Rebel Mechanics (24 page)

“I'm on an errand for Lady Flora Lyndon. She needs some ribbon for a ball gown.”

The door opened wider, and the voice said, “Please come in.” A tiny white-haired man in a green apron then stood before me. “My apologies. One can't be too careful these days. I'm not sure which is worse, the British or the rebels.”

I couldn't imagine why either group would have any interest in ribbons, but I gave him a sympathetic smile as I handed him Flora's note. “Here is Lady Flora's order.”

“Right away, miss.”

The shop was small and old, with a narrow wooden counter, behind which were towering shelves full of ribbons of all colors, fabrics, and sizes. The shopkeeper climbed a library ladder and reached for a spool of pale blue ribbon, which he brought down, measured against a yardstick nailed to the counter, and cut. He rolled the cut ribbon into a loop, wrapped it in white paper, tied that off with string, then wrapped that parcel in brown paper and tied it off with twine, leaving a loop like a carrying handle. All of this took only seconds. “Will there be anything else, miss?”

“Not if that is all Lady Flora requested.”

“Very good, then.” He handed me the parcel. “Thank Lady Flora for her custom,” he said, darting around me and opening the door just enough for me to slip through. I'd barely made it to the sidewalk before the door slammed shut and I heard the click of a lock. If the shopkeepers were this nervous, I wondered how safe I was walking these streets. Conditions didn't seem all that bad. There were neither roving bands of rebels nor military patrols. But the streets being so empty made me feel exposed and vulnerable.

I checked my watch. I'd made quick work of my errands, so I thought I might add one more without being suspiciously late to return home. I hurried toward the Mechanics' headquarters and knocked on the door.

I had my insignia ready to show, but when the door opened, Nat greeted me. “Verity!”

“Hello, Nat,” I said. “I've been wondering about you, since I haven't seen you selling newspapers this week. I suppose this has been a difficult time for newspaper sales.”

“Are you kidding? It's been the best ever. I can't go up into magpie land, but I sell out first thing in the morning. If this keeps up, I'll be rich soon.”

“That's good to hear. I was worried.”

“You really are a nice girl, Verity. What brings you down here?”

“I've got some important information I need to pass on, if Alec, Colin, or Lizzie is around.”

“I don't know about Lizzie, but Colin and Alec are in there.” He stepped back from the door. “Go on through, you'll find them up in the balcony.”

I found the stairs at the rear of the auditorium and made my way up. A large table at the end of the balcony held piles of documents, including maps of the city and diagrams of machines. Alec and Colin stood at the table, bent over a city map. Mick stood at Alec's elbow, leaning over the map like he was part of the planning.

“Alec!” I called out, my pulse quickening at the sight of him. He wore no coat and his shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, which made him look like a man of action.

He straightened, turned, and moved toward me, saying, “Verity? What are you doing here?” Before I could answer, he'd caught me in an embrace and kissed me as though he'd been wanting to do so for days.

I was equally pleased to see him, so much so that I almost forgot my errand. My senses finally returned, and I pulled away enough to say, “I have information I thought was worthy of bringing in person.”

He slid his hands from my back down to my waist and held me in the circle of his arms. “How did you get all the way down here?”

“I'm on an errand.” I held up my parcel. “I had to buy some ribbon and, apparently, the only suitable shop is near here.”

Colin whistled in appreciation. “That's good thinking, Verity.”

“I would love to take credit for being so clever, but it was pure happenstance. The eldest girl was in desperate need of ribbon, and Lord Henry wouldn't let her come to this part of town.”

“But he allowed you?” Alec's color rose, as though he was offended on my behalf.

I couldn't help but laugh. “Yes, and it's a good thing, too, so calm down.”

“You said you had news?”

“Yes. They're bringing over the Third Division from England, and they'll be here this weekend. And then there's a special brigade from India that specializes in putting down insurrections. They're going to billet them in the student housing at the university!” My voice rose in pitch and volume as I reached the end of my message.

Alec and Colin exchanged glances, then Alec turned to Mick and said, “Mick, go get Verity some water.” Once the boy was gone, he said to me, “How do you know this?”

“I heard it at the governor's house.”

“How?” Alec asked.

“It came up when we were talking about a ball the governor is planning for the officers when they arrive.”

“There's not much action we could take, though it is good for us to know,” Alec said.

“I thought you could get your people on the staff of those buildings, perhaps set up ways to listen to or observe the soldiers,” I suggested.

Colin laughed. “I believe we've created a monster. Next thing you know, she'll be leading the revolution, standing on top of the barricade with a banner, shouting defiance at the British.”

“No, that would draw too much attention,” I said, shaking my head with a smile. “Remember, my expertise is espionage.”

“When is this ball you mentioned?” Alec asked.

“The Wednesday after next. I don't know the exact time, as the official invitations haven't been issued. I also don't know who will be invited, if it will be only the highest-ranking officers or only the newly arrived officers.”

Mick arrived with the water, then leaned against the table, looking like he was trying to make himself inconspicuous so Colin and Alec wouldn't notice he was there and send him away again. I took a grateful sip. I hadn't realized how parched I'd become while walking around. “What I was worried about,” I continued, “was having that many troops billeted so close to your headquarters. They'll have you surrounded. They might decide to search the theater again, and you'd have less warning to hide the evidence.”

Colin and Alec exchanged a meaningful look, and while they seemed to be weighing their response, Mick laughed. “You don't have to worry about that!” he said. “The magpies would never think to look here.”

The glare Alec shot him should have killed him on the spot. A little doubt in the back of my mind grew, taking form as I realized what was wrong with what Mick had said. “But didn't they suspect your headquarters were here when the police searched the theater the night of the party?”

Alec turned a purplish shade that didn't look healthy. Even his scalp was red beneath his fair hair. Colin went so pale that his freckles stood out like copper coins on his face. Neither of them spoke. “There was no raid, was there?” I said, breaking Alec's hold on me and backing away. The realization made me ill. “The police weren't searching the neighborhood. All that gathering evidence and escaping was merely a bit of theater to make the new recruits—what did you call us, ‘sparks'?—feel like we shared your danger, to convince us of how horribly persecuted your movement was so we'd sympathize and be useful to you.”

Alec regained his composure enough to ask, “Do you disagree with the cause, Verity?”

“No, I don't, because it's a good and just one. There was no need to trick me.” That fateful day in the park flashed before my mind's eye, and I saw the roadster rush past after Alec swept me off my feet. The driver's hat had been pulled low, but I remembered red hair. “That was you that day in the park, wasn't it?” I asked Colin. “That reckless ‘magister' who nearly ran me down so that you”—I whirled on Alec, my finger pointed in accusation—“could rush to my rescue. What did you do, steal the roadster from some unsuspecting magpie?”

“Borrowed,” Colin insisted. “He was having lunch and never knew it was gone.” He went a little misty-eyed. “Drove like a dream, too.”

“You were a potentially valuable resource. We had to secure you,” Alec said stiffly, ignoring Colin. “We weren't likely to find another person placed that high in the magpie world who might sympathize with us. After Nat told us where you were employed, we had to get you on our side, right away.”

“So all of it was a lie?” My eyes stung, but I refused to cry.

“Not
all
. It may have started that way, but it came to be true.” Alec looked genuinely distressed as he reached out to me.

I wasn't ready to forgive him. He'd kissed me. I'd kissed him. I'd thought it meant something, but I'd been such a fool. “What part was true, and what wasn't?”

Alec opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out. “We liked you from the start,” Colin said. “What I said on the bus that day was true, that you're the kind of person we're doing all this for. Even if you hadn't wanted to get involved with us, Lizzie would have been your friend. She thinks you've got a good heart.”

That was nice to hear, but it wasn't what I'd asked. I repeated to Alec, “What part was true? How many girls have you wooed into your cause?”

“You're the only one,” he said, so softly I could barely hear him.

“Normally, that's my job, but you seemed more like Alec's type,” Colin put in. “You'd like someone studious and clever.”

“I think I still might have been interested in you,” Alec said, not quite looking at me. “But I might not have been so forward about it.”

Colin laughed. “Which means he might have worked up the nerve to talk to you by Christmas.” The glare Alec gave him said he didn't think that was funny.

I wasn't laughing either. “You didn't have to pretend. You didn't have to lie to me. You all lie so easily, how am I to know what's true? It's fitting that your headquarters are in a theater because you do seem to enjoy your performances. What is the cause, really?”

“Liberty,” Alec said softly, but his tone grew more intense as he continued. “We want our freedom. We don't want to depend on magpies for everything. We don't want to have to beg for whatever crumbs they allow to trickle down to us.”

“But how can your cause be just if you have to lie about it to recruit people or to make your points? How do I know I can believe what you're telling me now?”

“You'll have to take our word for it, Verity,” Alec said with a shrug. “I won't lie to you anymore, I promise you.”

“How can I believe that?” I firmly set my water glass on the table and stalked away.

I heard footsteps rushing up behind me, and soon Alec stood in front of me. “You're just going to walk out of here? You said you believed in the cause, but now you're giving it up because you got your feelings hurt? I thought you were better than that.”

“No, you didn't, or you wouldn't have felt you needed to lie to me and trick me to get me on your side.” I'd said it in anger, but the truth of my own words stung me as I stepped around him and headed down the stairs without a backward glance.

 

IN WHICH THE CITY FALLS UNDER A SHADOW

As I walked away from the theater, part of me wanted to turn back, even if just to prove to Alec that I was better than he thought, that I was fully committed to the cause. But I couldn't, not now. I knew I'd act more like a girl who'd had her heart broken than like a revolutionary, and I refused to let him see me cry.

Besides, there were other ways to further the cause. In fact, I'd just run an errand for Henry that I was sure was related to the rebellion, and I could continue to share intelligence without being friends with the Mechanics.

I must have been glaring so furiously as I approached the barricade that the British soldiers were intimidated, for they took a wary step back and allowed me to head uptown without asking for my credentials. I hailed the first magical cab I found, gave the driver the Lyndons' address, and settled back in the seat.

Alone at last, I could no longer hold back my tears. I let them fall with the hope that I would be through crying by the time I got home. Although I was angry at my false friends, I was most angry at myself for being na
ï
ve enough to fall into their trap. They had made me feel special and important, so I hadn't allowed myself to doubt them. I had always thought of myself as the clever girl who knew all the answers because I'd read so many books, and yet I'd been a simple fool.

But the worst blow was learning that Alec didn't care for me the way I'd cared for him. He might have liked me once he got to know me, but I'd always been first and foremost a tool. If I hadn't been useful to him, he'd never have given me a second thought. I should have known better than to think a mousy, unworldly governess would attract a brilliant rebel. He probably laughed about me with his short-skirted rebel friends.

When the cab passed the lower boundary of the park, I began scrubbing at my face with my handkerchief, and I took several deep breaths to get myself under control before I reached the Lyndon home. I might even have managed to hide my distress if Henry hadn't met me in the foyer. “Did you—” he started to say, but then he took a look at me and asked gently, “Ver—Miss Newton, is something the matter?”

“No, nothing,” I said, tears threatening to form anew at his concern. “I'm merely somewhat fatigued. I never knew having a gown made would be so exhausting.”

He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “You were able to carry out the errand? And you weren't in danger while doing so?”

“That went perfectly well.”

“I thank you again for your assistance. You didn't have any trouble getting past the barricade?”