shadow of britain

Chapter 219 The Ape’s Trick (4K2)

At 06:30 on Sunday night, as night falls, lights rise one by one in London's houses.

On the dark Thames River, on Waterloo Bridge connecting Lambeth on the south bank and Charing Cross on the north bank, there are gentlemen riding tall horses, ladies riding carriages, and flannel-wearing ladies who have just gotten off work. Dock workers in blue overalls and smelling of sweat, and company employees wearing gold-rimmed glasses, white shirts, and coats on their hands, or people wearing plaid skirts and small headscarves, rushing in groups Middle- and lower-class women snapping up discounted food before Covent Garden Market closes. From the upper class to the middle class and then to the bottom, there are bustling crowds, all kinds of things in the world, and all kinds of things in the world. All classes in London are on this bridge that connects the lifeline of London's transportation. Passage.

Here, you can see the real face of London society. Just stay here for half an hour and you will have a panoramic view of the stories that take place every day in Europe's largest industrial city.

Among the overwhelming and gorgeously decorated vehicles, an ordinary public carriage with a black hood and sealed carriage seemed unremarkable.

And Arthur, smoking a pipe, was sitting in the carriage. He looked up at the Thames River reflecting the lights of the fishing lights outside the window, and looked at this building named to commemorate the victory of the Battle of Waterloo. The bridge that became famous in the love movie "Blue Bridge".

However, he was not interested in admiring the rich urban fireworks at this time, because for him, the series of events that were going to happen tonight did not allow him to be distracted.

In the darkness, Tom couldn't see Arthur's face clearly, he could only see the flickering red dots in the darkness.

In the silence, a burst of white mist spread out like a cloud, and Arthur's voice, slightly hoarse and deep due to smoking, suddenly sounded.

"Tom, have you arranged all the things I asked you to do?"

Tom naturally did not dare to neglect Arthur's questions, but after such a long period of experience, he was no longer the young police officer who dared not even stand on the prosecution table in the Magistrate's Court a few months ago.

The starlight at night shone directly on Tom's shoulders through the carriage window, illuminating the elegant shoulder patch with three V shapes, which symbolized his current police rank.

Not a landless farmer, not a shoemaker, but Sheriff Tom Flanders.

The Sheriff naturally acted like a Sheriff. Tom flipped through the documents in his hand and made a formal report to Arthur word by word under the moonlight.

"At the Russian Embassy, ​​Miss Fiona Ivan has been hired based on her half-baked Russian and German skills, as well as her Russian ancestry. Judging from her feedback this morning, the embassy seems to have temporarily arranged for her to work here. Doing junior cleaning work. But I believe that with Miss Ivan's intelligence, she will be promoted soon.

As for tonight's special operation against the Russian Embassy, ​​under your orders, it will be carried out by Sergeant Tony Eckhardt and Sergeant Charles Field of the LPS in conjunction with General Staff Alan Pinkerton.The infiltration operation will be carried out simultaneously with the concert. The operation team will launch the infiltration at seven o'clock sharp. Pinkerton will be responsible for the infiltration, Tony will be responsible for driving and patrolling, and Field will serve as the mobile team.

If the infiltration operation is successful, the operation team will evacuate as planned and the harvest will be delivered to your mansion at 36 Lancaster Gate immediately after tonight's concert.

If the infiltration operation fails and Pinkerton is caught on the spot by the embassy, ​​Miss Ivan will send a signal. Sergeant Field, who gets the signal, will lead his team to intervene and claim that a thief the police team is chasing has broken into the embassy area. .

If the embassy releases him normally, we will prosecute Pinkerton according to normal procedures and arrange a suitable prison for him to serve his sentence in peace, so as to minimize the embassy's vigilance.If they don't let you go, you may need to step in to handle the rest. "

In the darkness, Tom only saw the burning red dots swaying up and down, and then he saw a pair of eyes shining with light red light in the darkness. Only then did he realize that Arthur had just closed his eyes. of.

Although he had always been curious about why Arthur's eyes glowed red from time to time, and he had asked the other party this question, Arthur always joked with him, saying that he had pink eye.

But even if Tom didn't know whether Arthur really suffered from eye disease, the more than a year of getting along with him day and night still made him deeply understand that whenever Arthur's eyes have this kind of light, it means that he Be serious.

Arthur put on the gloves bit by bit, then stretched out his hand and compared it with the window. The superintendent-level white gloves uniformly issued by Scotland Yard were very delicate, with almost no flaws visible.

The gloves tightly wrapped his calloused hands from holding a police officer's knife. At first glance, they looked slender and beautiful, as if these hands could really play the piano.

"I hope their actions tonight go well. If we miss tonight, we will not be able to find a better opportunity than this during the London meeting. Time is tight and the tasks are heavy. Whether LPS can prove its value depends on It’s tonight.”

At this point, Arthur's words suddenly stopped. He looked at Tom with a smile: "Tom, is it more fun to do this kind of work than to be on duty at Scotland Yard?"

Maybe it was because of the darkness of the night, but Tom, who had always been gentle and even a little weak, also mentioned something wild, and he smiled and nodded.

"To be honest, it's much better than on duty. Although you have to use your brain and learn to write documents here, fortunately there is no psychological burden when doing things. But when you are on the front line, even if you are physically tired, you still have to face the For poor people like us, it is better to just visit the Russian Embassy once than to drive away roadside vendors all day long. But..."

When Tom said this, he suddenly glanced unbearably at the fat French man sitting next to him who was tied up and his mouth was gagged with a rag.

He pointed to Alexandre Dumas beside him and asked: "But, Arthur, can you tell me why you tied up Mr. Dumas when you went to the concert to perform?"

As soon as Tom finished speaking, Alexandre Dumas, who had lost much strength due to the violent resistance, suddenly became energetic again. He suddenly nodded at Tom, and then kept raising his head at Arthur. , his eyes were as wide as pocket watches, and his mouth made a series of uh uh uh sounds.

Although his pronunciation was very unclear, Tom could still vaguely tell that Dumas seemed to be saying: "Arthur, are you fucking crazy! If I had known that I would have this kind of experience, I might as well have just let him know Pirates, take me away! Take off the rag, I’m going to fucking choke you to death!”

When Tom heard this, he asked Arthur for help. "Arthur, why don't you take the thing out of your mouth? He can't run away anyway."

When Arthur heard this, he just took a puff of his cigarette: "I blocked his mouth for a reason."

Tom looked at Alexandre Dumas' face flushed with excitement and hesitated: "But..."

Seeing him like this, Arthur just sighed, and said, "Okay, Tom, you asked me to pick this up. Listen carefully." The cloth inside.

As soon as the strip of cloth left his mouth, before Dumas could take a breath, his powerful national curse rang out in the carriage: "You stupid British blue lobsters, I'll fuck you..."

However, before the word 'Mom' left his mouth, Arthur filled the piece of cloth back into his mouth.

Arthur looked at Tom with a blank face, and said calmly: "So, do you understand now? I once thought that I could impress him with sincerity, but French people's emotions are usually unreliable. In terms of emotions, They have more fun than the British upper class."

Tom looked at Alexandre Dumas with a complicated expression, and then asked Arthur: "I have no objection to gagging, but why on earth should I bring him to the concert together? Isn't this fat man just a pure burden?" ?”

Arthur said: "I didn't plan to bring him with me originally, but Mr. François Vidoc from France seemed to have issued a criminal warning to me. He said that he planned to bring me to BU on the day of the concert. . Since this fat man still has a bounty from the French government hanging on his head, I think it is still necessary to be cautious. After all, if we lose him during the London Conference, it will be a big shame for Britain."

After hearing this, Alexandre Dumas blew air from his nostrils. After a while of vague French chanting, he finally said something that Arthur could understand: "Just for this little thing, you tied me up." Yes? I told you earlier, Mr. Vidocq will not tie me up, he is my friend. Besides, what about Britain’s human rights! Isn’t it your favorite thing to mention? "

Unexpectedly, after Arthur heard this, he just said calmly: "You think the same thing about those friends on the road who were brought to justice by Mr. Vidocq. In my opinion, Mr. Vidocq didn't do anything just because the price was not enough. I have inquired, Mr. Vidocq's annual salary at the Grand Paris Police Department is 6000 francs. For these [-] francs, he can send in [-] friends a year, and the bounty on your head is now two to three thousand francs. pound.

Alexander, although you are a literary playwright who is obsessed with literature and art, and you have always been lavish in handling property, you should know that the exchange rate of pounds to francs is one to twenty, right?Your head is worth sixty thousand francs. It would take Mr. Vidocq ten years to catch you alone. With so much money in front of you, who wouldn't be confused?

As for the human rights issue you mentioned, Mr. Thomas Paine, who wrote "The Rights of Man", was indeed great, but after he finished writing that book, he was wanted by the government and had to go to France to participate in the Great Revolution.Britain has the soil that gave birth to the Human Rights, but unfortunately, at least at this time, we have no room for it here.If you want to talk about "Human Rights", I can also consider sending you back to France immediately. "

Alexandre Dumas was so angry at what Arthur said. After a long time, he finally choked out a sentence: "Then at least take off the rag from my mouth, right? "

Arthur glanced at him: "Of course you can take off the rag, but you have to promise me not to explode."

Alexandre Dumas was so angry that even his shaggy hair seemed to stand up: "I promise!"

When Arthur heard this, he reluctantly took the thing out of his mouth: "By the way, this is not a rag, but a sock sponsored by Elder."

"Ah? Arthur, what the hell..."

Before Dumas finished speaking, his mouth was blocked again in an instant.

Seeing that he was so emotional, Arthur knew that he couldn't make the fat man anxious, otherwise he would definitely write it in a book and scold him later.

He said calmly and reassuringly: "Alexander, please bear with me for a little longer. You will be safe when we get to the theater later. The show tonight is quite exciting. I have prepared a small box with a good location for you. Apart from not being able to move freely until the end of the show, all the treatment is top-notch.”

In the midst of the conversation between Arthur and others, the carriage crossed Waterloo Bridge and moved along Waterloo Road.

After driving forward for about 10 minutes, the carriage finally slowly stopped in front of the Coburg Theater surrounded by red brick theaters.

At this time, the theater was overcrowded, and there was a strong smell of perfume and the chatter and laughter of gentlemen and ladies everywhere.

Occasionally, a few pairs of malicious eyes would flash through the crowd. They were brigade of pickpockets and thieves who had heard the news and came from all over London.

Correspondingly, many single women with pitiful and delicate makeup can also be seen in the crowd, but they are not serious aristocratic ladies, but high-end prostitutes waiting for customers to come to their door.

On occasions like this, their business is always indispensable.

For example, there is someone consulting right in front of Arthur's eyes.

"Oh! Madam, I...hehe, no, no, no, don't get me wrong, I didn't want to rob you, I have no malice at all. You have to know that I have a very good education. Didn't you see it? In fact, I am from Oxford Graduated. Haha, yes, that’s right. With my educational background, of course I have a decent job. I work in the Royal Navy and my income is pretty good. I live near Hyde Park and there are many people who want to please me.

Like a Scotland Yard superintendent, a French playwright, a Cambridge-educated priest, a magazine editor-in-chief and a newspaper reporter, oh, you really don’t know, these people are really annoying.They always beg me to help them deal with some embarrassing things, but although helping is troublesome, it is always rewarding.

You see, I happen to have two tickets here, box tickets, both given by those people.Unfortunately, my female companion is not feeling well tonight and cannot come on time.Alas, she really didn't have this blessing, which also made me a little sad.But she can't come, and I won't have a female companion tonight.If this is the case, I will be too embarrassed in front of my friends.

Look at you, you are so beautiful, just like the stars in the night sky.I wonder if you would be kind enough to accompany me to the concert tonight?To be honest, when I see you, I can't help but think of Lord Byron's poem - young people are full of energy, as abundant as the river in spring.I... I want to get to know you better. "

Arthur looked at the familiar face, his eyelids twitched slightly, and he retracted his legs that he had just stepped off the carriage.

Alexandre Dumas, who was behind him, also stretched his head to take a look, and then hurriedly sat back down.

Arthur closed the car door, coughed slightly, and said to the coachman apologetically: "Sir, please go around to the back door of the theater and get off. There are really too many monkeys at the front entrance of the theater."

(End of this chapter)