Aubrey couldn’t have been more dumbfounded if Dr Tremaine had suddenly appeared and told them that they would soon wake up and find it was all a dream.
Astonishment reduced him to politeness. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You can imagine that I’m not overjoyed about it, old man, but times are desperate, as Commander Craddock repeated more than once after he’d inducted Sophie into the Directorate. I don’t think that he was happy about sending them, and he was even less happy about your mother’s involvement.’
‘What? Wait – this is too much. My mother?’
‘Lady Rose and some of her friends spent time with Directorate people, then with Sophie and Caroline. Sophie was getting some magical training when I had to leave if I was to go with Madame Z.’
Aubrey’s head was spinning. ‘I’m glad Sophie was getting some more magical training.’
‘A week of it,’ George said. ‘She was frightfully keen.’
‘A week isn’t enough, but it’s something.’ He stared at George. ‘Fisherberg. They’ve gone to Fisherberg.’ Dangerous, enemy heartland Fisherberg.
‘Lutetia first, apparently, with a list of notable suffragists your mother gave them. After that, yes, they’re set to infiltrate Fisherberg.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
‘Look, old man, Commander Tallis said that since there’s already some unrest in Fisherberg about the war this was actually one of the more sensible missions going on at the moment.’
‘There are more preposterous schemes than sending two neophyte operatives into the heart of Holmland?’ What if Caroline were recognised? They’d all been trained in clandestine operations, but Aubrey could only guess at the measures that would have to be taken to avoid detection in Fisherberg.
‘Apparently. Commander Tallis wouldn’t tell me what they were, but he assured me that a hundred more lunatic schemes were currently under way, with another hundred on the drawing board.’
‘I can’t accept that.’
‘That’s what I said, but when Prince Albert said it was so, then I had no choice but to believe it.’
‘You saw Bertie?’
‘You don’t think we’ve all been standing still while you’ve been gallivanting about, do you? It’s been a busy few weeks, old man. The prince insisted on seeing us – Caroline, Sophie and me.’
‘How is he?’
‘Working as hard as ten people, but that’s not unusual in Trinovant at the moment. He said he wanted a chat, to talk to those who’d been close to the front, but most of his questions were about you, to tell the truth.’
‘Ah.’
‘He was worried, but we told him that you’d be all right. Caroline was most forthright, and scolded him when he expressed some doubts.’
Aubrey would have liked to have seen that.
George continued. ‘He ended up having a good laugh at the concrete elephant escapade, at least.’ George paused, scratched his chin, then cocked an eye at Aubrey. ‘Before we left, your father took us aside and asked us to give you a message, the next time any of us saw you.’
‘And?’
‘He said that he trusted that you’d do your duty.’
‘That was all?’ von Stralick said.
‘It’s enough,’ Aubrey said. He sat back in his chair weary but strangely satisfied. No instructions, no list of things to take care of or keep an eye on, no admonitions.
He trusts me.
It was almost startling, to have such a clear declaration. Aubrey realised that with these few simple words he’d achieved something he’d been struggling for years to attain. Or had the trust been there for some time and only now was he able to recognise it?
He decided that he was on the verge of pondering the issue too deeply, a sensation like reading a simple word over and over until it begins to lose all meaning. He backed away and told himself to accept his father’s words at face value.
‘George, you’ve told me about what the Directorate had planned for Caroline and Sophie – but what about you?’
George leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head, so perfectly smug that his photograph could be used instead of a dictionary definition of the word. ‘Special Assignment, old man. Very Special Assignment.’
‘I see.’
‘Craddock and Tallis emphasised to me exactly how special this assignment is.’
‘It sounds as if you’ve fully understood the degree of specialness.’
‘I have a knack for that sort of understanding, apparently.’
‘And what is it?’
‘The assignment? I’m to make sure you don’t get shot, old man, by anyone who recognises the Traitor of Albion.’
‘I see.’
‘The Directorate has sent out the word to trusted operatives, explaining your real status, but I’ve been given credentials that will allow us access to Gallian authorities and the like, as long as you hang back and don’t make yourself conspicuous.’
It made sense. The Directorate couldn’t simply announce that Aubrey was innocent, not with the photographs still in circulation. Something more than a denial was needed.
‘I’ll do my best, George, to look shabby and uncouth. No-one will suspect that I’m me.’
‘I don’t think that will be much of a problem, not with the way you look at the moment.’
Aubrey straightened his jacket. ‘How’s that?’
‘Splendid. It’s made me overlook the dirt, the creases, the general tattiness. Now,’ said George, ‘we couldn’t help noticing, as we drove up, that most of this place has been blown up. I’m assuming you were responsible for that, old man?’
‘Sorry to disappoint you, George, but Dr Tremaine destroyed his own estate.’
Madame Zelinka frowned. ‘Why would he do that?’
Why indeed? ‘I’d say that he’s either finished all he came here to do, or something significant has happened to make him revise his plans.’
‘Rather drastic revision, that.’ George adopted a listening posture, with his elbow on the arm of the chair and his chin in his hand. ‘Now, why don’t you tell us what you’ve been up to?’
Going back to the beginning, Aubrey couldn’t avoid mentioning von Stralick’s illness, for it explained their relative inactivity, but he tried to glide over the details. His efforts weren’t enough, however, to stop Madame Zelinka from pulling von Stralick’s face close so she could examine him.
‘You need a bath,’ she said.
Von Stralick brushed off his filthy lapels. ‘An excellent idea. It would be a shame to waste the facilities here. And afterwards? A tour of the hunting trophies? I thought I saw a notably fierce iguana back there.’
Before Madame Zelinka could reply, George stood up, suddenly alert. ‘What’s that?’
Immediately, any slight semblance the group may have had to a polite drawing room gathering disappeared. Mostly, the indications were subtle – a sudden tension in postures, a cocking of the head, a half-rising to feet – but von Stralick’s hand went to his pistol before he shook his head and chuckled. ‘Some sort of night bird, Doyle. Do not alarm yourself.’
‘If that’s a night bird, I’ll eat this extremely grubby Holmland cap.’
‘He is correct.’ Madame Zelinka was rising from her chair. ‘It was Katya, signalling from the woods. Someone is coming.’
‘There,’ George said with some satisfaction. ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that George Doyle doesn’t know his way around the outdoors.’