The Hidden Man: A Phineas Starblower Adventure (Phineas Starblower Adventures) (61 page)

“Ze best joke!” Gaspe waved his hand in an elegant flourish. “You see I had my enemies do all of my work for me!” He laughed again. “It was so easy too. Ah, but where do I begin zis tale?” He shook his head as if considering something and began to pace back and forth in front of Tash.

“I do not know how much a mere woman would understand, yes? But I will try to explain it to you in ze most simple of ways. Before zis year ends my country will be at war with ze Germans so it is necessary to take any advantage away from ze enemy, yes? It has been my honor to perform zis task for zese last many months.” Gaspe looked over at Tash.

She looked back at him, curious despite her anger.

“I see you listen, good! Now at the beginning of zis year a great competition was held in the German states. It was a competition to prove to ze world which country flew ze greatest airships. Of course I flew in zis competition,
nes paz
? But sadly my orders were not to win, even zough I could have. My orders were to sabotage ze Britsh ship so zat ze Germans would be angry with zeir allies. Ah, a good job I performed! Ze British were so embarrassed zat zey were jumping to do anytzing ze Germans wanted of zem!” Gaspe laughed again, his face was flushed with excitement. “You heard of zis competition yes?”

Tash shook her head no, she had no idea what the man was talking about.

“I am very surprised! You hired ze failed British captain did you not? And you and Mr. Starblower brought him to me so zat I might embarrass him again! For zat I am in your debt.” Gaspe bowed to her. “Truly zis iz irony at ze best, yes?”

Tash just stared at Gaspe trying to understand what he was saying. Obviously he was talking about Jerard Phillips. She knew he was a former British captain but she did not know about this. I am so sorry for bringing you here, she apologized to Jerard in her head. We will get revenge on this madman.

“I see you are beginning to understand. I shall continue zen! So now it iz the turn of ze Germans to be embarrassed. Zis one was a little more difficult but not too much so you see. The English had somezing zat ze Germans wanted but zere was no way for zem to get it. So I helped zem out.”

“Dr. Nordstrom!” Tash exclaimed. “It was you who kidnapped Dr. Nordstrom! Where is he? What have you done with him?” Tash had so many other questions bouncing around in her head that she could not pick out the next one so she stood with her fists clenched and fumed at the arrogant Frenchman.

Gaspe laughed again. “Maybe you possess more intelligence zan I gave you credit for but not so much as me. I will answer your question Mademoiselle. He iz zere.” Gaspe turned and pointed to Dorstmorn who was still huddled against the wall hugging his knees.

Tash slowly walked towards Dortsmorn and knelt down beside him. She looked into his empty eyes and wanted to weep. On very close inspection of his face she finally recognized familiar lines. Everard had had long white hair and a bushy beard and eyebrows. This man’s hair had been shaved completely off, even his eyebrows. It was no wonder no one had recognized him he looked nearly ten years younger!

Tash jumped up and whirled around, fist clenched she stalked towards Gaspe. “What have you done to him!”

Gaspe cocked his head to the side and watched Tash. “Ah Mademosielle, you look like an angry kitten! So fierce! So adorable! But put your claws away, you friend he will be alright. I did not know that you and he were such good friends at ze time I hid him on your ship else I would not have done so.”

“What have you done to him?” Tash repeated slowly although she stopped her advance.

“It iz something called hypnotism. It took more time zan I wanted but as you can see ze results were worth ze wait. My man in London said we could get his mind back if we spoke a certain word to him.”

“What is the word!” Tash demanded.

“Spitting little cat, calm yourself. I can tell you, it will do no harm. The poor man iz so drugged up he will not understand ze word. Opium does zis to one. Monsieur Serpentine iz brilliant he called it a double trigger. Your Doctor’s mind must be free of ze drugs for him to understand. So you can shout his daughter’s name all you want it will not help him at zis time. You see? Still I have outsmarted you.”

Tash’s rage flared and it took all of her will to force it back down. We must escape, you must be calm, she reminded herself. The time for action is not now. Keep him talking....

“Apparently so.” Tash did not have to fake the rancor in her voice. “I suppose you are going to tell me you that you caused a pipe to blow out on my airship so that you could get
Dortsmorn
aboard?”

“Oui Madamosille! That was the brilliant work of my associate Yves LeBlanc. Ah but you know him as
'Christian Wright'
.”

“You killed Daniel Mather and two of my crew! And Harry Dalton may never fully recover!

“Your Captain Mather was an unfortunate accident but ze others?” Gaspe shrugged. “There are always casualties in war.”

“You bloody bastard!” Tash shouted and advanced on Gaspe again.

Gaspe held up his hands. “So fierce! But I have lost two men as well.”

“We haven’t killed anyone!”

“True. LeBlanc had to kill D'Arcey. It seems he had switched sides.”

“D'Arcey? He was....?” Tash trailed off confused. How could D'Arcey be a traitor? And was that why he disappeared? Because he was dead? How many more? Tash covered her face with her hands and reeled off the list in her head: Daniel Mather, Bernard White, Robert Carstares, Reinhart, and now Jules D'Arcey. Tash raised her eyes to Gaspe. “You are a madman.”

“No, not really cherie. Genius is often mistaken for insanity but I assure you I am quite sane.”

“Where are you taking us?”

“Really? You have not figured it out? We go for ze grand finale! To Germany! Where I expose the good Dr. Nordstrom as having defected to ze Germans. This will make ze British so angry because zey know zat Dr. Nordstrom was kidnapped by ze Germans but since ze Doctor has defected zey can do nothing about it!
Voila!
The Germans are embarrassed but can’t prove zey did no such zing and diplomatic relations will be completely broken down! It is a zing of beauty iz it not?”

“And no one will suspect the French.” Tash said disgustedly.

“Ah you do have it! And now, when we land at Maribo you will send ze telegram to Mr. Starblower, yes?” Gaspe walked back towards the door and jumped up on the catwalk. He turned to Nordstrom, “Come Dortsmorn.”

The old man stood up and followed Gaspe mindlessly. Tash thought her heart would break watching him and her anger flared again. “And if I do not?” She said defiantly.

“Zen I pull this lever right here and be rid of you once and for all. You are standing on the doors of a bomb bay, yes?”

Tash swallowed hard, she should have recognized cargo style doors when she saw them. Hanging her head in apparent defeat she let out a sigh. “Very well I will send your damned telegram! But at least let me look after my friend there.”

Gaspe glanced and the drugged and hypnotized shell of a man standing at the foot of the ladder below him and shrugged. “Oui, if you will behave then you can be his nursemaid. LeBlanc is tired of the task I know. Dortsmorn, stay with ze woman!” he snapped and the confused man stepped back to where Tash stood. Gazing up at the Frenchman in loathing she vowed she would make him pay!

Jerard Phillips quietly closed the door to D'Arcey’s cabin. He pulled off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Captain?”

“Yes Mac?” Jerard replied not looking at the man standing beside him, but down the hall towards the bridge.

“Can we catch that French airship?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve been working the numbers in my head and considering that she is generally a faster ship and I estimate she has an hour’s lead on us...” Jerard trailed off thinking hard. “We are currently headed due west over land. If I remember the map correctly we will need to change direction to due south just past Roskilde. At this point we will be headed straight at Maribo. It will take us approximately another hour to get there.”

“I see the problem Captain, but what about using the boost engine?”

“It won’t work, we only have about 30 minutes of boost and
that
won’t be enough to catch the French ship on the ground. Using the boost now might make it possible to see which direction the scout takes off in though....” Jerard trailed off still furiously thinking. He sighed and shook his head before continuing. “No it won’t work because if we can see her she can see us and if the boost is already spent we’ll never catch her. And if D'Arcey is right about Gaspe being in charge I can assure you he is a superior airship captain and he will make evasive maneuvers to loose us. He has the advantage here. Dammit Mac! There has to be a solution. Is there any way I can talk to the Colonel?”

McPherson shook his head. “I’m sorry Captain, he probably won’t be cognizant for at least another twelve hours. Even if I could wake him it would not be a good idea.”

Jerard sighed and leaned up against the hallway’s wall; he rested his head back and closed his eyes. D'Arcey’s revelations had astounded him beyond measure. To be hoodwinked in this manner was nearly too much to bear. It was not so much that he was angry at Mr. D'Arcey it was more like he was hurt by the betrayal.

“Captain?”

“Mac, I’m sorry as you can imagine my attention is somewhat divided right now. What can I do for you Sir?”

“It is me who should be apologizing to you Sir. If I had seen it before now I would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

“Seen what?”

“Dortsmorn, it’s an anagram for Nordstrom.”

Jerard looked at Mac then shook his head. “No, that can’t be Sir. There is no ‘a’ in Nordstrom.”

“You and most everyone else on the ship pronounced the false name wrong. The name was Dorts-
morn
not Dorts-
man
.”

Jerard started laughing and had to stop himself. He realized the sound had the edge of madness to it and right now he had to keep his wits about. He straightened up and put his hand on Mac’s shoulder. “No Sir, I see no apology necessary here. I don’t think anyone could have figured that one out. But you must admit that Gaspe is a clever bastard.”

“Arrogant too.” McPherson said in disgust.

“Arrogant....” Jerard repeated softly then he snapped his fingers. “Yes arrogant! So far everything has worked to his little plan, don’t you see?”

Mac shook his head no. “No, I’m sorry Sir but it hasn’t. He did not succeed in killing the Colonel or Mr. D'Arcey. Because of this we now know...:

“But does he know we know?” Jerard interrupted.

Mac pursed his lips. “I don’t see how he could. But Sir, Mr. D'Arcey did not know Gaspe’s final destination, the place where he was going to reveal Dr. Nordstrom. I don’t see any way we could get ahead of him.”

“You’re right. We can’t get ahead of him. But we
can
perhaps make him wait for us.”

McPherson donned a neutral expression before he spoke. “How so Sir?”

“A telegram! A telegram from Renaud asking him to wait at Maribo.”

“But Renaud is dead.”

“Do you think Gaspe knows that? How could he? His airship was probably taking off about the same time Gyldenfeldt skewered the man.”

“Yes but even if you’re correct Captain we don’t know that Renaud and Gaspe were supposed to meet at Maribo.”

“And we don’t have to.” Jerard grinned. “Arrogance! Remember what D'Arcey said? That Renaud was as arrogant as Gaspe? Renaud would send a telegram asking the ‘master planner’ to wait for him because he is arrogant. And Gaspe will wait for Renaud because of his own arrogance.”

“His own arrogance? I don’t understand.”

“He will wait because Renaud on his own is a loose end. A detail if you will, and Gaspe in his arrogance will want all details taken care of.”

Mac nodded slowly before glancing sideways at the captain. “I guess we need go back in and talk to Mr. D'Arcey. He will know how to properly compose the telegram.”

“I’m not sure that is a good idea.” 

 “Captain, it is the
best
idea. I will vouch for Mr. D'Arcey. You have saved him once, now save him again. And I assure you he will be eager to help.”

“What do you mean I saved him once?”

“If you had not been on the ship last night Mr. D'Arcey would have been forced to go against his conscience and go with Gaspe. He would have become a kidnapper in fact and party to a murder. With him remaining on board and becoming a victim himself, he has cleared his own way to redemption.”

“Hm...maybe but he’s still a traitor.”

“Is he? Or is he a mislead soldier as you once were?”

“Mr. McPherson, you border on the impertinent.” He frowned at Mac, an expression which seemed to have no effect on the Scotsman. Jerard dropped the irritation and sighed, “But you
are
right. Let’s go get some help.” Jerard moved back to Jules D'Arcey’s cabin door, replaced his cap and went in.

Jules D’Arcey lay shivering upon the bed, despite the heaped blankets surrounding him. He was staring at them as they re-entered, his eyes feverish and troubled.

“Mr. D’Arcey you have left us in a troubling position.” Phillips began. Watching the mans face pinch with shame as he spoke, he softened his tone just slightly. “But perhaps you may yet reclaim some honor if you help us to recover Miss Smythe-Harris and the good Doctor.”

“Oui Captain Phillips. I shall help you any way I can but I have told you all I know already.”

“And that has helped
Monsieur
D’Arcey, as it has given me an idea. But I will need your assistance in pulling it off.”

“Anything Captain Phillips. I will do anything to bring back Miss Tash.”

“May God hold you to that oath!” Jerard growled at the sick man, startling McPherson and himself with the intensity of the statement. D’Arcey blanched even further but swallowed and nodded back.

Pulling up a chair by the sick man’s side Jerard explained what he had told Mac about the difficulty of catching the French airship. Before D’Arcy could ask any questions he then proposed the possibility of tricking Gaspe into delaying his departure from Maribo to await Renaud's return.