Flight of the Falcon (Byrdes of York #1)

5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Hugh

L ater that evening, Hugh led the way into the maisonette he was renting. His head had begun hurting once more and Imogen had suggested they head back there. He saw the surprise on both Falcon’s and Francis’s faces as to how close they were to the shopping arcade, where their shops were. He thumped up the stairs, too tired to care much.

“Make yourselves at home.” He gestured to the sofas as they entered the living room.

“Bloody hell!” Falcon exploded. “Talk about having a front seat!”

Hugh grinned for the first time that day. He watched as Falcon and Francis began examining the scope he had set up overlooking the arcade.

“I’m going to get a shower,” he declared. “Imogen can show you where the kitchen is if you want a drink. I’ll be out in a few.”

Hugh made his way to his bathroom, where he stripped and climbed into the tub with the overhead shower. He much preferred his own walk-in shower back in Manchester, but needs must. He groaned as the water flowed over him. He still ached a bit from being mis-handled when the goons had thrust him into the Land Rover, and he was still a bit sore after being hit with the heavy duty taser that Bentley had used on him earlier that day.

He arched into the spray, enjoying the hot water. After a few minutes he stepped out and grabbed a towel from the heated towel rack and dried off. Pulling the towel round his waist, he left for the bedroom.

Falcon Byrde leaned against the doorway to the room, grinning at him, his eyes ranging over him from head to toe. In his hands he held a small green first aid kit.

“I don’t need that,” Hugh asserted.

“Let me be the judge of that,” Falcon said as he advanced on Hugh. His hands brushed against Hugh’s left shoulder, where a graze had bloomed.

“Really…” Hugh faltered as he felt the other man’s hands on him. “I’m fine.”

“Let me just clean this and any others up.” Falcon smiled at him, his hands gliding down to Hugh’s sternum to where the taser had hit him. A deep bruise was already beginning to form.

Hugh sucked in his breath as Falcon got some arnica from the first aid kit and smoothed it onto his chest. He tingled all over, not just where Falcon had touched him, as he felt the beginnings of arousal.

“He got you well and good.” Falcon frowned.

“It was a heavy duty taser,” Hugh agreed. “Bastard enjoyed himself.”

A moment later, Falcon stood back and smiled. “Best I can do.” He then surprised Hugh by leaning in and giving him a small, sweet kiss on the lips. “Get dressed, we need to make some plans.”

Hugh watched as Falcon left the room, his fingers going to his lips. He smiled, shook himself and quickly grabbed clothes from his dresser.

Falcon and Francis had taken the large scope to pieces whilst he’d been in the shower. It was piled in its component parts against the wall near the large French Doors overlooking the arcade.

Falcon looked pleased with himself as Hugh moved over to see what they’d done to his prized possession. Everything appeared to be in order. Then with an evil glint in his eye, he turned to them.

“There’s a tiny camera in your bookshop.” He laughed at the look on Falcon’s face. “Only the one, I couldn’t get into your back area.”

Falcon grunted. “I expect you’ll be taking it down now?”

“Of course.”

“Guys!” Imogen butted in. “Less of the macho bullshit. We need to try and figure out what’s going on.”

They laughed, Imogen’s words breaking the tension that had crept into the room. “I’ve contact Gil Summers,” Imogen said as she took a seat on the sofa. “He’s worked directly with Robert several times, and out of all of us probably knows him the best. He was aware of Ian but had never met him. He said he had a couple of things to tie up from his last job, then he’ll head to York.”

Hugh nodded. He had a lot of respect for the older agent. He stood up and began pacing.

“What I still don’t understand is Ian’s involvement in the Goodkind case. The family were involved in County Lines drug smuggling, but they weren’t in charge. When I was there, I was gathering information for the agency to pass on to CID and to find out whether there was any need to pass it to MI5. The Goodkinds were at the bottom of the pile.”

“Was there anything else that they may have been involved in?” Falcon asked. “Anything that would have brought them to Ian’s attention?”

Hugh shook his head. He couldn’t think of anything that stood out. “Maybe Gil will have an idea. All I know is that they were working out of an old shop in the high street in Peterborough. I paid them a visit, but couldn’t get anything out of Old Man Goodkind, so I left my card with him. The next I heard was that the whole place had gone sky high. I understand you were there that day?”

Falcon looked up at him and met his eyes. “Obviously I survived,” he deadpanned.

“How sure are we that the bomb was meant for the Goodkind family?” Francis asked from where he was leant against the French doors.

“What are you implying, Dad?”

Imogen had gone white as she turned to Falcon. “If, as Hugh says, Ian wants you dead…” She broke off.

Falcon looked at his father. “You can’t…”

Francis hugged his son. “It was a close call. You told me yourself that if it had gone off only a few moments earlier then you would have been caught up in the blast.

Hugh felt an unexpected tug of pain in his heart then. He might never have met this man if things had been different. He began to pace. He thought better when he was moving. After a few circuits of the room, he realised he was getting nowhere. He shook his head.

“Let’s shelve that for now. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“Except look out for ourselves even more,” Falcon said.

Hugh grimaced. “Ian was very insistent that I kill you. Why? What have you done to upset him?”

“Specifically? I don’t know. I’d never heard of him until now. Dad?”

Francis returned his son’s look. “It might pertain to the job John McKenzie has set us. He was at university with Robert and Ian.”

“That’s some coincidence,” Falcon replied.

“Is that the priest you met with the other day?” Hugh asked, frowning. “What’s he got to do with anything? Imogen had him checked out, he’s squeaky clean.”

“He is, you’re right.” Francis smiled. “Then maybe it has something to do with why John reached out to Falcon in the first place.”

Hugh arched his eyebrow in question and looked at Falcon who returned his gaze. Brown eyes met blue and Hugh could see the little crinkles around Falcon’s eyes. “Want to share with the class?”

Falcon grinned. “What do you know about the Ninth Roman Legion?”

Falcon

Falcon could see the confusion in Hugh’s eyes as he looked at him. As segues went, it was a bit of a doozy.

“Are you referring to the book I asked about the other day. Sutcliffe’s?” “Was there any specific reason you asked about it?”

“Yeah, I read it as a teenager. Wanted to revisit it whilst I was here, seemed appropriate at the time for reading matter. But… how is it connected to what is happening now?”

“Falcon, stop prevaricating and bring him up to speed,” Francis interjected with a sigh.

Falcon nodded, realising his fun at Hugh’s expense was over. He could tease the man later.

“Father McKenzie approached me a few weeks ago. He had a token from Francis to confirm he was bona fida and he asked me that exact question – what did I know about the Ninth Legion? It seems that when he was a young priest working at the minster, he’d stumbled on some tunnels underground that appeared to have been forgotten about. His superiors at the time knew about them, and didn’t want him pursuing it then. Being young and somewhat foolhardy, he began to investigate, but didn’t have time to do a full exploration as he was transferred to a different posting.

What he did find had intrigued him though. At the end of the tunnels was a warded room, with symbols on the door suggesting it was connected to the Ninth.

“When his duties brought him back to the Minster he decided to have another look.” Falcon went on. “However, he’s not able to get back down there now as his mobility isn’t good. He asked if we could help. He knows that I run a Paranormal Investigative business here in York, so he reached out. He gave us details of several entrances, the one Falcon used was particularly tricky.”

Hugh looked poleaxed. Falcon understood all too well how he was feeling. He’d had that look a few times himself when dealing with his father’s investigations.

“You investigate paranormal happenings?” was the first question Hugh asked.

Francis nodded. “Have been doing so for over 50 years now. When I rescued the children and they began growing up, I brought them in to help me. It’s made life a lot easier.”

“Rescued the children?” he asked, though neither Francis nor Falcon answered him. “Does the government know? About the paranormal aspect I mean.”

Falcon laughed and shook his head. “Technically, yes, but the less they know about details, the better. We deal with a lot of it ourselves. Haunted houses, demon summonings gone wrong, creatures from another dimension. We’ve dealt with it all at some point or another.”

“All of it?” Imogen asked from where she sat next to Hugh. She had gone pale and was looking at them in a slightly confused manner. “I’m aware magic exists, but the rest of what you mentioned, that really exists too?”

Falcon nodded, watching Hugh as he did so. The other man looked as though he was thinking hard, then he shook himself, and muttered something under his breath that sounded like, “Well, that would explain that then.”

He looked up at Falcon and his father. “Go on, what did you find in the tunnels? I know you must have gone in already.” Then he paused and grinned. “Ah, that’s how you damaged your ankle.”

Falcon could feel his face going red at the remembered embarrassment. “Yes.” He sighed. “I was too busy making sure Robin was okay, I didn’t look out for my own feet.

Anyway, we didn’t get too far that day, and I’ve not really had a chance to go back in again. Now that Francis is here, I was going to try again.”

“I’ll come with you,” Hugh said, straightening up. “You’ll need some backup in there, and no offence Francis, but you must be the same age as Father Mckenzie if you were at school together.”

Both Francis and Falcon laughed at that, though neither explained why. “None taken, Hugh,” Francis said. “Your offer is acceptable. I’d rather not send young Robin down there again.”

He frowned at his son and Falcon grimaced. Yeah, it hadn’t been his best decision.

“Could it be connected to the Ninth?” Hugh asked then. “I mean, that’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?”

“It is and it isn’t,” Falcon answered. “In the 1950s, a man name Harry Martindale saw what he swears were Roman soldiers marching along looking dishevelled and defeated. He was in the basement of the Treasurer’s House at the time. That area and the Minster are built directly over where the Roman military base was, in the town of Eboracum. Which is why I’m inclined to at least check out what McKenzie saw.”

“What I don’t get is why he left it so long to investigate again. Why didn’t he let someone know what he’d found?”

“I was away a lot at the time.” Francis replied. “It’s likely he couldn’t get hold of me, and he wouldn’t have wanted to just let anyone know. Then when he became involved in his new career, it slipped to the back of his mind. I guess his relocation to York Minster brought it back to his memory and he contacted Falcon upon Francis’s recommendation.

“Could Ian know about this in any way?” Imogen asked thoughtfully.

“I really don’t know,” Francis said. “Though why he’d be interested is beyond–” “Okay,” Falcon interrupted. “McKenzie has arranged for me to visit the

Treasurer’s House after closing. I suggest Hugh comes with me. We’ll see what we can see there before going further into the tunnels under the Minster.”

“I agree,” Hugh replied.

Falcon could see that the other man was intrigued, he’d perked up when they’d mentioned paranormal happenings. “You’ve had some experience?” he asked.

“A little.” The other man answered.

“Well.” Imogen stood up and stretched. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m tired. It’s been a stressful few days so I’m off to bed. I’ve taken the spare room, Hugh. Gentleman, I’ll say goodnight.” She made her way to the doorway, before turning round again. “Oh, and there’s no way I’ll be going into any tunnels. I’ll be backup and provide information when I can, but tunnels? No.”

Falcon grinned at her as she left the room. He’d quickly come to like Imogen and realised why Hugh was such good friends with her.

“We can’t forget Ian is out there,” Hugh said with a frown. “I’m coming to the Treasurer’s House too and we should try and make sure no-one goes anywhere alone.”

Francis and Falcon agreed.

After a few more moments, having agreed to meet up with Hugh the next day, they left for the shop. As they entered Stonegate Alley, Francis looked up to where he knew the French doors were in the maisonette they’d just left. Hugh was still there, looking out. He raised a hand when he saw them and Falcon felt him watching them as they entered the shop.

Falcon had a warm feeling as he felt Hugh’s regard. It felt safe having the other man watching over him. He looked forward to getting to know him better.