The Spellbinder (Tom & Laura Series) (17 page)

“Get rid of the bodies,” the Captain shouted in an accent Snood didn’t instantly recognize.

Men picked up the bodies of the smugglers and crew and unceremoniously dragged them to the edge of the dock. There was the sound of a shot from the fishing boat and Snood was certain another smuggler had just been found. A rowing boat at the back of the fishing boat was pulled across to the dock and bodies began to be piled into it.

“Take them out of the cave and ditch them,” the Captain ordered. He turned towards Snood and the Headmaster.

“Good shooting, Turner. That saved us a mite of trouble.”

Snood finally recognized the Captain’s accent as American. He had met one of two of them in
London
.

“Please use our cover names, Captain,” the Headmaster said severely.

“As you wish, it makes no never-mind to me. We’ll hole up for the night in the cave and unload the ‘Pride’. You make sure that little Class A doesn’t do anything we might regret. You sure you can do that Glen…, Snood.”

“Of course.” Snood knew a confident answer was required and always aimed to please when he was outnumbered.

“Good accent, Glen. I’d almost believe you were a Limey if I didn’t know better.”

The Captain stood with his hands on his hips staring at them and they got the message. The trip back to the cellar was fast and uneventful. They went out to find the body of the man the Headmaster had shot, but though there was plenty of blood on the grass, he couldn’t be found. The Headmaster muttered a curse that a sailor would have been proud of.

“No matter, he will not have gone far. I am sure his wounds will kill him by morning. Snood, you are to tutor Miss Young in the afternoon and then tie her up; keeping her away from anything that might be used to form a bind. Do not damage her in any way. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir, tie her up and don’t let her bind anything.”

“Good. Best get back and get some sleep then. We shall have a busy day tomorrow.”

Chapter 20
   
Choices

Cam
, Tom, and Laura had arranged to go down to the Mess together for breakfast. They had talked long into the night before finally retiring to bed. Tom yawned as he struggled to wake up and get dressed. When he knocked on Laura’s door she was ready to go and looked fully refreshed.

“How does she manage to look like that on four hours sleep?” he asked himself in a whisper as Laura dragged him to
Cam
’s room.

Tom didn’t ask about
Leon
when
Cam
opened her bedroom door. She invited them in while she finished getting dressed, and there was no sign the man had ever been in the room.

Hobsgate was a military academy and there was no question that all forms of sexual liaisons between students were completely against the rules and possibly the law. But that they took place was hardly much of a surprise. With its students aged between nineteen and twenty two it was amazing how discrete they were. Before last night, Tom had seen nothing to suggest that anything was going on in the school.

Cam and Laura hugged each other tightly and
Cam
smiled at Tom.

“I’ll think of some way to get Snood for you, just you wait and see,”
Cam
whispered in Laura’s ear.

“Don’t you dare, Camilla. I can look after myself.”

Cam
voice rose in excitement. “I still can’t believe there are traitors in MM3.”

Tom shushed Cam and looked around the room as though there might be spies hiding under
Cam
’s bed. It occurred to him that there might very well be a man under
Cam
’s bed for all he knew.

“I can keep a secret,”
Cam
replied defensively before adding
‘I think’
under her breath. “And I can’t wait to become friends with Mick.”

“Laura needs to walk with a limp and act injured so Snood doesn’t get suspicious,” Tom reminded them. It was something they had agreed was necessary last night. It would reinforce the illusion of a bruised bottom.

“I know just the way to do it,”
Cam
said and reached for her sewing kit. “Tricks of the stage, I picked up during the summer.”

Cam
proceeded to lift Laura’s skirts and put a few pins through her drawers. The pins tightened up one side of her underwear making it uncomfortable for her to walk while the ends of the pins meant that sitting down would contain more than an element of risk.

“You’ll find limping and wincing comes completely natural now I’ve done that,”
Cam
said as she dropped Laura’s skirt back into place.

Laura tried a couple of steps and suppressed a scream as one of the pins pricked in a very delicate place. Tom had to put a hand over his mouth to stop from laughing out loud.

“We’ll be late for breakfast if we don’t get a move on,” he pointed out. The bell calling them to the Mess had rung some time before.

Cam
sniffed, “Isn’t that typical of a man? They might be late for a wedding or a war, but never for a meal.” Despite her words she hurried to the door and strode down the corridor with Laura and Tom having to run to catch up. Laura ended up a long way behind the others as running turned out to be highly inadvisable after
Cam
’s pinwork.

Breakfast was its usual bedlam.
Leon
sat at a table across the room with his back to them. Tom wasn’t sure if that was just him acting to cover up his relationship with
Cam
or whether he was genuinely upset. Whichever way it was it didn’t seem to bother
Cam
in the slightest and she never looked in his direction.

They only had one lesson that morning and then the rest of the morning was free.
Cam
wanted to be introduced to Mick as soon as possible, so they resolved to try and find him as soon as the strategy lesson finished.

Snood saw Tom and Laura enter the Mess. He moved back from where he stood to make sure they didn’t see them. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Laura walking almost normally. The Carter boy must have attempted to heal her and didn’t finish the job. He felt a warm wash of gratitude to the boy, only slightly tempered by his hatred of him.

The events of the night had changed Snood. He killed individuals for money, but what he had seen the previous night was wholesale indiscriminate slaughter, and the people responsible for it scared him. They killed their own side when they became inconvenient. He remembered the looks on the sailors’ faces as their captain shot them. They had known they were going to die even as they knew their wounds were not serious enough on their own to kill them.

These people with their American accents and strange boats were not the slightest bit British. Snood didn’t think of himself as a patriot, but the Brotherhood was British to its core. It didn’t do things it felt would seriously threaten the Empire. The purpose of the Brotherhood was to provide its members with the money they needed to enjoy the many delights the Empire offered. They might be criminals, but they knew they were were upper class British criminals.

Most of all, he found that he wanted to spite the Captain and his men for being foreign and for trying to kill him on the train. The Captain was frightened of Laura and it would be to Snood’s advantage if he kept him that way. Snood was damned if he was going to give them Laura for
‘the American cause’
. She was worth a fortune if delivered to the Brotherhood at the right time and place. No, he was going to help Laura escape these foreigners. To do that he had to make sure she listened to him, and more importantly, believed what he said.

Back at the friend’s breakfast table, a serving maid walked up to
Cam
and handed her a note.

“What that?” Laura asked.

Cam
scanned the note and sighed.

“I’ve received an important letter. I have to go up to the office to collect it.”

Cam
looked worried at the news and Laura and Tom knew why. An important letter usually meant bad news.

“I will see you later. I have to go.”
Cam
stood up with her fists clenched tightly together and walked out of the room.

Snood watched the interchange and when
Cam
walked away he saw an opportunity to talk to Laura while she was off her guard. He walked imperiously up to her table

“Miss Young, I want to see you in my study… now,” he said curtly and then walked away without waiting for a reply. Laura jumped as he spoke and was instantly terrified again. She looked at Tom in horror.

“What shall I do?”

Tom made a quick decision.

“Go. I shall come with you and wait outside his door. If I hear anything untoward…,” Tom paused,
‘what would he do?’
“I shall come in and distract him, perhaps threaten him. I’ll think of something, you’ll see.”

“Thank you, darling Thomas.” Laura leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “We had better hurry though. I don’t want to give Snood any excuse to beat me again.”

Snood paced his study waiting for Laura to arrive.
‘Drat it all, where was the girl?’
There was a knock at the door and Laura entered, her eyes focused on the floor.

“I see you have recovered somewhat”
‘Damn, why did he always start these conversations with her so badly?’
Snood cursed his inability to talk to the girl without it coming out all wrong.

“Would you like to see your handiwork, sir,” Laura said meekly and before he could stop her she had dropped her drawers and lifted her skirts to display her bottom. It looked awful to Snood. She must be in dreadful pain.

“No. Sort your clothing out. I have something important to tell you,”
‘Damn, damn what was he saying now?’
“Miss Young, listen carefully. You are in great danger.”

This was not what Laura was expecting to hear and she wondered what Snood was up to.

“You must leave Hobsgate today, tell no one. Well, you may tell Carter if he chooses to go with you. The Headmaster ordered me to hogtie you this afternoon so you could not use binds against them.”

Laura’s face must have showed her astonishment and Snood tried to place more emphasis on his words.
‘She must understand.’

“This is not a joke. Something bad will happen to you if you stay at Hobsgate. Trust no members of the teaching staff. You must leave today.”

“Why shouldn’t I go to the Headmaster and tell him what you have just said?”

Laura felt confused. She hated this man, and he nearly killed her yesterday. Now he wanted to save her from unknown enemies? It made no sense.

“Because then the Headmaster will hurt you and kill me,” Snood let his exasperation show in his voice. “You are a Class A. There are many people who want you and fear you. You have no idea.”

“I don’t understand.”

Snood towered over her, shaking with rage and fear. “If you go to the Headmaster I will tell him you are trying to make me look bad. He will send you back to me and I will beat you to death. Do you understand? You have no choice. You must leave.”

He looked at her with eyes that suggested he was close to madness, and he seemed to have covered all the options as far as Laura could tell. If she didn’t run, she would face the cane from him again and this time he would kill her.

“I will leave. Tom will come with me.”

“Good. Attend the first lesson. Then leave this place, take nothing, just go.” Snood knew she needed to get far away from here and that would take hours. “I will try and give you the extra time you’ll need.”

Strangely, Laura found that she believed him. She could see the relief in his eyes once she accepted she had to leave. Could the Headmaster of Hobsgate really be an enemy of the state? It seemed so unlikely.

Laura turned and walked out of the study. Tom was waiting anxiously outside and she nearly walked into him.

“What happened?”

Laura pulled Tom down the corridor without stopping to explain. They had only minutes to get to the first lesson.

“I’ll tell you later. After the lesson.”

Cam
got to the door to the classroom at the same time as them. She seemed extremely excited.

“Got news” she told them as they ran to their places for Mrs. Trenchard’s class.