Guardian Angel - Garwood Julie (читать книги полностью без сокращений TXT) 📗

Jade decided to talk to Cyril, the man guarding the front entrance. Perhaps he'd know what they should do. She opened the door just in time to see a man hand Cyril a piece of paper and then run away.

Cyril bounded up the steps two at a time. "It's a letter for you," he said. "At this hour of the night," he added in a near growl. "It can't be good news, mi'lady."

"I hope it's from Caine," she blurted out. "Come inside, Cyril. Bolt the door behind you. Something's wrong," she added as she tore the seal from the envelope. "Caine has never taken this long before."

Cyril grumbled his agreement. "Aye," he said. "I feel it in my gut."

"Me, too," Jade whispered.

As soon as Jade unfolded the sheet of paper, she paled. She recognized the script immediately. The

note came from Ice.

"What is it, mi'lady?" Cyril asked. He spoke in a hushed tone, an oddity, that, for Cyril was a big man with a booming voice to match.

"Caine's in trouble," Jade whispered. "I have one hour to go to a building on Lathrop Street. Do you know where that is?"

"It's a warehouse if it's on Lathrop," Cyril answered. "I don't like this," he added. "I'm sniffing a trap. What happens if we don't go?"

"They'll kill my husband."

"I'll go fetch Alden," Cyril announced. He started toward the back door but stopped when Jade called

out to him.

"I'm not going."

"But…"

"I can't leave. I have to stay here, Cyril. This could be a trick and I gave my word to Caine. No, I have

to stay here. Do you know how late White's stays open?"

"It's closed for certain by now."

"Caine might have gone to have a talk with a man named Willburn. Do you know where he lives?"

"I do," the guard answered. "He's just six, perhaps seven blocks oven"

"Send Alden over there now. Lyon and Caine might be having a visitation with the infidel."

"And if they aren't?"

"While Alden goes to Willburn's house, I want you to run over to Lyon's residence. Now then, if Lyon isn't home, then go on to Sir Richards' town house. Do you know where those two men live?"

"Yes," Cyril said. "But who will guard you while we're tracking Caine down? You'll be all alone."

"I'll bolt the doors," she promised. "Please hurry, Cyril. We need to find Caine before the hour is up.

If we can't find him, then I have to assume the note wasn't trickery."

"We'll hurry," Cyril promised on his way toward the back of the house.

Jade clutched the letter in her hands and stood in the center of the foyer a long while. She then went upstairs to her bedroom. She bolted the door behind her.

The pounding started on the front door just a few minutes later. She knew it wasn't Caine. He had a

key, of course. The sound of glass shattering came next.

Had she inadvertently played right into their hands? Were they so certain she'd send the guards to look

for Caine? Jade found solace in that possibility, for it meant Caine hadn't been taken captive after all.

She prayed she was right, prayed, too, that God wouldn't get angry with her. She was probably going

to have to kill someone, and very soon, judging from the sounds of men lumbering up the steps.

Jade grabbed the pistol from the drawer of the nightstand on Caine's side of the bed, backed herself into

a corner, and took aim. She decided she would wait until they'd broken the latch, then shoot the first man who entered the room. Her hand was steady. A deadly calm came over her, too. And then the door was kicked open. A dark form filled the entrance. And still she waited, for she wanted to be absolutely certain it was her enemy and not one of Caine's hired men arriving to save her.

"Light a candle," the voice shouted. "I can't see the bitch."

Jade squeezed the trigger. She must have caught the man somewhere in the middle, for he let out a loud scream of pain as he doubled over. He fell to the floor with a loud thud.

She won that round, she told herself, though the battle went to Ice. Jade was surrounded by three men. When the first reached for her, she cut his hand with her knife. The second villain grabbed her weapon just as the third slammed his fist into the side of her jaw. The blow felled her to the floor in a dead faint.

Jade didn't wake up again until she was being carried inside a dark, damp building. There were only a few candles lighting the area but quite enough for Jade to see the crates stacked up along the stone walls. At the end of the long corridor stood a woman dressed in white. Lady Briars was there, waiting for her.

The man carrying her dropped her when he'd reached his leader. Jade staggered to her feet. She rubbed the sting in her jaw while she stared at her adversary.

The look in those eyes was chilling. "I understand now why you were given the name Ice," she heard herself say. "You don't have a soul, do you, Lady Briars?"

Jade was rewarded by a sound slap across her face. "Where are the letters?" Briars demanded.

"Safe," Jade answered. "Do you really believe stealing the letters back is going to save you? Too many people know what you've done. Too many…"

"You fool!" Briars shouted. There was such strength, such cruelty in her voice that Jade suddenly felt

as though she were facing the devil. She resisted the urge to cross herself. "I will have those letters, Jade. They are my proof to the world of all the glorious feats I've accomplished. No one's going to deny me now. No one. In years to come, the world will realize what my Tribunal was able to accomplish. We could have ruled England, if I had chosen to continue with my work. Oh yes, I will have the letters back. They will be kept in a safe place until the time is right to reveal my genius."

She was mad. Jade could feel the goose bumps on her arms. She tried desperately to think of a way to reason with the woman before she finally came to the conclusion that the crazed woman was beyond

any kind of reason. "If I give you the letters back, will you leave Caine alone?" she asked.

Lady Briars let out a high-pitched snicker. "If? Don't you have any idea who I am? You can't possibly deny me, Jade."

"Oh, I know who you are," Jade replied. "You're the woman who killed my father. You're the woman who betrayed her country. You're the foul creature who was born from the devil. You're the

demented…"