Page 103 of The Secrets of Lord Grayson Child
Scowling, the conductor checked the door was shut, then turned toward the front of the train and bellowed, “Stand clear!” With that, he put a whistle to his lips and blew a long, shrill note, then waved a green flag out to his side.
The train gave one last long whistle, then jerked into motion.
Those still standing caught themselves, then as the carriage settled to a steady rattling roll, made their way to where Izzy had slid onto one of the bench seats facing forward. It was a second-class carriage, so had no compartments, but the other passengers in that carriage were seated closer to the other end, sufficiently far away to allow their party to converse in reasonable privacy.
Gray sat beside Izzy, and Baines and Littlejohn slid onto the bench seat opposite. Hennessy had claimed the seat on the other side of the aisle to Gray, while Donaldson and Digby piled their bag and equipment on the seat beside Hennessy, then sat on the bench seat opposite.
For several minutes, they all simply sat and caught their breaths.
Baines eventually looked around their group. “Anyone know the stops?”
Donaldson replied, “Mertsham first, then the track veers to the east and it’s Tonbridge, Ashford, and Folkestone, before we get to Dover.”
Izzy smiled at her new photographer. “Having you hail from Dover is going to be useful when we get to the other end.”
Donaldson smiled back.
They sat in silence for some time, each, no doubt, busy with their thoughts.
After a while, Izzy’s mind caught up with events enough for her to raise her head and peer down the carriage, checking who was there. No gentleman of Duvall’s height or coloring was among the dozen or so people sharing the carriage.
Then Baines cleared his throat. “Seeing our man is supposedly on this train, should we search the carriages? Use each stop to search through a few, moving forward toward the front of the train?”
From his expression, it was clear he wasn’t enamored of the idea but had felt he had to air it.
Izzy shook her head. “I’m not at all sure that would be a good idea.”
“We know he’s carrying explosives,” Gray pointed out. “We know he’s had the black powder and fuse with him for several hours before he got on the train. We have to assume he’s set up powder and fuse in such a way that igniting the fuse and detonating his bomb will be easy.” Gray caught Baines’s gaze. “If we corner him, or even if he sees us coming, who can tell what he might do?”
Everyone remained silent as the possibilities sank in.
“He’ll most likely be in a first-class carriage,” Izzy observed. “There’ll be others there as well—ladies, gentlemen, even children, and all of the sort the authorities would especially not wish to see harmed.”
Littlejohn nodded. “I agree. Sounds like our best bet will be to follow him once he leaves the train in Dover. At least we know he’s on the train and not already down there, blowing the telegraph station sky-high.”
That was met by nods all around, including from Baines.
“We can follow him and choose our moment,” Gray said. “Preferably once he’s away from the center of the town.” He glanced at Donaldson. “You said the telegraph station was in the shadow of the castle’s guns. I’m assuming that means on the edge of the town.”
Donaldson nodded. “That’s the last house, really, before Castle Hill Road turns up the hill toward the castle gates.”
Hennessy looked at Gray. “Do you have any idea how much damage the stuff Duvall is carrying might cause?”
Gray appeared to mentally calculate, then said, “I can’t, of course, be sure, but depending on the size of the house, it’ll almost certainly cause extensive damage. Possibly not enough to bring down the walls or roof, but enough to destroy most of the interior.”
Hennessy grunted. “So enough for Duvall’s—and Roccard’s and his masters’—purposes.”
Gray leaned back against the seat. “If Roccard and his masters’ aim is to cause chaos and sow public panic and distrust of the telegraph…” Grimly, Gray nodded. “More than enough.”
Izzy faced forward and pondered that as their company settled, and the train rattled and rocked toward Dover.
When the train pulled into Dover Town Station, by general agreement, Gray descended first, handed Izzy down, and arm in arm, they started walking briskly along the platform as if they were a couple returning from a quick visit to London and had somewhere else to be. As Duvall hadn’t seen either of them before, they’d been delegated to follow him most closely.
Izzy scanned the passengers ahead of them. “At least we know he didn’t get off the train earlier.”
At every stop, Donaldson, his face another Duvall hadn’t previously seen, had hung out of the open doorway of their carriage and watched the travelers who’d left the train, confirming that Duvall hadn’t done so.
Gray searched the hordes streaming toward the gates. “I wish we knew in which carriage he was traveling.”
