The Paid Companion (38 page)

The current of the murky river was sluggish, making it relatively easy to force the little boat upstream with the pole. The light from the lantern that he had positioned at the front of the craft splashed its glare across a bizarre scene.

More than once he had eased the boat around a twist in the river and had to crouch quickly to avoid an ancient footbridge.

There were other hazards in addition to the low bridges. Chunks of stone and ancient timbers had fallen into the river in places. Some projected above the waters, looming like the long lost monuments of a dead civilization. Others were submerged and did not reveal themselves until the little boat bumped lightly against them.

He studied each fallen stone carefully as he poled past it, watching for the classical statues and the strange marble relief that Lady Wilmington had told him to use as landmarks.

“They had survived many centuries when I last saw them,” she said. “I am certain they will still be there.”

***

Parker checked his gold watch yet again and appeared satisfied, even eager. “Twelve-thirty. My employees will have locked St. Merryn in the cage and left by now.”

Elenora looked up at the vaulted ceiling. “I heard no sound from the rooms above this chamber.”

“The stone floors are very thick. They do not transmit any noise. That is one of this laboratory’s most admirable features. I am able to conduct experiments that produce a great deal of noise and light and no one, even if he were standing directly above, would have so much as an inkling of what is happening down here.”

“What makes you think your men will not wait and watch to see what happens?” she asked.

“Bah. They are as frightened of the old abbey as everyone else in the neighborhood. But even if their curiosity got the better of them, they would see nothing but the cage disappearing into the wall of stone behind the altar. Once the hidden panel closes, it is impossible to find the opening. They would not see the cage being lowered into this chamber.”

He reached up and turned the great iron wheel that projected from the stone wall.

A section of the ceiling slid aside, revealing a dark shaft overhead. Elenora heard the creak and rumble of heavy chain. She recognized it as the sound she had heard earlier when Parker had brought her here.

Her heart pounded. The only chance she would have to seize the rod on the workbench would be when Parker was occupied with the task of getting Arthur out of the cage.

The rattling of the chain grew louder. Elenora saw the bottom edge of the iron cage appear out of the shadows of the vault that housed the mechanism.

The tips of a pair of brilliantly polished boots came into view. Parker was riveted by the sight.

“Welcome to the laboratory of England’s second Newton, St. Merryn,” he said, never taking his eyes off the boots. The words rang with exultation and excitement.

Elenora took a step closer to the workbench. She reached out with her bound hands and picked up a heavy iron rod. There would be only one chance, she thought.

“Elenora, get down.” Arthur’s sharp command reverberated across the chamber.

She obeyed reflexively and dropped to the floor, still clutching the iron rod.

“St. Merryn.”
Parker spun away from the sight of the empty boots in the cage, pistol lifting.

“No,” Elenora screamed.

The twin explosions that ensued echoed through the laboratory. The acrid stench of burnt powder wafted through the air.

The two men were still standing, she saw. The pistols had both discharged, but the distance had been too great to allow any degree of accuracy.

Both weapons were now useless until they were reloaded, but Arthur quickly drew a second pistol from his pocket. He came forward swiftly, never taking his attention off Parker.

“Elenora,” Arthur’s voice cracked across the space. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” She got to her feet. “What about you?”

“I am unharmed.” He aimed the pistol at Parker.

“Bastard,” Parker rasped. He looked at Arthur with eyes that glittered with fury, and moved a little closer to the workbench.

“He has another pistol,” Elenora shouted. “It’s on the table behind him.”

“I see it.” Arthur stepped forward and scooped up the unfired weapon.

“Fool.” Parker stared at him from the opposite side of the workbench. “You do not know who you are dealing with.”

Without warning, he flung himself toward the strange device and used both hands to turn the round knob on the top.

Arthur raised the pistol. “Do not move.”

“Beware,” Elenora warned. “He claims that the machine works.”

“I doubt it. Nevertheless-” Arthur motioned with his pistol. “Get away from the device, Parker.”

“Too late, St. Merryn.” Parker’s laughter echoed off the stone walls. “Too late. Now you will learn the truth of my genius.”

A strange crackling came from the device. Elenora saw electricity snap and arc in the air around it.

A thin beam of ruby red fire blazed forth from the long barrel. Parker swung the mouth of the weapon slowly toward Arthur.

Arthur dropped to the floor. The ray of red light sliced through the air where he had been standing a second ago. It struck the stone wall behind him, hissing and sparking wildly.

Sprawled on the floor, Arthur raised his pistol and fired. But he had no time to aim properly. The shot thudded into the workbench.

Parker was already swinging the nose of the device downward in the direction of his target. The hellish beam sliced toward Arthur, charring everything in its narrow path.

Elenora tried to move soundlessly up behind Parker. She must not alert him until she was close enough to strike, she told herself.

“Did you really think that you could defeat me?” Parker shouted at Arthur.

He used both hands to make the barrel of Jove’s Thunderbolt follow Arthur’s rolling body. The action of the heavy machine was slow, and it was clear that Parker had to exert considerable force to continually readjust the aim.

Just a few more feet, Elenora, thought. She tightened her grip on the iron bar she had taken from the workbench and raised it.

“You are a madman, not a genius,” Arthur yelled. “Just like your grandfather.”

“You will acknowledge my genius with your dying breath, St. Merryn,” Parker vowed.

Elenora took another step closer to Parker and swung the rod with all her strength, aiming for his head. But at the last instant, he sensed her presence.

He spun quickly to the side just as she brought the bar down in what should have been a deadly blow. The iron struck the heavy table and rebounded with such force that she lost her grip on it.

She had missed her target, but the distraction had obliged Parker to release his hold on the killing machine. Enraged, he shoved Elenora to one side.

She tumbled to the floor, bruising herself on the hard stones. Her eyes closed against the pain.

It was the sound of a rush of motion that made her raise her lashes. She opened her eyes just in time to see Arthur slam headlong into Parker.

The two men went down together, hitting the floor with a sickening thud. They crashed violently from side to side, Arthur on top one second, Parker the next.

Abandoned by its operator, Jove’s Thunderbolt was steady now, but the deadly ray continued to blaze from the mouth of the barrel.

The two men fought with a savagery that was unlike anything Elenora had ever witnessed. There was nothing she could do to intervene.

Without warning, Parker suddenly rolled free and surged to his feet. He scooped up the iron bar that Elenora had attempted to use against him and made to bring it down on Arthur’s head.

Elenora screamed a warning.

Arthur hurled himself to the side as the rod descended toward him. The bar narrowly missed his skull. He reached out, seized one of Parker’s ankles and jerked violently.

Parker shouted in rage and staggered in an attempt to free his leg and regain his balance. He raised the rod again, preparing to deliver another crushing blow.

Still half lying on the floor, Arthur suddenly released his captive.

Caught off balance, Parker swept out an arm and moved back hastily in an attempt to find his footing.

“No,” Elenora shrieked.

But it was too late. She watched in horror, her hands to her mouth, as Parker’s desperate attempt to catch his balance carried him straight into the path of the deadly beam of light.

He screamed once as the ray burned through his chest in the vicinity of his heart. The dreadful cry bounced off the walls.

It ended with horrifying suddenness. Parker collapsed like a broken clockwork toy. The searing ray continued to shoot into the stones directly behind where he had been standing a second before.

Elenora turned away, unable to look at the terrible scene. Her stomach lurched. She was afraid she was going to be violently ill.

“Elenora.” Arthur was on his feet, moving swiftly toward her. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” She swallowed heavily. “Is he-? He must be.” She dared not turn around.

Arthur stepped past her, careful to avoid the light beam, and knelt to check the body. He rose quickly.

“Yes,” he said. “He is most certainly dead. Now we must find a way to switch off that device.”

“The knob on top, I think.”

A strange, low rumble interrupted her. At first she thought that the iron cage was once again in motion. Then she realized with horror that it was coming from Jove’s Thunderbolt.

The rumble became a low roar.

“Something has gone wrong,” Arthur said.

“Turn the knob.”

Arthur ran to the workbench and started to wrench the knob. He drew his fingers back instantly.

“Damnation. It’s as hot as live coals.”

The muted roaring gradually changed into a high-pitched whine that was unlike anything Elenora had ever heard. The red beam projecting from the device grew less steady. It started to pulse in a strange pattern.

“Let’s get out of here.” Arthur came swiftly toward her.

“We can’t use the cage,” she warned. “Parker said it could not be made to operate unless one knew the secret for unlocking it.”

“Not the cage. The lost river.”

He reached her side, gripped her shoulder and propelled her toward the crypt at the back of the laboratory.

She did not understand what he was talking about, but she did not argue. On the workbench the machine was turning a dull red as though it was being heated in the intense flames of some monstrous forge. The strange, shrill sound emanating from it grew louder.

It certainly did not require a genius of Newton’s caliber to conclude that the thing was about to explode, she thought.

She fled with Arthur into the crypt. The dank smell hit her with great force. Arthur lit a lantern. They got into a tiny, shallow bottomed boat.

“I see now why you came alone,” she said, balancing cautiously.

“This craft will only hold two people,” Arthur said. He grabbed a pole and used it to propel the boat away from the stone dock. “I realized I might need to use it to bring you out.”

“This is a river,” she whispered, astonished. “Flowing beneath the heart of the city.”

“Keep your head down,” Arthur advised. “There are bridges and other obstacles.”

The muffled noise of an explosion came a few minutes later, echoing down the ancient tunnel wails. Elenora felt a tremor go through the little boat, but it continued forward, riding the current.

There followed a horrific grinding, crashing, shattering sound of stone on stone. It seemed to go on forever.

After a while an unnerving silence descended.

“Dear heaven,” Elenora whispered. “It sounds as though the entire laboratory may have been destroyed.”

“Yes.”

She looked back into the darkness. “Do you think Parker really might have been England’s second Newton?”

“As my great-uncle was fond of saying, there was only one Newton.”

39

Two days later, Elenora met with Margaret and Bennett in the library. She was feeling much more herself this afternoon, she thought. The shock of events was rapidly receding. She was pleased to note that her strong constitution had reasserted itself, and her nerves felt quite steady once again.

It was time to move forward into her new life.

She had seen very little of Arthur since they had made their way out of the lost river. The previous day had been spent dealing with the aftermath of the great explosion. Oddly enough, there was no visible evidence of the disaster aboveground. The abandoned abbey appeared entirely undisturbed.

Working under Arthur’s direction, laborers had managed to locate the entrance to the secret chamber that housed the iron cage. But they had found the shaft sealed with rubble and broken stone.

Arthur and Bennett had taken small boats back along the hid den river to see if the crypt entrance was still passable. But there they had been met with another impenetrable wall of tumbled rock. The destruction of the hidden chamber had been complete.

The one thing she and Arthur had done together was call upon Lady Wilmington. Arthur had explained as gently as possible that it would be an extraordinarily expensive and quite possibly futile task to try to find Parker’s body.

“Let the laboratory be his tomb,” Lady Wilmington had decreed, tears in her eyes.

Today Arthur had left the house again very early, saying that he intended to talk to several people who were owed an explanation of events, including Mrs. Glentworth and Roland Burnley.

The moment he was gone, Elenora had sent a message to Bennett, asking him to call upon her at his earliest convenience. He had arrived within the hour, but he did not appear at all enthusiastic about the favor she was asking of him.

“Are you quite certain that you want me to do this, Miss Lodge?” he asked gravely.

“Yes,” Elenora said. She had to go through with this, she thought. She must not turn aside. “My friends and I will be extremely grateful to you, sir, if you can arrange to place the wager for us.”

Margaret’s brow wrinkled slightly in disapproval. “I cannot say I like this scheme of yours, Elenora. I really think that you should discuss the situation with Arthur first.”