Damsel in Distress? (18 page)

She turned to where he gestured and saw the man leaning against the far wall of the room, his arms crossed across his chest. He gave her a brief nod.

“Yes of course,” she said, turning back to her father.

“He has discovered something very exciting. Something that will change life as we know it forever. Gareth, my dear boy, come and explain what you have found.”

Harriet’s curiosity was piqued: what had the man discovered?

“Time travel.”

“Excuse me?” Surely she hadn’t heard right but she kept the smile plastered on her face.

“Time travel,” Gareth growled at her. “I’ve discovered people have been able to travel through time for centuries.”

Peter’s smirk conveyed her thoughts exactly. My God, he’s crazy. She smiled at him in what she hoped was an encouraging manner; she didn’t want to disturb his fragile mind any more than it already was.

“I have discovered a ripple in the fabric between parallel dimensions,” Gareth continued, adjusting his glasses. “You may be aware of the science of Quantum Physics? There are multiple planes on which we exist, living alternate lives. There is no ‘time’, no past, no future, just
now
on different planes of the universe. Needless to say, I have found a way through. I have found a way through the layers!”

Gareth became animated with his speech and when she looked at her father she could see he believed the rubbish the man was spouting. Her father wasn’t naive, so there had to be something that had made him believe.

“And how exactly does this
fabric
open, Dr Hutchinson?” Peter drawled from his post behind her father.

“That’s the exciting part! It is really quite simple. Probably why we could never figure it out before, we were looking for something much more complex.” He adjusted his glasses again and reached into his suit pocket.

“Well, what is it?” If he would just hurry up and tell them, she thought to herself. She schooled her voice as she had been taught, to portray the perfect amount of polite curiosity. All she was curious about was how the man had managed to trick her father into believing him.

“It’s this.” He held out a necklace and let the pendant dangle back and forth.

“You expect me to believe that humans are able to travel through time with nothing more than a necklace?” She couldn’t quite keep the disbelief from her tone.

“Not just any necklace, my dear girl, but one worn by someone in the time you wish to go to. You see, it is only a crutch to get you there, the real magic happens in your mind. Now I am certain there are people who have travelled with no help through objects, but it does make things decidedly easier. You see, all you need to do is cast your mind to where you want to go. It is really as simple as that…and as difficult, hence the necklace. Of course you can use any object you want, but something attached around your neck is less likely to fall off, is it not?”

Something suddenly occurred to Harriet. “Why are you talking to me as though you are giving me instructions?”

Gareth looked at her father and then said, “That’s because I am.”

She was on her feet instantly. “What?!”

“Sit down, Princess,” her father said calmly. “Thank you for coming, Gareth, and explaining your discovery, I will be sure to require your services in the next few days while we are getting ready. In the meantime I ask you to make yourself comfortable in the kitchen and let Cook find you something to eat for lunch. I have an important matter to discuss with my daughter.” He then turned to Peter, who still stood behind him, and did something he never did before. “You too, Peter, I wish to speak to my daughter alone.”

The cock of one eyebrow was the only indication Peter was surprised by the request. He nodded and walked out the door after Gareth and shut it tightly.

Her father waited until he heard the ‘click’ of the door, before he said anything further. He raised his hand to stop Harriet getting in first and said, “Yes, I know, it was with great trepidation that I first heard Gareth describe what he had discovered. But I assure you, we have tried the method out and it does in fact work. He deduces that the method works best on a full moon, for whatever reason. There is a full moon in two nights’ time.” He leaned forward and steepled his hands together on his desk. “I need you to do something for me, Harriet.”

Her father never called her by her given name. For as long as she could remember, she was always Princess. There was no turning away from the intensity of his gaze and she found herself agreeing before she had found out what exactly he was asking of her.

“I need you to go on a mission for me. I need something very valuable taken to a man of some great import. Unfortunately, I am unable to complete the mission myself.” He took a deep breath and his gaze softened. “When we tested Gareth’s method of travel, we discovered a slight hiccough. I suffered from a mild heart attack. Now, now,” he held his hand up to her. “it’s nothing to worry about, I was taken care of straight away. Peter himself drove me to the hospital. I must add that if my heart had not already stopped it would have done so again with the way that man drives when he is in a hurry. I implore you never to get into a vehicle with him behind the wheel,” he said with a smile.

“How could you not have told me about your heart attack? Don’t you think that it was something that as your
daughter
I should have been informed about? Why didn’t Peter tell me?”

“Because I told him not to. There was no reason to worry you over nothing. It was looked after and I was out of the hospital the next day. You were busy in Atlanta, with whatever it is you do there, and I didn’t need you travelling here in a panic. All you would have done was upset me anyway.”

Harriet was taken aback by his words and she felt the sting of unshed tears burning the backs of her eyes. She blinked to keep them there. No matter how many times she tried to prove herself to him, he found her nothing more than a pretty decoration. Maybe this time she could actually prove useful. “What is it you want me to do?”

***

It wasn’t long after she arrived in 1814 that Harriet knew she was being followed. At first she didn’t know who by but she often felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. Three horsemen seemed to dog her steps everywhere she went. It wasn’t until the second week that they got close enough for her to get a look at them.

Seeing her father’s right-hand man here in 1814 London wasn’t something she’d been expecting. If Peter was here, who was protecting her father? She stopped in the middle of the pavement and stared at him. She took a step towards him but there was something in the look in his eye that stopped her from going any closer. The man behind him pulled out a gun and levelled it at her heart.

She didn’t wait around long enough to determine if the man was a good shot or not. She had got a good look at his face. He was from her family’s greatest rival. Charlie was the most ruthless killer there ever was. The fact that her father’s most trusted man was with him was not a good sign. Why was he here? Where was her dad and why the hell were Peter and Charlie together?

The one good thing Harriet was good at though was hiding. She was able to blend in wherever she went. It was a skill that had proved vital her entire life. It was a skill that enabled her to live a relatively normal life. Being the daughter of the greatest Mob King of all time was not something that came easily. People were either afraid of her or tried to use her to get close to her family. Her ability to vanish was something her whole family appreciated. It had saved her life more than once. She was under constant threat of kidnap or murder because of who her father was. He had learned to leave her to her own devices; she was better off if she wasn’t surrounded by bodyguards. They had learned the hard way that they drew too much attention to her. If she travelled about on her own she looked like anyone else.

Consequently, Harriet learned how to blend in, how to imitate accents and mannerisms, becoming one of the people instantly. She never stood out, despite her beauty.

However, finding the man her father wanted his documents delivered to was proving difficult. She had searched where she was assured he was, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere. The man they called Rupert was missing.

Peter and his men were getting harder and harder to lose. She had managed to give them the slip a few times, but they were learning her tricks. She had been in the past for three weeks when they tracked her down one early morning. She did the only thing she could. She ran.

She managed to make it into Hyde Park before they gained on her. She knew her time was running out and she should use the opportunity to go back home. But her job was to deliver the packet to Rupert. And she knew that going home wasn’t going to protect her from the men chasing her. They knew how to time travel as well. They would only follow her back through the fabric. She couldn’t risk bringing them back to her father. Nothing else mattered besides his safety.

The hooves of their horses pounded the ground behind her. Harriet leaned lower on her horse’s neck and swerved him to the left to duck in behind a row of trees. The last thing she remembered from that night was a gunshot ringing out through the air.

Chapter 35

Philip cursed himself for his irrational behaviour. Because of it, he now found himself not only miles from Harriet, whom he had sworn to protect at all costs, but he was also soaked to the bone, knee-deep in mud and thoroughly livid with himself. He hoped to hell he could get back to her in time.

The idea to look around the estate seemed like a good one this morning. He had enjoyed himself for most of the day, even with the wind blowing and the rain driving in. It was weather he had been used to in his youth. A part of him wanted to relive those days. But it was at the last tenant’s house he stopped at that his blood turned cold.

The farmer’s wife had spotted three men riding towards the main house. The description she gave left no doubt in his mind as to who the three men were. And he had left Harriet all alone, unprotected except for an aging butler and a grumpy housekeeper.

He’d left the woman standing at her step and rode as if the devil himself was after him. He pushed his horse beyond its endurance and Philip prayed it would live to get him to Harriet’s side. If it died, he would have to go on foot and he knew he would never get there in time if that happened. But he would run on his own two feet if it was the only way to get to her.

The mud sucked at every footstep of his horse and the rain continued to bucket down upon him. He could barely see a metre in front of him but he kept pushing onwards. His horse stumbled with each step, but the faithful nag didn’t give up.

The relief of finally reaching his destination after hours of slow hard slog in the mud warmed his soul. He hoped he wasn’t too late.

The house was asleep when he rounded the corner of the driveway. His horse came to a grateful rest at the door. It stood with its head down against the driving rain. Its sides heaved in and out as Philip jumped out of the saddle and he gave it a grateful pat on the neck and then took off at a run.

From when he and Jasper were children, Philip remembered the key to the back door was hidden under the third rock to the right. He groped around in the dark until he located the spot. The rock was stuck fast. Philip got down onto his hands and knees and dug around the rock, trying to loosen the mud from around it. Finally he wrenched it up. The mud surrounding it emitted a slurping noise and then a quiet pop as he freed it. The key wasn’t there. Philip squinted into the dark at the round impression the rock had made in the ground where it had rested since before he was born. He heaved the rock out of the way and felt around with his hands, but he still couldn’t find the key. It would be just his luck that they had moved the blasted key after all these years.

He picked himself up out of the mud and went to the back door. He tried the doorknob. He wasn’t surprised it didn’t turn in his hand. He silently apologised to Jasper and Grayson before he went back to where the rock lay rejected on the ground. He carried it over to the window above the kitchen bench and threw it. The loud crash of glass was muffled by the pounding rain and the flash of lightning. He swept the jagged glass away from the window frame as best he could and then lifted himself through the window. The fit was a bit tighter than he would have liked, but he managed to make it through without getting stuck. He landed on the kitchen bench amongst all the glass that had fallen in. Already, there was a great puddle of rain accumulating on the kitchen floor. He didn’t think Cook would be baking for him any time soon.

Blood seeped out of the cuts on his hands. He quickly grabbed a towel from the cabinet and then made his way into the house. The door from the kitchen swung open silently. He thanked Mrs Barnes under his breath for running the house so efficiently and keeping a well-oiled door. Philip crept down the passageway, dripping water onto the carpet and well-polished wood floors, stopping now and then to listen for voices. It seemed to take hours to work his way to the front of the house.

He was so cold, he was shaking by the time he reached the corridor to the library. Finally, he saw a light. It was coming from under the library door. Unfortunately, there was a man leaning against the door. He looked oddly familiar. At first Philip thought he was asleep at his post. His head kept drooping to his chest and soft snores came from his mouth. Philip took a step closer, right onto a loose floorboard. The
creak
echoed loudly through the hall. The man’s head shot up and he looked directly at Philip. A slow smile spread across his face.

“About time you showed up, I’d say.”

“Rupert? What in blazes are you doing here?”

When Harriet had told him about seeing Rupert the other night, Philip was sure that he would be ensuring Harriet wouldn’t be harmed. Finding him here, guarding the door, was unnerving.

“Shhh, keep your voice down and get over here. They’re about to start.” Rupert tipped his head, beckoning Philip closer to the door where he was standing.