Rogue Spy

Forty-six

Midnight. Pax made himself a shadow down the alley and along the back wall of the Baldoni household. It was a high stone wall with glass on top. He slung his coat over to ease the way. He was soft and silent landing inside the yard.

The yard looked empty. The lantern hung at the kitchen door still left big pools of dark to hide in. No dogs came sniffing to investigate him. To all appearances, the Baldoni household slept, peaceful and unguarded . . . tonight, when the Merchant was loose in London and Cami lay in bed upstairs.

No. He didn’t believe it.

Somebody was awake in this yard, watching and waiting. More than one, probably.

And his instincts said he, in particular, was expected. So he’d arrive, as expected.

He didn’t bother being surreptitious through the yard. He passed the old stable—the beasts needed for tomorrow were breathing in the stalls. By some family tradition, youthful Baldoni males slept separate from the house, above the stable in what had been the grooms’ quarters. Beyond that, the long shed held a pony cart. They’d be rolling that out before it was light.

Usually he didn’t make a lot of noise walking. Tonight he clicked his boots down enough so he wouldn’t surprise anybody. Other nights, on other forays, into other strongholds, he’d take an hour to cross thirty feet. He’d locate the guards and dispose of them, one by one. He’d ease his way by unexpected routes past them, around them, behind them. Tonight he didn’t have to bother with any of that.

He walked into the center of the . . . he was calling it a courtyard in his mind. The Baldoni stamped their opinion so firmly on the yard that it struggled to be orderly and beautiful, even in the dreary climate of London.

Cami’s window was lit softly, glowing with only a hearth fire inside, no welcoming lamp. But she was waiting for him.

Bernardo Baldoni stepped out of the oblong darkness of the kitchen doorway. It was no surprise to see the old man. No surprise at all.

“You’ve chosen an unusual place to take the night air, Mr. Paxton,” Bernardo said.

“You as well. Were you waiting for me?”

“Let us say I came outside for one last smoke before retiring.” Bernardo came forward till they stood a few feet apart. He carried a cheroot—a small, neat, expensive one—cupped in the hand that held it so the red glowing tip didn’t show. He held it up. “May I offer you one?”

“I never acquired the habit.”

“The life you lead affords few indulgences.” Bernardo raised the cheroot, breathed in, held the smoke a moment, and breathed out. When Bernardo spoke again, it was to change the subject. “I saw your sketch of the Merchant. You’re a very good artist.”

“Thank you.”

They seemed to be alone. At least, he didn’t feel any other watchers. No itch between his shoulder blades. No tug at his attention from one window or the other. The night felt empty, except for him and Bernardo.

Bernardo said, “Your work is particularly impressive for a man who has had so little leisure to practice the arts of peace.”

“Chalks and ink are portable. I find time to sketch.”

“Your lethal skills are also portable.” Bernardo gestured, leaving a thin line of red on the night where his hand passed.

If Bernardo was taking a roundabout route to warn him away from Cami, he was wasting his time. “Cami knows what I am. If you want to warn her about me, wait till after tomorrow. She has enough on her plate.”

“We will not disturb her peace of mind tonight, of all nights.” Bernardo was silhouetted from the side as he glanced toward the window where Cami slept. “The Baldoni have a long memory, back to the days when the great Medici ruled Florence and made it the most beautiful and dangerous city in Europe. The Tuscans understand the man of action who is also an artist. The man of death who also creates beauty.”

Nothing he could say to that. A light Italian shrug seemed the appropriate answer.

He understood the intertwining of art and violence. There’d been days in the mountains when he and his men paralleled the advance of the French, walking through the burned-out villages the invaders had left in their wake. He’d sit in an empty stable or lean against the wall of a goatherd’s hut, lost in drawing some small, everyday thing—a broken mug, an old man’s left hand, a pair of boots. Maybe it had kept him sane.

“You come to visit my niece,” Bernardo said bluntly. “At night.”

“Yes.” Nothing to do but admit it. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with Cami’s uncle, on a dark night, twenty feet from her bedroom window. “If there’s fault to be found, it’s mine.”

Bernardo took smoke again, held it, blew it out. The fire-breathing dragon, guarding the tower where Cami slept. “My niece, my little Sara, the child who sat on my knee in the Villa Baldoni in Tuscany, is gone forever. I will miss her. But I am coming to be quite fond of the woman who has returned to us.” He said softly, calmly, with easy dignity, “What do you intend with my niece, Mr. Paxton?”

A Baldoni threat didn’t need to be laid out more plainly. It was there, stark and obvious as the bricks of a wall.

Truth? He was going to get into her room and make love to her. He’d be with her tomorrow. Then he’d be with her the next day and all the foreseeable days after that. He said, “I plan to keep her alive tomorrow.”

“I hope you will.” Bernardo spoke in the same deliberate way. Unhurried. “The Baldoni will be there in our roles and our places. Your plans are well considered. But in the end it is she who must face the Merchant, and you who must be there to protect her.” He grimaced and tossed the cheroot down on the cobblestone and ground it out. “If you live to be an old man, Mr. Paxton, you, too, may someday send others to do work you would wish to do yourself. I give you the task of defending our Cami.”

“I intend to.”

“You will remove her the minute that snake is taken and give her to us. She will not be put into the hands of the Service. Not for an hour. You understand that.”

“I’ll get her out of there.”

“She must leave England. I have considered where in Europe she will be safest—”

“She’ll be with me.”

Bernardo looked once more in the direction of Cami’s room. “Are you going to marry my niece, Mr. Paxton?”

“If she’ll have me. Yes.”

Bernardo nodded. “In my youth, men requested permission of a woman’s family before asking her to marry. Like many customs and traditions it has been disrupted by these years of war.”

“I haven’t asked her.” He hadn’t said the words. The hour of eleven o’clock, tomorrow, lay like an insurmountable cliff, blocking off the days beyond. He wasn’t planning past tomorrow.

“Fortunata and I approve, standing in the place of her grandfather. But it is, of course, Cami who will decide. We do not live in the Middle Ages.”

He had a feeling the Baldoni still lived in the Middle Ages.

“We will discuss settlements at some point,” Bernardo went on. “The legal documentation will be complex, as she owns property in several nations.”

Cami had money? That was going to complicate things. If it was any great amount, he hoped she liked managing the stuff. He sure as hell didn’t want to.

“You do not ask what property or how much,” Bernardo said.

“I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

“Very wise.” Bernardo began walking, beckoning him along to his side. “You are wondering whether you can come to her in her chamber tonight. The answer is no.”

That, he answered with another Italianate shrug that said everything and nothing. He’d acquired a selection of such shrugs on his travels.

“Since you will so soon be one of us,” Bernardo continued, “we have prepared a bed for you with some of the young men. Bachelors’ quarters, you might call it.” Bernardo indicated the stable they were walking toward. “We are crowded in our accommodations here in London, but we’ve doubled up again and emptied a bed for you. It’s the last bed in the row upstairs. Don’t disturb the others going by.”

“I thank you for the hospitality.”

He didn’t have to see Bernardo to imagine the ironical smile. “Good night, Mr. Paxton. Sleep well.”