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“She doesn’t have that control over me,” Nathan murmured.
“And what will you do if it’s to get you back for marriage?”
“Tell her no, of course.”
“And will she take the answer.”
Nathan shook his head. He knew Vanity wouldn’t take that answer. Not until he left the house and never went back.
“Besides,” Nathan added, fighting back a yawn, “I could use this time back home to my advantage. We still need to find this Mr. Black.”
Sharpe straightened up. Eric Black was a pain for all of them. For some months now, the British Army had taken upon themselves to remove children who had been caught in the crossfire and had those without any parents sent to England. From there they would be raised and given a home, integrated into English society. Nathan hadn’t been too sure about it from the beginning - they were there to stop France from becoming too big for its boots, not to play nursemaid - but he could see a lot of these children were terrified. They needed to be out of the war and somewhere safe. With things in turmoil in Paris, it was not a good idea to send them back with their own men. The Duke of Wellington had set this up, and nobody had argued with him.
Only lately, a lot of the children had disappeared. They had left with their group and then most of them, if not all of them, completely vanished by the time the ships docked in London. Secret agents had discovered a few of the sailors had been paid to give the children to someone who wasn’t a government official, although for what reason this man Eric Black wanted children from France was beyond anyone’s reasonings. But he was making them disappear and Nathan could only imagine what he was doing with these children. They were in a strange country, alone, and most of them couldn’t speak English. They were easy pickings.
Nathan knew if he had a child who went missing like this, he wouldn’t rest until he found them. But it had been three months since their first lead, and it was fading into nothing. Eric Black was like a ghost. Trying to get hold of him was practically impossible.
“What makes you think you can find him when our contacts haven’t?” Sharpe asked.
“None of them are me.”
“That’s an arrogant attitude to have, Nathan. You’re a soldier, not an investigator.”
Nathan glared at his commanding officer.
“Someone is stealing children that we’re getting out of a war zone. Somehow, they’re being taken out of our hands which means we have someone in our own ranks or in our own government who is in league with this man and his dealings. How can we trust those in the government running this case? What if one of them is involved?”
“How could they be involved?”
“He needs someone with the know-how and the inside knowledge. That has to be the government agents looking into this.” Nathan met Sharpe’s eyes with a steely gaze of his own. “It’s best if someone not so closely involved looks into it. It’ll keep me from being idle if I’m going to be in London for a month.”
Sharpe narrowed his eyes. He didn’t look very happy about Nathan’s decision. The one man who had managed to catch up to Eric Black had ended up being gutted.
“I could tell you to leave it to the secret agents on the Duke of Wellington’s staff, but I know you won’t listen to me. You’ll just do it anyway.”
“I will.”
There was no doubt about it. Nathan was going to do it. He had made a promise to one child, a little boy called Paul, that he would make sure the lad was given to a good family. Paul had been one of those children taken. Nathan felt like he had let Paul down, and he wanted to make it right.
“Just be careful,” Sharpe warned. “And document what you find. I don’t want you getting into trouble because you went in and accused an innocent man.”
Nathan smirked. “Not going to happen, Sir. When I find out who it is, I’m going to be more than sure.”
“Just in case, Nathan. And for your own protection.” Sharpe frowned. “From the letters we have received about this man, Eric Black is dangerous.”
Nathan could handle dangerous. If he could handle looking into the eyes of a French soldier determined to kill him, he could handle a man who stole children. In his mind, there was no comparison.
* * *
“Sir.”
Eric looked up. Davidson, his trusted manservant, was standing in the doorway to his office. His expression, as always, was blank, but Eric could see the gleam in his eye. That was enough for Eric to put his papers aside.
“What is it?”
“Baron Heavenly is here again.”
Baron Heavenly. Eric found himself smiling. That man was such an easy target. Clearly bad at cards despite his declarations and drank so much it was a wonder he could stand. It felt almost too easy taking his money off him. Eric had played against Heavenly several times once he realized that the Baron couldn’t play cards, but he was determined to keep playing. Now Eric had acquired most of Heavenly’s money as his own.
