Scotland Hard (Book 2 in the Tom & Laura Series) (33 page)

“You probably think I’m crazy, unless you have heard the reports from
Inverness
. They were nearly twenty miles from the blast, but many of their buildings were destroyed. That was a test. The bomb we will set off in
London
will be bigger. I wanted to let you know how important the Spellbinder was to me, why I had to take her. Without her and her Healer lover I could not have been able to make the second bomb.”

Saunders struggled to free himself from his bonds and saw Mick and Joe making similar attempts from their chairs. He had the sudden insight that comes from a nearness to death that Lord McBride was not insane after all. Saunders now had a reason for the Hungarians lending the Spellbinder to McBride. The Hungarians would certainly benefit from the destruction of
London
, more than any other nation on the planet. And they could wash their hands of any responsibility; it would be an entirely British affair.

“I’m going to leave you now to think on the sins of the English that have led you here,” Lord McBride said softly. “Later in the evening, when no one is about, MacTavish and his men will come and take you to a boat and row you out to the centre of the loch. I want you to know, it willna be a cold death as we use waste heat from the reactatrons to heat the loch. You’ll be weighted down, of course. I wouldna want your bodies floating up and scaring the local children when they go swimming. Think on it.”

McBride left the cellar and the men to their shocked thoughts. Mick and Joe attempted to shout through their gags, but to no avail. They looked at Saunders with accusing eyes, but there was nothing he could do. No matter how hard he struggled against them, his bonds held him fast.

44.
      
Plans

Cam
led the way down the cast iron steps as they headed back towards the railway station trying to avoid being seen. With the men working down in the factory, the risk of detection was far too high for them to go any further.

“And what exactly do you think you are doing?” a familiar voice asked.
Cam
straightened up from her crouched position on the metal stars and grinned sheepishly.

“Oh, good afternoon, Dougal. We took a wrong turn coming out of the railway station and ended up in the factory instead. We didn’t even realize it until we looked out of the windows at the top of the stairs. We felt a bit foolish, so we were hoping to get back to the station without anybody seeing us.”

Cam
knew that as excuses go, that one was pretty feeble, and certainly would not stand up to close examination. Dougal looked far from convinced as he continued to frown severely at her.

Daisy trotted down the stairs followed closely by Ebb and Tricky. Dougal’s face broke into a smile as soon as he saw her.

“Don’t be cross with us, Dougal,” Daisy pleaded. “The boys have been nagging us to see where their older brother works and when we found ourselves in the factory; it seemed too good a chance to miss.”

Dougal’s smile grew warmer as Daisy came over to him and took his hands in hers.

“You will not report us, will you? It would reflect badly on
Arnold
, and his job is so important to him.”

“I will forgive you this once, but you must promise never come into the factory again without supervision. It can be a dangerous place and the workers must wear special protective suits just to be in some parts.”

“Oh, we do promise,” Daisy replied, planting a quick kiss on Dougal’s cheek.
Cam
and the boys nodded their agreement.

“Daisy, if you will do me the honor of visiting me in the castle tonight, I will give you and your family a tour of our newly completed train The Endeavour, and its carriages. It is travelling down to
London
tomorrow for the State Opening of Parliament. Her Majesty and
Prince Albert
have been invited to examine it in the evening. You may have heard how keen
Prince Albert
is on new technology.”

“I would love to visit with you,” Daisy said coyly, “Is there something in particular in the castle that you wish me to see?”

Dougal grinned wickedly, though when he spoke his voice was the essence of innocence.

“I have a fine collection of etchings as it happens. Perhaps you would like to see them?”

“I would like to see the train,” Tricky said loudly. Dougal coughed in embarrassment and looked away from Daisy. He had quite forgotten that there were other people present.

“We saw the train and its carriages from above and it looks most impressive,”
Cam
cut in.

“It is magnificent,” Dougal exclaimed enthusiastically. “Let us not wait until tonight. Come and let me show it to you now.”

Dougal led them through a door and out onto the factory floor. The rail lines the engines and coaches sat on were embedded in the concrete floor so that they were level with it, and there were wide wooden steps beside every door of the carriages so that the workers could get in and out easily. The working area was immaculately clean. The train and its carriages had been painted in lime green embellished with thick gold lines. Even the engine wheels had their spokes coated in gold paint. The McBride family crest was painted across the sides of the engine and on every single carriage. Workers swarmed over the train’s outer surfaces applying wax diligently to make the paintwork sparkle.

Dougal invited them into the unusual sealed cab of the engine and explained how it was controlled. While the girls listened with polite interest, the two boys could barely keep their hands off the controls knobs and levers. Daisy had to speak to them quite severely to stop them attempting to set the train in motion. The reactatron was adjusted to keep the steam levels high as a running-in test and they could have easily started the train had they been allowed.

Dougal took the party into the carriages, which were outfitted in outrageous luxury. Leather chairs had been arranged more as in a parlor than a vehicle. Electric lights in silk shades cast a pleasant glow over the finely polished mahogany surfaces of the fittings. Flock wallpaper, printed with elegant scenes lined the walls of the carriage. The feeling of wealth and opulence the carriage conveyed was almost overwhelming.

“My father has had his own personal railway carriages for some time and the design of these new carriages is the result of all he has learnt from his previous experiences. The next carriage along contains some of the most modern kitchens in the world, while the bedchamber carriage is truly sumptuous.”

“It is a carriage fit for royalty,”
Cam
agreed. “I would not be surprised if Her Majesty was to request a set of carriages once she has seen them for herself.”

“I am sure my father would present the carriages to her as a gift, were she to ask,” Dougal said seriously. “We would only have to repaint the outside.”

“You are very loyal to Her Majesty,” Daisy remarked. “I have recently come to discover that many Scots are not all that fond of the English and their Queen.”

Dougal became somber.

“Her Majesty is a Hanoverian and my sovereign and I would lay down my life for her. But were she of English stock, I would be equally loyal. There are some foolish Scots who hanker for home rule and independence, but we have been part of a
United Kingdom
for centuries. We suffer a little from being far away from
London
, as indeed do
Ireland
,
Wales
and the north of
England
. It is too late to turn back the clock now, we must work together to make
Britain
great.”

“Does your father believe that too?” Daisy asked gently.

“I hope and pray that he does,” Dougal said in a voice as soft as a whisper. “We have not been close in recent years and my mother has become a little obsessive on the subject of Catholicism and its persecution by the English, being a devout Roman Catholic. The English have not always acted in a reasonable matter on that particular subject.”

“The Church of Rome sent armadas of ships and assassins like Guy Fawkes against the English in the past,”
Cam
pointed out.

“Not for over a hundred years though,” Daisy retorted, “Perhaps it is time for us to forgive and forget.”

“My own thoughts exactly,” Dougal said, smiling warmly at Daisy. She returned his smile, equally warmly. “Will you do me the honor of calling on me at nine tonight?”

“I will,” Daisy replied, “I may even take a quick peek at your etchings should circumstances permit.”

Giles Summers and Gordon Kemp left the laboratory with the engineers who retrieved the dantium.
Arnold
suspected that they didn’t trust the engineers to get it over to the factory in one piece and were going along with them simply to make sure it got there.

It took a long time for the engineers to move the dantium dust from the muslin cloth into the airtight lead box they brought with them. They were all aware of the danger of the dust getting onto them, or even worse, reaching their lungs, so the men worked slowly and carefully.

Once the dust was deposited in the box, the engineers washed themselves and the box in the shower room connected directly to the lab. Only after they changed were they ready to move the box to the foundry.

Laura sighed with relief after checking at the lab door to ensure they were out of sight.

“Everything has gone terribly wrong.”

“You must not blame yourself,” Tom said stoutly, “You are a Class A after all, and your mind must have been considering the task on a subconscious level. It was inevitable you would succeed at some point, whether you wanted to or not.”

“Thank you, Tom,” Laura said, patting him on the hand, “However, I am responsible for the things I do, whether I plan them or not. What we must do now is find a way to recover the situation.”

“Now Lord McBride has sufficient material to make his second bomb; how long will it take his engineers to make the cannonballs?”
Arnold
asked.

“We have reason to believe that Lord McBride intends to use the bomb in the next couple of days,” Tom pointed out, “And it will take him the best part of a day to get the bomb from here to
London
. I think that means that he expects the bomb to be completed by tomorrow morning.”

“Therefore we must act tonight and steal the bomb before he has a chance to use it,” Laura told them.

“Cam and Daisy are investigating the railway timetable to see when trains leave Glen Russell,”
Arnold
explained. “They also intended to send a telegram to Trelawney first thing this morning.”

“We cannot expect Trelawney to race to our rescue,” Tom stated, “He has no idea how serious the situation is, and he would need the permission of the Prime Minister to arrest someone of Lord McBride’s status.”

Laura’s fist hit the bench as she vented her frustration.

“We cannot wait until tomorrow to do something. We must strike tonight and if there is no train available to escape on, then we must hide the bomb and face the consequences.”

“Lord McBride will kill us if we steal his bomb and get caught, or more likely he will torture me until you tell him where it is hidden,” Tom informed Laura tonelessly.

“Then you will suffer terrible pain and may die, Tom, because I will not allow him to destroy
London
and all the people in it just to save your life.”

“He will certainly kill me and the girls,”
Arnold
pointed out, “We are of no value to him.”

“I will steal the bomb on my own, if I must,” Laura said defiantly. “I will not let this explosion happen regardless of the cost.”

“Of course we will steal the bomb with you, Laura,”
Arnold
said wearily, “You are the weakest link in the plan though. If we are captured and you cannot bear to see us tortured and killed without revealing where we have hidden it, then we will certainly die for nothing. Are you sure you are strong enough, Laura?”

Laura looked at him through eyes puffy with emotion. “Yes,” she said simply.

“Then we have a plan,” Tom said bleakly. “
Arnold
, can you get back here with the others at ten tonight?”

“If we cannot, then we would not be very good at the spy game, would we?”
Arnold
replied dryly. “Why here though and not the factory?”

“I was given a full tour of the factory by Lord McBride yesterday and know where the device is being constructed. You and the others have never been in the factory and it is a massive place. The Laboratory is the one place we all know the location of, so we should meet here or just outside it, if it is locked. I can lead us directly to the bomb.”

“You always were good at plans, Tom,”
Arnold
said. “We shall be here at ten tonight. Try to stop Laura from making you late.”

Laura punched
Arnold
lightly on the arm and the three grinned at each other. It was decided and all they had to do now was to make the plan work.