Page 95 of Promises to Keep

“Aye, Lady Mairead, we are—”

Gunshots outside. She clamped her hands over her ears.

James’s voice: “Got him.”

I spoke intae the mic: “I found Lady Mairead.”

She sank tae the floor, her hand clutching her heart.

“Aye,” I crouched beside her and patted the back of her hand. “Aye, of course I came, ye dinna think I would come?”

She burst intae tears. “Nae, I dinna think anyone would come.” I sat all the way down and pulled her head intae my lap and she sobbed against my shirt. I comforted her while keepin’ my eyes on the surroundings, and askin’ intae the radio: “Eyes on Quentin yet?”

Fraoch’s voice, the sound of his horse, Thor, galloping: “Nae yet.”

Lady Mairead weakly asked, “Did Hammond come?”

“Nae, Lady Mairead, Hammond inna here. How long hae ye been here?”

“Over a year, it has been... verra difficult.”

Her head fell back and she looked up at me, her face weathered from the brutal climate. “How did ye find me?”

“I broke intae yer house in Paris and found some of yer notes, ye had a list of places ye thought Agnie might use, I narrowed it down.”

She reached up and tucked m’hair behind my ear. “That was verra smart, and also correct, this was the only place Agnie would put me, because tis a shithole as ye kids say.” She chuckled. “I amverrahungry.”

“Och, I hae been there.” She felt verra frail, as if she might break in my hand.

A voice came through the radio, “I hae Quentin, he’s unconscious, wound on his shoulder.”

“James?”

“I see him headed this way.”

“Ye three go ahead and jump, I will bring Lady Mairead with me from here.”

I asked Lady Mairead, “Dost ye need tae gather any more of yer... anything?”

“Help me up.” She was unsteady on her feet, leaning on me as we made our way tae an armory. She pointed at a drawer.

Inside was a pile of gold-shot rocks. I unzipped my pack and shoveled them in. I hoisted it tae m’shoulder and pulled a couple of guns off the walls. She opened a few more drawers and found a vessel in one, wrapped in cloth. “Dost ye see, Magnus, even with riches, they choose tae live a mean and base existence.”

She passed the vessel tae me.

I asked, “Anything else?”

“Nae, this is all they had of merit. Agnie is head of a family of cruel uncivilized brutes.”

I led her outside. “There is something I need tae say tae ye.”

“Aye...?

“Hammond betrayed us, he is... he is dead. I had him buried in the churchyard at Balloch.”

Her knees buckled and she fainted clean away.

I lifted her tae m’shoulder and carried her tae Sunny, who was wandering around in front of the house. Tae the west I could see a storm in the sky, Fraoch and James headed home with Colonel Quentin. I held the horse’s reigns wrapped around my wrist, and used m’vessel tae jump us tae our new compound.

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