Allison; Taking Control

Chapter 100

Absent-mindedly, Allison reached for and picked up the brass bell from LaTour’s float which had now been sitting upon the desk for several days. He turned the bell over in his hands, allowing the light coming over his shoulder from the candelabra to shine upon the pale golden surface. Though it was in exceptionally good condition and quite well made, Henry couldn’t have been more correct in his observation that it was a prodigious waste of brass where the French were concerned. They would have been better served in using the material out of which it was hewn to mold cannon, or even shot. As the flickering candlelight glinted off its surface, Allison reflected upon his decision to retrieve the object, wondering just what he expected to learn from it that could have been of real importance. Not even the trained scientific perusal of Deakins had been able to glean the slightest bit of helpful information from this finely wrought, but otherwise rather ordinary piece of metal.

Then, unex