“You have done exactly what I asked you not to!”
Lord Danbury flicked his beady black eyes over the piece of paper and then up and over toward Marcus and Lucas, both of whom he’d summoned to the War Office in light of last night’s events. “You have let the whole situation get out of hand! Imagine my surprise last night, upon hearing that a peer of the Realm was murdered at the theater. Absolutely terrible. Which lord was it again that was killed?” He waved his arms about, asking his question to Sir William and Sir Albert, who were also present.
Marcus refrained from a scathing response at the man’s inability to even remember Lord Burton’s name. Danbury was an incompetent fool, a fact Marcus should be used to by now, but was still hard to swallow.
A glimpse of weary acceptance passed between Sir Albert and Sir William, who were both sitting on the settee to the side of Danbury’s desk, which Marcus and Lucas stood in front of, while Lord Danbury reclined in his chair behind the desk.
Sir Albert cleared his throat. “It was Lord Burton, my lord. He did some work for us a few years back.”
“Ah yes, so it was,” Lord Danbury exclaimed. “And to top it all off, the two of you were there and unable to stop such an occurrence.” His ire was directed solely at Marcus and Lucas. “What on earth happened? Why did the two of you let this blasted Chameleon kill him? Very bad business indeed. Reflects poorly on the entire department, even if neither of you are official employees as such.”
“Well, Westwood?” As predicted, Lord Danbury directed his attention onto Marcus, his asinine face peering at him in suspicion. “What can you tell me of this debacle?”
“Apart from what’s in the report, Danbury, there’s not a great deal more to tell.” Honestly, the man was pushing his already pushed patience to the limit. He didn’t assist the government on occasion only to be subjected to such ignorance by Danbury. “Perhaps you should be more concerned over your own safety and the others on the Chameleon’s list.”
“My own safety?” Lord Danbury furrowed his brows and scowled.
Marcus was somewhat taken aback at the man’s confusion. “I thought I made it plain in my report.”
“There’s your first mistake!” Danbury exclaimed. “You didn’t expect me to read the thing, did you? Good Lord, that’s why I asked you in here, to give me a verbal report instead.”
“You summoned me in here to have me read my report aloud to you?” Marcus clenched his fists by his sides.
The man stiffened. “Steady on now, Westwood. A peer of the realm was just assassinated. Clearly, I must have a report in person. I need to know who is responsible for this debacle. The queen expects a full accounting from me regarding the situation.”
“Then perhaps a good starting place for you would have been to actually read the report I wrote in the first instance, instead of lazily asking me for a verbal one,” Marcus thundered.
“I never!” Danbury gasped.
“And if you had read the report, you would know you, too, are on the Chameleon’s assassination list.” Marcus looked over at both Sir William and Sir Albert, who were extremely used to Danbury’s drivel. “I have no time to waste on this nonsense. There’s an assassin on the loose who is targeting all of you. Do you really want me in here wasting my time with this fool, or out there trying to find him?”
Lord Danbury spluttered, “How dare yo—”
“How dare I?” Westwood turned his eyes back to Danbury and roared, “If you dare to ever summon me here again to give you a verbal reading of my report, you will damn well be sorry.”
“Westwood,” Sir Albert interrupted as he jumped up and stepped forward with his hands held up in surrender. “Lord Danbury is just trying to—”
“Waste my time? Well, he’s doing a good job of it.”
Beside Sir Albert, Sir William began to laugh but quickly covered it up with a cough.
Lord Danbury pushed back his chair and stood to his full five feet nine inches. “Westwood, I will not tolerate this insolence. We may be of the same rank, but in this office, I am the Secretary of State for War. You will respect that. And stop trying to pretend I’m on some assassin’s list. I do not find such a jest in good taste at all.”
Marcus stalked over to the other side of Danbury’s desk and grabbed the man’s jacket lapels, hauling him off his feet. Danbury’s mouth flopped open, apparently at a loss for words. Finally. “It is no damn jest, Secretary. You’re one of the Chameleon’s targets. As are Sir William and Sir Albert.”
Danbury could only utter a squeak and shake his head. Returning him to his feet, Marcus let go of the man’s jacket and stepped backward.
Lord Danbury cowered where he stood, no courage to do anything but mumble, “I didn’t realize I was a target…”
“You are, and you have wasted enough of my time here.” Marcus straightened and turned on his heel. He marched over to the door and indicated with a nod of his head for Lucas to follow. He stopped and turned back to face them. “Security has been arranged for all of you. Don’t be stupid and do keep your eyes open. I’ll send word if there’s news and I’ll speak with you two later.” He directed the last part at Sir Albert and Sir William.
Stepping out into the corridor, he strode away. What a bloody waste of time that had been. He shook his head, wondering not for the first time, what the queen had been thinking when she appointed that sniveling fool to the position. The world wouldn’t be a worse place without the man in it, that was certain.
Lucas hurried to catch up. “That meeting was a smashing success! I particularly liked the part where you had him dangling in the air for a moment. Don’t think that’s ever happened to him before.”
A few seconds later, a voice called out from behind them, “Westwood! Cantfield!”
They both paused in mid-stride and turned back to see Sir Albert’s rotund frame rushing down the corridor toward them. “Do wait a moment, please!”
Marcus folded his arms across his chest as the man hurried over, stopping a few feet from them. Sir Albert, though practical and usually level-headed, was still Danbury’s right-hand man.
“I’m sorry for Lord Danbury’s lack of…” His voice, which was slightly puffed, trailed off. “Well, um his…everything. He’s currently mulling over the new information.”
“Cowering in a corner of his office, is he?” Marcus asked.
“Goodness no!” Sir Albert reprimanded. “Under his desk.” He smiled at them. “He’ll be easy enough to sort out and will gladly accept the security detail arranged for him. However, Sir William is not being equally as compliant.”
Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Refusing to accept his life is in danger?”
“No, he believes that,” Sir Albert replied. “He just doesn’t believe he needs any security.”
“The man is stubborn,” Lucas chirped in.
“Yes.” Sir Albert paused. “Are you certain the three of us were listed? Fullbrink didn’t make some sort of mistake?”
“When does Fullbrink ever make a mistake?”
“Yes, true.” Sir Albert seemed troubled, which was to be expected of anyone who’d only recently found out they were on an assassin’s list of targets. And not just any assassin either, but the Chameleon. “All of the resources of the Department will be at your disposal. Anything you need to find this villain you will have. Just come to me, not Danbury. I daresay his mind won’t be on the job until the situation is resolved.”
“Good,” Marcus affirmed. That meant he’d be dealing with someone who could get things done. “If anything did happen to the three of you, who would be in charge of the War Office?”
“I’m not sure,” Sir Albert said, his eyes wide with the possibility. “Surely, you can’t suspect someone from the Department itself has paid for these assassinations?”
“It’s a possibility,” Marcus replied. “The three of you hold the most power, so who would benefit from your deaths?”
Sir Albert tapped his foot on the floor for a moment as he considered Marcus’s question. “No one, really. You see, if something were to happen to Danbury, then I would be in charge, and then if something were to befall me, Sir William would take the reins. And if something were to also happen to Sir William, then I imagine one of the other department heads would be appointed for a short period until a new secretary was decided upon. But you see, no one would permanently get the position, after Sir William. Even then, my appointment or Sir William’s would only be final if confirmed by the queen.”
“Hmm…” Marcus rubbed his jaw as he thought over Sir William’s words. Nothing quite made sense. “Burton’s death is an outlier. He had nothing to do with the chain of command, so why was he murdered? What work did he do for the War Office?”
“Nothing of significance, well, except for a few years back, when he brought Sir William some information.” Sir Albert paused, his eyes probing Marcus. “We didn’t tell you at the time as we didn’t wish you to seek any sort of revenge, but considering Burton is now dead, I don’t think it will hurt to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Already, Marcus was annoyed at the thought of being purposefully kept in the dark.
“Burton was the one to witness your brother selling secrets to the Russians.”
It felt like a dagger had been shoved into his stomach, but outwardly Marcus’s only reaction to the news was to inhale a slightly sharper breath. “You believed him?”
“I didn’t interview him,” Sir Albert confessed. “Sir William did, and apparently the evidence he presented was convincing enough to warrant action, particularly considering Nathaniel had already fled the country to Paris. Which is why Sir William sent some men to retrieve him to answer questions regarding treason, and the Earl of Montrose was the one chosen to lead the team.”
“You should have sent me.” Marcus had been in Germany at the time hunting for the Chameleon after Elizabeth’s murder.
“Would you have been impartial?”
“No, because my brother was no traitor. He was framed.” The cold, hard anger always simmering below the surface regarding Nathaniel was threatening to spill over. And the fact that the man who had accused him was now dead at the hands of the Chameleon could be no coincidence.
Sir Albert sighed. “Which is why we couldn’t send you. And I know you want to believe the best of your brother, but the evidence was overwhelming regarding his treachery. It was all we could do to suppress the matter after his death to stop your family suffering any further shame. Let the past rest, Westwood. No good comes of dredging it up. In any event, we need to get back to the matter at hand, which does require an urgent response. The War Office seems to be under attack, albeit covertly. We must catch the Chameleon.”
“It’s my priority.” Catching the Chameleon would most certainly let the past rest, as Marcus would be damn certain to get answers from the man. Then the true traitor would be revealed, and his brother could rest in peace.
A look of grim acceptance filled Sir Albert’s face. “Good. Now, what do you need? Just say the word. Though, before we do anything else, can you both come and speak to Sir William with me? We must convince him to allow us to place a security detail upon him, for his own protection. You know how stubborn he can be about such things.”
Pulling out his fob watch from his pocket, Marcus noted the time. He’d received a note from Kat’s butler earlier, explaining that she was visiting a bookstore in Paddington following a lead, and had asked him to attend. But Sir William’s life was in jeopardy and the man would take some convincing to accept a security retinue, of that, Marcus was certain.
Marcus nodded curtly. “Very well, we’ll accompany you to speak with him.” And after, he would go and see what sort of mess Kat had gotten herself into, for when did she not get into some sort of trouble? The woman was a veritable magnet for the stuff, and though he was coming to accept she could protect herself, he still didn’t like the thought of her out and about, traipsing through London while an assassin was on the loose. It was troubling, just like the woman herself.
Particularly after what had occurred between them last night, which had completely changed the dynamic between them, and even though he’d felt protective of her before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. But, hopefully, she wouldn’t get into too much trouble in a bookstore.