Think of England

"Wake up, get up!"

Curtis blinked and woke up.The yellow-gray light of the autumn morning flows through the room, and it must be past seven o'clock now.Lying on the hardwood floor all night, his back stiff and sore, his mouth dry and bitter, his clothes cold with sweat, Daniel was eagerly shaking his shoulders.

"Get up, you lazy bastard."

"what happened?"

"We are surrounded."

Curtis jumped up in a second, the rapid change of center of gravity making him dizzy.He lowered his body so as not to become a target for the enemy outside the window.

Daniel knelt beside him, eyes wide in the dim light. "There were several people out there. I saw Marchy, and heard James Armstrong's voice."

Curtis grabbed his Webley, inspected the barrel quickly and expertly, and stuffed several magazines into his pocket. "Pat left a revolver. Can you shoot it?"

"I do not know."

Damn. "Stay away from the windows, then. Is the door bolted?"

"It's bolted."

At least he knows when to cut a long story short.Curtis nodded to him knowingly, then put on his boots.

The mezzanine where they are located occupies about half of the indoor area. Except for the stairs leading downstairs, a circular walkway almost surrounds the entire inside of the tower, allowing visitors to look around the tower from the inside.Curtis lowered his body and crawled to the front of the building.Daniel also moved quietly along the aisle to the other end, only a few feet away from him.

"Curtis!" Someone shouted outside the window.Recognizing the voice, he cast a quick glance at Daniel, who had disgust written all over his face. "Curtis!"

He stretched his arms and pushed open the nearest window. "Sir Hubert," he called out, "good morning."

"Get out of there at once," growled his host petulantly, "what the hell are you playing?"

"Don't you know?" Curtis squatted on the ground with his back against the wall, "I dare say you will understand later."

"Why don't you come downstairs and talk about it like a reasonable person?"

There was a slight movement downstairs, someone was trying to open the door.

"I think I can talk about things here," Curtis replied, "What do you want to say?"

"Where's Holt?" James Armstrong interrupted petulantly. "What did you do to him?"

Curtis looked at Daniel, who shook his head.

"How do I know where he is?"

"You know that! That sneaky Jew is hiding upstairs, you two shameless fellows!"

When all this was over, Curtis would be happy to beat James Armstrong all over the place, but even though he didn't care about him at all at the moment, the message in his words still made him feel cold all over.He takes one more look at Daniel, who makes a self-deprecating "ooh" mouth that reassures him more than anything else.

"If you mean da Silva, yes, he's here. So what?"

"If you don't tell me where Huot is, I won't kill him!"

Curtis sneered, "Then you have to catch him first, you despicable bastard."

"Speak with respect!" Sir Hubert's voice was burning with anger.

Daniel turned his head and glanced out the window, "Oh, what's the matter - Mrs. Armstrong is also down there."

"God, really? Who else?"

"March, another servant, Preston. All but her carry long-range shotguns."

"Help me pay attention to the other side." Curtis ordered in a low voice.

Sir Hubert yelled upstairs again, "This is pointless, it will only make the end of the matter ugly."

"I don't think so." Curtis raised his eyebrows at Daniel who was peeping out the window, and the latter shook his head, indicating that the enemy had no other help.

Sir Hubert, James, March and Preston.One was four as far as weapons were concerned, but with towers built of rock, with thick oak doors and thick bolts, and a superior view from above, they should be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Sir Hubert let out a sympathetic sigh. "I suppose you were expecting the Foreign Office to arrive."

"He thought they were here to support him." Mrs. Armstrong laughed.

"It's almost enough to support us." James interjected disdainfully.

Curtis turned his head and saw Daniel's expression was serious, his jaw tightened.

"What do you mean?" Curtis shouted.

"Sir Maurice Weize's men," Sir Hubert said, "is the uncle you called on the pretext of old injuries. I heard that his men will arrive around nine o'clock."

Daniel cursed, "They must have an eyeliner in the intelligence department, someone leaked the news."

"Damn it," Curtis cursed secretly, and then raised his voice, "That's great, I was expecting them to come over."

"I can't guarantee it." Sir Hubert gloated. "When they arrive, they won't find anything. Without files, photos, cameras, there is no evidence at all."

"However, at least they can find a certain set of photos." Mrs. Armstrong added sweetly.

Sir Hubert's triumphant laughter made Curtis break into a cold sweat. "Well said, dear. One set of pictures will send you both to jail for two years for obscenity. Look, we made a copy for Weezer, that's for sure, so he to appreciate what good things your men and nephews have done; Henry will of course get one too. Poor fellow, he must be very disappointed. Another set for the police and a fourth for the papers in case you try to use Money covers this. The last group we keep for ourselves, right as insurance. These photos have all been sent to—someone, and if I don't suspend the project by this afternoon, they will be forwarded to a specific person. "

"You are dead." James' voice was full of vengeance.

Curtis closed his eyes.He didn't want to face Daniel at this point, and he probably didn't want to face anyone ever again.

Sir Hubert continued: "All other documents were burned, and the camera was taken apart. They couldn't find any evidence."

"That's not necessarily true, is it?" Daniel shouted. "How are you going to explain why you have those pictures in your hand? If you show them, it will prove our allegations."

"In addition to the testimony of me and Da Silva," Curtis continued, although his hoarse voice revealed his inner turmoil, "do you think you can survive a thorough investigation?"

"There will be no so-called investigation at all," Sir Hubert said firmly, "because you will deny everything. You will tell Wiese that these are all hoaxes, and that Da Silva is just slandering. I don't care what methods you use to help Just keep my name clean. Because if anyone finds out about me, the first crime they see is your scandal. If you point the finger at me, I'll pay you back double. Understand?"

Curtis couldn't understand it better.He had difficulty breathing and felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.

"I don't care," he said anyway, "Go to hell, you bastards. Even if I'm in jail, I'll confess everything and watch you go to the gallows."

"What name?" Sir Hubert laughed, and his pampered laughter made Curtis clenched his fists. "Jacobs Dahl? You have no evidence, just like Lafayette, you can't prove anything."

"Holt admitted, he recruited everything."

"Will he admit it in court?"

"He's not going to be in court," Daniel yelled.

Curtis glanced at him in astonishment.James Armstrong cursed and shouted, "Where is he? What have you done to him?"

"He's with Lafayette's boys, where else is he?"

James let out a roar, and then Daniel and Curtis dropped to the floor with their heads covered, as the window between them shattered under the strafing fire, shards of glass flew everywhere, and Sir Hubert's anger mingled with the deafening gunshots. curse.

"You are so irritable." Daniel shouted downstairs.

"What the hell are you doing?" Curtis whispered, and Daniel waved him to wait and see what happened.

"You killed Holt," said Sir Hubert. "Did you do it, Curtis? You killed your own boxer?"

"Isn't he just a bastard?" Daniel answered.

"He made you cry and beg for mercy, damn Southern European!" James said angrily.

Daniel smiled like a fox, "Anyone with an 'egg' can do it."

Cursing gibberish, James fired and emptied his rifle magazine.The windows of the tower were smashed in response, Curtis could only lie down close to the ground, cover his head with his hands, close his eyes to avoid the oncoming broken glass, and prayed that Daniel would do the same to protect himself.

It took a long time for the continuous gunshots and knocking of broken glass to come to an end, and when Curtis's tinnitus subsided, he heard a low voice of cursing from outside.

"What did you do?" he demanded of Daniel, who was rising from a defensive crouch. "What should we do now? We can't let them get away so easily, what else can we do now?"

"How good is your aim?" Daniel motioned to his hand.

"Pretty good."

"I can rest assured that."

"what--?"

Daniel sat up with his back against the wall, and shouted, "Hello!" Everyone outside the window was silent for a while.

"What do you want?" cried Sir Hubert.

"I want to talk to you calmly. The episode just now has made everyone very happy, but my colleagues may arrive in two hours." These words made the people downstairs chat in low voices, Sir Hubert intended Retorting, Daniel interrupted impatiently, "I'm not bluffing, you stupid pig. I don't have any good cards in my hand. But I don't want to go to jail, and I don't want Curtis to go to jail, so as long as we can achieve —Oh, hell, I'm going out."

Everyone present said in unison: "What?"

"I'm going out, and within 30 seconds, I'm going to open the door and walk out. What will happen to you if Wiese arrives here and finds my bullet-ridden body? Take this time to think. If you kill No matter what crime you committed before, you will go to the gallows for murder, understand?"

"But Holt—" James was angry again.

"Holt is dead, but you are still alive. If we can communicate like sensible people, maybe everyone can get out of here unscathed."

"Daniel," Curtis whispered to the man who was going around the broken glass on the floor and was about to go downstairs, "what are you doing?"

Daniel stopped and looked back at him. "I need you to believe me, my dear Viking, for the sake of - last night. I'd appreciate it if you could stop anyone else before they tried to kill me. But, Archie, I beg you, just trust me now. If I fail—" Curtis sensed the deep fear hidden in the other's short and stiff smile, "It's an honor to meet you."

"No, don't go!" Curtis stretched out his hand to catch him, but no matter how hard he tried, it was too late to climb over the glass on the ground to catch up.Daniel shook his head and walked down the stairs quickly. "Daniel!"

"Go to the window," Daniel called from downstairs.

"Damn it!" Curtis ran back to the window, finding a position where he could have a panoramic view of the situation outside the window.His Webley was no match for a sniper's rifle, but he was close enough to ground enemies that he was confident he could bring down anyone he took aim at.

Daniel's distance is much closer than him.

When he heard Daniel remove the latch, Curtis accepted his fate instead, and a strange calm enveloped him.The crowd below stood still, staring at the door.James Armstrong had ditched the empty rifle for Preston's shotgun.James and Marchie had their guns pointed at Daniel as he pushed the door out.Sir Hubert, with his rifle slung over his arm, looked like a gentleman on his morning walk, about to shoot a few pheasants at random.

Three people, Curtis calculated in his mind, he had to shoot three people.

Daniel walked forward and came into Curtis' sight.James' entire face immediately flushed with rage, and he walked towards the opponent with the gun in his hand, Daniel hurriedly backed away, and at this moment Curtis fired a shot right next to James' feet.

"My God!" James exclaimed, jumping aside.

"You can try to get closer!" Curtis shouted downstairs.

"That's right," Daniel said, "Curtis is a sharpshooter, and he's in a rage, don't provoke him. And don't forget, if you shoot me, murder alone will get you hanged .Weize isn't going to sit back and let his men die."

There was no kindness in Sir Hubert's eyes now. "Really? So what are your plans?"

"Let's open the skylight and speak frankly," Daniel said, "You have already destroyed the evidence, and you have photos in your hands that can make Curtis irreparable. But if you hand them over, it will confirm our statement. In my opinion We're at an impasse here. Neither of us can accuse the other without putting ourselves on the line. Right?"

Sir Hubert nodded reluctantly.

"However, it's too late," Daniel continued, "Weize is already on his way to search for evidence of the threatening letter. He won't believe that Curtis and I in the photo are just playing around."

"That's your own problem," James interrupted angrily.

"Shut up," snapped Sir Hubert.

"So tell me what you want." Daniel ignored the others, and only spoke to Sir Hubert, "I am Wiese's confidant, and I can stop all of this. I know what information the Office has, and I Find a scapegoat and get you out unscathed. After all what happened to Jacobs Dahl and Lafayette, Wiese is kept in the dark and as long as we are together he will never know the truth .”

Cold sweat broke out from Curtis's back.His left hand held the Webley pistol steady, but he could feel his right hand trembling with simmering rage.

Archie, trust me.

"You want to betray your Order, don't you?" Sir Hubert retorted.

"That goes without saying," James said, "Hult is right, this kind of person just cannot be trusted."

"To hell with the organization." Daniel lowered his voice sinisterly, "I don't give a damn about Jacob Stahl, the king, or the country. Why should I bother? The country doesn't care about me either. I care about the money I took this job for the sake of it. I don’t want to go to jail and neither do you. I promise we’ll all walk away safe and sound, but you have to cooperate with me.”

"What about Curtis?"

Daniel's laughter made people uncomfortable. "He's a nice guy, with a bull dick, but he's not very smart. Just give him a sweetie and he'll do what I say. Don't worry."

James let out a piercing growl, as if choking on his own righteous indignation.Daniel laughed again, and he pretended to apologize as he did in social situations, "I said it too vulgarly, don't be offended. I thought we didn't need to say polite words anymore. Anyway, Curtis will listen to me."

Curtis breathed slowly, concentrating on inhaling and exhaling.His right hand was shaking.He could also move Webley's barrel out of the way, and with a slight angle change he could aim at Daniel's head and pull the trigger.

Trust me, trust me, trust me...

"Just do as you say. What else do you need to know?" asked Sir Hubert.

"I need to know how you plan to play this play, and who you want to throw into the wolves. We can plan it." Daniel tilted his head and motioned to James and Mrs. Armstrong. "Would you like them to be amputated, exiled, or put to death?"

Sir Hubert opened his mouth like a turkey. "What are you talking about—are you crazy?"

"Am I wrong?" Daniel looked surprised, "Don't you want them to disappear before your eyes? I thought you would take this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone."

"Why on earth should I let my wife and son disappear before my eyes?" Sir Hubert's face swelled into a strange liver color.

"Oh, because they cuckolded you."

This sentence was mentioned seemingly inadvertently, but it was implemented like a stone breaking through the ice.Sir Hubert froze on the spot.A cruel and proud smile made Curtis's mouth curl up.

"You charming little brute," he muttered, regaining his grip on the Webley.

"You bastard," James said, "what a fool you are! Dad, don't believe these nonsense."

Mrs. Armstrong snorted angrily, "Hubert, please don't let this person continue to slander me."

"You bloody liar," Sir Hubert snapped at Daniel, raising his shotgun.Curtis adjusted his Webley and aimed it at his host's sweaty forehead.

"If you kill me, you will die too." Daniel reminded him aloud.

"Admit you're lying!"

"Okay, okay, I'm lying." There was obvious mockery in Daniel's tone, "Of course your wife would prefer a fat old man sweating between her legs to a vigorous young man. Of course James never Never let you down, when was the last time he messed up? Of course the servants don't know anything."

Sir Hubert's head twitched as if hit by something.Preston didn't look sideways.

"March?" said Sir Hubert, "is this—"

"Honey, it's certainly not true," said Mrs. Armstrong. "You must see his purpose clearly."

"March?"

Marchi looked at his Master, then looked away again.He opened his mouth, not sure how to answer for a moment. "gentlemen……"

"Don't blame him," Daniel said, "after all, you've already made up your mind, haven't you? Those hikes that your physical strength can't handle, those trips to London you missed because of work, and the cave hikes they set out together— —”

James' face swelled a deep purple. "Shut up, you damn Southern European, shut up!"

"Okay." Daniel smiled, "but for the record, Armstrong... your mother is a bitch."

"Don't mention her with your mouth!" James yelled, but his protective rage was enough to prove the betrayal even to outsiders.

"You little beast." Sir Hubert glared at his son.

"Dad—" James said urgently.

"Ungrateful, good-for-nothing bastard." The older man's voice became rougher.

"Yeah," Daniel said, "it would be nice if he died instead of Martin. Don't you think so all the time?"

Sir Hubert's expression said it all.Father and son glared at each other, their lips parted, but neither could speak.

"Listen, Hubert," said Mrs. Armstrong urgently, "he's lying."

"Holt told us everything," Daniel said. "In order to let us spare his life, he described it vividly." He looked at James, "Remember to choose your partner carefully before bragging next time."

Lady Armstrong turned her head and stared at James. She bared her white teeth in a growl, and Sir Hubert gasped in pain.James Armstrong, bursting with rage and frustration, raised his shotgun with lightning speed and aimed at Daniel at close range.

Curtis shot him in the temple.

James' head bounced back, spraying a cloud of blood.His body collapsed and then fell to the ground.There was a second of silence, then Mrs Armstrong and Sir Hubert simultaneously shouted, "No!"

Mrs. Armstrong knelt down and reached out to the corpse with its out-of-focus blue eyes. "Jimmy," she sobbed, "Jimmy, honey? Jimmy!"

Sir Hubert watched them gaping, and let go of his grip on the gun.Preston backed away slowly, and Marchy aimed at Daniel, but didn't intend to shoot, just looked back and forth between his master and his wife.

Sir Hubert said hoarsely: "James," he took a staggering step forward, "Sophie."

"Stay away from us." Mrs. Armstrong shielded the corpse with her body, like a bitch protecting her pups.Her distorted face was wet with tears, and her voice was hoarse, "Go away, you stupid and obscene fat pig, go away!"

"As long as one of you confesses truthfully, I think Wei Ze can arrange a considerable degree of immunity," Daniel said. "Of course the other one will go to the gallows. Which one of you will speak?"

Sophie Armstrong's face was distorted with grief, she turned to him, and was about to speak when gunshots rang out, blood bursting from her chest.She stared blankly at the sky, opened her mouth wide, and fell forward.

"Oh, sir," March said.

Sir Hubert lowered his gun hand, watching his wife's body lay on top of his son's.Curtis leaned against the window, clutching the pistol tightly with both hands, and stared at the old man.The latter seemed to be trying to say something, his eyes were distracted and his lips were trembling.He raised the rifle, the barrel wobbled, and then he turned the gun abruptly toward himself and thrust the muzzle into his mouth with difficulty.His arm was barely long enough to pull the trigger.

This scene made Curtis couldn't help blinking.He looked away from Sir Hubert's battered, blood-red head, and saw something moving on a distant hill.

"Oops!" He glanced out the window one last time to confirm that Marci would not shoot for the time being, then jumped over the broken glass on the floor, and went downstairs in three steps at a time.He only slowed down when he opened the door, so as not to provoke Marci to raise his gun and attack.But the servant just leaned over his master's body and muttered to himself.Preston was nowhere to be seen.

"Anyone else?" he asked, looking around at the surrounding bushes.

"Escaped," Daniel said, "He has no weapons, and if he is caught, he will not end well."

Curtis looked at him carefully.Daniel was in baggy stolen clothes, unkempt, his beard almost growing into a beard, and his face was grayed by the thin morning sun.

"Daniel." He called softly.

Marchi straightened up and stared at them.Curtis swung the Webley at him. "Put the gun down. Don't be a fool, man, your master's dead."

March's face twitched, but he finally lowered his gun.

"Back off. Daniel, get the gun. Sir Morris is almost here. There are at least four cars coming our way. We're running out of time."

"They'll find out," Marci resented when Daniel carefully took the gun away from his hand, "You can't hide it from everyone. You sodomites."

Without warning, Curtis punched Marci at the most vulnerable part of his jaw, and watched him fall to the ground. "He's in our way. Let's go."

As they trotted through the young forest—Sir Hubert would never see it grow—Curtis asked: "How do you know?"

"Know it at a glance. Don't you notice?"

"So all this is just your guesswork?"

"No," Daniel said, "no, it is. I—damn." He turned sharply, bent over to gag, but only coughed up some liquid vomit. "Damn, oh shit."

He coughed violently, and Curtis grabbed his shoulders with both hands. "It's all right. Shhh—you're safe now."

"But they're all dead." Daniel wiped his mouth with the back of his trembling hand, and slowly straightened up. "What the hell, I'm a total killer thanks to the fact that I call myself a pacifist."

"You didn't kill them."

"But it was all my fault. All because of me. You wouldn't have had to kill James if you hadn't—"

"I'm still going to do it. I've made up my mind."

Hearing this, Daniel raised his head. "That's right, isn't it? It's your job, and you're just doing business. I wish I could be as single-minded as you in getting it done."

"Those brutes murdered my brother in Jacobsdale. They knew about the conspiracy and killed them for it. A thousand deaths for the three of them is not enough. It's important to go back to the villa now."

"Okay," Daniel said, "but you know, we've already lost. I'm sorry."

"We can still try."

"It's useless. You heard what Armstrong said too. The picture has been sent and I've killed anyone who knew who the recipient was. I ruined you. I'm sorry. I thought it was a good idea." idea."

Curtis pulled Daniel closer to him, but the latter lowered his head to avoid his sight.

"Look at me. It's not your fault. God, you did your best."

"It ended up ruining your life."

"You're wrong." Curtis hugged him, not caring whether anyone around saw them.It doesn't matter now. "There's nothing in my life to destroy."

"You can say it again when you're in jail," Daniel muttered into his chest.

"It's not going to get to that point. The big deal is leaving the country together."

Daniel raised his head, his face was troubled by pain, but his eyes were extremely bright. "Don't put it that simply. What about your family? And your social status."

Curtis kissed him tenderly but firmly. "Since you can face it all, so can I. Stop feeling guilty, it's not for you."

"I should feel a little guilty." Daniel broke free from his arms and hurried to the villa. "I made a mess of it. Wiese would have killed me, and his motives were reasonable."

"nonsense."

"I failed to obtain evidence of the enemy's treason. Instead, I left Wei Ze with three unexplained corpses and ruined his nephew's future. He will definitely kill me."

From what he said, it seemed possible that things could happen. "Come on," Curtis said when they stepped on the gravel road in front of the villa together, "We can face it together."