Inferno

Chapter 90

Kydd knew the charade could play out over weeks or months if Bonaparte’s agents didn’t end it first. He’d kept his word to Bernadotte but his attempt to save the King of France had been disdained, so he could depart with a clear conscience. When Dillon heard what had happened, he agreed there was nothing else to do but prepare to leave.

The morning was grey and dull, suiting Kydd’s mood. The coachman chatted to Dillon in German, letting it be known that a return to Libau instead of the crowded squalor of Riga had much to commend it.

As the quaint-coloured houses gave way to fields they lurched to a stop and the coachman shouted down.

‘He says someone follows,’ Dillon said darkly.

The sound of a galloping horse closing with the carriage grew louder and Kydd leaned out of the window to see a single rider, who was up with them in a crash of hoofs. A sealed note was thrust at him, the horse gyrating in impatience as Kydd tore it open.

It was from Marie-Therese: ‘Return, I beg you. Everything has changed. We have desperate need of you.’

Did this mean …?

‘Take us to the palace!’ Kydd ordered.

Outwardly all was calm as a blank-faced major-domo escorted him to the quarters of the Duc d’Angouleme.

She was waiting for him. After a warning look to remain silent until they were alone, she said flatly, ‘You were right. They are here, now. A spy has reported seeing Lecoq – one of Fouche’s assassins – in a nearby village. There’s a coach-and-six with him.’

The fastest mode of transport, impossible to catch in pursuit.

‘The King?’

‘He’s prostrated in dread – his memories. He desires nothing more than to be taken from here by any means.’

The whites of her eyes were showing – this woman of any would know what it was to live in terror.

‘My frigate lies at Libau. On board he’ll be perfectly safe, I do assure you.’

Marie-Therese paced nervously about the room. ‘To get him out of the palace will be hard. If he’s seen to be fleeing it will cause chaos, panic. And it will tell Lecoq all he needs to know. We must think.’

Her husband entered, distraught and unsure.

Glancing at him, she came to a decision. ‘Yes. We will move immediately. Captain, if by some means we bring the King to you in hiding as it were, would you take him with you to your ship?’

Kydd bowed. ‘Yes, Madame.’

She considered for a moment, then went to an ornate desk and wrote something on a slip of paper. ‘Give this to your coachman and tell him to wait in the courtyard of this house.’

‘Your Royal Highness, I-’

‘Leave now, and you will not be suspected. We will meet again in happier times, you may be sure.’