Page 81 of Betrayal from Beyond
It was warm and strong. She breathed in the steam, trying to chase the fog from her brain.
Fog. Fog in her brain.
She nearly choked as it all came rushing back. “Petra!” she gasped. “She has a Russian!” Why wasn’t she making sense? Why did her mouth feel like it was thick with cotton? “She’s working with a Russian!”
“We surmised that much,” Niall said. “Take another drink. They drugged you. You need the stimulant.”
“I druggedthem!” she corrected him. “Petra and the Russian both. But her henchmen caught me, and they made me drink the tea, too.”
“Hallucinations are not unusual in a patient that has ingested that much opium,” the unfamiliar voice said. “But I can see her pupils are improving. Give her a little more coffee and then allow her to sleep it out. She’ll be fine in the morning.”
Kara looked over to see a handsome gentleman of middle age packing tools back into a leather bag.
“Thank you, Dr Lewis.” Niall still sounded worried. “Are you sure there are no other measures we need to take?”
“Positive. Just a little rest and she’ll be fine.”
Kara stared as Gyda walked with the man to the door. “How did I get back here?” She tried to remember, but had only a fuzzy recollection of the parlor in the farmhouse. Of being tied up… She reached further—and it all came rushing back. The tavern, Petra…
“That man!” she cried. “Petra sent him after you. She sent him to finish you and Dalton. I tried to warn Gyda.”
“You did. We handled him. He’s in the constable’s cell now. I’ll send word to Wooten so that he can send a man to pick him up.”
“But how did you find me?” She sat up straighter, recalling that strange ride. “I had to take the chance, Niall. I couldn’t let her disappear. We couldn’t lose her again.”
“Dalton knew about the farm. He’d followed Petra there a few times.” Niall shook his head. “Without him, we might not have found you. You scared me witless, Kara.”
“I’m sorry. But you know I had to follow her. Gyda—”
“Gyda is right here.” Her friend grinned at her and sat on the other side of the bed. She looked as exhausted as Kara felt. “Don’t let Niall scold you. You did exactly as either of us would have done in your place.”
Kara knew it was true, but Niall did look shaken. She cringed, thinking how she would have felt had their roles been reversed. Panicked. Deathly frightened. Furious.
She gasped suddenly. “Niall, she is planning an assassination! Petra and her Russian!”
“An assassination? Who?”
“I don’t know. Someone in the government. They both knew whom they were discussing and never said the name.”
“Think, Kara,” Gyda urged. “Surely they must have said something about their target. Something we can use?”
Kara put both hands on her brow. “I don’t think so? It’s all so fuzzy. Oh! Yes! He was an obstacle to the Russians, in some way. She said he was wily. Resourceful. I…I don’t think there is anything else.”
Niall and Gyda exchanged glances.
“Stayme,” Niall said. “We need to get word to him. He might know who any likely targets could be.”
“I’ll go.” Gyda stood.
“No. It’s late,” Niall objected. Kara could tell he was reluctant to dissuade her. “The last train will have left. It’s been two very long days. None of us has slept beyond a few snatched minutes in the carriage.”
“Except me,” Kara interjected.
They all laughed a little. Niall reached for her hand, then Gyda’s. “Let’s sleep tonight and head out in the morning.”
“I cannot.” Gyda swallowed. “I wouldn’t be able to rest, in any case, knowing there was something to be done and I wasn’t doing it.” Kara felt for her as her friend gave Niall a pleading look. “Let me take the carriage and go to Berkeley Square. I’ll sleep on the way into London. It will be easier to rest knowing that I am accomplishing something. Leaving no stone unturned. No chance to catch her untaken.”
Kara squeezed Niall’s hand.
