A deadly game …
James Denis gives me a task, to deliver a mysterious package to a man with an office near the Custom House on the bank of the Thames. Having been drawn into danger delivering items for Denis before, I of course open the package and the wooden box inside. To my bafflement the box contains only a single chess piece, a white queen.
The piece tells me nothing, and when I set off on my errand, I encounter an old army friend just returned from Antigua, who it turns out is being accused of smuggling and possibly murder. Knowing he’s an honorable man, I decide to help him clear his name.
I deliver the chess piece as requested, but I soon realize it plays deeply into Denis’s ongoing battle for control of London’s underworld, and even touches upon my army friend’s struggle to prove his innocence.
Little do I know that these problems will bring my family into deeper danger than we have ever known, and I will be forced to play for their lives.