Flashman's Waterloo (Adventures of Thomas Flashman Book 6) by Brightwell Robert

Author:Brightwell, Robert [Brightwell, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

I remember Grant telling me once when we were in Paris together, that he thought he could withstand torture and would never talk. Just the other week a similar ass at the Reform Club – God knows what I was doing there – told me that he thought torture of the mind was far worse than torture of the body. Well unlike those imbeciles, I have sat in a dungeon waiting for some bastard to stick red-hot metal implements where they were least wanted to make me spill my secrets. I know that I would have said whatever it took to stop the pain, whether it was true or not. It was a lesson I suspect citizen Fouché had long ago learned: intimidation and blackmail were far more reliable inducements than a henchman with red-hot pincers.

I did not get a lot of sleep after he left. I spent most the night pacing my room trying to work out what he knew, what he was only guessing and what he might do about it. My first thought was to make a run for it, but if they were not watching me before, Fouché’s men would certainly be watching me now. I would soon have them on my tail and then Davout would have the army after me as well – my actions having proved to all that I was a traitor. Perhaps that was what Fouché wanted, a convenient gull he could blame his own treachery on if Bonaparte won.

But I realised that if I stayed Fouché could expose me any time he wanted. While he did not have conclusive proof now, he only had to wheel out Hobhouse in front of the emperor and that deluded fool would happily tell his hero that I was once a British officer. I suspected that it would not be hard to trick Madame Chambord into confirming I was the man who deceived his way into her bed and then I would be properly sunk.

I even began to wonder if Fouché really had sent the messages to Wellington or whether that was just a trick to get me to confess. But eventually I came to the conclusion that if he was loyal to the emperor he would just have had me arrested. It was far more likely that he was using me to play both sides. That did at least mean that I could be sure that my note would reach the British. Relaxing a bit, I realised that Fouché was unlikely to make a move until he knew who had won the coming conflict. Now that the allies had details of the emperor’s plans the odds had to be in their favour. If the British were victorious I would be safe from Fouché and the hero of the hour. I sat back and began to calm myself by imagining the honours that would come my way. I could not help but smile in that dark room as I thought how furious Grant would be at my success.

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