“Delaware. The same place that Pierre has gone. The same place that your sister is hiding.”
“That cannot be,” Rose said earnestly. “She is with Reverend Reid and Levi Martin.”
“That she is. In Delaware.”
My heart felt as if it sank to my feet. That meant that what Bess had said was true. My uncle had Mary Edith.
“There is one more chore we must do before we go on to Delaware,” Jeanne said, drawing my attention.
“What is that?” Rose asked.
Jeanne and Arnaud exchanged another glance before Jeanne said, “Rescue Betsy.”
CHAPTER 12
JACK
One would think that with this many different personalities all trapped in close quarters for a three day journey would bring out the worst in people. That was not so at all. The captain and crew aboard the Intended were handpicked by Sam for their ability to sail one of the fastest ships on the water with just as much speed and ability. They swung along the lines like monkeys in trees.
On our second day at sea we discovered that their abilities extended to soldier training. Each sailor was a former soldier, gifted in combat. Sam had stations set up on deck for knife fighting, swordplay, and archery.
William always chose his own cunning devices, and Bess excelled at hitting targets every time. Freddy played with each weapon, but not truly trying with any.
Sam and Freddy took up swords for a duel. I had seen Freddy fight a few times so I knew his skill, but I was not prepared, and neither was Freddy by the scowl on his brow, for Sam’s skill.
Within four minutes of their duel, Sam feinted a pass that deftly removed Freddy’s sword from his hand. William stepped up when Sam asked who was next.
Bess came to stand beside me, a smile on her lips, and a softening in her eyes.
As their blades hissed, I was certain I heard her sigh.
“Sam and I gathered as many weapons as we could and had them stored in the hull,” I said to Bess, drawing her gaze away from the duel.
Bess’s smile fell as her eyes drifted out over the water. I knew that she was thinking about the same as me. About the loss of Abe. He had always been the one to create their interesting weapons and their masks. Sam had wanted to go see the burial site but there was not enough time before we had to sail from Charleston. Abe’s loss had sparked a new desire in everyone, especially Sam, to complete this mission. To see Guinevere’s uncle pay for his crimes.
As a sword clashed against the deck, we glanced down to see William without his sword. Bess’s mouth drooped as William bowed to Sam.
“Well, we shall see about this.”
When Bess took up a sword against Sam, I leaned against the rail near the helm to watch, excitement bubbling within. Freddy joined me.
As the blades clashed and hissed, Freddy leaned forward. Bess parried a lunge from Sam, and followed it up with a timed thrust. Sweat glistened in Sam’s hair, on his sun tan forehead. He was dressed in his shirtsleeves, but the heat of the south, even on the water, was humid.
Bess advanced with quick hisses of her blade, forcing Sam to retreat against the rail. His eyes widened before narrowing. They had been training frequently after what had happened at the plantation. It appeared that Bess had been a more apt student than Sam had anticipated.
Forte met foible as he tried to force her back, but she countered, and her lunge went home, glancing up his blade. He released his blade rather than be pinked by hers.
Perspiration rolled down his temples as he smiled and bowed low before Bess. It was the first smile I had seen from him since arriving in Charleston.
William stood stunned, his mouth agape. After a moment, he began to clap and laugh.
“I must admit, after seeing that, I am grateful that she and I never engaged in swordplay,” Freddy said with a smile directed toward Bess.
I laughed. “She is a force for certain.”
“Two fierce soldiers,” Freddy admitted. When he turned toward me there was concern in his expression. “Luther will know when we arrive. He will send his guards to capture me and the artifacts, and his followers will kill any who stand in their way.”
“I believe it is time for Luther to suffer some disappointments in his life.”
“Infinitely. But he will not be alone. Where he is hiding is where all of his soldiers will be gathered. He will have an army awaiting us, but he is a man full of pride. He will never consider a surprise attack. I can get us into his sanctuary, take him unaware.”
“No.”
“What do you mean no?” Freddy asked, his brown brows snapping together.
“I do not want to hide. I want him to know that we are coming. I want him to gather all of his lackeys to him, so that we can destroy them all at once,” I said, and did a fine job convincing him of my earnestness. That it was all a lie was something that I was keeping to myself. I would be facing Luther alone.
Freddy watched me for a long minute before huffing a grunt. “You are going to do something foolish.”
“I am a Phantom. We all do foolish things, but we know how to succeed. We know how to conquer. We know how to contrive.”
Freddy said no more about it and we continued on our journey with little issues.
The ship sailed up the Potomac River toward Washington and when we docked, Bess hooked her arm with mine as we disembarked. It had been over a year since we were last in Washington together and so much had changed.
Once horses were procured, we rode straight for the ‘tree’ which was the house that my family owned for the use of the Phantoms. Sam had never been to this house, and Bess was rather thrilled to be able to share it with him. It was a great piece of our past. Of our lives as Phantoms. When we halted before the unremarkable house, I was the first one to dismount. I had the key, but as I placed it in the bolt on the door, I knew I would not need it. The house was not empty.
Walking into the front parlor, I met Arthur, a former Phantom, and the current leader of Monroe’s guards. Out of all of the men who served under Freddy’s leadership, Arthur was one of the few who lived to tell about it. Though he would never tell anyone about his days of being a Phantom. It was an oath we had all taken. When the time came, we could tell our loved ones, but no one else outside our family or our Phantom family.
“Loutaire,” Arthur greeted me with a smile, before turning his attention to my sister. “Raven!” He greeted her with a hug. He and Bess had gone on many missions together and he had made himself an unofficial brother when I was serving in the militia.
As soon as Arthur saw Sam, he paused before glancing at me for information. It was Bess who spoke.
“Arthur, allow me to present my husband, Mr. Samuel Mason. Sam, dearest, this is the man who singlehandedly stopped an attack on all of my team at the end of the war.”
“Singlehandedly, Raven?” Arthur quirked a brow.
“Perhaps I helped a little,” Bess replied airily.
“Modesty? From you?” Both brows were now raised.
“He knows you well, darling.” Sam shook Arthur’s hand, but when Freddy entered the house, Arthur’s open expression changed to one of guarded inquiry.
Freddy greeted him with a nod but nothing else for his old comrade.
Arthur had been the Washington Phantoms’ craftsman, whom Freddy looked upon as the lowest of his deputies. Each Phantom team had a craftsman, the one who made our masks and many interesting weapons that we used when the mission called for something ‘interesting.’ Abe had been the one for the Charleston Phantoms and Leo had been ours.
“What has been happening on the home front, Arthur? How is Monroe?” I asked as we sat upon the worn and faded furniture in the parlor.
“Well,” Arthur said with a grin as he cast his long form into a chair. “No threats whatsoever.”
There would not be with Richard and Nicholas both deceased. William’s goals were much more inner dwelling. It had never been a part of his plans to attack James Monroe. He had yet to come into
the house so Arthur did not know that he was with us.
“How have you been, Jack?” Arthur asked as he stretched his boots out before him in a leisurely way. His brown hair was not as disheveled as he usually kept it, and he wore a new suit with the elbows without holes. It gladdened me to see him taking his position so seriously.
“Married,” I said, and Arthur sputtered.
“Whatever for? Present company excluded, I cannot think of a woman worth tying myself down to so young in life.”
Bess and I laughed, while Sam frowned.
“How are things with the Holy Order being so close?” Freddy asked, mischief in his eyes.
“The black beast? Haven’t seen hide nor hair of any of them.” His pride in that was short lived, for William entered the house at that moment.
William looked about him as if remembering all of the times that he spent in the house. “I see that it has not changed.”
Arthur’s mouth had dropped open in what I was sure was its length, and when he tried to speak he could only sputter. “Bu-bu, wha-wha,” he stopped and gulped. “You are dead,” he managed to say.
“So I have been told and yet here I am,” William said as he removed the stopper from a decanter and sniffed the brown liquid.
“It gets better,” I said, drawing Bess’s warning gaze. “Allow me to present General Lucius Harvey, the former high lord of the Holy Order.”
Arthur stared at me with a blank expression before smiling at what he thought was humor.
“Unfortunately it is too true,” Bess said, and Arthur’s smile faded. She, with the assistance of Sam and Freddy, began to tell Arthur the story of the Holy Order, or as much of it as we knew.
Since we needed his assistance, telling him was imperative.
When they were through, Arthur’s gaze moved over each of us before resting upon me. “Monroe will want to know you are here.” Arthur pushed himself to standing. “I and my fellow guards are at your service if Monroe agrees. I will arrange a meeting.” He walked toward the door, but paused and looked back at William, and then at me. “Bring the general.”
****
It was the following morning when William and I were being shown into Monroe’s brick house on I Street. Arthur was there to greet us and it was he who showed us up the stairs and into Monroe’s office.
“Have a seat,” Arthur said to us, motioning to the two chairs before Monroe’s desk. “The president will be with you shortly.”
Arthur took up a guard stance against a wall between a pair of windows, silent and untrusting.
When the door opened behind us, I rose and turned, but William rose slower.
I moved around the chair with my hand held out. Looking up into President Monroe’s face, it was written in his eyes that Arthur had told him of my father’s reappearance.
“John, how good of you to come,” James said to me, and then looked over my head to William.
“James, my old friend, how delightful to see you again. And in the highest position our country has to offer. How … charming.”
James was frowning at William and did not move toward him but stared hard, taking in all of his features.
“The years have not been kind to you, William,” James said as he walked around his desk and sat in his high backed chair. Arthur followed him and took up sentry to the left of his chair, where he could stare William out of countenance, if William was a person who had a shred of human emotions.
“I have but one question for you, and I suggest that you weigh your answer with caution, for if I do not find your response to my liking you will find yourself in the deepest prison hole that I can contrive,” James said to my father.
William leaned back in his chair and placed his hands together in his lap, the look of serenity upon his countenance.
“How do you propose to extricate yourself from this most foolish and dastardly situation which you have led your family, and countless others, into?” James asked.
William smiled as if the answer was as evident as his playing the role of Harvey had been, which meant not at all.
“I am going to remove the threat which has destroyed so many lives and led me to take up the role of the one who you so obviously despise,” William replied.
“Which is?” James asked.
“His name is Luther and he is the brother of the late king of a small country called Lutania.”
That caused James’s brows to rise slightly. His expression said that he had heard of Lutania.
James considered William’s answer for long, silent moments. His blue gaze never wavered from William’s face. When James finally looked away, it was to stare at me. Fighting the urge to squirm in my chair, I clenched the sides of the chair with my hands.
“How many men do you need to defeat Luther?”
“As many as we can gather to our side,” I answered.
James picked up a quill and dipped it in ink. He began to write upon a piece of paper and we sat quietly watching him, with only the scratching of the quill making any sound.
“You will take this letter to Baltimore where you will seek out a Mr. Caruthers who is a constable in that city.” James had Arthur bring over a candle and James lit the end of a strip of wax. He let a few drops of wet wax fall upon the back of the folded letter and then he pressed a ring into the wax. When it was dried, he handed the letter to Arthur who brought it to me.
The seal was one for the President.
“He will see to it that you are given all that you require.” With that said, James looked up to Arthur. Arthur walked over to the door and opened it. I began to stand, thinking that was our signal to leave.
“Be seated, John,” James said to me, and I sat back upon the hard chair.
Arthur led six other men into the office and they took up sentry behind my father’s chair. Five of the men held muskets, and one held a pair of shackles.
“I take this to mean that you found my answer unsatisfactory,” William said to James.
“It is not a mark against the man that you once were, William. That man had my esteem, my friendship. It saddens me to say that that man is gone.” James nodded to Arthur.
“General Lucius Harvey, also known as William Martin, you are under arrest for treasonous acts against these United States of America. For your crimes you are to be detained until a court hearing is arranged to judge your actions, and a suitable punishment laid out.”
My heart sank and my stomach clenched tight. Though I understood James’s right to place my father under arrest, it caused a rift to form in my heart. Especially when you consider all of my father’s crimes. No judge would find him innocent. In the end, my father would either hang, or end his life in a prison cell.
“Take the prisoner into custody,” Arthur said to the man holding the shackles.
William rose smoothly, smiling in a placating manner, and placed his wrists together before him. Once the iron shackles were surrounding his wrists, William looked at me.
“It is up to you, my son, to finish the battle. Do not let me down.” His smile was curious. As if he knew something that the rest of us did not.
He was led from the room and I turned toward James once the door was shut.
“In light of these new discoveries, I believe it best if I withdraw my offer to you as the head of my guards. You understand, John.”
I did understand.
“Arthur and six of my twelve guards will be prepared to leave with you this day.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said, though my thoughts were in a jumble. “I must go visit my mother before we depart, but that should not take me above an hour.”
“Did Helen come with you, then? Do ask her to call upon Sarah,” James said, kindly.
My brows descended low over my eyes. My mother had been in the city for at least a few weeks, even if she did take a few stops in other cities.
“I certainly will, sir, though she did not arrive with us. She has been here for a few weeks, the guest of the Carmichaels,
and chaperoning a Miss Mason who has come to be introduced into this great city’s society.”
James’s brows descended as mine had, and he looked to Arthur. Arthur shook his head, which caused my stomach to clench again.
“Perhaps she decided to make another city her destination, for the Carmichaels left the city a week hence, and Helen was not with them the last time we spoke.”
“Perhaps she did,” I said, and smiled, though I felt anything but reassured.
After bidding James farewell, I walked back toward my house feeling a familiar foreboding creeping into my body.
If my mother was not here then where was she?
CHAPTER 13
GUINEVERE
We had to wait two days before we could be about our mission to rescue Betsy and in that time we learned that not only had Arnaud seen Betsy in the presence of a group of men, but they were part of a freedmen group that went about the city preaching about equality to whomever would listen. What Betsy was doing with them when she was supposed to be in Washington with Nell was something that I particularly wanted answered. Jack and the others were in Washington so I knew that he would gain the answer when he saw his mother, but my greatest fear was that something terrible had happened to Nell and Charlotte.
We waited for the cover of darkness and then made our way to the harbor. According to Jeanne, who had stayed behind with Rose, there was a house two streets away from the harbor where the freedmen conducted regular meetings. She said that if we went at night we could take them unaware. We followed Arnaud to the nearest boarding stable, where we borrowed horses, and rode across the city until we found the street we needed. We decided to proceed on foot and left the horses tied to a hitching post. Leo, Dudley, Hannah, Arnaud and I walked down the quiet street.
All of the houses were the same in shape, but differing in color. There were a few houses that were lit with candlelight, but the others were dark.
We found the house that we were seeking about halfway down the street, but it was neither dark nor deserted. A carriage waited in the street, and a small group of men were huddled together before the door, talking, laughing, and smoking. Gatherings of freedmen were more common in the north than in the south.
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