A horrible scream pierced the stillness of our reading and both Charlotte and I rose to our feet. Colour drained from Charlottes face and I found it hard to breathe, the howl was so terrible and the implications were grave. I dropped the book and stood frozen in my place unable to move even though the need was obviously dire. It was Charlotte that first moved and she took my hand in a firm grip and tugged me out of my stasis.

We tumbled headlong out of the room, barely keeping our feet up to our own pace as we raced to reach Edo. Through the dining room and into the pillow room we rushed and we were both highly excited when arrived. The room which had only contained Edo when we left, now held four new men whom we did not recognize. Three of them were armed with rifles, cocked and pointed straight at us and one stood in the doorway opposite, leisurely playing with his revolver, obviously some kind of leader for the group.

"Stop right there!" he commanded, without showing any urgency. "Or we will be forced to gun you down where you stand."

Naturally we both halted immediately and moved no further. My own revolver laid heavily in my pocket against my thigh and Charlotte was standing behind me to the left with a firm grip on my left arm.

When the man in the doorway was certain that we had understood and complied with his orders, he pointed his revolver at me and started towards us. To my far left I could see the pillows where Edo laid, one of the riflemen only a few feet from him, he was not moving, petrified by the reapperance of what I can only assume to be the ruffians whom had killed his family.

"I recognize you, my good man." the man with the revolver said.

"Then you have the better of me, for I do not recognize you at all."

The man laughed a short hard laugh, which made me instinctively fear him; it was the laugh of a man without soul, without remorse or empathy. He looked us all over once more, his eyes were as cold and gray as droplets of ice.

"I am Captain Patrick Moran of the Her Majesty's Royal Navy, special branch."

I was taken aback. Though I had gathered that the man had some military background, I had been convinced that the man was some sort of outcast. It could not simply be true that he was still in the employ of Her Majesty still. Then again, special branch could mean anything. I had heard of sections of the military employing shady characters to perform those dangerous, immoral missions that no honerable person would never do.

I would be understating my position if I said I did not approve of this practice. My strong conviction is one should not have to resort to this sort of activities in order to be successful in international diplomacy, or indeed war. But I was also aware that this sort of occurrence was no new thing and had in fact been a tradition, albeit a bad one, in the scene of international relations for many years.

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