Chapter 14 -
You had left Jacob asleep on the train. You had finished escorting a few carriages back to the stronghold and Jacob had gotten pretty tired so decided to take a nap. He offered for you to join him and you had agreed for a little while until it was apparent you weren't going to fall asleep.
You had heard Jacob and Evie speaking of Starrick's hand in politics and you wanted to get Jacob a head start on that front. You knew your father had some ties in the politics realm when he was alive so you were hopeful. Of course, being a woman, you couldn't just enter the Sinopean club. You hated the times.
You were dressed as a respectable gentleman. At least, to the best of your abilities. Your hair was tucked away neatly under a hat and you wore a suit that you had borrowed from Ned yesterday. This only left one final issue - how to get into the club itself. You had planned on just using your fathers name and hoping it would work but of course, you had a backup plan. That was to climb onto the roof and enter indirectly. All you had to do then was listen to everyone's conversations to get information. More importantly listen to the prime minister.
You approached the entrance to the Sinopean club garden and was stopped by the policeman guarding the entrance.
"I have never seen you before sir-" at least the suit and hair hidden away worked, "What's your name and business here?"
You said your last name with confidence and stood a little straighter, "I have business to discuss with Mr. Disraeli."
The officer laughed, "I bet you do." He said sarcastically, "Away with you." He ordered.
You rolled your eyes. At least you tried. You walked away and you knew the officer was watching you. You hurried out of his line of sight and scoped out the building for the best route to climb up. You scaled the wall as quickly as you could then looked for a way back down without being seen. You noticed a cart full of leaves out of the way of all the attendants and decided it was your best option.
You were a little nervous. You hated falling into the damn thing last time. Plus, you had the help of Jacob last time. If you missed... well, it wouldn't be pretty. You drew in a few deep breaths. You kept telling yourself it was just like the Thames. You had no problem with that so this was no different. Just picture jumping into a small gap between boats. You could do that. Easy. Right? Right.
You leapt over the edge and tried desperately not to close your eyes. You figured that would be worse. You braced as you landed in the pile safely. You sighed heavily and peeked your eyes out to check if anyone was looking your way. When the coast was clear, you hopped out and brushed off any remaining leaves on your suit. You walked closer to the centre of the club and joined a small crowd of men.
"What of you, boy?"
"Excuse me?"
"What are your thoughts on Disraeli?"
"Oh, I-" You cleared your throat, "I'm not one for conservatives." You answered honestly with a nervous smile.
You spent the next forty-five minutes speaking with the men about politics. Well, attempting to. You hadn't really the foggiest idea what they were speaking about most of the time. People had begun to leave so you noted that today wasn't the day for you to help. You were going to walk out of the front entrance like everyone else when the officer noticed you from earlier and began approaching you. You spun on your heel and thankful the men were leaving in crowds so they slowed the officer down significantly. You began to scale the building to get out of sight and it seemed to work. The officer didn't think to look up.
You didn't climb all the way to the top, instead you climbed around the side of the building outside the gates and climbed back onto the pavement again. You sighed with slight defeat and chose to walk back towards the train station.
