He saw her shut her lips on an eager prompt, but she’d guessed at least part of it. “We have to get that letter-the original-to the Duke of Wolverstone in England. Ferrar, of course, will do everything in his considerable power to stop us. Our instructions from Wolverstone-he’s the key planner in this-were to make four copies, and each bring one home, all traveling by widely different routes.”

“To make it harder for the Cobra to stop you.”

He nodded. “With James gone, there are four of us, now all on our way back to England. Only one of us has the original, but the Cobra doesn’t know which one, so he has to try to intercept each of us.”

Head tilting, she studied him. “Are you…” She paused, eyes on his, then went on, “I suspect you’re carrying one of the copies-a decoy, as it were.”

He was glad there was no one else in the room. He frowned. “How…?”

Her lips curved briefly. “On the wharf, you and your men wanted to chase the cultists-if you’d been carrying the original, you wouldn’t have risked engaging directly. You would defend, not attack-you’d do all you could not to draw attention to your party.”

He humphed. “Yes, well, from here on, we’ll be running. My orders are explicit-I’m to do all I can to distract the cultists between here and the Channel, do all I can to make them chase me, to make the Cobra throw as many of his forces in Europe into dealing with me.”

“Without making it obvious you’re carrying a copy and not the original.” She nodded, then looked frowningly at him. “You’re not carrying the letter on you, are you?”