The UnTied Kingdom (31 page)

‘And Mary?’

Harker’s face was grim and dark, his eyes ferocious with anger and disgust. The fury he’d shown Frederick Winterton was a mere shade of this.

She never, ever wanted him to look at her like that.

‘You don’t want to know what he did to Mary.’

‘I think I can guess.’

‘Can you though, Eve? Has anyone ever bound and gagged you and cut you with a knife in places–’ He broke off, his fingers curling into a fist. ‘And the worst of it was that James knew who’d done it and went after Sholt, and threatened him and hit him in front of other officers, for which he was sentenced to a flogging.’ He delivered the story in a curiously flat tone, as if he was reading it from a book, but anger simmered under every one of his words.

‘A flogging? How barbar–’ She broke off, shook her head. ‘But – surely he was provoked? Didn’t they take that into account?’

‘They did not. The army,’ Harker said flatly, ‘likes proof. Besides, Sholt bought his commission with bribery and blackmail, remember? He had several officers in his pocket. He said James beat her. He said she dropped the baby. And they listened. They bloody listened to him. Not one bugger listened to a word James said or gave a damn about the only person defending him.’

‘You?’ Eve said.

‘Me. I’d only been a sergeant less than a year. Didn’t know Saskia then, either. Stood up for James’s character but it was just pissing into the wind. They’d already decided to have him killed.’

‘I thought you said he was flogged?’

‘Twelve hundred lashes’ll kill most people.’

Eve shuddered.

‘Yeah,’ Harker said. ‘They made Mary watch, too, the sadistic bastards, while Sholt’s standing there smirking the whole time, watching a man flogged to death. We tried to take care of her, me and the men, and their wives – not too many women in the army then, but we had plenty of good lads. They looked after her.’

‘You looked after her,’ Eve said. ‘You look after everybody.’ She paused, and added sadly, ‘She wasn’t even one of your men.’

‘She was James’s wife,’ Harker said, as if it was obvious. ‘That makes her one of mine.’

Eve looked up at him, at his hard, strong face, determination evident in every line, and wished that she was one of his, too.

But Harker said nothing, and she knew his thoughts were both miles and years away, and didn’t include her.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Meeting Mary had unsettled him, but for once in his life Harker didn’t dwell on it. He wanted to – he even tried to; anything to distract himself from Eve’s attentions as they approached the grammar school in The Calls.

But she leaned into him and looked up at him with those big eyes, and pressed all that softness against him, and smiled so provocatively that even the guard at the school gate couldn’t concentrate on anything but her.

‘Are you sure you’re not an actress?’ he asked as they crossed the small lawn, and Eve looked up at him with an unfathomable look in her eyes.

‘No,’ she said, ‘I’m really not.’

Harker didn’t stop to try and work that out, mostly because he’d just spotted a second guard prowling around the inside of the school. Eve saw him too, and said, ‘Quick, come here.’

She drew his face down to hers, but just when he was sure she was going to kiss him, she darted to one side and kissed his cheek.

‘There,’ she said, ‘lipstick all over you. Better.’

Harker, his heart racing, took a second or two to focus on her, before he nodded and said, ‘Yep. Right. Good one,’ incredibly fast, and dragged her inside.

It was dark inside the school, but he could hear the hum of electricity and see a dim light coming from a set of tiled stairs.

‘Lot of security for a school,’ Eve murmured as she followed him, hand in hand.

‘A school with a computer,’ Harker said, and she laughed silently. ‘What?’

‘Nothing, it’s just to me … it’d be a pretty poor school that didn’t have any computers.’

‘Well, your world ain’t my world,’ Harker said, wondering as he did whether he actually believed that. Was she from a different world? Or was she just crazy? No, she was too lucid to be crazy.

He refused to believe she was a spy. Not after everything she’d said and done.

Nonetheless, he was taking her right into enemy territory. And if she turned tail and handed him over to the Coalitionists, he’d never hear the end of it from Charlie.

Come on, Eve,
he begged her silently as they climbed the staircase and turned towards the half-open door from where the pale blue light was coming.
Prove me right. Help me steal this piece, make the computer work and come home safe and sound. If you do that, Charlie will have to accept you’re on our side.

‘Why is there a light on?’ Eve mouthed as they approached the door, as silently as possible. Harker gave a facial shrug. Probably there was someone in there.

‘Well,’ Eve whispered, sliding her arm around his neck and speaking into his ear, ‘sneaking around won’t help. We have a right to be here, remember?’ Then, much louder, she said, ‘Go on, then, show me these books.’

‘I don’t know where they bloody are,’ Harker hissed, but there didn’t seem to have been any reaction from the other side of the door.

‘What’s in there? There’s a light on,’ Eve said. Her words were rougher than he was used to, slightly slurred and shouty. She was clinging to him and stumbling as if she was drunk. Well, she certainly smelled of beer, her own trick in the pub had seen to that.

He grinned a little. Old Whiskers, that had been mean. Nobody liked the stuff. He didn’t even like the stuff. He’d only been drinking it because … well, because he’d wanted to impress her.

Which was rather pathetic of him.

‘Why don’t you come and see?’ he said out loud, reaching for the door handle and swinging it inwards. His free hand slipped into his pocket, where a cosh would help him knock out anyone inside the room, but there was no one there.

The light was rather dim, coming from the screen of the computer set up on the desk. The rest of the room was filled with books, clearly the school’s library, and they stretched off into the darkness, shelves and shelves of them.

‘Oh, wow,’ Eve said, still in her floozy voice. ‘Look at all these books, Will!’

‘Yep,’ he said, ‘look at ’em.’

‘Close the door,’ Eve said, and he did, and she immediately dropped the act and went straight to the computer, moving the mouse and tapping at the keyboard.

‘Might need you to translate,’ she murmured. ‘All the commands are in French …’

Ducking her head, she peered at something sitting on top of the CPU box. It trailed wires, one of which went to the back of the computer and the other to a telephone.

‘Bingo,’ she said. ‘That’s our modem.’ She unplugged it and handed it to Harker, who turned her to face him and tucked it into the pocket of the jacket she was still wearing. She stood still, not reacting at all when his hands brushed her body, then turned away quickly, saying, ‘Let me just check the network settings, okay?’

Harker, who still didn’t really understand what network settings were, nodded and watched her get on with it. She was frowning slightly, leaning over the desk so that his jacket rode up and her curvy backside was exposed in all its tight red satin glory.

‘Harker?’ she said after a minute or two.

He was still staring at her. ‘Mmm?’

‘Stop staring at my arse.’

For the second time that night, he felt colour creep into his cheeks.

‘Do something useful,’ Eve said, nodding at a strongbox next to the computer. ‘See what’s in there.’

‘How?’

‘I dunno, can’t you break the lock or something?’

Harker, who did in fact own a lockpick and knew how to use it, scowled. ‘Yes, but I’m disappointed you expected me to,’ he said.

As she clicked on things and asked for translations, he worked on getting the box undone. Whatever was inside rattled rather alarmingly, and he set it down on the desk to work on it as quietly as possible. But then Eve sucked in a sharp breath and he turned to look at her too fast, catching the strongbox and knocking it on to the floor, where it clattered, rolled and clattered some more, incredibly loud in the silent building.

Harker froze, so did Eve, her expression turning to horror as a distant voice said, ‘What the hell was that?’

Harker grabbed for the box, only to have the lid fall open and the contents spill everywhere. Swearing, he scooped up dozens of the little sticks like the one Eve had taken information from earlier in the day, shoving them into his trouser pockets as footsteps sounded on the stairs. Eve snatched up the box and set it back on the desk with the lid shut, if not locked.

‘Oi, who’s in there?’ said a voice outside the door as Harker straightened, and Eve suddenly grabbed him, pulled his head down to hers and, as the door opened, she wrapped her arms around his neck and touched her lips to his.

But her lips were slightly parted, soft and warm and irresistible, and Harker found himself leaning into her, pressing her back against the desk and actually kissing her.

The guard said something but Harker didn’t even hear. Eve’s mouth on his was a miracle, her eyes widening with surprise. He liked that she didn’t close her eyes, because then instead of the thick make-up on her lids he could see, even in the computer’s cool light, how her eyes warmed up, how her pupils dilated, and most of all how she looked right at him and knew it was him she was kissing.

There was a distant sound that he later realised was the guard saying something else and shutting the door, but he didn’t really pay much attention. Eve’s body was pressed against his, round and lush in that satin, and he slid one hand down to the curve of her waist, feeling the heat of her skin through the cheap fabric.

You shouldn’t be wearing this
, he thought,
it’s not you.
He wasn’t sure what was her at that moment, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was somewhere between very little and nothing at all.

Eve had her arms around him, one hand warm on the back of his neck. Her fingers curled in his hair, her ankle twined around his and she leaned back against the desk, letting him settle between her thighs, which was where he really, really wanted to be.

He’d never felt anything like this before. It was just
kissing
, for heaven’s sake, but it was magical, intense, and kind of surreal because he didn’t think this sort of thing happened to real people. But here he was, kissing desperately, unable to stop, unaware of anything or anyone else in the world apart from Eve and her hot mouth and her hot body and how very, very much he wanted her.

She bit his lower lip, her eyes dancing at him, then licked away the sting, and Harker groaned and slid his hand down to press her hips against his more fully. He wanted her desperately, and she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea.

His hand moved to her breast and he felt the lace give, the hastily sewn rip re-open as she arched her back, pushing herself into his hands, and
heaven help him
she was naked under there.

You’re going to kill me
, he thought, and then a terrific bang behind him suddenly made them both freeze.
Must be the world ending to rip me away from that
, Harker thought muzzily, and swung his head around to see what it was.

A man wearing a dark suit and a ferocious glare stood in the doorway. He was flanked by soldiers with large guns.

‘What,’ said the man, ‘do you think you are doing here?’

Making out with a woman I want so incredibly badly I’m considering killing you just so I can get back to it
, Harker thought, but he said, ‘I work here.’

‘No,’ said the man, ‘you do not.’

And a cold feeling stole through Harker, killing most of his ardour, and from the way Eve tensed in his arms he guessed she felt it, too.

‘Uh, who are you?’ Harker asked.

‘I am the headmaster, young man.’

‘Ah,’ said Harker, glancing back at Eve. ‘Bollocks.’

Where were they? First floor. Great. Was there a roof outside the window? Well, was there? Could they jump off that? No telling what they might hit, and besides, they’d almost certainly be shot at. And apart from the cosh, he wasn’t armed.

With great reluctance he released Eve and turned around, using his body to shield hers. ‘She just wanted to see the books,’ he said, trying to sound contrite and wondering if he even knew how to.

The headmaster looked disgusted, but one of the soldiers sniggered.

‘Come on then, out, before I have you arrested for trespassing on private property,’ said the headmaster, and Harker nodded, relieved.

‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.’

‘And don’t get smart, boy.’

What is it about schools that make you feel like a kid again?
Harker thought as he took Eve’s hand – enjoying the tingle he got from just touching her – and walked after the headmaster out of the library.

The soldiers followed behind them, and they’d got halfway down the stairs when one of the men said, ‘Hang on a minute.’

Harker gripped Eve’s hand tighter and kept going.

‘That … what do they call it? That computer, it looks different.’

They were almost to the bottom now.

‘Different how?’ said the other, who was closer behind Harker and Eve.

‘I dunno. ’Ere, did you two do something to it?’

‘What, us?’ said Harker, as they hit the ground floor. ‘Wouldn’t know how to.’

‘Did you touch it?’ asked the headmaster suspiciously.

‘No,’ said Harker.

‘At least, not on purpose,’ Eve said with what he thought was a perfectly charming grin, but which seemed to annoy the headmaster.

‘Check if something’s missing,’ said the headmaster. ‘There have been some thefts of computing equipment, haven’t there?’

One of the soldiers nodded, and withdrew from his pocket a radio.

Oh hell
, thought Harker, and willed it not to show on his face.

‘Right, turn out your pockets, please,’ said the headmaster, and Harker glanced at the two soldiers. One was at the top of the stairs, speaking into his radio, requesting back-up. The other was peering through the open door at the computer. Harker squeezed Eve’s hand, and she looked up at him. He flicked his gaze to the door and she gave an infinitesimal nod.

‘Now, please,’ said the headmaster, and they ran.

Behind them the headmaster shouted, and there was a sudden burst of gunfire. They were firing automatics, and Harker could only hope they didn’t have many bullets. After all, they were only guarding one computer, housed in a school …

A computer that was a prime target for attacks by the army.

Hell and bloody damn!

His fingers wrapped tightly around Eve’s, Harker raced her down the steps and across the lawn, to the background of more shouting and some thankfully inaccurate gunfire. The guard on the gate turned and saw them running and Harker waved his hands frantically.

‘Misunderstanding,’ he yelled. ‘Don’t shoot!’

The guy was clearly more gullible than Harker had first realised, because he held back, right up until Harker reached him, brained him with the help of his cosh and stole his gun, all without breaking stride.

‘Very impressive,’ Eve panted, and he grinned at her before yanking her out through the gate and on to the street, where a few people had stopped to peer up at the school. Ignoring them, he darted down the first alley he saw, took as many fast turns as he could, and paused in a gap between buildings, holding Eve against him and enjoying the way her chest heaved against his.