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here.” Connor looked at Barnaby. “We will be there,” he promised.
“What about us?” Cecily asked nervously.
Reg grinned at her. “We will take a rather different route. Rest assured; we will be in no more danger than anyone else out on the street today. Just do as you are told and nothing should go wrong.”
“Should?” Cecily gasped.
“There are no promises in any of this,” Connor warned darkly. “Look at how desperate they are. Desperate men do stupid things, so don’t hesitate if you are told to do anything. Just do it and ask questions later.”
“What are you going to do about this Valentin fellow?” Tahlia asked curiously.
Connor looked at Barnaby, who nodded.
“The men will go undercover, like when I met you,” Connor’s eyes met hers. “They will watch the ballrooms, and social functions held by the ton, and keep an eye out for the man. Then they will follow him to see where he goes. We need to find out exactly where this man hides out. If it is Sayers, we will follow him and see who the majority of his contacts are. As soon as we have enough men in the area, we will then arrest the entirety of his network.”
“He has people working for him in the counties. We need to locate them because they will need to be arrested at the same time,” Isaac added.
“There will be some who escape, I don’t doubt, and we will then start an operation to round everybody up,” Ben added.
Connor nodded. “Because I am now one of their targets, I am going to stay in Rutland where it is safe. It is a small county; small enough to be too risky for Sayers, so it is the best place I could lie low and wait for the man to be arrested. I am going to meet up with the boss of one of the local branches of the Star Elite, and work with them for a while until I hear from Barnaby.”
“What then?” Tahlia asked weakly.
She wasn’t just asking about his work. She fully understood the dangers he faced, and wanted to know what this meant for them. She wanted to protest to him putting himself at risk at all, but then knew it wasn’t her place to. Connor was a fully grown man who was perfectly capable of making his own decisions in life. He didn’t need her placing demands on him.
“Then, I will need to join the rest of the men to move in and arrest either a local network, or Sayers’ main network here,” Connor replied frankly. “Having worked on the investigation, it is something I need to do.”
She nodded, but didn’t understand why he would willingly return to an area where he knew someone wanted him dead.
“First, we need to get you out of London,” Barnaby interrupted. “There are plenty of barges on the Thames. Someone will allow you to sit under cover on board. Once you are on your way, you will be impossible to find. It is the safest way to get you out of here, Tahlia. If we didn’t think you were able to do this we wouldn’t suggest it.”
Isaac looked at Tahlia apologetically. “You can’t take any bags because you will stand out. Barnaby will send them on once the house here is closed up. He is going to get the windows repaired today and have extra locks fitted everywhere once we are gone.”
Reg pointed to an empty packing crate in the far corner. “Once everyone has gone, men will come to collect the packing crate with your belongings in. From here, it will go straight to the War Office. A coach will take it to Rutland in a few days.”
“One thing Sayers doesn’t do is watch the War Office. Not only are there too many people coming and going; it is impossible to try to track anybody. There are too many people about who might recognise him as Valentin,” Barnaby explained.
“Nobody challenges the War Office,” Ben added wryly.
“With your permission, Tahlia, I should like a set of keys to this house,” Barnaby said after a few moments of thoughtful silence.
“Thank you,” she murmured when Oscar handed him a set of the house keys.
Barnaby nodded, and turned to Connor. “What about your lodgings?”
“I need to give notice,” Connor replied. “I don’t intend to return to London.”
“Now you sound like me,” Tahlia told him ruefully.
He grinned at her. “Now that I have a – what is it? A two foot tyrant to jump on me, I think I will be a bit too busy to make the journey back here.”
Tahlia shared a smile with Cecily, who began to laugh.
“Brace yourself,” Cecily warned with a grin. “When you meet Joseph, Sayers is going to seem like a rank amateur.”
“He is not that bad,” Tahlia laughingly protested. “Well, not much.”
Connor shook his head. He still wasn’t altogether sure he was capable of fulfilling the requirements of this fatherhood business, but he was willing to give it a go.
