Read Lammas Night for Free Online

on the Grafton ?”
    â€œGrafton.” Collingwood sighed and shook his head, looking possibly more dejected than before. “Christ, you don’t believe in asking the easy ones, do you? If you know she was hit, you probably know as much as I do already. There’s something about one of our own ships firing on another, but it’s too soon for details on that yet.” He hesitated a beat at Graham’s dour expression. “Any particular reason you’re asking?”
    â€œA very particular one.”
    â€œBut you can’t talk about it.”
    â€œSorry.”
    Collingwood shrugged. “No need to apologize to me, Gray. I wouldn’t trade places with you intelligence chaps for all the commissions in the Royal Navy.”
    â€œSmart man.”
    Graham glanced at his watch, one hand rubbing at the stubble on his jaw as he considered his next move.
    Five to six hours before there was word. He would go mad if he had to spend them waiting in this room. Even less appealing was the thought of waiting in the crush and confusion by Admiralty Pier, where the evacuees were off-loading down in the harbor. The mere psychic din of that much pain and battle shock in such close proximity for so long would addle his Sight for hours, perhaps even days.
    Then he remembered the Rolls-Royce parked at the front of the Constable’s Tower and the man who owned it. He would wait with William. The prince knew that Graham had been monitoring the progress of an important mission for the past week even if the identity of the agent had never been revealed. He would be delighted to be in on the mission’s hopefully successful conclusion. Besides that, the prince could use some reassurance that what he was doing was useful; the past few years had included far too little of that kind of reinforcement.
    â€œListen, Coll, are you going to be on duty for a while?” Graham asked, looking up at his friend again.
    â€œThrough the morning, unless the boss pulls me for something else.”
    â€œGood. Could you ring me at the Constable’s Tower as soon as you have anything firm on the Grafton ?”
    â€œWill do.”
    â€œThank you. Also, if any calls should come through for me, can you patch them through as well?” he added, thinking of Audrey and the rest at Oakwood.
    â€œOf course. I’ll brief the operators at once.”
    Graham made his way back through the maze of Naval Headquarters and into the open air without further incident, but he was still uneasy as he collected Denton and walked briskly along the pedestrian path toward the tower, collar upturned against the mist.
    The significance of his dream was clearer now, though he still could not recapture any details. His instincts had been right all along; something had gone wrong. While he slept, he must have picked up something of the confusion and turmoil surrounding the attack on the Grafton and perhaps some of Michael’s fear, the brief touch triggered by the earlier psychic contact. Now he longed to go back on the Second Road and try for a more solid contact. Audrey would still be monitoring, of course, but Graham was not certain she could hold onto something this chaotic.
    He knew he was foolish even to be considering such a thing. But despite the danger, he found himself examining the terrain in the shadows ahead and looking for a place that was sufficiently sheltered for him to make a quick foray. The matter was becoming urgent, and he dared not do anything of this sort once he reached the tower. The last thing he needed was William asking awkward questions. He did not want to even think about what he would do if Michael were dead or had lost what he had been sent for.
    â€œI need a few minutes of privacy, Denny,” he murmured, touching the man’s sleeve lightly and nodding toward the shadows beneath a small footbridge to their left. “See that I’m not disturbed, all right?”
    As Denton grunted