He wished he could reassure them with his usual glib confidence. He managed a smile. “Soon, we’ll be safe on board.”
The observation brought him little relief, powerfully countered as it was by the knowledge, born of long experience, that during a mission, safety was an illusion until they stood on British soil.
And even then.
From the children’s expressions, they’d been infected by his tension. Diana certainly had, along with Helga. Both women were on guard and alert as they glanced his way.
Obligingly, he stated the details Diana had omitted, namely that they would leave the inn in a carriage and be driven to the edge of the area behind the docks. “From there, we’ll walk to where the ship will be moored. By the time we reach the gangplank, theIrish Roseshould be almost fully reloaded and ready to cast off the instant we whisk on board.”
He and Diana had mentally walked every step, availing themselves of every possible precaution that might help them get their family to the ship undetected.
He looked at each face turned his way. “Are we ready, then?”
It transpired that Evelyn had to visit the water closet one last time, and Diana went with her. Helga seized the moment to give Bruno one last walk around the inn’s yard.
With the boys, Toby transferred the luggage to the inn’s covered porch. Straightening, he glanced at the stable. “They’ll bring the coach out soon.”
Roland looked in the same direction. “Once Evelyn and Mama return.”
Toby glanced at the boy and, in his expression, saw no consciousness of what he’d just said.
Remembering well enough what it was like to be that age, Toby paused, then crouched and beckoned both boys close. Through the dimness, he met their eyes. “I need you both to be on guard, and if anything happens to hold me back—for instance, if someone gets in my way—I want you two to help protect the women. Evelyn, Diana, and Helga. If anything happens, I need you two to keep them moving and get them on the ship.” He looked from one serious face to the other. “All right?”
Solemnly, both boys nodded.
Toby nodded in acknowledgment and rose. If something did happen, his instructions would give the boys something to do—some way to act and contribute that, he hoped, would keep them out of any more dangerous engagement.
The inn’s door opened, and Evelyn, as usual clutching Rupert the Bear, emerged, followed by Diana.
They’d already said their goodbyes to the Martins. Toby raised his hand in a signal to the stable, and seconds later, an old and entirely unremarkable carriage rolled out and halted before them.
Between Toby and the boys, they loaded their bags and cases into the carriage. Helga returned with Bruno, and both clambered inside. The boys followed. Toby lifted Evelyn in, then gave his hand to Diana and steadied her up the steps.
A distant bell tolled, marking the hour—eleven o’clock.
Throughout, Toby had been scanning the street beyond the yard’s entrance, but there was no one around to see them leaving. Looking up, he nodded to the coachman. “You know where to stop.”
The Martins’ eldest son, his face obscured by a woolen scarf and a hat pulled low on his forehead, saluted and lifted the reins.
Toby climbed into the carriage, sat, and shut the door, and the carriage rolled forward, then rocked onto the cobbled street.
Diana was seated beside him. He felt her gaze trace his face, then she leant lightly against him and murmured, “We’ve done the best we can.”
But will it be enough?
He didn’t know. Couldn’t know.
Wrapped in shadows, he leant back against the seat and watched the streetscapes scroll past as he and his family rattled off on the penultimate and potentially most dangerous leg of their long and protracted flight to safety.
CHAPTER16
The coach halted several blocks away from the wharf where theIrish Rosewould be mooring. Toby’s chosen drop-off point lay in a residential neighborhood that was filled with fishermen’s and stevedores’ cottages. The area backed onto the higgledy-piggledy conglomeration of warehouses that clustered around the docks.
As quietly as they could, they descended from the carriage and retrieved their bags, then the Martins’ son tipped his whip to them and drove away.
After looking around and exchanging glances, using hand signals, Toby encouraged the group to hoist their bags. As arranged, the company formed up with him in the lead, followed by Diana and Evelyn, then Roland and Bryce, with Helga and Bruno bringing up the rear. Toby was counting on Bruno raising the alarm should anyone try to creep up behind them.
After running his eye over the group, Toby nodded in approval, then turned and led the way into the maze of deeply shadowed alleys.
