Part 11 - Busted

The fresh air struck her like needles of ice water when she stepped out of the pension and looked into the early morning sunlight. She yawned a little - the exhaustion of the night catching up with her. The two hours of sleep she had gotten, had simply been too few. But she had no choice. She had a rendez-vous with Katya, and her sister would certainly not wait for long.

"Milady! Milady..." The landlady ran out of the house, and Irina turned.

"Shht..." she hushed the woman and pulled her away from the open street where Jack could see her. "Be quiet. I told you, the man I shared a room with must not know I'm leaving."

"I'm sorry... here, I brought you the things you asked for. Bread, some water and a new dress. It's one of my daughter's, but it should fit you perfectly."

"Thank you." Irina smiled and paid the woman graciously. Her old eyes filled with tears of joy when she held the two golden coins in her hand.

"Milady, that's way too much... I can't..."

"Keep it." Irina said kindly. "Just promise me to keep your mouth shut and not tell him anything about my whereabouts. Pretend to not know anything."

"I will, Madam. You can count on old Madeleine." The woman bowed to Irina and kissed her hand. "God bless you and your family..."

Irina felt embarrassed by the gesture. She knew that the people in this village were one of the poorest in the country, but two golden coins weren't that much money - still the old women made a big deal out of it, as if Irina had just given her a whole manor.

She touched the woman's hair. "Get up, good woman. You don't need to bow in front of me."

Then she turned and went to the horse. If Jack wanted to follow her, he would have to take care of a horse first - which would be hard in a village where only two peasants had a horse. There was no way he would be able to catch up with her, and when he learned where she had gone, she would long be with her family in Russia.

She touched the horse's nostrils and spoke soft words into its ear to calm it down and keep it from making any noise, then she got up.

"Thank you for everything." Irina whispered to the woman, who smiled.

"God bless you." She repeated once again, and then turned when Irina had broken into a gallop.

Jack was still asleep when he felt for the body of the woman next to him, longing for her warmth. All his hand found was the empty space next to him. He opened his eyes and blinked at the bright light of the sun that filled the room. Her space was empty. He yawned and turned onto his back.

"Irina... Come back to bed, it's still early..." he murmured, assuming that she was preparing to leave. Not for one second did it occur to him that she might be gone. After all she had promised to not try to escape again. As a man of honor, a promise counted to him like the life of a human did. But when she didn't answer, he sat up slowly, finding the room empty and her clothes gone.

Within a second he was wide awake, off the bed and standing before the window. When he didn't see her outside, a bad feeling started to build up in his stomach. He had trusted her - maybe that had been wrong. After all she had never hidden the fact that she would always consider him as her enemy.

It didn't take him long to get dressed and leave the room. In the small kitchen downstairs, he found the old landlady sitting with one of her daughters at the table sewing.

"Where is she?" He was aware that his tone was not at all appropriate, but didn't care at the moment. The rage inside him was too immense to be held under control.

"Who?" The old woman asked a little scared.

"Lady Derevko... the woman I arrived with?"

The younger girl opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly hushed by her mother. Jack raised his eyebrows, suspecting that the women knew exactly what had happened.

"We have no idea! Isn't she in your room?" The old landlady asked innocently. Jack slammed his hands to he table and bent over.

"Ladies, I don't want to play these games in here. Let me make something very clear. Lady Derevko was a royal prisoner, helping her to escape makes you criminals too. But I will ignore that fact if you tell me when she left. I assume she took the horse, so I'd be also very thankful if you could take care of an additional horse for me."

"Lord Bristow," the old woman started. "I'm living alone and have to take care of four children. Most of the year I don't even have enough food for myself, not to mention for my children. Last winter my eldest daughter had to sell her body in Brighton, otherwise we couldn't even have afforded wood to keep our house warm. The lady you are searching for is a generous woman. She paid me enough money to make it through the coming winter, and I will not reward her generosity by betraying her to the queen - or one of her stooges." The woman's voice was fearless and she got up. Her daughter looked from her mother to the man, then back at her mother.

"I will supply you with a horse if you wish to have one, but that will cost you, since horses are valuable in this village. We have only two as you should have noticed. But over and above that, you won't get any information about the Lady."

Jack took a deep breath to calm down from his rage. "Listen," he then continued, his tone softer, "Lady Derevko is sometimes a very stubborn woman. I am her husband, and I want to prevent her from making things worse by doing something foolish."

"I don't believe you."

"Of course you don't." Jack sighed. "Fine, if you could get me a horse, I will leave as soon as possible."

It was already afternoon when Irina saw the crossing in the distance. She longed for a break - so did the horse. She'd driven the horse at full gallop the whole way. She felt more tired by hour and had to force herself to keep awake.
When she got closer to the meeting point, she could make out the carriage that was standing at the side of the street.

A tall, woman with short, brown hair stood outside and went around in the grass. Irina sighed in total relief. Her message had reached Katya on time.

"Katya!" she yelled, and urged the horse to cross the remaining hundred meters quickly. Then she stopped in front of the carriage, almost falling of the horse when she tried to slide down. Katya jumped to support her.

"My god, Irina... you look awful. What happened?"

"A lot... The short version is, I was found by the queen's soldiers and fled to Gerard, who tried to kill me."

"What?!?" Katya cried out in disbelief.

"Yes, he thought I had betrayed him and said that I had become worthless and a too high risk. So he wanted to drown me but I was..." She cut herself off, thinking that it was not wise to inform Katya about how far Jack was involved in the story. That would only raise questions - questions she didn't want to answer. "I was able to escape. Now I'm an outlaw. I can't go back to our house, because the soldiers are searching the region, and I can't go to Gerard."

"Damn it," Katya murmured. She was the most mannered of the three girls and allowed herself only to curse when they were alone.

"I have a plan, but I need your help." Irina then stated. "I will go and visit our father's sister in Russia. I will be safe there and out of the reach of the queen. But you and Elena should not get involved with any illegal interactions during the next months. The queen will most likely have you observed."

"Irina, you have never been to Russia. You can't go there alone."

"I can and I have to! We still need you and Elena here. If you go with me, you will confirm their suspicion that you are also involved with terrorists. Please, Katya... I'm going to be okay." Irina shook her head. "And I don't see any other way at the moment."

"Yes, maybe you are right. Fine, get into the carriage. We will stop at the next town and rent a guestroom to talk about how to move on from here. We have to get you a safe passage to Russia on a trustworthy ship. I'd be more relieved if you had a male to accompany you, like Gerard, who will take care that the ship's crew doesn't bother you. But since that's impossible at the moment, we have to see what we can do."

They entered the carriage and Katya told the man in the front where to go. When they started to move, Katya shook her head in confusion.

"I still don't understand how this could happen. I mean, there are dozens of villages around the forest where you met the soldier, and it should have taken them months to find you. How could he find you so quickly?"

Irina thought it useless to pretend not to know the reason, given the fact that Elena knew about her mistake in giving away her name. Katya would learn it anyway.

"That was my fault. I told him my name that night." She confessed. Katya gasped for air.

"Irina..." she started accusingly, but the look in her sisters eyes shut her up.

"I know!" She snapped and sighed deeply. "I know... it was a mistake I can't unmake - unfortunately. But I didn't know it was a setup, and besides it was only my forename. I didn't expect him to be able to do anything with my forename."

"Because half of the kingdom is called Irina." Katya murmured sarcastically and lifted her hands apologetically when Irina seemed prepared to pounce on her. "Sorry. Go on..."

"That's it... he must have asked for me everywhere and someone told him where I lived. So I ran away."

"He did not see you?" Katya asked.

"Yes, he saw me. We had a discussion. He offered to let me to work with him to bring down the rebels, in return, he would forget that I was involved. I refused - of course."

"Why?" Katya shook her head.

"What do you mean, why?" Irina asked in total consternation. "Do you want me to bring you all to prison?"

"No, but working with him you would have had the power over him. You could have just made him believe that you were on his side. That way we would have gained important information about their next strategies against us."

Irina stared at her sister, then slowly shook her head. "I can't do that! I couldn't do that. He was so... kind."

Katya held her eyes for some minutes, then sighed and leaned against the back of her seat. "I told you to never fall in love with a contact!"

"I am not in love with him!" Irina contradicted, her face showing more security than she felt in her heart. "I liked him... there's a difference."

"Do you still 'like' him?" Katya asked. She knew her sister. Irina had always been her confidante, and there had been no person in this world Katya had trusted more, since she knew Irina acted absolutely professionally and would never endanger them by any thoughtless actions. And therefore, she knew very well that her sister must have felt more than just sympathy for that man. Irina gave a short, ironic laugh.

"He's the enemy." She replied and both knew that this was not exactly the answer to the question Katya had asked, but when Irina didn't make any effort to be a little more specific, Katya decided to not pursue the topic any further.

"Okay, so you ran away... does he have any idea where you are now?"

"No, I don't think so." Irina replied, deciding to skip the sequence in between that included her marriage and the last three days. No need for her sister to know that. She was sure that Jack had annulled the marriage anyway by now.

"Good." Katya nodded satisfied. "Then you are safe for now. He can't search all of England within a week. So we have enough time to take care of everything."

Ten minutes later they came into a small town. There was only one small bar that rented rooms to strangers. The women were lucky, the landlord had one room left. He took care of their horses while the women rested in their room. Irina felt exhaustion gaining control over her, and after Katya had assured her that she would take care of everything, she sank down on the bed to sleep a little.

When she had pulled the sheets over her body, she wrapped her arms around her waist and closed her eyes.

For the first time in years she slept deep and dreamless, only waking up when Katya sat down on the bed and the tinkling of porcelain could be heard next morning. Yawning, Irina opened her eyes. Katya smiled down at here.

"I have a hot cup of strong coffee for you, just the way you like it."

For a moment, Irina had to gather her memories to know where she was. Then she sat up quickly.

"How long did I sleep?" she asked shocked, and Katya laughed.

"Almost thirteen hours. I didn't want to disturb you, since you need all the sleep you can get." She watched as her sister took a mouthful of the strong coffee and leaned back against the wall. Katya searched her bag and pulled out some papers.

"Here, I secured your passage to Russia. It's a small harbor, and you will have to buy a horse there to go on, so I made sure to get enough money."

Irina took the small leather bag with the money and stared open-mouthed at her sister. "Wow... where did you get that much money so fast?"

"Ah, you know... I've had some affairs... one of the men lives close to hear, so I... well I seduced him... then blackmailed him into giving me money, otherwise I'd tell his wife."

"Katya!" Irina cried out in disbelief. "You sold yourself??? You know that was what..."

"Irushka, there was not enough time to get the money from home. I've shared the bed of that man so many times that it can barely be called prostitution. Besides, the most important thing now is that you get out of England safely."

The sisters looked at each other, then Irina hugged Katya closely. "Thank you for everything."

"We will soon meet again. If you don't hear anything from Elena or me, return to England in three years. If things become too complicated here, we will follow you to Russia." Katya promised and touched her sisters cheek. "I won't let the queen and her law break our family apart." The woman got up and smiled. "So, you should probably get dressed. I thought, we could visit seamstress to get you a few additional dresses and accessories."

With these words she left the room. Irina stared at the door where Katya had disappeared, then at the cup with the warm coffee in her hands. It would have been a lie to pretend that she was fearless about leaving her family. She would go to a country she had never seen before - to people she didn't know. She only knew a few common Russian phrases their father had taught them. It would hardly be enough to communicate appropriately.

With a deep sigh she got up and went to the window. The sun was shining over the small village, and Irina stood and watched the people going on with their normal life for some minutes. Then she started to get dressed.

She was just doing her hair in front of the mirror, when she heard noise in front of the pension. A new guest she assumed, since she could clearly hear the voice of their landlord. Only two minutes later she could hear steps on the stairs, then a knock at her door.

"Yes, come in," she said loudly, and her heart seemed to skip a beat when the door was pushed open loudly and crashed against the wall. "Excuse me," she started angrily. "Could you just be a little more..."

She cut herself off when she turned around and looked into the face of the obviously infuriated man. Within a second she jumped up from the small chair in front of the mirror.

"What... what are you... how did you..."

"How did I find you?" Jack Bristow asked friendly – menacingly friendly. "I have to admit it took me a great deal of effort - especially since you had paid our landlady not to talk to me." His eyes sparkled dangerously and he seemed ready to kill her...