Читать онлайн "The Underwater Ballroom Society" - Trent Tiffany - RuLit

She stepped away, raising a hand to her jacket. The package was still there. And although it was damp, it was still intact.

^_____

The submersible had sustained damage in its fight with the mosasaurus, but it was still thankfully functional. One group at a time, it evacuated the hotel guests back to Candor City. A tally of the guests showed that, in addition to their assailants who had fallen in the ballroom, two guests were missing, along with one of the smaller submersibles. They must have fled when they had sealed everyone in the ballroom. One was listed as a Mr. Smythe. Harriet recalled very little of the man, and Smythe undoubtedly was not his true name. The other, though, was the Comte d’Arcy.

I knew it! Harriet thought fiercely. If only she had been able to apprehend him. She doubted that she or anyone else would see either man again.

It took two days to return to Tharsis City. When they finally arrived, Bertrand took Emily to the police headquarters where she would be held for the murder of Mr. Strachan. Harriet headed with a deep reluctance to the School of Martian Entomology at Tharsis University and her meeting with Lady Felchester. She passed her report to Lady Felchester’s personal man of affairs, then waited an interminable three hours in her dormitory until she was finally summoned.

At least Lady Felchester was alone in her study when Harriet entered. If Reginald Pratt had been there, smirking, she didn’t know what she would have done. It had been supposed to be a simple mission. Make contact. Retrieve the package. Return home. Instead, her contact was dead, the Hotel Louros was half destroyed, and the smuggling ring knew the intelligence service was onto them.

Lady Felchester looked up from her desk as Harriet approached and laid the package in front of her.

“Miss George. I have received and studied the reports on your mission.”

Harriet tipped her head to one side. “Reports? In the plural?”

“Indeed. Colonel Fitzpatrick was kind enough to provide a report of his own.”

Harriet winced. She had blown her cover by telling the colonel what she was doing. In the eyes of the service, that was a worse sin than failing a mission. Now that people knew, she could never go undercover again.

“He was very complimentary. He spoke highly of your initiative and performance in the face of an unexpected and overwhelming situation. You should know that the service thinks highly of Colonel Fitzpatrick’s opinion.”

Harriet stared. Her face reddened. “But—”

“The colonel is a longtime friend of the service. I think we can trust him to keep your secret, and he has spoken to the other gentlemen who witnessed your exploits. One thing I will say for the dear coloneclass="underline" when he speaks to someone, they remain spoken to. Which just leaves us with the matter of your brother-in-law. Can we trust him?”

Even a week ago, Harriet would have been sure Bertrand would let something slip. Now, though?

“Yes. Yes, we can.” There was more to Bertrand than she had been able to see until now.

“Good. Now, Viscount Brotherton also submitted a report.”

Every vestige of the thrill that had swept over her upon hearing Colonel Fitzpatrick’s report drained away just as quickly as it had appeared. Here it comes. Everything she had done wrong, committed to record, laid out so that her failings would be obvious for all to see.

She wet her lips. “Should I… Should I pack my bags?”

“Viscount Brotherton’s report was short. He tells us that family obligations require him to resign from the British-Martian Intelligence Service with immediate effect. He was of the opinion that the mission was carried out… adequately… for a trainee. Now, you are dismissed. I will expect you back in training in two days’ time. That will be all.” Her face was as untroubled as if she were issuing an invitation for morning tea.

“Yes, your ladyship.” Harriet’s back stiffened. Her chin lifted, as a bubble of excitement filled her chest. She’d survived her first mission. What more could be thrown at her? Whatever it was… “I’m ready.”

A Note from Patrick Samphire

A Spy in the Deep is the second of the adventures of Harriet George on Regency Mars. If you would like to read more about her, you can find her first story, The Dinosaur Hunters (The Casebook of Harriet George: Volume 1), on any ebook store. And if you want to read more stories set on Regency Mars but with different characters, why not try out my novels Secrets of the Dragon Tomb and The Emperor of Mars, which are available… everywhere.

As well as these Mars books and novellas, I’ve published a bunch of short stories for teenagers and adults. You can find out more about them and read several of them for free on my website.

And if you want to keep up to date with future stories and novels, you can sign up to my occasional newsletter.

When I’m not writing, I design websites and book covers (such as the cover for this delightful anthology).

AFTERWORD

^{by Stephanie Burgis}

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this anthology—a real labor of love!—and everyone who made working on it such a pleasure.

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Wishing all of you many happy re-reads. Thank you for joining us beneath the waves!

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