Page 97 of A Remarkable Rogue

His gaze slid across the room. The baroness and her son sat in the corner, where she did her best to distract Robbie from the scene playing out in front of them. But the boy was still too upset to be taken upstairs. With McTavish guarding the outer door, Robbie took comfort in having the three men there and in keeping both his mother and Hawking in his sight.

Nate certainly understood that. He wasn’t taking any chances with Hawking himself. After all, the marquess had nearly escaped that morning when he and Clayton had gone after him to arrest him. He’d been under surveillance at his London town house by trusted men from the Armory, but he’d somehow managed to slip away without being seen. Thank God they’d been able to track him—directly toward the Armory. Nate had reached the old building just as Sydney dropped the first portcullis.

Nate had never been more proud of her. Or more terrified out of his mind that he might have lost her.

“We escort him under guard to Newgate,” Clayton answered. “St James, would you call in the men of the Armory to help us? I’m not letting anyone from the Home Office or the Horse Guards anywhere near him.” He glanced at Nate. “No offense.”

“None taken.” They’d finally caught Scepter’s leader. They wouldn’t risk Scepter having more men inside the ranks of the Home Office or the Guards who might make a play to free Hawking en route. Or kill him before he could be properly questioned.

“We know why he went after Lady Rowland and the boy,” St James murmured. “But why did he lead Scepter?”

“Let’s find out.” Clayton stepped forward and unkindly ripped the cloth out of the marquess’s mouth. “Your lordship.”

Hawking spat onto the floor and flexed his mouth to loosen it from being gagged. “So you’re going to interrogate me now, are you?”

Clayton grabbed one of the chairs from a nearby reading table and pulled it up in front of Hawking. He turned it around and straddled it backward, his arms folded across the chairback in a casual pose that belied the tension surrounding them. “I have questions that need answers.”

“But I have no answers to give.”

“Oh, I think you do.” Clayton leveled a hard gaze on the marquess. They all knew he would swing at the gallows, that his title and position in the government wouldn’t save him. Bound and bloodied, Hawking looked nothing like the man he’d been only hours before…the third most powerful man in the British empire after the prince regent and the prime minister. Truthfully, even the king had held less power these days, but both men had seemingly gone mad. “Starting with your role in Scepter. We know you’re its leader.”

The three mendidn’tknow for certain. They’d only speculated on his role with the group. But the way Hawking’s face turned ghostly white proved their suspicions.

“I’m with Scepter,” Hawking clarified. “But I’m not Scepter.”

Clayton frowned at that cryptic answer. “What I want to know is why you became involved with them.” When Hawking didn’t reply, Clayton shrugged. “Might as well tell me. You’re under arrest for the murder of a British general and the attempted murder of a baroness and her son. You’ll be tried, found guilty, and hanged on the gallows. Nothing can stop what’s going to happen to you.”

He flashed a ghastly smile. “Short of a pardon by His Majesty.”

On a cold day in hell…Nate would make certain of it by positioning men around the clock at St James’s Palace, Carlton House, and Windsor Castle until Hawking swung dead by the neck. He might not be able to prevent a royal pardon from being issued, but he could sure as hell prevent it from arriving in time.

“You might find it comforting to confess. It can’t add to your guilt or your punishment.” Clayton solemnly made eye contact with Hawking. “Why Scepter?”

The marquess’s mouth twisted. “It’s not enough for a man to want to start a revolution these days?”

“Not for you,” St James interjected. “Not for an English marquess who regularly dines with the regent.”

“Then how about simple revenge?” Hawking asked.

Clayton shook his head. “There are easier ways to gain vengeance. For the first few years, Scepter was more criminal than revolutionary, establishing illegal businesses and smuggling operations across England. That took too much time and effort for simple revenge.”

“Because the brothels and smuggling operations Scepter ran gave us access to great amounts of cash and information.” Hawking seemed to take a ghoulish pride in the way Scepter had destroyed lives. “We leveraged those resources to blackmail people in important positions or to buy others into doing our bidding. We placed people at every level of the military and government, even inside the royal household itself. All willing to do or say what we wanted, including calling for the abdication of the monarch, and all at our signal.”

“A signal? Like the assassination of the prime minister and prince regent?” Nate muttered in disbelief. Good God, the man was mad. “Do you really think it could have been that easy, to depose a monarchy by mere outcry?”

Hawking focused his gaze past Clayton at Nate. “What do you think allows a monarch to rule or a president to lead? He doesn’t retain power because he’s ordained by God or elected to office.” Hawking sneered at the idea. “He rules bythe will of the people. If the people decide a monarch has no power, then he has no power. Itisthat simple.” His eyes gleamed. “What would happen in the confusion after the assassination of the prince regent if politicians, peers, and military officers at all levels called out for a new form of government to rise from the ashes? If they all demanded a republic based on a new constitution? The monarchy would be powerless, the government useless. But I’d be there, waiting to step in and lead them all into the future.”

Nate drawled, “A second Glorious Revolution?”

“Without a shot fired.” Hawking smiled. “All that Scepter’s army needs to be put into play is a signal, and they’ll call out in unison for revolution.”

“Impossible.” St James shook his head. “What you were after would have taken the army, the militia, officials at all levels—They’d never refuse their orders and turn against the monarch.”

“Wouldn’t they? You were a soldier in the wars. Surely, there were orders you would have refused, orders you would have been morallyobligatedto refuse, even if generals—or the king himself—issued them.” Hawking sized him up with a look. “Such as the slaughter of unarmed civilians.”

The old men, women, and children his brother had helped to burn alive in America… Nate’s blood turned to ice. “Is that what Scepter was about—revenge for what General Braxton and your brother did at Bois Saint-Louis?”

His eyes narrowed. “Jonas did nothing at Saint-Louis! When he realized what Braxton planned to do, he refused his orders.That’swhy Braxton was going to have him court-martialed, why he was sent into the fray only a few weeks later and killed. My brother did the honorable thing, and he was killed for it while that bastard Braxton emerged a hero.”