Celeste Bradley - [The Liar's Club 02] by The Impostor Read Free Book Online Page B

with the camaraderie and teamwork of old.
    He wanted to jump up and shout at them all, these men who had seen him through years of working together,who had searched for him when he’d been imprisoned, who had taken him back without a word even after his revelations under capture had cost several their lives …
    He didn’t say a word. Not for him to order them to listen. Not for him to force their loyalty when his own hung by a damaged thread.
    Dalton must forge his own chains of loyalty to the hearts of these men. James looked around the room, gazing at each recalcitrant face in turn.
    God help him.
    That meeting had been an improvement, Dalton told himself as the men moved from the room. This time there had been no bloodshed between arguing factions. In addition, not a single stick of furniture had been broken. Nothing that a bit of glue wouldn’t fix, at any rate.
    All in all—another worthless attempt to bring the Liars together.
Patience
.
    Unfortunately, Napoleon wasn’t going to wait while Dalton ironed out insubordination and inter-faction rivalry.
    Dalton straightened his peacock finery and donned his plumed hat. Time to leave the club for the outside world and the smarmy existence of Sir Thorogood.
    Dalton walked from the club with a tip of his hat to Stubbs, who was minding the door while he anxiously waited to begin saboteur training with James Cunnington. Unfortunately, until the Griffin recovered, the Liars were still drastically undermanned.
    Once Dalton had settled the ambiguity of his place with his men, he was going to have to look into serious recruitment. Agatha was pushing to recruit some women.While Dalton wasn’t averse to the idea, he had no idea where to even begin. If he couldn’t seem to find a suitable woman for himself, he didn’t see how he was supposed to locate them for intelligence training.
    Simon had found Agatha while searching for her brother.
    Then again, Simon had given up everything for Agatha. Dalton couldn’t picture himself throwing away the Liar’s Club for anyone. The club was his now, if he could hold it.
    From where Dalton stood across the street, he could see the two of them leaving the school. He watched as Simon handed Agatha into their carriage with such tender solicitousness that Dalton’s throat tightened.
    Then Simon looked up to see him loitering outside the club. Dalton nodded to him, and Simon nodded carefully back, as if he were greeting a slight acquaintance, although there was an admonishing cast to Simon’s brow. Dalton could almost feel Simon’s thoughts, that Dalton was not careful enough in hiding his trail to and from the club.
    Dalton shook his head at the notion as he turned to be on his way. As if anyone would suspect anything from Sir Thorogood’s presence at a extravagant gentlemen’s retreat like the Liar’s Club! In truth, it fit this persona perfectly.
    As he walked down the crowded street, Dalton struggled with the unfamiliarity of his new identity. Not for Sir Thorogood the subtle passage of an anonymous gentleman. No, thanks to Button, Dalton found himself in full rainbow grandeur, complete with shoot-me-now pantaloons and a monocle. Every eye was upon him.
    Then a prickle up the back of his neck gave him pause. Instinct cut in, making him slow his pace andextend his senses. That feeling meant only one thing.
Trouble
.
    Dalton paused to let pass a boy with a barrow full of coal. Then he turned into a tobacconist’s shop as if it had been his destination all along.
    He spoke to the proprietor for a moment about his latest shipment from the West Indies, and about the woe-fill loss of American trade lately. All the while, he kept one eye on the front window. The street was full at this late morning hour. Servants and gentry, merchants and vagrants, all passed before the large shop window in the subsequent minutes.
    Yet only one person glanced at the interior of the shop as he passed. A tall man, fair-haired, of perhaps thirty years of