Scotland Hard (Book 2 in the Tom & Laura Series) (30 page)

39.
      
McBride

Tom was still suffering from bouts of blushing while they were eating breakfast, a hangover from Rhona’s visit to their bedroom. His attempts to explain what they were doing simply made the situation worse. She was in no doubt as to what they had been up to and Laura went out of her way to imply that she was correct in her assumptions. How was he supposed to protect a woman’s honor under these circumstances? All Tom knew for sure was that his father would be furious and his mother would be extremely disappointed in him.

The breakfast table was missing a few faces from the previous day. Gordon Kemp was nowhere to be seen and Lady Fenella had not risen that morning as her headache was still with her. If anything, their absence made Lord McBride more cheerful than normal and he brimmed over with good spirit. This was partially compensated for by Blane Grant’s permanently sour disposition.

“It’s going to be a bonnie wee day today,” McBride told them. “The Cèilidh went with quite a bang and no mistake, don’t you agree, Blane?”

“A little thunder and lightning never goes amiss at a party, Laird,” Blane replied sourly. “It saved some of the young women from severely bruised toes, given the poor dancing skills of the Englishman.” This last was said with a look straight at Tom.

McBride giggled at the mention of thunder and lightning. “It would be good to have the God of Thunder on our side, would it not? Our enemies would be trembling in their beds come the night.”

“I would rather that they trembled during the day while holding their weapons, Laird,” Blane said wryly, “Rather than during the night when they might enjoy it rather more than I would like.”

McBride burst out laughing.

“I should have employed you as my court jester rather than my secretary, Blane. You certainly have a rapier wit.”

“I am happy to fulfill both roles for you, Laird. However, I must warn you that I may have to double my salary.”

“When will we be visiting Mr. Baxter?” Tom asked.

“I want to be there too,” Laura said quickly. “Tom is an unusual Healer and may need my assistance after he has carried out his task.”

“Aye,” McBride said softly, the good humor leaving his face to be replaced by a frown. “It will be good to have Andrew back among us. As for you, Missy; you see yourself as a nursemaid rather than a Spellbinder?”

“What is good enough for Florence Nightingale is certainly good enough for me,” Laura said demurely. She patted her lips with her napkin, having eaten all she wanted. “You cannot have it both ways, Lord McBride. You threaten Tom to make me work for you, and healing someone near death is as much a threat to Tom as any whipping. How can you expect me to work in the laboratory not knowing whether he is safe?”

“I can have it all the ways I want,” McBride said in a harsh voice, his eyes suddenly glittering hard as steel. “And see that you do not forget it. However, I can see no reason why you cannot accompany us to Andrew’s sick bed when breakfast is finished. Mind that you remember that this is a privilege I am choosing to grant you, it is not a right.”

“Thank you, Lord McBride,” Laura said carefully. McBride’s sudden changes of moods were frightening and she did not wish to push her luck any further.

“Watch this one carefully, Laird,” Blane said waving a piece of toast in Laura’s direction. “She says one thing to you while she thinks another. I suspect that the boy here has no idea whether he is coming or going.”

This was far too accurate an observation for comfort and Tom stared studiously at the table, avoiding eye contact with those in the room.

“And what do you believe, Mr. Grant,” Laura asked in response. “You talk cynically about everything; is there nothing in which you truly believe?”

McBride laughed as his good humor returned as swiftly as it had vanished.

“She has you there, Blane,” he chortled.

“I believe in
Scotland
,” Blane replied, almost whispering his words. “I believe in Justice.”

“Then I can only hope that
Scotland
will have reason to be proud of you, for your soul’s sake.”

“
Scotland
has no finer hero than Blane, lest it be my own good self,” McBride said before Blane could frame an answer. It seemed to Laura that her words had struck home in some unexpected way, judging from the haunted look in Blane’s eyes.

“Let us be off to see Andrew then. Soonest there, soonest mended,” McBride said happily. “It will be good to have him back on his feet. We have a small infirmary in the castle, a wee way from the other parts of the building to reduce the risk of infection. Follow me, if you will.”

“I have other matters to attend to, Laird?” Blane enquired and McBride nodded his approval for him to leave them. Blane hurriedly left the room.

Laura and Tom followed McBride as he led them through the castle.

Belinda Mann read the telegraph for a second time and a tight smile played across her lips. Camilla and her team obviously knew about Saunders and they had not only located Laura Young and Thomas Carter but they had also managed to infiltrate the estate of Lord McBride. Ernest should award them a medal if they survived this mission; even seasoned agents rarely did so well in the field.

The astonishing thing was that in a few innocuous words they had confirmed they knew about the blast the previous night and told her that the intended target for the next blast would be
London
. They could barely have been in Glen Russell a day and yet they had found out so much.

The bad news was that Lord McBride’s target was
London
. Reports of the size of the blast last night had been coming in all morning from the authorities. It was a great good fortune that the telegraph lines to
Inverness
stayed intact after the blast. It looked, if it could be believed, that a similar explosion, taking place in the centre of
London
would destroy the capital. The royal family would have to be moved to somewhere safer at once.

Belinda hoped that Trelawney would return from his meeting with the Secretary of War soon. He needed to have this information in his hands as quickly as possible.

“This is complete nonsense, Sir Ernest,” Sidney Herbert, Secretary of War for Her Majesty Queen Victoria shouted. “You want me to believe that one of our most important industrialists is a traitor and that he has somehow constructed and set off the biggest bomb in history. It is unbelievable and ridiculous.”

“The evidence is mounting and will soon become undeniable,” Trelawney replied patiently. He was worried for the health of the Secretary of War, who looked far from well. The news Trelawney brought had done nothing for his disposition.

“A few words on a telegraph message. That is all you have. I can hardly take it to Lord Palmerston and expect him to dispatch the army on the strength of that.”

“The maid Jane Muldrow is being asked to describe Sir M even as we speak. I would stake my career that the man she describes will be a match for Lord McBride.”

“You have staked far more than your career on this Sir Ernest, believe me. If I take this to Lord Palmerston and it turns out to be a mistake, he will have you confined to the Tower for the rest of your life.”

“Then you will inform the Prime Minister?” Trelawney asked as he got up to leave.

“I will, God help me,” Sir Sidney agreed. “I thought that sending Miss Nightingale to the
Crimea
was the hardest thing I would ever do in my career, but this may well top it. You had better be right about this, Ernest. This thing could start a civil war with
Scotland
. The Empire could be riven by it. You know how deep resentment against
Westminster
rule rankles in certain quarters up there.”

“You should be more concerned about what McBride intends to do with this new weapon of his. It’s very possible that if we go to war with
Scotland
, they might win.”

Having made his point, Trelawney took his leave of the Secretary of War and made his way back to MM3.

Sidney Herbert sat down at his desk looking pale. He poured himself a large glass of brandy with shaking hands. Sweat poured down his face. He knew he would have to tender his resignation soon, despite the objections of Lord Palmerston. He was not a well man and this job called for a man with an iron heart and mind and body to match. He would walk over to the Prime Minister’s office just as soon as he could catch his breath.

“How did he sleep?” McBride asked a woman sitting by a door.

“He was very weak through the night, Laird,” she said with concern. “He seemed a little better first thing this morning when he was able to take a little chicken broth. That was about an hour ago and he has been resting since.”

Lord McBride nodded and ushered Tom forward.

“Go to him and do your work, Healer. Try not to put him under any strain as I believe his heart will not take it.”

Tom nodded and opened the door. He entered the room quietly with McBride and Laura following close behind.

Andrew Baxter lay in a small bed not making a sound. The skin of his face was drawn taut as if it was a rubber balloon stretched tight over his skull. He was hairless, exactly as Giles was, but looked to be in a much worse condition. Tom sat in the chair besides the bed and braced himself for the task ahead.

When he felt as ready as he believed he would ever be, Tom placed his hand lightly on Baxter’s hands, which were folded on his chest.

“Well boy?” Lord McBride asked a few moments later.

Tom withdrew his hand from Baxter’s and looked into Lord McBride’s eyes.

“This man is dead and has been for at least half an hour. There is nothing I can do.”

A series of emotions ran across McBride’s face before settling on rage. He picked up the chair from the end of Baxter’s bed and raised it high above his head, advancing at Tom.

“No!” McBride yelled. “He is not supposed to die today. You are lying.

Tom put his arms above his head in an attempt at protection as Lord McBride swung the chair down at him.

40.
      
Healing & Helping

The blow never struck. Tom opened his eyes and it took him a few seconds to register what was going on. Laura held the legs of the chair behind Lord McBride stopping him from swinging the chair and was holding on to them with what looked like a death grip. McBride appeared to be bereft of his senses because he shook the chair and growled like a dog in his efforts to dislodge Laura.

Tom stood up and shouted as loudly as he could.

“Lord McBride, it was not my fault.”

McBride stopped as if turned to stone and the madness drained from his eyes. He let go of the chair and Laura fell to the floor taking the chair with her. The woman they had met outside flung open the door and rushed to Baxter’s side. She crossed herself and drew the sheets over the man’s head.

“Poor man, he must have died just after I fed him this morning. His body is almost cold.”

Her words brought McBride out of his trance and he shook himself as if to remind his mind where his body was. Tom darted past him to help Laura up from the floor. The chair had smashed into her forehead and she had a nasty bruise forming on her temple. Tom lifted her to her feet and saw that her eyes were glazed over. He put his hand onto her forehead and the healing power flowed out of him.

The bang to her head had cracked her skull and her brain was bruised. Tom saw blood starting to collect in her temples and force the surface of her brain in on itself. He stopped this happening as her skull knitted itself back together seamlessly and the swelling on her forehead disappeared.

As always, since his powers had increased, Tom found his mind rushing out of control through Laura’s body; damaged corpuscles, pimples and the slightest lesion were healed as his power flowed in and out of her every cell. He saw with a shock that took his breath away, that something was seriously wrong with her blood. White cells were beginning to attack the red without reason. His power flowed into the marrow of her bones and found little patches of damage, which it repaired as it passed through.

For Laura, Tom’s healing felt like a religious experience. Lights flashed before her eyes and she tasted blood in her mouth when he started. Then her vision cleared to normal and then went beyond normal towards a clarity she had never experienced before.

Her hearing cleared as the hiss of pumping blood was replaced by the sound of birds twittering in the castle grounds. She could taste Tom’s earthy musk in her mouth and hear his lungs opening and closing while his heart thumped on at an accelerated rate. Laura felt desire rush through her as she stared at his moist lips.

Then it was over and she felt Tom stagger. Laura’s hands flew out to hold him and she hugged him close to her. She felt stronger and more alive than she could ever remember. She wanted to dance, run, or scream, but instead held onto Tom as he fell on top of her.

McBride turned and saw the two young people holding each other in what looked like a lover’s embrace. He had no idea that Laura had been injured and that Tom had just healed her. In fact, he had largely forgotten that he had been in a rage less than a minute before.

“We don’t have time for any of that sort of thing,” he told them brusquely. “With Andrew dead your talents have become vital again, lassie, and you canna spend your time kissing and canoodling.”

“Tom needs a few moments to recover from the healing,” Laura spat back.

McBride thought that she must mean Tom’s attempt to heal Baxter and he softened his tone.

“Very well. I will wait for you outside, but don’t be longer than a few minutes about it.”

McBride left the room along with the nurse and closed the door, leaving them alone with Baxter’s body.

“Tom, are you all right?”

Tom shook his head and raised it to look into Laura’s eyes.

“Laura, we must get you away from that laboratory. Something was starting to eat away at you from the inside. That room will kill you if you spend much more time in it.”

“Gordon Kemp has spent months if not years in it without any apparent harm,” Laura said dismissively.

“He must be a lot less sensitive to whatever is causing the sickness than you are. Your blood was starting to fight itself. I know this for a fact,” Tom told her urgently. He knew deep in his heart that he had to get her away from this place and quickly.

“
Arnold
is starting in the laboratory this morning. He will be in as much danger as me. We cannot leave until we can take the device and the prepared dantium. I will try and find out today just how much more they need.”

“We should run. Right this minute, and as far away as we can get.”

“We can’t go without the device. I will not be responsible for the deaths of the people of
London
.”

Tom stared into Laura’s eyes and saw the determination in them. He found it unfathomable how she would refuse to kill to save her own life, but would put that same life in peril for people she had never met. It was a courage beyond any he had known and seeing it in her eyes stiffened his own resolve.

Laura pulled him closer to her and kissed him firmly on the mouth.

“Thank you for saving me once again, Tom,” she said quietly.

“Let’s go and see if
Arnold
has managed to fool a scientist into thinking he’s an engineer,” Tom said and burst into a broad grin. “
Cam
does have a habit of getting him into awkward situations, doesn’t she?”

Belinda brought Trelawney a letter with the Prime Minister’s seal on it. A runner had rushed it into the outer office a few moments before.

Trelawney took the envelope and tore it open eagerly. A quick scan told him all he needed to know.

“That message from Glen Russell was a godsend,” Trelawney explained. “I doubt the Cabinet would have moved on Bentley’s telegram alone. The Prime Minister is issuing orders putting the 73rd Highlanders Regiment in
Perth
under my direct command. They will be mustering what men are available for immediate action and will be fully ready by the time we get there.”

“We are going to
Scotland
?” Belinda asked in surprise.

“In an act of delicious irony that I’m sure you will appreciate, we will be taken there in one of Lord McBride’s new steam engines. MM1 agents will be accompanying us as bodyguards. However, I don’t believe that we need fear the Brotherhood, as I’m sure they would not have aided Lord McBride had they known the details of his plan. All the evidence suggests they are a
London
based organization and I very much doubt they wish to die in an explosion.”

“How long will it take us to get there?”

“Our train will be given priority over the regular services and we will take the fastest route to
Perth
. We should be there sometime tomorrow morning and we will move out once the troops are onboard. We shall use the same train to take us up to Glen Russell. We should arrive there sometime tomorrow afternoon, God willing.”

“I had better get my coat then,” Belinda said cheerfully. “I hear that it can be cold in
Scotland
at this time of year.”

Tom and Laura followed McBride into the laboratory.
Arnold
looked up from his work and smiled as they entered.

“Lord McBride, it is a pleasure to meet you again,”
Arnold
gushed. “And you have brought some guests with you. Do you wish me to give them a tour of the laboratory?”

“Where is Gordon?” McBride asked impatiently.

“He is in the other room with Giles Summers. They are setting up two rods for the experiments today. I understand Mr. Summers will be processing one of the rods while another Spellbinder will be processing the other. I have not yet been introduced to this second Spellbinder.”

Laura put up her hand and waved her fingers while grinning.
Arnold
gave a very good act of appearing to be surprised.

“Miss Young? You are the second Spellbinder? I thought you were a simply a guest of Lord McBride. Do forgive my overwhelming stupidity.”

“Yes, yes, man, never mind all that. Just get on with your work will you,” McBride snapped at
Arnold
.
Arnold
diligently returned to a flask, which he was heating with a Bunsen burner. Impurities on the tripod it sat on were causing green and red flames to spill over the flask.

“Are you working on an important experiment?” Tom asked as he moved closer to
Arnold
. He was a little surprised at
Arnold
’s confident manner in using the equipment.

“Indeed,”
Arnold
told him. “Once the clear liquid inside has reached the appropriate temperature, determined by bubbles of gas being given off, I shall add it into a receptacle over here into which I have placed the dried tips of leaves obtained from the Far East at not inconsiderable expense. The dried leaves will infuse the liquid to produce a delicate brown solution. Mr. Kemp is very concerned that I time the infusion carefully to obtain the maximum concentration before decanting the resultant liquid into these other receptacles over here. This is an important experiment and I hope to produce a successful, if not exceptional outcome.”

“You are brewing tea,” Laura said, clapping her hands together with delight.

“I prefer to regard it as an important experiment combining technical expertise with deeply ingrained cultural values,”
Arnold
replied in an offended voice. “I have successfully carried out this experiment twice this morning and this time I have to satisfy Mr. Summers.”

“I’m glad to see that engineering degree from
Cambridge
is not being neglected in your role,” Tom said in a serious tone of voice.

“I believe my education and my diligence in learning have made me ideally suited for my current task,”
Arnold
replied in an equally serious tone.

McBride had not been following the conversation. He had been starring through the thick glass windows into the room beyond. Gordon Kemp and Giles Summers were moving the second of two rods into place above the vats. Both were wearing thick rubber suits. Kemp saw McBride watching them and gave him a cheery wave. Lord McBride responded listlessly.

McBride turned towards
Arnold
.

“I have other things to do this morning and it will be some time before Gordon and Giles finish their task and have washed themselves down. Therefore, I will take my leave of you. Please inform them when they get here that Andrew Baxter passed away this morning and that he will be buried tomorrow at noon.”

After a short pause in respect of the dead, McBride became more businesslike.

“You must impress on Gordon and Giles how imperative it is that sufficient pure dantium is produced for the second device. Even if Miss Young is unable to perform the process, I expect the two of them to produce enough dantium by tomorrow morning. My engineering team is waiting for the material to finish the second dantium ball. Tell Giles that I am relying on him, now that he is well again.”

“I will tell them all you ask, my lord,”
Arnold
replied. McBride nodded his head in approval and walked from the room.

Laura went to the door that McBride had left through and checked that he had gone.

“If Giles Summers can finish the device tonight, then we must strike tonight as well,” she told them.

“I have a pen, paper and ink for you, Laura,”
Arnold
said as he dug into his pocket. “Not good quality for a Spellbinder I am afraid, but the best we could find.”

“I am surprised you found anything at all,” Tom said as
Arnold
handed over the front part of a pen, a tiny glass tube of ink sealed with a small cork and some small sheets of paper.

“Cam thinks ahead, and she purloined these from the hotel we stayed at in
Perth
,”
Arnold
explained.

Laura hoisted up her skirt and slipped the items into her underwear, much to Tom’s embarrassment.
Arnold
, on the other hand, looked on with a smirk stretched wide across his face.

“They will have to do,” Laura said grimly. “Now, how is that tea coming along?”