The Historians
Chapter 13
When they got back to the cottage, Matt looked around to make sure no one had been there since they left earlier in the evening. He checked all the doors and windows, and was finally satisfied that they were reasonably safe.
They sat in the small kitchen drinking coffee for a while, and were just about to turn in for the night when Matt's phone rang.
It was a guttural voice that he could not place. Possibly Bardee, but he couldn't be sure. "You need to stop poking your nose into things that don't concern you, else you and your pretty wife are going to get hurt bad. Just go back home."
Matt said nothing, the caller hung up.
Kitty sensed something was wrong. "What is it Matt?"
"Someone wants us to leave."
He walked over to a cupboard in the kitchen where he had stored the gun. He checked it for ammunition and walked back to the living room.
"At least I am sure I'm on the right track now. These people are getting nervous so it can't be long before their next shipment is due." He stops and thinks for a few seconds, considering options.
"Kitty, Cranbourne is coming down tomorrow or the next day. I want you to fly back to London with him that way I know you'll be safe. You'll be all right in that apartment or with Thomas at the hospital, but I want you to be careful. I have a feeling things are going to move fairly quickly."
Kitty started to object. "What are you going to be doing Matt? Are you still saying this is an easy job? Seems to me that they have figured you out already."
"I have to see this through, it's the only way we'll get back home. I can't go back on the deal agreed to in exchange for Doc's life, can I? I'm going to be fine Kitty, you know I can take care of myself. I don't think these are much more than cheap gunrunners who got lucky and figured out I was on to them."
"Well how did they get that phone number, or know where we were tonight. I think they are a little smarter than you give them credit for."
In truth Matt felt that way too, but didn't want Kitty to worry. He had an obligation to see this job through and somehow he would do it."
"Come on Kitty, I think its time for us to go to bed." He tried to sound like everything was fine but Kitty noticed he brought the gun to bed and placed it under his pillow.
The bedroom was cool and quiet. Matt had already checked the window locks, so he sat on the bed to remove his boots. He watched as Kitty proceeded to undress. This woman is beautiful in any century, he thought as she reached in a drawer for the lacy nightgown – another purchase from her shopping spree. He went to stand behind her and put his arms around her shoulders.
"I'm sorry it's turning out this way," he said quietly. "I really thought this was not going to be a big problem. I still think it's all going to work out fine, I know how they are running the operation and once Cranbourne gets the go ahead, we can finish up quickly. Meantime I want you to be safe."
She turns towards him and raises her face to his. She never could resist his soft quiet words. Their lips meet as she unbuttoned his shirt.
Kitty woke first next morning and made her way to the kitchen to make coffee. It wasn't long before Matt joined her.
"So what's the plan today."
"I just got a text from Cranbourne, he said he'd be here tomorrow around noon. So let's be regular tourists and see some of the sights," he says working his way into the shoulder holster.
"I don't think regular tourists go around dressed like that," Kitty comments. Matt says nothing as he pulls the brown jacket on to hide the weapon.
They spent the morning going around the ruins of Tintagel castle and found a spot out of the wind to eat a picnic lunch. Like most of the area there were myths and legends surrounding the rocks and stones that hands from hundreds of years before had assembled. Some of the stories sent chills racing through her spine, good and evil had both existed here in great amounts in those times.
Kitty noticed that although he appeared to be relaxed and enjoying himself, Matt was alert, watching people around them, and when they did stop to look at something he tried to pick a place where no one could come up on them unseen, evil, apparently, still lurked here today.
After lunch they drove south staying as near to the coast as possible, stopping occasionally to look at the cliffs and beaches below. They made it all the way south to Camel Bay and then stopped to explore the little town of Wadebridge.
Matt had become aware that someone was following them about an hour after they left Tintagel. It was a dark blue car and there was so little traffic on the road that it was obvious that it stopped every time they did. Several times Matt pulled over so they could look over the cliffs at the view below, and each time the blue car pulled in a little way behind them or was waiting when they pulled out again.
They found a small café in Wadebridge and stopped for Cornish Cream Teas. They were told it was a local special and had decided to try it. Matt found a table near the window where he could watch the street. He saw the blue car pull into town and park across the road near where he had parked the Defender. He watched as he drank the tea and ate the scone with cream and strawberry jam. It wasn't long before the driver of the blue car was walking down the far side of the street. Matt watched him but from this distance couldn't make out who it was. He waited and after about five minutes, he watched the same man walking back up towards him on the same side as the café.
"Excuse me a minute Kitty." He got up and went out onto the street, waiting in the doorway until the man approached. He stepped out and stood in front of him, his height and habitual air of authority intimidated the man somewhat.
"Now suppose you tell me what's going on."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You've been following me all afternoon, who are you working for?"
"I don't know what you mean mister."
Matt wanted to backhand the man and knock him to the ground as he would have done in Dodge, but here, in this time, on these streets, that was not the thing to do.
He released the man. "Go on your way and tell your boss to leave me alone."
He turned and walked back to rejoin Kitty.
"Was that the same man as last Night?"
"I think so but I can't be sure. Come on lets get going. I'll feel better when you are on that jet back to London."
As they set off he watched the blue car but it did not move. He saw the man sitting in the drivers seat with a phone to his ear.
They got back to the cottage an hour or so later. Matt told her to wait in the car then he got out, locked the doors and went to the cottage to check that all was well. She watched as he drew his gun and worked his way around the side of the building. At first she thought she saw some movement in the shadows of the bushes, holding her breath she watched as Matt unlocked the back door and slipped his hand inside to turn on the lights. The shadows were immediately dissolved. No one was there. He disappeared inside and then came back out a few moments later, to walk across to the Defender and open the door for her.
"It's all right. It doesn't look like anyone has been here," he tells her as he helps her down from the vehicle.
Once inside the cottage he returns the gun to its holster and goes to watch out the window. Nothing moving outside, everything seems normal. After all this is a quiet country town where people come to vacation, it is nothing like Dodge City, where would be killers roaming the streets, is an everyday occurrence.
Inside the quiet of the cottage with its comfortable furnishings and warm glow of the firelight it was difficult to imagine that there were people out there plotting evil. Kitty looked hard at her cowboy.
"What do you think's going on Matt."
"I think they are planning to receive a shipment in the next few days and don't want anyone checking up on them."
He takes her hand in his. "It won't be long now till we're on our way home."
Matt hardly sleeps that night, just like when he is out on the trail with a prisoner, he closes his eyes but not his ears and lies there listening to the sounds of the night, waiting for the crack of a breaking twig or the crunch of a footfall on the gravel out side the cottage. He watches as kitty sleeps, nothing must happen to her. The cold metal of the gun feels comfortable in his hand as he counts off the hours till morning.
Kitty sleeps for a while but wakens while it is still dark. She can feel the tension in the body of the man beside her and turns to look at him. Despite the darkness she knows he is not asleep and probably hasn't slept all night.
There is a small clock on the bedside table, it shows the time in numbers that shine green in the darkness, they tell her it is 3.30.
"Matt," she says softly "you're awake aren't you?"
In answer he reaches out to find her hand.
"It's all right Kitty, go back to sleep."
TBC