Chapter 9
Rebecca had not been on duty to see the street altercation, but she was told of it the next morning.
Agent Williams had been too far away to render aid. "Luckily, the boy had enough brass to stare the lout down," he said, finishing his report.
Rebecca said, "Was it the same man who followed the boys and Jules Verne around the city yesterday?"
"The very same," Williams said. "He disappeared for a few hours after the boys went into the casino. But it was the same small weasel you and I saw following them. I think our young men are in trouble and they feel it coming. I never saw it directly, but I could have sworn the first boy gave his brother some sort of weapon when he went back to the casino."
"We will keep a closer watch," Rebecca said. "I may have to remove Verne from this. He is no fighter."
"I agree with you there," Williams said. "Verne's presence had been a good idea, but not in this situation."
"You agreed with bringing in an outsider?" Rebecca said.
"Not from as outside as Chatsworth went, but yes, we needed someone younger than the average agent to get as close to the Ridgemonts as Verne has. I know you have been watching over him since the League's attempt to use him to kill the Queen. If we are going to guard him long term, why not let him earn his keep?"
Rebecca's let Williams head home for sleep before resuming his watch. But sat in her office contemplating the agent's words for a long time. She had not known her watch over Jules was common knowledge. He had become a frequent companion for Phileas, but their visits to him in Paris had always been unrelated to official work. Well, except when Jules volunteered to write and produce a play in London as a cover for me. And when he helped us find Monsieur Dumas. "Have I been spending too much time with Verne?"
That last comment about Jules earning his keep was uncalled for. That's one step away from making Verne a British operative in France; something I'll never allow.
Rebecca left her office to see Chatsworth about Verne's withdrawal from the mission. He needed to know about this and remove Jules from the danger.
"No," Chatsworth said after Rebecca had made her report. "You cannot remove Verne without having his leave-taking look suspicious. Besides," her boss added, "He can't go back to France, anyway. Jules Verne is expected to stay here in England until May. If he returns without attending Cambridge, it will make not only him but also his university look bad. It will appear as if Verne were refused."
Sir Jonathan raised a hand, forestalling Rebecca's next argument. "What I said about League activity has turned prophetic. Agents in France, watching for such things, are reporting large amounts of French francs moving to government official's hands for the last several days. League operatives we have been watching for over a year put the money there. Whenever League money flows, something major comes. The last time the League made a major move, you blundered on it while we were distracted by the Prime Minister's death. We knew nothing of Professor Marechal's resurrection device being funded by them. I don't intend to be caught flatfooted if someone rises to take Count Gregory's place."
"But, sir," Rebecca said.
"No." Sir Jonathan said. "He is better off here in England, and he cannot leave the Ridgemonts company. Monsieur Verne has been the focus of League activity too often. His talents cause mayhem when put in their hands. Need I remind you of that infernal mole machine? He stays here until we know more." Sir Jonathan pushed himself back in his chair, giving Rebecca a challenging glare, driving home her lack of seniority.
Rebecca left his office, tired of storming off to hers in a huff over Chatsworth's orders. This time, she stormed to her cousin's house instead.
Phileas met the hurricane head on over his morning paper, weathering the storm as best he could. He had become well versed in dealing with Rebecca's storms and had seen to it she did not turn her anger at anyone other than its original source. When she was finally spent, Rebecca dropped into a chair to take up her now cold teacup and regain her strength.
Phileas counted out to himself her points of contention. They were Chatsworth's misplaced brass in using a foreign civilian in a dangerous situation and the acceptance of that move by another agent. She held a growing fear that Verne was being pulled into the intelligence field in slow increments, an idea Phileas did not care for either. The last, a fear they had inadvertently put Verne in danger by paying too much attention to him.
All of her concerns were valid. Phileas did not care for the ramifications. "The best solution would be to cut ties with Verne altogether," he said. Her reaction was instant, but he held up a hand to restrain it. "That, of course, would put him at the mercy of the League, and damn the French government for not seeing to their own backyard. Short of that, there could be no proper solution other than waiting out the death of the League. Yet, if they were making moves… Might there be a new leader? Was that leader taking Count Gregory's place? What kind of leader and what will that leader's goals be?"
Count Gregory was now presumed, finally, dead. Dropping him over the falls in Canada should have accomplished that, but the metal monster had shown up again, anyway.
Sending him into the distant past, to reappear under a densely wooded forest in his time machine with sabotaged controls… That seemed to have done it. Not even a whisper of his presence has been heard since.
The League had gone into disarray, with no clear leader since then. The Prometheus, the count's reconstructed airship, had come under the control of its captain, who kept it aloft or well hidden. Count Gregory's once well-orchestrated world organization had broken up into regional fiefdoms. Some were still strong. The smaller divisions practiced anarchy, but only in localized areas.
"The France fiefdom was still strong and well-guarded," Rebecca said. "It doesn't work to de-stabilize the French government. No one knows exactly what their goals are since the Count's disappearance. As much as I hate this, Chatsworth could be right about keeping Verne out of France if the League was gearing up for something."
Phileas nodded. "Verne being pressed into the intelligence service is laughable, except that, like it or not, our presence in Verne's life had been giving him snatches of training for the job. Verne was the one to find Alexandre Dumas when no one else could. That, combined with other instances, will give someone like Chatsworth reason enough to consider him useful. It would make me consider him useful and I have used him, repeatedly. Yes, Rebecca, we started a dangerous precedent and now it is haunting us. Who knows what a weasel like Sir Jonathan would do with Jules in England between now and spring? I agree completely with your concerns. I can't see any alternative but to, unfortunately, turn our backs on Verne completely or let Chatsworth sweep him into the service."
Phileas sat down again, feeling the deep darkness of those alternatives. "Neither you are I are going to allow the latter."
"Indeed, not," Rebecca said.
Phileas looked up. "I think our best recourse will be to indulge in a bit of sabotage. First, we get this little jaunt to Cambridge canceled so Jules can go home. That will get Jules out of Chatsworth's clutches. That may be the most troublesome part. Chatsworth is right about Jules not being safe going back to France. So, what would we do with him once he is free?" He left his chair to sit beside Rebecca on the sofa. "On another note, as much as I like the idea of you taking on the position, are you sure you want to work with Chatsworth so closely?"
"The deputy director doesn't have to be in lock step with the director," Rebecca said. "Quite the contrary. Sir Billings has made it clear the position requires a counter to a director's whims. Since Royce had to retire, Chatsworth hasn't had that counterbalance. I can work with him, and I can hold my own against his doing this sort of thing in the future, if I get the position. At present, I haven't the standing to counter his actions. I can't even argue with him effectively."