Page 88 of Betrayal from Beyond
“Damn you all for meddling fools. Stay there,” he cried when Niall took a step toward him. “Don’t come closer. Don’t touch me at all. I cannot drop this box, do you understand? It would ruin everything.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kara took aslow, careful step toward the man. “What is in the box, Mr. Preston?”
“Never you mind. Just get out of the way.” There was a desperate edge to his tone.
“It’s the last piece. The missing piece to the device Petra is constructing, isn’t it?”
Preston stared at her, incredulous.
“We know Petra is forcing you to do her bidding. That she has threatened to harm Tom if you don’t cooperate,” Niall said.
The engineer gave a sharp laugh. “I am beginning to see why she despises the pair of you. How could you possibly know that?” He shook his head. “Never mind. Justmove. I very badly wish to find a safe place to set this down.”
“Very well. But we are coming in with you.”
As Kara and Niall stepped aside, Preston passed them, muttering and still stepping carefully.
They all trooped inside after him. Preston went through the main room and on to the bedroom, where he placed the box in the middle of the bed. Straightening, he heaved a sigh of relief, then looked around.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked Dalton, staring at him in surprise.
“This is Mr. Dalton,” Kara said sharply. “He intended to marry Katherine Prentice. Petra’s sister. The one she murdered,” she reminded him.
“Which makes clear his motivation for helping us to stop Petra’s machinations.” Niall raised a brow at Preston. “What we don’t understand is whyyouare helping her. You cannot actually imagine she will follow through on her end of any bargain you strike with her.”
Preston rolled his shoulder, as if he’d gone stiff carrying that box so carefully. “Listen, you have had your own dealings with Petra. I understand that. But Iknowher. Bone deep, I understand her. I know theonlychance I have of keeping Tom alive is to do as she says. I don’t know the odds of her keeping her word if I follow through, but I know with certainty that if I do not, she will go to extreme measures to follow through on her threat. She will kill Tom. She will bide her time if she has to. She will travel to the ends of the earth to find him, wherever I hide him. She would gnaw her own foot off to get to him. She is that tenacious.”
“I don’t know what you have in that box, Mr. Preston, but I know she means to use it to assassinate someone,” Kara said.
“Likely more than one person,” Niall added.
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Preston sank into a chair by the hearth and dropped his head into his hands. “Tom is my brother. I’ve always had the keeping of him. I was the only one who looked out for him. I cannot just…” He looked up at Niall. “Don’t tell me you don’t understand. Would you sacrifice your wife?”
He and Niall stared at each other for a long moment.
It took less than that amount of time for Kara to realize that she would never trade Niall’s life. Not even with what they knew.
Niall cleared his throat. “Maybe there is another way. Show me what is in the box.”
Preston straightened. “Why?”
“She had a gunsmith designing her devices. Forging is what I do,” Niall reminded him. “Let me look at it.”
Preston blinked. Kara could see his mind starting to whirl. He stood and crossed to the bed. “Be careful, for God’s sake.” He lifted the lid gently.
They all gathered around to peer inside.
Kara frowned. An insert had been placed in the box. Nine holes had been hollowed out of it, each one lined with thick padding. Resting in each soft hollow was a small metal object.
“May I?” asked Niall.
“Lift one out, if you must, but do not put any pressure on it,” Preston said.
Brow furrowed, Kara stared. The object was cylindrical, and featured a screw fitting on the bottom. The rest of the cylinder looked like it had been fashioned of thin metal. Her mind pulled up a recollection of the objects in the crates at the farm. “Some of Petra’s devices had square nuts attached at the holes. These screw into them? But what is the cylinder?”
Niall looked at Preston. “It is a percussion cap, isn’t it?”
