Chapter Seven
"Get them," Ratigan commanded.
Basil scanned our surroundings, an impromptu plan forming in his mind.
"Anyone have a knife?" Basil asked as the thugs approached.
Dawson, Igor and I shook our heads.
"Dawson, where's your pistol?"
"Right here," Dawson said, withdrawing it from the folds of his coat. He placed it on Basil's outstretched palm.
Basil raised the gun above his head and aimed for some barrels strung together on top of some crates overheard. He aimed and pulled the trigger.
BANG! BANG! BANG! The ropes fell away and the barrels tumbled towards us.
The thugs screamed and ran for cover.
"No, you idiots! Get them! Get them!" Ratigan screamed. A barrel knocked him over.
We dodged barrels and ran through the passage.
I hardly remember our flight. All I know is that Basil supported me with his left hand, helping me along as we flew through the pipes. I felt lighthearted and free.
We burst out into daylight, and I immediately closed my eyes to the bright sun. I gradually eased them open to take my first look at freedom.
That evening, after everything had been explained to the police (Igor's escape had left a considerable hole in the wall of the jail) and Rahle had been released, all of us were back at Baker Street to discuss what had happened and what we could do next.
I sat in Basil's armchair, drinking some tea and trying to get a bitter taste out of my mouth. Li Yan sat at my feet, her grandfather next to her. The Flavershams were on the sofa along with Mrs. Judson. Igor and Rahle stood in front of the fireplace, the latter glaring at Basil because he thought the detective had purposefully left him in jail. Isabelle sat in Dawson's chair, Dawson standing behind her like a rearguard. Basil paced the length of the room, all eyes on him.
"Ratigan is definitely furious right now," Basil said as he paced the room.
"He will always be furious," Dawson said. "Everyone in this room is now a target if they were not already."
"Yes, but I am not too concerned about that. It seems to me that kidnapping or harming people is not as easy as it once was for Ratigan. He could have easily attacked us at certain times, and never did."
"What do you mean?" Isabelle asked.
"I will try to explain. Now, I have always been his enemy. Dawson has been in as much danger as I ever since the Diamond Jubilee five years ago. Hiram and Olivia Flaversham have been in danger for as long as Dawson due to their participation in Ratigan's fall after the disaster of the Diamond Jubilee. Mrs. Judson is indirectly a target due to her role as the landlady here at Baker Street. Meg here has been involved with Ratigan ever since the plan to take over Denmark failed. The rest of you were relatively safe until this incident."
"Yes, we all know that," said Isabelle. "But I still don't understand what you meant when you said that Ratigan could have easily attacked each of you, but failed to."
"I am getting to that, Miss Fremly," said Basil. "Ratigan's latest planned scheme against any of us was when he kidnapped the Flavershams in America, which from the evidence provided took years for him to plan. He didn't move any more quickly because he was afraid of being caught; he wanted it to be flawless. And it was nearly flawless. He accounted for everything except Meg's presence, which was purely accidental and unplanned. The last time he attacked before then was last October, when…" he stopped, and sighed. "When Josh Havers was killed."
"What about the Colhart case?" Dawson asked.
"Ratigan didn't plan from the beginning, so I discount that as a direct attack against us. He was an opportunist, using Colhart's schemes against the Duchess to frame Meg as a murderer. It was Colhart's men working on his orders that resulted in the assault upon you and Mrs. Judson, not Ratigan. And it was Colhart who tried to kill me, Colhart who captured Meg and I, and Colhart who killed the Duchess. Ratigan had very little to do with that.
"Anyway, Ratigan has been taking much longer to plan any crimes against any of us than he used to when he first became my nemesis so many years ago. Back then schemes of his often occurred monthly. Now they are sometimes taking as long as half a year for him to plan and carry out."
"Those fiends got into this flat with a bit of pre-planning and luck. The Master was away in Sussex, his first case in a few months, so they waited for an opportunity when the male presence would be gone from the flat. That chance came when we went to assist with the train accident. They drugged Toby and then waited for him to sleep. They then tied him up and entered through the Master's flat into ours, perfectly undetected. And, as luck would have it, they had only three grown women to contend with. I hope I do not offend any of you ladies in saying that most men are stronger than women. In saying that is true, I also am saying that it was all too easy for them to take all of you without too much difficulty."
He looked to me appealingly, as if I had been the target of offence from that comment. I nodded, making my head throb. "I remember Ratigan himself saying something to that extent to me once before. And I believe it."
"Well, they did take us, and by surprise too," Isabelle said. "We've established that."
"So where do we go from here?" Dawson asked. "We're all safe and sound. What can we do to prevent this or something worse from happening again?"
I took a sip from my cup of tea, trying to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. My head spun slightly. I leaned against the chair and closed my eyes, hoping that would make it go away.
Basil frowned, looking up at the portrait of Ratigan. "It is usually Ratigan's custom, after a defeat, to sit and brood over it for awhile. But given enough reflection over his battered ego, he will be up to something again. Everyone here should learn to use a weapon, and soon, to defend himself... or herself."
"What about Olivia and Li Yan?" Flaversham asked.
Basil looked from Olivia to Flaversham. "Flaversham, what Olivia is allowed to do is entirely up to you. If she ever needs trained, Dawson or Liang or I would be more than happy to help."
"Oh yes Daddy!" Olivia exclaimed.
"I know kung fu!" Li Yan said excitedly.
"I can use a sword," I offered. "But I'm usually not near one whenever I most need it."
"Perhaps you need to learn how to use a gun," Basil suggested, smiling.
"A gun? I've already shot Ratigan once. I don't feel comfortable doing it again."
"Why?" Igor, Flaversham, Olivia, Isabelle, and Basil demanded. The others, Mrs. Judson, Dawson, Rahle, Liang, and Li Yan seemed appalled. I was seeing black spots.
"Cold-blooded murder? We'd be as bad as Ratigan!" Mrs. Judson cried.
"He doesn't deserve to live!" Igor shouted.
"That is not for us to decide," Liang said in his quiet way.
"Hold on!" I broke in. "When I took the lantern from Igor, when he and Rahle were helping the five of us escape from Ratigan's lair, I almost fell from a pipe. I was hanging from the side, sewer water pouring on me and threatening to loosen my grip when Ratigan came and pulled me up. But he thought that Mrs. Judson, Li Yan, Isabelle, and Olivia had fallen down into the sewers. He was leaning over the edge, trying to find them. I was right next to him. I could have pushed him. I thought about it, I yearned to do it, but I did not. I did not. I could not. I..." I stood up and wobbled. My arms reached out to the back of Basil's armchair for support. The black spots began to grow, and the shapes in front of me became fuzzy. "I could not take his life without giving him a chance to defend himself. I can't explain it."
"Meg, he did not give Josh a chance," Basil's voice came from a fuzzy shape that was quickly melding into the other shapes around it. I started to sway, as if the earth had tilted violently away from its normal position on its axis. Then suddenly I felt nothing, only hearing a crash and a shriek.
Basil ran forward as Meg fell, knocking a table over. He caught her just before she hit the ground.
"Doctor!"
Dawson was immediately at his side, his hand on Meg's forehead. "She has a high fever." He opened her mouth, and saw brown fuzz on her tongue.
"It's the typhoid," he said quietly. "Probably from contaminated sewer water."
Igor's head bent down. "Juliana," he whispered.
My eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the yellow light of a gas lantern. The rotund form of Dr. Dawson gradually came into focus. I was lying on a bed, covered with many blankets. I looked around the room; the walls were covered in dark green wallpaper instead of the yellow wallpaper of my own bedroom.
When he saw I had awakened Dawson set down a heavy volume on the ground and pushed his chair closer to me.
"Where am I?"
"In Basil's room." Dawson smiled, laying a hand on my forehead. "Rest. You're going to need your strength."
Day melted into night, night into day. Shapes moved around me. People kept coming in and picking me up, changing the sheets, bathing me. There was always someone with me, usually Mrs. Judson, Dawson or Isabelle. Basil sometimes came. How long did he stay? Sometimes it seemed like a minute, sometimes an eternity. How much time had passed?
In the darkness. A monster came out from under my bed. It came towards me, started to chase me over the rooftops of London. I tried to get away and screamed for help. I looked back, tripped and fell. The monster materialized. It was James Ratigan. He was going to tear me limb from limb, leave my legs in the gutter, my liver on a front stoop, my heart on the sidewalk, my blood streaming from the broken pieces of my body into the gutters, down the drains into the sewers, and diluted out into the river. I tried again to get away from such a fate, but Basil and Dawson grabbed my arms and held me back.
"He's going to kill me! Don't let him kill me!"
They tried to tell me that he was not going to hurt me; that he was not there. But he was right there, always coming closer. Why could they not see him?
Then he suddenly disappeared. Instead, I was floating, floating above a farm. It was my father's farm. I was on the ground. Father and the hired boy were working in the fields. I ran out to him and embraced him. "Hello, my little flower," Father said. He picked me up and swung me around. I giggled, drunk with happiness.
Father led me into the old farmhouse. I sniffed the air, the fresh bread baking in the oven. There was the old painted chest in the corner, the two silver candlesticks on the table, my little truckle bed in the corner.
And there was Mother, kneading dough for more bread. I ran up to her; she planted a kiss on my head and gave me an apple. But the apple soon melted away. That was all right. Mother and Father are here, and there is no need for apples.
Mother had my right hand, Father my left. We walked through the fields. There was a gate ahead. Beyond it I saw a wonderful garden full of beautiful flowers. I pull their arms, trying to hurry them along. Father and Mother let go of my hands and walked into the garden. They waved for me to follow them.
I took a few steps, but the sound of crying stops me. Who needed comfort? He was calling my name.
Mother and Father gave me sad looks. I extended my hands out to them, but they shook their heads and turned their backs on me, walking away. I ran towards them, but the garden disappeared into blackness.
"Meg, Meg, please listen! Do not go!" It is the same voice that called my name earlier. Now it surrounds me with the blackness.
"My God, You cannot take her yet, not until she knows that I love her! I love her with all of my being! Oh, what a miserable fool I am! Meg..." the speaker broke into sobs.
"Megana, please listen. I will protect you from Ratigan, from anyone who may try to hurt you. But please, live. Don't go. Meg!"
The darkness began to lift, the yellow glow of artificial light slowly growing. I heard a guttural groan, but it took a few moments before I registered that it was mine. Although the weight of the blankets was heavy on my chest I felt warm, as if enveloped in a womb that protected me from the world and all its troubles.
I heard more sobs, but this time they were of happiness. "Thank you, thank you! Meg, I will tell you when you are better, but know now that I love you!"
Meg: Sorry to keep you all waiting for the next chapters, but it cannot be helped. I do not have another day off from my jobs for awhile. I promise I will try to update as soon as possible.