Edward Marston_Captain Rawson 03 by Fire;Sword

Author:Fire;Sword
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction, War & Military, Historical, General
ISBN: 9780750532471
Publisher: Magna
Published: 2009-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Daniel had hoped in vain that there was another explanation. It was conceivable that his letter to Amalia had been stolen from her or even intercepted before it ever reached Amsterdam. Deep down, however, he knew that he was grasping at straws and, when news came from her stricken father, the truth was unavoidable. Emanuel Janssen’s letter told of his daughter’s abduction and of the inabilities of the Dutch authorities to find any trace of her. That confirmed it. Amalia was in enemy hands. She was being held in the French camp.

‘We can’t be absolutely certain of that,’ said Marlborough.

‘I think we can, Your Grace,’ insisted Daniel.

‘Amalia could be held anywhere in French territory. She may even have been taken back to Paris.’

‘I think that highly improbable. The only use that Amalia has for them is to act as an enticement for me. They’d hardly want to draw me all the way to the French capital.’

‘That’s a fair point, Daniel,’ said Cardonnel. ‘They went to great trouble to arrange the kidnap. It must have taken a lot of planning. Why go to such lengths?’

‘They want me very much,’ replied Daniel.

‘I can’t think why.’

‘I can,’ said Marlborough. ‘It might well have something to do with Daniel’s kidnap of Major Crevel. That must have rankled with the French high command. They may even be aware of his part in the liberation of Emanuel Janssen from the Bastille.’

‘How could they know that, Your Grace?’

‘Ralph Higgins will have told them,’ decided Daniel. ‘Before we caught him, he’d set himself the task of finding out as much as he could about me. I know for a fact that he was aware of my work in the Bastille. The information was volunteered to Higgins.’

‘What happens now?’ asked Cardonnel.

‘I go to Amalia’s rescue.’

‘But you’d never succeed – they’d be expecting you.’

‘Besides,’ said Marlborough, ‘I’m not willing to let one of my most able officers fall into their hands. This requires thought.’

The three of them were in the captain general’s tent. Now that he was convinced of Amalia’s whereabouts, Daniel wanted to get to her as soon as possible. The others were more circumspect.

‘There may be another way out of this,’ suggested Cardonnel. ‘We could request that Miss Janssen is exchanged for one of our French prisoners.’

‘They’d never agree to that,’ said Daniel.

‘They might do if the request came directly from me,’ argued Marlborough. ‘And we do have some high-ranking officers in custody.’

‘It would be pointless even to make the offer, Your Grace. The only person for whom they’d exchange Amalia is me. It’s only a matter of time before they propose it.’

‘We can’t just surrender you, Daniel.’

‘You won’t have to – I’ll devise a plan.

Cardonnel was sceptical. ‘How can you rescue someone when she’s surrounded by a massive French army?’

‘There has to be a way.’

‘If anyone can find it,’ Marlborough commented, ‘then Daniel is the man to do it. On the other hand, this may pose rather more of a challenge than the Bastille. How many men will you need?’

‘I won’t need any, Your Grace.

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