Bay.”

“Do they know the ports of call, when I could depart to meet the cargo ship at Gibraltar, and when I finish at Vado Bay,” Lewrie surmised, “they'd have a rough idea of where we'd be, any given day, assuming seasonal winds and seas. Within fifty miles or so. Two ships patrolling . . .”

Lewrie rose and went to his chart-space, to fetch a large-scale sea chart. He brought it back to the desk and spread it out for Twigg and Peel to look at.

“I'd expect Choundas to be greedy,” Lewrie pondered aloud, using a pair of brass dividers to march off legs of a course. “And clever. A little fillip, sirs . . . to not only rob the Austrians, but steal the Navy pay chests. Sailors might be used to being one or two years in arrears in their pay, but soldiers usually aren't. Does he take the ship
before
she reaches San Fiorenzo, both the Army and Navy are cheated. Debts to local chandlers and merchants go unpaid. Troops and ships' crews will be demoralized. Aye, Choundas would like that. And so would his superiors. Might even turn Corsican sentiment against us because of it.”

“Very clever,” Mister Peel muttered, though speaking more of this sailor's shrewd calculations than of their foe, and sharing a look with his employer, with one brow cocked in reappraisal of all that Twigg had told him of Lewrie's wits. “You would expect him where, sir?”

“West of Corsica, and due south of the Îles d'Hyères,” Lewrie replied slowly, stepping off distances. “Were I Choundas, I'd patrol, standing north-and-south along six degrees east, down to the latitude of the Straits of Bonifacio, around forty degrees north, perhaps as high as forty-three degrees,” he told them, sketching out a rough box on the chart with a pencil stub. “A ship from Port Mahon in the Balearics on-passage for San Fiorenzo, or Vado Bay,
must
pass through this area.”