Love Among the Gifted - A Pride & Prejudice Alternative

Chapter Thirty-Two

Darcy found himself outside 20 Crown Street.

Upon his arrival in London, after sending his coach for the Hursts and Miss Bingley, he had made his way to the home of Mr. Ryder, the Home Secretary. He hated to disturb him in the middle of the night, but the need was great. Ryder had listened and ordered him to take the whole business to Mr. Wickham. "This is obviously in his bailiwick. If Liverpool has objections, I will address them in the Cabinet."

As he had no previous social acquaintance with Mr. Wickham, he did not know where his home was. Therefore, he stationed himself outside the Alien Office to await the arrival of the Superintendent. By chance this was a morning when the man arrived early, the dawn still some time away. Darcy watched as he stepped down from his carriage. He was an older man, near fifty, but maintained the good looks common in that family. The spymaster was known to be handsome, clever, and charismatic; very much like his younger relative. The resemblance was repellent.

"Mr. Wickham?" Darcy called, stepping in to the light shed by the lamps at the building's entrance. The man turned and narrowed his eyes in examination. Two footmen stepped into the street, hands on pistol butts.

"I do not know you."

"Mr. Ryder sent me. I am Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire. I've come with news."

"Ah ... Yes, your name is familiar. Please come in." He gestured, and the footmen allowed Darcy to follow the older man in to the office. After making their way through a warren of desks and cabinets, all piled high with papers and folders, they finally came to an inner sanctum. There was a clerk at a desk outside Wickham's office. The middle-aged man was already shuffling through files. "Graves, please join us. This is Mr. Darcy, CM." Darcey nodded in acknowledgement of the fellow's perfunctory bow.

Once they were all settled, with a cup of tea for each, Mr. Wickham began, "I understand you are part of the investigation of the gifted insurrectionists in Hertfordshire. You have been staying with Mr. ... ah... Bingley was it not? Fellow that brought the first report some weeks back. And old Bennet. Good man that. If I recall you were able to capture several of these radicals, only for them to be taken and presumably released by persons unknown."

"That is correct."

"Just wanted to be sure I was up to date. What news have you to report?"

"Just last night a force of approximately twenty-five to twenty-seven assailants attacked a ball being held at Netherfield Park, just outside of Meryton, the site of the previous assault." Darcy worked to keep his voice calm and offer only the facts of the situation. "At least six of the attackers were gifted. One was apparently a grotesque. They managed to kill several of the militia men and officers stationed to guard the event from just such an occurrence. After a complex battle on several fronts, the terrorists were defeated, but not before they managed to do significant damage to the house, through the use of some sort of explosive gift."

He paused to consider what to say next. "Most of the attackers were slain, or severely wounded. Four were captured. One was a man who calls himself Reilly. He claimed a desire to cooperate in exchange for leniency. He reported that there is a French agent, LaFontaine, in London that possesses the ability to imbue temporary gifts into the non-gifted. That, he claimed, was the origin of the abilities displayed by him and his confederates. Colonel Sir John Glover, of the Derbyshire militia, suggested I bring this report to London immediately. There may be more happening since I left, shortly after midnight."

"Did you get all that?" Mr. Wickham asked his clerk. The man had been scribbling the entire time Darcy had been speaking.

"I believe so." Graves replied. "Would you like to check my transcription, Mr. Darcy?"