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Joe shook his head. The more he listened to Reg, the more he began to wonder if something had turned in his mind. There was wildness in his eyes he had never seen before. Was he taking opiates? Or had the dark and dangerous work the Star Elite did turned his mind? Whatever it was, Reg had placed every man’s life in danger who had ever worked for the Star Elite. It was a situation that could continue no longer.
“God, you are a disgrace,” Joe growled. “You are no better than a street urchin. Well, Sayers can have you.”
Reg issued a soft laugh but it was mirthless. “I have already told him everything I know. I got paid handsomely for it too.”
“You don’t know everything,” Joe warned. “We have suspected it was you for a while now. Why do you think we keep sending you away? The serious work that needs to be protected has been kept well away from you.”
He saw the brief flicker of hesitation in Reg’s demeanour that damaged his arrogance. Joe threw a disgusted look at Sayers and the coachman.
“I think you need to consider that maybe Reg has been a braggart and a fool. He has told you some things, but not all of it. I am afraid that on this occasion, you are no further toward beating the Star Elite than you were the day you started. Its time you realised, Sayers, that your days are numbered. Reg can’t help you now. He is going to gaol for a very long time.”
Joe then turned to Reg and sighed heavily. “I didn’t think the day would come when I had to fight someone I consid
ered a friend. How foolish of me to have ever considered you worthy of being a colleague in the first place.”
He landed the first punch before Reg could even blink, and braced himself for a very violent and bloody battle.
Reg received the full force of Joe’s anger and was pummelled mercilessly. Marguerite watched them in horror. She was so engrossed in trying to find a way to stop them from killing each other when she felt cold hands clawing at her wrists.
“Get your hands off me,” she snarled. Without thinking, she lifted the knife off the table and stabbed at the man’s hand when he wouldn’t let go. Thankfully, he yelped and released her.
Racing to the hallway door, she threw the chair across the doorway in the hope of slowing them down. Aware of them fumbling with the obstruction, she raced down the hall without any idea what she was going to do next.
Her scream was stifled by the dark hand which came out of nowhere and clamped mercilessly over her mouth. Her eyes were wide when they looked at her attacker who had appeared out of the front room as silently as a ghost. Mentally cursing herself for being a fool, she struggled and fought with everything she had, only vaguely aware of the dull thuds of the men fighting at the back of the house.
“You will come with me now,” Sayers declared coldly. “Bring her,” he snapped at the buffoon now holding her.
As casually as though nothing had happened, he opened the front door and sauntered out of it, pulling his gloves on as he went.
Marguerite had never hated anybody in her life as much as she did Sayers right then. If she was able to get away from the thug, she would have hit the man before her with all of the walking canes resting in the cane stand beside the door. As it was, she was carried outside and deposited into the dark confines of Sayers’ carriage. Within seconds she was watching the safe house disappear from view.
Rattling the door, she cried aloud when she found it locked. Sliding over to the other door, she tried that too, but it was also locked. She was now trapped, inside a carriage, with London’s worst gangster. With a huff, she folded her arms and sat back in the seat, and issued Sayers with a venomous glare.
“God, you are a bastard. I don’t care what you think you are doing, this is kidnap. Let me out at once,” she bit out through clenched teeth.
Sayers allowed the silence to fall. At first, she didn’t think he was going to answer her. Then she realised he was allowing the tension to build in an attempt to get control over her. She refused to relinquish anything to this man and pierced him with a dour look at the same time that she curled her lip. She was determined not to give this man an inch. If she refused to co-operate, then he could get nothing from her. Could he?
He scowled deeply when he suddenly lunged forward, a hard sneer on his face. His eyes turned menacing, but she had recently seen and experienced too much to be scared anymore. She merely looked at him disinterestedly without even flinching.
“I always get what I want, Marguerite,” he drawled.
“Not this time,” she replied.
“You are completely at my mercy,” he added.
“Nobody is at anybody’s mercy here,” she whispered. “You may have Reg as your traitor, but they know, my dear.” She watched Sayers’ gaze sharpen.
He leaned back in his seat thoughtfully, unprepared for that.
“They also know that you have no information about their recent actions that is of any use. You see, they have ignored Reg in all of their schemes. He has been cut out of their plans completely. While he has been tattle tailing to you, they have been going about their own business, of which you know nothing. He has turned traitor on three of his colleagues and nearly gotten them killed. They haven’t trusted him with the truth for a long time.”
“How can you be sure the other two are still alive?” Sayers murmured.
Marguerite studied him closely. Outwardly, he was as cold and unmoveable as marble. But, when he lifted his hand to his cane, there was a slight tremor visible even in the dimness of the carriage’s interior. There was also a small, singular bead of sweat on his brow that made it clear he was not as unflappable as she had first believed him to be.
“You can think whatever you like, Sayers, but it is not a matter of if you go to prison, it is a case of when you go. But let me just make this clear, the War Office will not have a two-bit thug like you injuring their men and not facing trial for it. You will be punished in the severest of ways. Anything you do between now and then will just add to your prison term.” She scoffed a patronising laugh even though inwardly she knew she was pushing the wrong man too far.
Inwardly she was desperate to know how Joe was, and if the men were still fighting. She knew the odds were now stacked against her because Joe was otherwise occupied and would have no idea where Sayers was taking her. Unless the men from the Star Elite were successful in finding not just her but Ben and Marcus as well, then she was at Sayers mercy, she just didn’t want to admit it.
