B008AZB1XW EBOK (23 page)

That was true. Elizabeth hesitated, weighing her belief in the goodness of man against all the badness they’d seen in the past week. Goodness won by a hair. “Maybe it would be safe there?”

“Are you willing to potentially risk thousands upon thousands of lives on a maybe?”

Well, when he put it that way. “No,” she admitted.

“We have to take it back with us to the future,” Simon said, lowering his voice. “We can find a way to destroy it there.”

“Won’t that be changing the timeline though?”

“Technically,” Simon admitted.

“Is there an untechnical way to do it? The whole point of this was to put things back the way they were supposed to be, right?”

“Yes,” Simon said stretching out the word into two skeptical syllables.

“Then that’s what we’ll do. Give it to the person who had it when this whole mess started.”

~~~

“Me?” Evan said.

Jack surged out of his chair. “Him?”

Elizabeth gestured for them both to calm down. “Simon and I agree that it’s the right thing to do. It was your—” She almost said “mission”, but stopped herself. “Mr. Eldridge, you found the Shard; you should decide what’s to be done with it.”

Evan frowned. “I’m not sure that’s wise.”

“I’m with him,” Jack said. He rubbed his face in fatigue and frustration. “Look, this isn’t finders, keepers. I risked my neck for that thing, for all of you. Let me take it back to the States. It’ll be safe there.”

“You could always just take it from us,” Simon said.

Jack frowned. “Yeah, I could, but I don’t want to play it that way.” He paced across the room. “Look, I don’t know who you people are. Where you come from, who you work for. I just know my gut says to trust you. It’s usually right, except for that whole Blake thing; that was a big swing and miss.” He stopped pacing and ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “Still, I’ve gotten this far trusting my instincts and I’m not gonna stop now. But that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna roll over either. That thing needs to be locked up, tight.” He jabbed a thumb at his chest. “I can do that.”

“I don’t know,” Evan said. “I need time to think.”

“Don’t take too long,” Jack said, his patience wearing thin. “Blake might be gone, but he’s not the only one who wants that thing.”

There was a knock on the door. Everyone tensed. “Room service.”

Simon frowned.

“I told you I was hungry, but, just in case…” Jack motioned for them to move into the hall and pulled his gun.

Evan, Simon and Elizabeth took shelter in the hall.

“Be right there,” Jack said before looking back and gesturing for them to move further out of sight.

They moved back deeper into the hall and listened. Elizabeth heard the door open and then Jack sighing.

“Aw, crud.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Party’s over.” Jack opened the door the rest of the way. “Mother’s here.”

A tall, broad shouldered man with a square jaw and silver hair took off his hat as he entered. “Wells,” he said with a Scottish accent. “Must you call me that?”

Three other men followed him into the room. One of them pushed a room service cart.

“That’s something anyway,” Jack said. “You don’t mind if I…” He gestured to one of the silver cloches covering the four plates.

“Not at all,” the man said.

Jack took one of the plates and a fork and sat down with it at the table. “You can come out. This is Mother. Also known as Sir David Petrie, Director General of MI5. The Big Cheese.”

Simon, Elizabeth and Evan stopped peering around the corner and came into the room.

“Sir David,” Simon said.

Elizabeth felt a curtsy coming on, but managed to stop it.

Sir David smiled amiably. “Please, sit.”

“You’re here for the Shard?” Evan said, looking completely at ease, as if he were talking about new wallpaper.

“Yes, I’m sorry for all you’ve had to endure, Mr. Eldridge, all of you. But rest assured my country is deeply grateful for your service. And the item will be well looked after.”

Jack shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth. “How’d you know we had it?”

Sir David took a seat, leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. “We’ve been watching all of you for some time. Your hospital stay, Mr. Eldridge, drew the attention of some very important people. It seems that when you were suffering from pneumonia, not only did you say some things in your delirium that, shall we say, aroused our curiosity, but when you had an x-ray taken, it revealed something rather remarkable.”

Evan touched his heart.

“There appears to be a small machine with wires attached to your heart. Well, our doctors had never seen anything like it and couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but it certainly got everyone’s attention. That and your involvement with the Shard were enough for us to grow quite concerned.”

“I can imagine,” Evan said, leaning back and crossing his legs.

“You were waiting for someone to make contact with him,” Elizabeth said. “That’s what Blake said.”

“Yes, that’s true. We were keeping him in the front window, so to speak.”

“Did you know he was the mole?” Elizabeth asked. “Blake, I mean.”

“We’ve known for quite some time.”

“You could have shared that bit, ya know?” Jack said. “I could have kept a few people alive.”

“It was a risk we couldn’t take,” Sir David said. “We kept close watch over him, but after Cirencester, we lost him, I’m afraid.”

Elizabeth tried to make sense of it all. “You were following him following us?”

“In a way. We had a man following Blake, but we also had several operatives watching over you as well. We have dozens of men stationed along the railway lines and in various locations around the country. We gave them orders to keep an eye out for you. The old soldier at the train station in Cirencester. The concierge at the Royal Hotel. We were never far.”

“Except when Blake kidnapped us,” Simon said.

“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” he said, his brow furrowing with regret. “Shortly after he killed Professor Morley—”

Elizabeth gasped. “He killed the professor?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. After that our man failed to check in. His body was found a few hours ago in the river near Bath.”

“If you knew all of this, why didn’t you just go get the Shard yourself?” Elizabeth asked. Was anyone in England who they seemed to be? She’d been the Council’s pawn and now she was MI5’s?

“That was the one piece of information we didn’t have. We didn’t know the location of the Shard and we couldn’t do anything more without revealing to Blake that we were on to him. We let him think he had the upper hand and hoped he would eventually lead us to the rest of his contacts. We needed to dig out the rest of the cancer, you see. Since his…capture last night, we’ve arrested six men, seized some very important materials and sunk a Nazi submarine.”

“And nearly got us killed,” Simon said.

Sir David nodded regretfully. “We’d hoped to avoid that, but it was a risk we had to take. I hope you understand, I don’t take these things lightly, but in times of war difficult decisions have to be made. I don’t like involving civilians in these things, but Hitler has brought the war to our doorstep. Some things can’t be avoided. And, I think it’s safe to say, you’re not quite the average civilians, are you?”

Elizabeth flushed guiltily and cast a nervous glance to Simon who looked completely undisturbed. If she could ever teach him poker, they would make a mint.

Sir David smiled and waved a placating hand. “It’s all right. I don’t expect you to answer that. Regardless of my personal curiosity, which is piqued by the way, I’ve been asked by the Home Secretary not to press the matter. You’ve some very important friends here, it seems. I think the Prime Minister himself might have given the order.”

“Churchill?” Evan said slowly and thoughtfully.

Sir David arched an eyebrow. “Unless something drastic has happened, yes. Now, about the Shard.”

Jack noticed Simon and Elizabeth’s hesitation. “You can trust him. If we can’t, our problems are a lot bigger than that thing.”

Sir David stood. “I give you my word. It will be safe.”

Elizabeth knew he could have just taken it from them. Just like Jack could have. She nodded to Simon. It was the right thing. With some hesitation, Simon handed Sir David the small leather-bound package and she felt a weight lift from her shoulders.

Sir David unwrapped it, studied it for a moment and handed it to one of his men. “Right then. Will you be staying in England long?” he said it as though he were politely asking them about their vacation plans.

Simon replied in kind. “We’d like to return to the States as quickly as possible.”

Elizabeth was still a few pages behind. The realization that they’d actually done it, that the Shard was safe and not their responsibility anymore was still sinking in.

“Of course,” Sir David said. “If my office can be of service in making arrangements, please contact my secretary.” He handed Simon his card. “She’ll make sure you arrive home safely.”

“Thank you.” Simon and Sir David shook hands.

Sir David turned to Jack. “As for you. I’ll smooth things over with the Brig. He’ll understand.”

“That’d be a first,” Jack said.

Sir David chuckled and extended his hand. “Well done, Jack.”

Jack frowned, but shook his hand. “I’m sure glad you’re on our side.”

Sir David laughed lightly. “Mr. Eldridge, Mr. and Mrs. Cross, safe journey.”

He and his entourage left, and Elizabeth felt at loose ends. After being on the run nearly every minute since they’d arrived, she felt a strange sense of loss now that the Shard was actually safe.

Jack plopped down onto the sofa. “So. Who wants to go to the movies?”

“Maybe later, Jack,” Elizabeth said. She looked at Simon. They’d missed the eclipse and there was no telling how long it might be until the next one. She’d been so busy with the here and now, she’d never given much thought to what came next. “What do we do now, Simon?”

“Make arrangements to go home,” he said, loosening his tie. “Back to the States, I suppose.”

She realized they couldn’t exactly talk about things openly with Jack in the room, but going back to the States was probably their best bet. She loved England, but there was still a war on and it would be safer to wait for the eclipse back home, if they could find a way to get there. She was running down the possibilities in her mind when she noticed that Evan was being very quiet. He had that far away look in his eyes again. “Are you all right, Mr. Eldridge?”

His eyes refocused and he turned to her. “I think I know where I left my watch.”

~~~

“We shoulda gone to the movies,” Jack said. “This place gives me the creeps.”

“I second that emotion,” Elizabeth said.

Simon humphed as he paid for the tickets. “It’s just wax. You’re the one who wanted to tag along, Wells. I’m sure the Hope movie has seats.”

“And miss the excitement?” Jack said. “I don’t know much, but I do know if there’s action in this city, you three are going to be in the middle of it. And I don’t want to miss it.”

The only good thing about Madame Tussauds Wax Museum was that it was near Baker Street. However, a visit to Sherlock Holmes would have to wait for another time. They went inside the museum. It had just opened and they had the place to themselves.

“This way, I think,” Evan said.

The wax museum was set up as a series of narrow, themed rooms. The corridors were dark except for the mood lights spotlighting the wax tableau. Some of the figures bore a remarkable resemblance to their real life counterparts. Being so close, but still just off enough was what gave the figures a ghoulish quality that made Elizabeth’s skin crawl. They looked real, but they lacked souls. Even the ones that were supposed to be friendly had a macabre feel to them.

It had always amazed her that it had become, and still was, a popular tourist destination and had even sprouted satellite museums all over the world.
Come on, darling; let’s go look at the gruesome wax figures with lifeless eyes. Don’t forget to bring the kiddies!
The whole thing made her shiver. They couldn’t get out soon enough.

They followed Evan from darkened room to darkened room. Elizabeth kept her eyes away from the figures for most of the Chamber of Horrors, but peeked just long enough to see five heads on spikes and a bloody corpse lashed to a torture wheel. She closed her eyes and wished they’d gone to the Bob Hope movie.

“You’d think the war would have given them enough of this,” Jack said.

True to form, Simon examined each exhibit for historical inaccuracies and gleefully announced each that he found.

Finally, Evan led them to the main room, the Grand Hall, where most of the historical figures were displayed. It was much larger than the other rooms, perhaps thirty feet across, but just as disturbing and dark. They passed by Napoleon and Richard III, Henry the VIII and Benjamin Franklin until Evan stopped at the figure of Winston Churchill.

“I didn’t dream it,” he said. “At least, I don’t think so. Keep a lookout, will you?”

Luckily, the museum was practically deserted. For the moment, at least, they had the entire hall to themselves. Evan stepped up onto the platform and a loud siren wailed. He froze.

Elizabeth’s heart stopped and she reached for Simon’s hand.

“It’s not him,” Jack said. He looked up at the ceiling as though he could see the sky. “Air raid.”

Evan reached into Churchill’s pocket and pulled out his watch. “Thank you, Prime Minister!”

“Back this way, I think,” Jack said and they all followed him. They were almost to the exit of the Grand Hall when the bomb hit. The first explosion shook the floor, the second, third, forth and fifth shook everything else.

Anyone who wasn’t thrown to the floor, dived down on to it and took cover as best they could. Elizabeth screamed and Simon pulled her to him. He tucked her head under his chest and covered her with his body. The explosions kept coming, louder and louder, one on top of the other, thunderously loud. The building shuddered with each impact. The interior lights flickered. The figures seemed to appear and disappear in the flashing lights. Another explosion came, very close. The whole world shook. Bits of wall and ceiling tumbled to the floor. Dust rained down. And then, the lights failed and they were plunged into total darkness.