Page 40 of A Duchess to Fight For
Chapter 10
The grates on the windows in the warehouse were small. Hobart learned that lesson after a six-year-old once climbed through his old bars and opened a door to a pack of thieves.
Now, the holes were too small for anything larger than a fist to go through. He didn’t need to worry about scrawny kids or torches getting in.
So, it was only the ‘barn door’ as Hobart called it and a regular size side door. He had a man on the outside of the locked and bolted side door and another man on the inside of the door. Four men were at the bolted barn door. Two outside and two inside.
Hobart and Frederick walked through the side door and looked around the warehouse. Hobart stopped, hands on his hips, looking for anything unusual. He gave an almost imperceptible shrug, took out his gun and started walking around.
He stopped in his tracks. In the dim light, Frederick almost walked into him. He called out to the three men guarding the doors. When they came, he whispered in their ears and pointed to aisles between the crates.
Frederick nodded. No one comes between Hobart and his warehouse. On his signal, the men walked slowly and quietly down the aisle they were assigned. At the end of each aisle was a space between the last crate and the wall.
Hobart turned the corner to the left as one of his men turned the corner to his right. They found six men, sitting down, guns on the floor next to them. They were waiting. Probably for the time others in their group would be positioned out the bard door.
Hobart and his man started collecting guns before the six even knew what was happening. He yelled for backup and was pleased to be surrounded by five men in a matter of seconds. Five against six. He liked those odds.
Once the men were tied up, Hobart tried to get them to tell him when the rendezvous would happen, but they stayed silent. He turned to Frederick, pointing his chin toward a wall ten feet away.
“You need to leave. If I’m going to get anything out of these thieves, I need to get my men to be more persuasive. I’m going to split them up and convince them it is in their best interest to talk.”
Frederick nodded. “Good plan.”
Hobart shook his head. “You can’t be any part of this. If something goes wrong, and Barton can pin anything from tonight on you, say goodbye to Louisa.”
Hobart put a hand on Frederick’s shoulder. “Go home, Frederick.”
Reluctantly, Frederick nodded. “Let me know as soon as you have anything.”
“I will. We could be here for a while. Hopefully, once we separate them, it won’t take long for the weakest link to snap. Go home, Frederick. I don’t want you anywhere near this.”
Frederick gave Hobart a small smile. “Be careful.”
Hobart grinned.
Frederick went to bed, but he didn’t sleep. He alternated between staring at the fabric bunched together at the top of the canopy, to checking the window for signs of dawn, to watching the fire die.
When dawn came to put him out of his misery, Frederick dressed, shaved, and went to break his fast. He called Mendon into the dining room.
“Send a footman to Hobart’s warehouse and have him find out if he is there. I will be heading there as soon as I have word.”
Mendon bowed, “Your Grace.”
Amelia came to join Frederick. She gathered a plate of food and sat next to him. “You look restless. Has something new happened?”
“No, not yet. But I don’t think it will be long.” He reached and put his hand on top of hers. “The waiting has us both on edge. I think we are doing everything possible. All day, every day I ask myself ‘what else can I do?’ and I have yet to come up with anything. Hobart has a sense of the street I don’t possess. He’s been wonderful.
“Amelia, we’re going to have to talk about what we want to tell her. Now that she went out again, she will continue to make progress. After some time, she may want to visit shops or go to a tea shop.
“She’ll hear the real reason Jack left.”
“Which real reason? That Jack has a bastard or that Barton threatened Jack to expose him if he didn’t leave?”
Frederick sighed. “Probably both.”
“Well, let’s see how she does. For now, the only one I’m worried about is Emma. I may need to ask her not to mention Jack in any way. If she knows about the child, maybe that will silence her.”
The footman came back to say Hobart was at the warehouse. Frederick called for his carriage and headed out. Hobart was in his office when Frederick got there, but the six intruders were nowhere to be found.
