![\"men](\"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/men-fighting01.jpg\")
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There was further cause for alarm concerning the overpopulation within the city itself \u201cwhere there are such great multitudes of people brought to inhabit in small rooms, whereof a great part are seen very poor, yea, such as must live begging, or by worse means, and they are heaped up together, and in a sort smothered with many families of children and servants in one house or small tenement\u201d.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n London: The Biography<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Peter Ackroyd<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis is the place.\u201d Ralph pointed across the field to the darkened bulk of the mansion looming down by the river. Poley stood next to him, Moody on his other side, and the three men contemplated the task in front of them. \u201cDo we go straight in?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat if I were to go in first, con the lay, report back to you?\u201d Moody barely glanced at Poley as he spoke, busy making sure that his clothes straightened and his weapons ready at hand after the mad dash through London\u2019s winding streets.<\/span><\/p>\n Poley didn\u2019t take his eyes off the mansion. He could see, here and there, spots of candle or rush light through gaps in walls or shutters. \u201cThere are too few of us to waste our strength with scouting forays. And I\u2019m sure as shit not letting you out of my sight, Michael.\u201d He cared not what Moody\u2019s reaction might be. \u201cAnd there\u2019s the possibility that I\u2019m wrong. We need to get in there as quickly as we can to make sure whether Nick and Meg are being held there. If not, we\u2019ll need all the time we can get to check other possible boltholes Denby could be using.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIs there any that you might want alive, Bob?\u201d Ralph had removed his dagger from his belt and inspected its edge.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDenby. I know that it goes against your most fervent wish, Ralph, after what he\u2019s done to Meg and Ollie, but I need him alive. Anyone else, food for the pigs.\u201d A thought occurred to Poley. \u201cMichael, do you know anything about those that might be with Denby?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There was a calculating silence from the spy that brought forth a growl from Ralph. \u201cYou little shit, I\u2019m a heartbeat away from starting the bloodletting with you right now. Tell us or fucking die.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Moody gave no sign of heeding Ralph\u2019s threats. He shrugged and answered Poley. \u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s an Englishman with him. A Catholic who works for Hugh Owen in Brussels. The Englishman has a French piece of muscle with him. The Frenchie is a deadly piece of work. Wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he\u2019s the one who did for Ollie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThank you for that, Michael. I won\u2019t press your loyalties and ask you when you were planning on sharing that intelligence had I not asked.\u201d Poley briefly considered, then turned to Ralph. \u201cIt would be nice to give a Catholic spy to the Privy Council, but kill this agent of Owen\u2019s if you have to. His body will tell a good enough tale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSuits me. Let\u2019s be about it, then. Straight in.\u201d Ralph was visibly straining at the leash.<\/span><\/p>\n Poley nodded and filled his hand with a blade. \u201cStraight in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The three of them made their purposeful way across the broken and littered ground before the mansion. Approaching the door, they were almost bowled over by two men, a smaller and larger, running out of the building.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOy!\u201d Ralph shoved them back. \u201cWhere the fuck are you off to?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n The bigger man started to come forward at the sight of bared weapons, but the smaller began babbling. \u201cNo, please! We\u2019ve got to get away before all hell descends on this place!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Poley nodded to Ralph to keep an eye on the large man who looked to be armed with some sort of club and then advanced on the smaller man, keeping his voice low and calming. \u201cWhat\u2019s this all about, then? What\u2019s got you in such an uproar, friend?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The man clutched at Poley\u2019s cloak with dirty fingers. \u201cAny minute now, her people are going to get here and they won\u2019t leave nobody alive! They won\u2019t stop to ask if anyone might be innocent or just an ignorant bastard looking to earn some coin. I can swear on any bible that I didn\u2019t know who those bastards were bringing here, but will they care? Not fucking likely! They\u2019ll drop me in the Thames with a cut throat!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Poley seized on the most important words in the stream of babble. \u201cWait. Stop your fucking noise!\u201d He gathered up two handfuls of the man\u2019s stained doublet and pulled him face to face. He fervently hoped that the sore on the side of his neck wasn\u2019t infectious. \u201cHer people? Who\u2019s her? Who the fuck do you have in there?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe queen!\u201d The man was practically sobbing. \u201cThese men brought in the queen as a prisoner! Oh, fuck, I\u2019m fucking dead, I fucking know I am. She saw me, she knows who I am.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cStop. Fucking. Crying.\u201d Each word accompanied by a shake. \u201cWe\u2019re the ones come to rescue the queen. Now tell us everything you know and I swear to inform her of your innocent stupidity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As soon as the weeper had told all he knew, Ralph went straight in and fast. Once inside the decayed mansion, he never stopped moving. Poley kept back a little to give him room to move as as he took the stairs two at time, taking the man guarding the room at the top like an exploding bombard. The man only had time to get his blade out before Ralph slammed into him. Such was the force of Ralph\u2019s charge that the two of them smashed back into and through the room\u2019s door.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There was further cause for alarm concerning the overpopulation within the city itself \u201cwhere there are such great multitudes of people brought to inhabit in small rooms, whereof a great part are seen very poor, yea, such as must live begging, or by worse means, and they are heaped up together, and in a sort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions\/358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}