The Iron Storm by CW Browning (best fiction novels to read .txt) 📗

didn’t think of him right away. I tend not to give very much thought to those above me,” she added with a quick grin. “However, he’s different from the others. Luc says he’s one of the few men he trusts, so that’s saying something.”

“And he’s in Marle as well?” Evelyn asked.

“Yes. At least, he was the other day. I’ll check with Luc when we go in. He’ll know more.” Josephine looked at Jens. “He’ll be able to get your packet to Paris and into the hands of the people who will know what to do with it,” she assured him. “If you get it to Marcel, your duty will be done. Then you can continue on to Paris with Marie. Marle is on the way.”

Jens looked at Evelyn. “You don’t mind stopping once more on the way home?” he asked.

Evelyn smiled and shook her head. “Of course not. You’re trying to help my country. Why would I mind?”

“And you don’t mind that I lied to you?”

“You never lied to me. You simply failed to tell me the whole truth,” she replied with a shrug. “I wasn’t hurt, and I certainly wasn’t deceived for long. I hadn’t been with you two hours before I realized there was something else afoot. I understand why you didn’t tell me now, and there was no harm done.”

“Good. That’s settled then. You’ll leave for Marle in the morning,” Josephine said cheerfully. “Now we can go inside and get warm again!”

Jens jumped off his perch on the fence while Josephine ducked between the two wooden railings of the fence, joining them inside the garden.

“I’ll write an introductory letter tonight,” she told them as they started across the garden towards the house. “You can take it to Marcel and it will explain who you are and why I sent you. Luc and I will both sign it. I’m not sure if he’ll remember me, but he knows Luc well.”

“I never thought of an introduction,” Jens said. “That makes perfect sense. Why didn’t Asp ever...”

His voice trailed off and Evelyn tucked her arm through his, squeezing it supportively.

“You weren’t to know,” she said. “Don’t feel badly about it.”

“Lord no,” Josephine agreed. “I’m sure this sort of thing will happen a lot, unfortunately, as the war goes on. And as for the introduction, it’s standard practice for us. It helps, when you have people you’ve never met or heard of all gathering information across the country, to be sure that everyone is who they say they are.”

“I appreciate your help with this,” Jens said earnestly. “I don’t know what I would do if we hadn’t run into you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she retorted gaily, opening the kitchen door. “Let’s make sure he’s still in Marle, and then we’ll go from there.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

London, England

May 12

Bill finished tying his shoe and glanced at the large, four-poster bed where Marguerite still slept. His wife was getting used to him leaving before the sun was up, unfortunately. She really was a patient woman. For all the hours he was gone, you’d think he’d gone into politics. Yet she hadn’t said a word for weeks. He would try to make it up to her once this latest flap had passed. Maybe take her into the country for a few days.

He got up and picked up his jacket from the back of the chair. Going over to the bed, he leaned down to drop a kiss on her forehead. She stirred, then settled back into sleep and he turned away from the bed to move noiselessly across the room to the door. It was already almost five, and he wanted to be at the office in time for the first transmissions of the day from France. He had to leave.

He was just reaching the foot of the stairs when the telephone in the hallway rang shrilly. He scowled, glancing upwards and hoping the extension in the bedroom didn’t wake Marguerite. Moving swiftly to the hall stand, he picked up the receiver before it had a chance to ring again.

“Yes? Hello?”

“Mr. Buckley? This is Rex calling, from Ainsworth Manor,” a deep voice spoke. “I’m sorry to disturb you this early.”

“Not at all,” Bill said, rubbing his forehead. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, everything’s fine now. But I thought you should know that we had a visitor last night.”

Bill stilled, his hand falling from his head. “Tell me.”

“There isn’t much to tell. I was making my rounds shortly before midnight when I saw the door off the back terrace was open. Now it wasn’t like that when I went by earlier, so I went to investigate.”

“And?”

“The door was forced, all right. The lock came right away from the door jam, and took a chunk of wood with it. I went through to the house and began to do a thorough search.”

“Began?”

“Well, I didn’t need to finish. The dogs started barking out by the terrace, so I ran back to the drawing room and got there just in time to see the intruder disappearing into the trees.”

“The dogs were loose? How on earth did he get to the house without them giving the alarm?” Bill demanded.

“Oh, they weren’t loose to begin with, but they got out after I left the gamekeeper's cottage. I must have left the door off the latch. I checked them before I made my rounds, you see.” Rex cleared his throat. “After I saw the man going into the trees, I went back and did a thorough search of the ground floor. Nothing was touched or missing, sir. I don’t think he’d gotten very far when I happened on him.”

“Why did he go in through the drawing room?” Bill wondered. “There’s nothing in there, surely, where Robert would have hidden anything.”

“Perhaps he was coming back to search everywhere else,” Rex suggested. “You did say that Thomas thought only the Study and Library were disturbed the last time, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Bill shook his head and sighed. “They didn’t find it then, so perhaps they’re