by Holly Bush
James opened the door, picked up the bag, and carried it inside. Graham pulled the bag open. He reached in and pulled out a closed envelope. “It’s addressed to the Thompson family.”
“Read it,” Aunt Murdoch said. “Read it out loud.”
He glanced at her. “There may be things written that might be unpleasant to hear, ma’am.”
“Read it,” Muireall said.
* * *
Bring Rory’s boy to the corner of Clearfield and Bath Street at six in the morning. He’ll be told what to do from there. When he gets to where he’s told to go, we’ll set the girl free. She ain’t a maid no more but still has her fingers and toes and tongue. If he’s late, she won’t.
* * *
Alexander bowed his head as Kirsty let out a cry and Aunt Murdoch gasped. He rarely prayed. In fact, he could not remember the last time he’d been to church and heard the words, but he was a believer. There was something bigger than everyone, he was certain. He prayed then to stay alive long enough to save her and that she knew that he cared for her, that he loved her, although he’d never said the words.
“I’m going. You won’t stop me, James,” Payden said.
“Has it occurred to you that if you go, I’ll be worried about you instead of worrying about retrieving Elspeth?” James asked.
“We won’t get her back if I don’t go, and you know it. I’m going.”
“You must remain here, Payden. I insist! It is far too dangerous!” Muireall said.
Payden looked at his eldest sister, even as she towered over him, and spoke calmly. “The Earls of Taviston have a long history of defending their keep. I know because I’ve read all the history books you’ve ever handed me. The fifth earl was eleven years old when he took his men into battle. You cannot tell me I’m the chief of the clan with one breath and then tell me to go to my room with the next.” He turned to James. “I’ll need whatever it is you use to darken your face.”
“I’ll get it, Lord Taviston,” he said and left the room.
Muireall dropped to the seat behind her, her face white, her hand over her mouth.
Elspeth held her ear to the door and held her breath. Giggly voice was talking to a rather large group of men she gathered because he said several names and told them the location they’d be stationed at.
“The boy will go straight to the ship,” he said. “I want ten men surrounding him at all times.” She strained to hear a question being asked but could only hear the answer. “He may be just a boy, but we will not underestimate him. And anyway, he is worth a fortune.”
“Kill the brother first,” he continued. “As soon as you can. He’ll be our only challenge.”
There was a cheer from the crowd at that and then another question she could not make out.
“I don’t care about the woman. Those not boarding the ship can have her.”
Another loud cheer erupted. Two things came to Elspeth’s mind. She was trembling and terrified, and that would never do for a MacTavish. She was not ready to die, but apparently her time had come, and she must face it with all the courage she could. She would face it as her parents had, protecting the next generation and the chief of the clan.
Secondly, it would not matter if she managed to kill one silently. There were just too many to fell with her lone dagger, if she could kill even one of them. She blinked in the darkness and swallowed a cry. But she would still take out as many as she could, even if she only injured them or slowed them down. She would not give up without a fight.
Chapter 18
Alexander pulled on the heavy black sweater that James had given him, rolled up the cuffs, and stood at the door of the parlor. Graham had left, and two more of his men had been brought in to guard the house. Robert McClintok was to stay and guard the women. Apparently, the young man had learned his lessons with guns alongside Payden, as he handled the weapon safely and with confidence. He was calm as James handed him a knife.
“If the house has been breached, get the women to the safest place you can think of. If the worst has happened and you have a chance to get them outside onto the street past their people, that may be wise. Some of our neighbors will come to your defense. You’ve got six bullets in that revolver and another handful in your pocket. Shoot straight for the chest. If you’re in close combat, stab in the heart or the sides of the neck where the jugular vein is. Do you understand?”
He nodded and looked James in the eyes. “Yes. I understand.”
“You’ve got the safety of your mother, our cousins, and our aunt in your hands,” James said and wrapped his hand around the back of Robert’s neck.
Muireall stood dry-eyed, clutching a dagger, staring at James and Payden. Kirsty sobbed and kissed her brothers and MacAvoy.
“Dia a bhith maille ribh,” Aunt Murdoch said and kissed her nephews. “God be with you. With all of you.”
Alexander was anxious to go, to find her. Whether they had a lifetime together or he was just a passing interest to her, he needed to make sure she was safe. Thinking of her at the mercy of dishonorable men, dangerous and violent men, made his ears buzz and his hands shake. He must control himself when the time came.
Graham came up the steps from the kitchen carrying a large piece of paper in his hands.
“I thought you’d gone,” James said.
“I had. But we’ve already had some skirmishes. My men have taken down two groups already, one three blocks away and one five blocks away from where we believe your sister is.”
Everyone spoke at once until James held up his hand for quiet. “How do you know?”
“My men persuaded one of theirs to tell us where they were holding her,” Graham said. “And there’ll be no police involved with this. One of the men they captured is a lieutenant at a nearby precinct. We don’t know the exact building, but we know which block, only a few streets from the harbor.”
“That’s why they want Payden at six o’clock. Tides will be going out at eight. Enough time to negotiate, gather their men, and be on board to sail,” MacAvoy said.
Graham nodded. “Makes sense. Otherwise, why not make the exchange before sunrise, when it’s still dark and there is less chance of witnesses? My men are staying where they found the men they’ve taken per my command. I don’t want to spook their leaders. Here’s a map of the city,” he said and spread the paper out. “Here’s where we’re holding, here’s where I think the other groups will be, and here’s where I think they’re holding your sister. On Neff Street, near Myrtle.”
“Let’s go,” Alexander said. “Every minute here is one more minute that she’s in their hands. Let’s go!”
His urgency had every man pulling on dark coats and hats and checking knives and guns. He’d never been armed in this way, but he was prepared to battle to the death. It felt foreign to him but righteous as well. He’d never served in the military, but he could handle the gun James gave him from a massive leather trunk in the man’s sleeping room that was filled with weapons: guns, bullets, daggers, swords, and a lethal-looking ax James had called a lochaber. All were in excellent condition, oiled and wrapped in fabric. This family had been prepared to battle.
Aunt Murdoch pulled on his sleeve as he was leaving and looked up at him, scowling fiercely. “You will find her and you will bring her home, Mr. Pendergast.”
He bent his head, kissed the old woman’s cheek, and whispered in her ear, “If it is the last thing I do on this earth.”
Alexander, James, MacAvoy, and Payden left from the kitchen entrance, creeping up the stone steps and to the alleyway behind the Thompson house. They were quickly two streets over, to where a young man held the reins of four horses. Alexander pulled himself up in the saddle and adjusted the stirrups. They were thirty blocks from their destination. Alexander turned his horse’s head and kneed his mount. He would not be leisurely in this ride.
The rough-voiced man opened the door just as Elspeth loosened the last knot. She’d left her wrists tied but could easily slip her hand t
hrough when she must.
“May I have some water,” she whispered.
“What will you be doing to get it, girl?” he said with a laugh.
Elspeth shook her head. “Never mind.”
He walked toward her and grabbed her by her hair, shaking her as he did. “I’ll give you some water when you give me what I want.”
“No. I don’t need any water.”
The man slammed her head into the stone wall behind her. Her eyes rolled up for a moment with the pain, but she focused on his face and tried to think about when she would kill him. She thought she might vomit but swallowed and closed her eyes. She slumped back against the wall.
“What do you mean they didn’t answer you?” Elspeth heard the giggly man say from the outer room.
“I couldn’t find them, I looked,” another man said, fear in his voice.
“You didn’t look hard enough, then. Jasper?” the giggly man called, and the one holding her closed his eyes.
“What?” he shouted.
“Come out here. We may have a problem.”
Jasper turned away from Elspeth, but not before smacking her face open-handed. She could taste blood on her lip and willed away the pain as she tried to slow the pounding of her heart. She wondered who hadn’t answered who. Did they have lookouts? And why wouldn’t they answer their own leaders? Could it be that Alexander and James were coming for her? Elspeth would not allow herself to feel hope. She would not.
Nearly an hour later, James jumped down from his horse. They were at the site that Graham had said was five blocks from where Elspeth was. James held up his fist for them to stop near an alley where he could see boxes of rotting apples and fish heads at the entrance. He took a breath through his mouth.
“Sir Isaac Newton said . . .”
A voice came out of the back of the alley. “Kill the apple.”
“That’s the correct response.” James put the gun back under his belt. “Come on.”
The alley was dark, even though the predawn sun was lightening the sky, as Alexander picked his way through garbage until he saw two men standing by a covered doorway. He recognized Graham’s man Jeffers.
“You got hit over the head, man,” Alexander said. “What are you doing out here?”
“I don’t take kindly to being made a fool of, sir,” he said and turned to two men propped up against a wall, their hands tied behind them and their mouths stuffed with rags. “Their bossman already sent someone to check in with these two, but I didn’t let them answer. I didn’t trust what they’d say. They’ll be back, I imagine.”
“What’s the plan?” James asked.
“We think there were two of them checking the last time. I’ve got men ready to intercept up to four. We’re getting close to six o’clock, though, and Graham doesn’t think there’s any time left for games or strategies. The boy will go to Clearfield and Bath Streets, watched by our men and yours. Graham and others are getting in position to storm a warehouse on Neff Street a block away. We saw two dead men beside the building. One of them was in dress clothes; probably the man who lured Miss Thompson and Mrs. Pendergast down that hallway.”
“I’m with Payden,” James said.
“Take MacAvoy too,” Alexander said. “I’m going to that warehouse to get Elspeth.”
“I should go for my sister,” Payden said.
MacAvoy shook his head. “You’re the decoy. The three of us are going to take to the roofs and climb down a rope we’re going to drop from the top. That’s what’s in this bag on my back. Heavy too.”
“So they’ll be looking for us in the alleys and on the streets, and we’re coming at them from above.”
“That’s my plan,” MacAvoy said. “They’ll be looking to kill you right away, James. We can’t just wander down the avenue like we are on parade.”
“Why does everything I do with you involve scaling buildings?” James asked, and Alexander could see his very white teeth as he smiled.
Payden cleared his throat and turned to Alexander. “We’re trusting you to get our sister. Don’t disappoint us.”
Alexander had not expected a young man of Payden’s age to command respect the way he did. But maybe there was something in his birthright that had shaped him, some presence passed down that gave him an innate ability to lead. He was still young, and he’d still make mistakes, but James would guide him. Even Jeffers and the other man were watching him and nodding.
“I intend to rescue her, and I intend to marry her, if she’ll have me.” There was something very calming about those words. The clatter in his brain relegated to a background symphony when he allowed himself to dream of a future with Elspeth. He’d not spent hours considering the good reasons and the wrong ones for marrying her, and yet he was completely confident that she was the reason for his very existence on this earth.
“Let’s hope they’ve not . . . hurt her,” MacAvoy whispered as James let out a string of curses. Alexander turned to him.
“It won’t matter to me. Whatever burdens she bears, I’ll carry it for her until she’s ready. I’ll give her my strength as long as she needs.”
“Go, then. Go get her,” Payden said.
Alexander looked each man in the eye and took off at a run to find Graham and his men.
There was something going on in the main room of the warehouse. Elspeth had her ear to the door, listening as men came and went and as the giggly man, Wallace, she knew now, and Jasper, the rough-voiced one, screamed at other men, sometimes in disbelief. She’d taken off two of her heavy petticoats and her shoes, thinking they might hamper her if she had a chance to run, feeling certain that something was about to happen. Wallace mentioned six o’clock many times, and she knew it was very close to that time now as light was filtering around the slats on the window. She heard arguments and someone coming to her door. She backed away quickly and crouched against the wall.
“Get up,” Jasper shouted and dragged her to the outer room. She blinked, trying to focus against the sudden stream of sun shining through a large window.
Wallace strolled over to her. “Your brother Payden will be arriving soon. Your other brother is dead, and we’ve locked everyone in your family in the Locust Street house and set it afire.”
Elspeth said nothing. She would not allow herself to cry in front of them. She would not be hysterical. She would fight with her last breath.
“Who might be working with them, thinking themselves a hero?” Wallace said and giggled, looking around at the men standing there, a few of them chuckling nervously.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
The blow hit the side of her face with such force that her head touched her shoulder as she catapulted away, landing in the hands of one of the men listening to Wallace. They passed her from man to man, pulling at her clothes and her hair. The flesh on the inside of her mouth was bleeding profusely, and she was sputtering blood, trying not to swallow it. A hand was snaking down her bodice when the window behind them broke with a crash of glass.
“Elspeth!” she heard Alexander shout. “Elspeth!”
Before she could form a reply, Jasper pulled her away from the men and dragged her to the room she’d been held in. She let her limbs go weak, making him pull her to him as he walked through the door. She let the rope go from around her hands and moaned as loudly as she could while her hand found the hilt of the dagger and pulled it from its sheath. She heard screaming from the other room, men scurrying to do Wallace’s bidding, and she heard gunfire. Over it all, she heard Alexander’s voice calling to her. He’d come for her, and she could not let him face them all alone. She felt her strength return and a calm settle over her.
Once in the room, Elspeth drove her arm from behind her back with every ounce of strength she had as she twisted to face the man holding her, the dagger sinking deep in Jasper’s stomach. She pulled it out with a twist as his eyes widened in shock and his mouth opened in an O. She slashed at his neck, blood everywhere now, and she did not stop eve
n as the hilt of the knife grew slick. He grabbed the side of his neck and pushed away from her. Wallace was watching from the doorway, his eyes wide.
Elspeth faced him, both arms raised, one holding the jeweled dagger. She bent her knees and charged, barefoot, screaming out a battle cry that she’d heard from James—and maybe others in her memory. Wallace was wide-eyed as she drove forward, straight into him, driving the dagger into his side.
Alexander had thrown the rock through the high window when they heard yelling inside. He and Graham had chased down and scrapped with several groups of men on their way to the warehouse, the rest having slipped inside the building, not knowing the rest of their army had been defeated. He’d charged through the door, Graham and the others at his back, fighting his way through men, looking around as he could for Elspeth. Graham’s men shot several of them and were defeating the others with their fists.
Alexander’s head came up when he heard a guttural scream and watched as a man was shoved out of a small room. Elspeth looked like a warrior queen, fighting and gouging and kicking and biting as he pulled her against him. There was blood streaming down the man’s side onto the floor. She was covered in blood too, her hair streaming down her back, her feet bare, and her blue gown torn and filthy.
Alexander walked toward her, letting all the fighting and killing drop out of his consciousness, knowing that he must save her somehow. He continued slowly as the man holding her pulled a gun out of his pocket and put it against her temple. Alexander locked eyes with the man.
Wallace yanked the knife out of his side and dropped it, his blood glistening on his hands, and pulled Elspeth in front of him, holding her back tightly against him. She was wild, fighting him, grabbing his hair and ears and anything else she could reach. She threw her legs up in the air, pushing back on his chest, trying to throw him off balance, but he held her firm and screamed.
