The Invisible Amateur (6 page)

“No. I expected
him to, but only the one so far.”

“Well, at least
he's keeping an eye on you. You're safer under his watch than
anywhere else.”

At this, Amelia
furrowed her brow and tried to hide the flutter of panic that took
hold of her insides and gave them a squeeze.

“He didn't tell
you?” Sebastian asked. It took a second for Amelia to process this
out-of-the-blue question. He'd evidently read her expression and
figured out she knew so little.

“No, he hasn't
told me anything. I suspected that's why he brought me here, but
when you mentioned our arrangement and Myron bringing me to London,
I assumed that it was as innocent as that.”

“Your arrangement?
No, I had an arrangement with him to keep you safe after we found
out who'd paid your stalker.”

Amelia's mouth
dropped open and she stopped processing thoughts. She'd told
Sebastian about her agreement with his brother. If Myron found out,
he'd refuse to ever see her again.

“There's no need
to worry, you're safe when you're with either of us.” Sebastian sat
forward. After a few more seconds, she shook her head to clear her
thoughts and concentrate on being present.

“I shouldn't have
told you about my arrangement with Myron. He forbade it.” She
gulped and got up, knowing it could end everything she'd just been
thankful for.

“Ah, yes well, I
did sort of trick you into it, didn't I?”

“Your brother
won't care about that.”

Sebastian looked
thoughtful for a moment and studied her face. At first she
considered pretending to be calm, but she let him see the fear
coursing through her. It would do nothing for her to hide her
emotion right now.

“I won't tell him
if you don't. Since it means that much to you. But at some point
he'll find out, you know that, right?”

“Yes, but maybe by
then he'll actually like me and consider forgiving me.”

“I'm sure he likes
you already.”

“You're alone in
that opinion. I've made him angry far too many times for him to
like me, but maybe, if I try really hard, I'll get close to being
as good as you and he'll decide he can tolerate having me
around.”

Sebastian chuckled
and took the hint. He stood up again and they ran through their
little scenario where she had to try and take the card out of the
pocket without him noticing. An hour of walking past the coat in
the middle of the room and picking her moments, she still hadn't
snuck a lift past his watchful gaze.

“Enough, I think.
You're getting better, and I might not notice if I wasn't expecting
it now. We'll move on.”

Sebastian removed
the coat from the bell-rigged contraption he'd created and put it
back on.

“Like before, try
and put the card in without me noticing.”

“All right, give
me the card, then,” she said and held out her hand for it.

“Left pocket.” His
eyes twinkled with merriment as she hesitated. When she realised he
meant her left pocket, not his, she reached in and pulled the card
out. A laugh bubbled out of her. She hadn't noticed, and she
wondered if she ever would, when he did that.

A moment later he
closed his eyes, and she knew he was expecting her to slip the card
in the pocket. Just as he had the first time she'd tried to pull it
out, he grabbed her wrist long before she had the card nestled in
the right place. She sighed as he let her go.

It took seven
attempts until she could get the card in the pocket before he
noticed her and reached out for her hand or wrist. Another four
tries, and she stood on the other side of him without him moving. A
grin flitted across her face.

“I did it,” she
said, stirring him from having his eyes closed.

As soon as he
opened his eyes, he checked and pulled out the queen of hearts.

“A few more times,
and then we'll move on to doing it when I'm not wearing the
coat.”

They spent the
next few hours having him teach her to slide the card into the
pocket without ringing bells, and then trying to do it as she
walked by. Finally, she tried to hide it from his watching eyes,
but just like before, Sebastian could spot every time she slipped
something into his pocket.

Before he could
teach her anything else, there was a knock at the door and someone
she didn't know came in. He was dressed in shabby jeans and a
hoody. He didn't look very warm, and was young enough he shouldn't
be out that late.

“The address you
wanted,” the teenager said and handed over a piece of paper.

“They didn't
notice you or the others.”

The kid shook his
head and shrugged down a little into his hoody.

“No, we were
careful like you taught us. He went there and then left again a few
minutes later. No one ever sees us.”

“Nope, that's what
makes you invaluable,” Sebastian said and handed over a shopping
bag of packages sitting by the door. Amelia recognised some food,
snacks and matches.

“Cheers,
mate.”

The kid hurried
out the way he'd come, leaving behind the faint smell of unwashed
sweaty body. She tried not to wrinkle her nose, suspecting it
wasn't the kid's fault he had the unpleasant odour.

She watched and
waited as Sebastian went to his phone and tapped out a quick
message. Afterwards, he tucked the piece of paper with the address
on in his pocket. She hoped he'd explain but he didn't. He simply
handed her the card again and indicated that she should try once
more to place it somewhere and get it past his notice.

After thinking for
a few seconds, she decided she was going to try to deposit the card
and then lift the address right after. The cover of the card might
provide the distraction necessary to get the second action past his
notice. With her nerves, he noticed almost immediately when she
tried to place the card both of the next two attempts. Then an idea
popped into her head.

“Sebastian?” she
said, softening her voice and biting gently on her lower lip. He
raised his eyebrows.

A couple of
seconds later she took a few slow, deliberate, steps towards him
and tilted her head down so she could look up at him through her
eyelashes.

“You remember when
I came over the other night and Mrs Wintern said that... well, that
we were likely to not want tea?” Amelia came the rest of the way
towards him. “You didn't deny it, and it got me thinking. Would
you... maybe...”

She trailed off as
if she couldn't finish the sentence and stepped into his personal
space. He froze to the spot and she stared at his lips, trying to
make it look like she was considering kissing him. As she closed
her eyes and leant in a little closer, she slipped the card in and
then followed it up with a quick pinch of the piece of paper.

Hoping he was
still frozen and didn't entirely believe her act, she lingered but
let it get awkward. Just as he pulled back, she grinned.

“Almost,” he said.
“Very nice try, though. I was wondering when you'd try the feminine
charms. That would have worked on most men.” As he pulled the card
out of his pocket, she sighed.

“But not you or
your brother.” She didn't hide the frustration in the sentiment.
When he handed the queen of hearts back to her, she realised she'd
got away with the second part of the trick.

With a smug grin
on her face, she pulled the address out of her own pocket and read
it.

36 Galsworthy
Avenue, E14

She finished
before Sebastian realised what she had. He patted his pocket and
laughed.

“Well done,
Amelia. You're getting good at this. My brother would be
pleased.”

“Pleased about
what?” Myron asked from the doorway. Amelia felt her heart race.
She had no idea how to explain what his younger brother had just
said. Thankfully, Sebastian had no problem talking.

“Amelia here, has
just successfully lifted the address you need from me with nothing
but her feminine charms to disguise her true intentions.”

Amelia wasn't
surprised that Sebastian had chosen to emphasise this point.

“She seduced you?”
Myron sneered but didn't look her way.

“I didn't go that
far, and I masked the lift further by placing this card in his
pocket. He's been teaching me, since I'm in London with little to
do.”

“How appropriate,”
Myron replied when he'd taken in the picture on the face of the
card. Not once did he look at her, and she felt her temper rise at
the insinuation until she wasn't sure she could control her
mouth.

“I have to keep
myself busy learning something when people are trying to harm me
and no one seems to think I ought to know. Every little thing I
learn that might make me safer or keep me alive is worth my time.”
She kept her voice even but her annoyance was unmasked. “And let's
face it, seducing either Holmes brother is an achievement. You
can't blame a girl for wanting to try the challenge.”

An awkward silence
followed her outburst. It didn't take her long to regret it. Myron
never liked emotional displays. When no one said anything and both
of them were looking at her, she remembered she had the piece of
paper with the address on. As a sort of peace offering, she held it
out to Myron. He didn't thank her as he took it.

“You owe me,”
Sebastian said as Myron memorised it and threw it into the fire.
She ran it through her head again, wondering if it would be useful
to remember and deciding not to take the chance either way. “And I
think we should go immediately.”

Sebastian grabbed
his scarf, but Myron shook his head and held his hand up.

“No, not yet.”

“There will be
lots of them. Whatever you're planning, you'll need my help, and
you know it.”

“We can't go yet.
I'll inform you when I'm ready to.”

“Why not?” Amelia
stepped forward, aware that neither Holmes brother was going to
budge without some encouragement.

“Because there's
more to this problem than we've been told. What has changed,
brother of mine?” Sebastian folded his arms and Myron looked
furiously at him, but moved towards the door.

“They have
something, don't they? Something they're not meant to.”

Myron stopped in
his tracks and faced his brother. He was calm, but she could see
the desire to throttle his younger brother was still there.

“It's the only
obvious reason for not going right now. They have something, and
until you figure out what – or if you already know that part,
retrieve it – you can't go and arrest them all.”

Myron nodded and
came back over to sit down in the armchair. A few seconds later
Sebastian sat down opposite, and Amelia realised she'd been
forgotten. Even when she moved closer, they didn't even glance her
way.

“I started to
suspect when you didn't nag me to encourage our little lead to
scamper back to the main hutch, but you confirmed it when I came to
see you yesterday. You wouldn't keep Amelia in danger if she didn't
need to be.”

“So I'm bait?”
Amelia asked. Both of them looked at her and glared, making her
regret the question.

“I've been asked
to back off and leave the Russians and North Koreans alone,” Myron
finally explained to his brother.

“Surely not while
London is in danger?”

“London's not in
danger.”

“But I am,” Amelia
said, finishing Myron's implication. He nodded but had the good
grace to look a little guilty. “Who would want to hurt me?”

“You're a
complication in the earlier encounter, an unknown and a loose end
to be tied up,” Sebastian said without any hint of sensitivity. It
was a good thing she wasn't surprised by the news and had recently
faced enough difficult situations with the Holmes brothers that she
had some confidence in their ability to protect her. The panic that
threatened to overwhelm her at the news was held back from her mind
by the comfort of their presence but she knew it was close to
showing. In front of Myron, she couldn't allow that.

“So what am I
being traded for?” she asked when no one else said anything.

“These days,
probably information.” Sebastian looked to his brother to get him
to confirm the prognosis. After a few seconds, Myron nodded.

“What
information?” Amelia came a few steps closer and leant against
Sebastian's desk, from where she could see both men's faces.

“That's why we
aren't making our move yet; my brother doesn't know. But the order
could only have come from the royal family. They're the only people
Myron answers to, and there's only one thing the family care about
more than their country.”

“Family. It's
always family.” Amelia shook her head in annoyance. “So it's a
secret of some kind, and we need to find out what and where they
got it from before we deal with them, right?”

“Correct, Amelia.”
Sebastian smiled. In response, she fetched her laptop from her bag
and turned it on.

“No.” Myron gave
her a pointed look. “I'm going to sort this out and ensure,
whatever secret these terrorists have, that it remains a secret and
out of their hands.”

“It's my life on
the line here. I won't let you deny me the right to try and keep
myself alive.”

Myron looked like
he might have her thrown out, but Sebastian shrugged and went to
his usual case board to start building up what they knew. If
Sebastian was going to include her, she knew it gave the elder
brother little choice but to allow it. Now she only had to impress
them both. No pressure at all. And no reason why her hands should
be shaking as she started typing her first search term.

Despite the late
hour, Mycroft didn't feel tired. His mind was abuzz with
information and his body was appreciating the constant supply of
tea Mrs Wintern kept supplying the three workers with. He needed to
keep his mind and body alert.