Page 75 of Betrayal from Beyond
“A toast,” the Russian said. “To our success. And to removing roadblocks. Now, relax for just a minute or two, I implore you. Then gather up all your plans here. I shall be done in a trice.”
Nerves fluttering, Kara went back to her spot behind the hutch. Petra urged her accomplice to hurry once more. The Russian departed for the upper floor.
Sinking down, Kara waited and listened.
The rustle of papers sounded clear. Drawers opened and closed. Was that the stutter of a missed step? How long would it take for the opium to take effect?
It was an agonizing wait. She worried that the dose might have been too strong. What if she killed them? Yes, she wanted to put a stop to Petra’s reign of terror, but she didn’t want the woman’s death on her conscience. Nor the Russian gentleman’s, though he was clearly an enemy of England.
Besides, Gyda would be furious with her.
She was distracted by a loud curse from Petra. And then another. Her words sounded slurred. Then came a loudthump.
Silence.
Kara got to her feet. She crept to the arched doorway and waited.
Nothing.
She peeked around the arch. Petra was stretched out on the floor.
Kara crept closer. The woman lay on her back, frowning at the ceiling. Her gaze shifted. Kara saw the moment Petrarecognized her. The woman scowled. Her mouth opened. Then her eyelids fell, and her head rolled to the side.
With a gasp, Kara knelt beside her and felt for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief. Petra’s heartbeat felt slow, but strong and steady.
Something upstairs thudded, as if an object had been dropped to the floor. Then came another loudthump.
Kara stood. Her heart was pounding, but she rushed to one of the crates resting on side tables and pushed the lid aside. She stared down, wondering what she was looking at.
Reaching out, she lifted one of the objects free. It was oblong, fashioned of hammered metal and slightly too big to be truly comfortable in her hand. Hollow, it featured a large cap that had been screwed in at one end. Nine smaller holes had been drilled into it, in seemingly random spots. Glancing into the crate, she realized that some of the objects were slightly different. Square nuts had been attached over the holes, ready for something to be screwed in? But what?
What in blazeswerethese things?
She froze at the sound of the front door opening again. Dropping the object, she whirled to run. As she burst through the dining room door into the kitchen, a man came in from the back of the house, carrying two heads of cabbage.
“There was not much out there, but I grabbed a couple of—” Spotting her, he stopped. “What’s this, then?” he asked in surprise.
Another huge specimen of a man. Where did Petra find them all? He stood in the narrow passage, blocking it completely.
Kara spun around again and fled back the way she’d come, only to bump into the farm cart driver just inside the dining room. She leapt back and dodged, heading around the other side of the dining room table.
But he turned and lunged when she headed for the arched doorway. Getting a hand on her, he dragged her back, grabbed her by an arm, and held her tight with one hand and took the horseshoe from her grip with the other. “What were you going to do with this, eh?”
Kara did not feel the need to state the obvious.
“The boss lady is laid out on the carpet,” her captor told the larger man when he dashed in, without his cabbages.
The other man’s eyes widened. “Where’s the foreign nob?”
The driver shrugged. He gave Kara a shake. “Where is he?”
Her mind was racing. “Upstairs.”
“Go look,” the driver ordered the other man. He yanked Kara aside so that the man could pass, then pulled her back to the parlor, where he stared at Petra in fascination. “I ain’t never seen her quiet afore now,” he marveled.
The other man came racing back. “The foreign gent—he’s in the same condition. Stretched out on the floor.”
The driver cast a glance over the tea tray. “Poisoned?” he asked her.
