Page 20 of A Rogue at Stonecliffe

“To catch a hackney,” Sloane replied. He relented a little and explained, “Parker’s headquarters are across the river in Southwark.”

As they ran, more whistles sounded among the warehouses, and by the time they hailed a carriage, four men were running after them. Sloane turned to yell to them, “Parker!”

He and Nathan jumped into the hackney, while the other men sought another one.

“I presume those fellows work for you?” Nathan asked, panting from the run.

Sloane nodded. “They guard my warehouses. The rest will remain there, in case this is a feint to draw us away so he can attack.”

Nathan gaped at him. “This sounds like a war.”

Sloane shrugged. “It’s the way men like Parker work. Now, tell me what happened. Exactly.”

“I was walking over to call on Annabeth. As I approached, I saw a carriage drive up and two ruffians jumped out. They grabbed Annabeth and her maid and threw them into the carriage.”

“And you didn’t try to stop them?”

“Of course I did!” Nathan said indignantly. “I was a long way from them. I ran, but I couldn’t reach them before they rode off. Of course, I thought it was you.”

“Of course.” Sloane turned away, staring out the window, tapping his fingers restlessly on his leg. Why the devil weren’t they moving faster? “I’d like to know where my man was while this was going on.”

“Your man? What man?”

“The one I sent there to protect Annabeth. To watch their house and follow her when she went out. It was obvious she wasn’t going to pay the slightest heed to what I told her.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That she might be in danger, that Parker was trying to bull his way in, and I didn’t know what he might do. I didn’t really believe he’d go that far, but I wanted to know she was safely out of the way while I dealt with him. Williams is one of my best men. I can’t think why he didn’t come to her rescue.”

“I saw no one else around. Admittedly, I wasn’t really looking at anything but Annabeth and her maid struggling with them.”

“The maid. I wonder why they took the maid, too.”

“If you’d seen the way she was fighting, you wouldn’t wonder. They couldn’t take Annabeth without subduing her, too. I’ve never seen anything like it. She fought like a street brawler. It took both of them to knock her out.” He winced a little, remembering the moment. “She’s an odd duck, but I’m damnably glad she is with Annabeth right now. She clearly will do whatever she can to protect her. We must get her out as well.”

“We will.” The thought of Annabeth hurt or dying chilled him to the bone. “Parker will tell me where he’s taken them. Even if it takes cutting him into very small pieces.”

Nathan’s eyes widened, his face paling a little.

Sloane smiled grimly. “Still sure you want in on it, Dunbridge?”

Nathan nodded without hesitation. “To save Annabeth, I’d do anything.”

Sloane nodded sharply. “Then let’s get to it.”

He opened the door as the carriage rolled to a stop, and hopped down. Nathan followed, looking around at an obviously old and unused wharf. “There’s nothing here.”

“His place is this way.” Sloane pointed to the east. “We’ll walk the rest of the way. A couple of hackneys make too much noise. The longer he remains ignorant of my presence the better.”

The hackney with Sloane’s men rolled in behind them. Sloane looked back at them and held up three fingers, then turned and started forward.

“Don’t you want to wait for them? Give them orders?”

“They know what to do.”

“You already planned this?”

“It’s one of the plans we discussed. I didn’t expect to use it for this, but I knew that at some point, we were going to have to move against Parker.”