phantom knights 04 - deceit in delaware (12 page)

“Step away and I shall let you live. It is really your only hope for survival,” William was saying.

Leo was free and untying Abe’s hands.

“You think that I do not know who this is, but we all know. If I am harmed so will he be. Your daughter’s husband. Not that it matters considering where your daughter is at this moment.”

The guard smirked at my father and I felt my body turn cold.

“We were not the only ones at work this night. You should never leave your women unattended, if you wish them to remain alive. As is expected, your daughter fought valiantly, before we killed her.”

A muffled growl came from Sam before he shoved himself into the guard. The guard stumbled back as Sam fell on the ground. Immediately back on his feet, Sam turned toward the guard … and paused.

The guard aimed his pistol at Sam’s head.

I ran forward, no longer caring about anything. Whether he spoke the truth or not did not matter. All that mattered was stopping that man from harming Sam.

There was a wild resignation on the guard’s face as he stared at William. We all saw it in that moment. What was coming. The guard did not care if he died as long as he took one of us with him.

In a matter of seconds, William aimed his musket at the guard, Leo shouted as he ran forward, there was a swirl of movement, and flashes of two guns firing, one after another. The guard fell, Sam hit the ground, my father lowered his musket, and Leo dropped down beside Sam. I reached them in time to see Leo roll Abe off Sam.

His dark eyes were staring up at the night sky, but … but he was not seeing it.

Stumbling to a halt, my mind refused to comprehend what I was seeing. There was blood seeping all over Abe’s chest.

For a breath stealing moment I could not move, and then I was dropping to my knees beside Leo. It could not be how it appeared. Abe was strong. He was a fighter.

William got Sam’s hands free and Sam rushed to Abe’s side, dropping down to his knees and lifting Abe’s body up. Sam shook him, shouting at him to wake.

Abe’s lifeless body shook as easily as a leaf in the wind against Sam’s attempts to wake him.

Sam rested Abe’s head against his lap, and then began to tear his own shirt. He bunched the cloth into a ball and pressed it against the wound.

“Sam,” William tried to say, but Sam cursed at him.

“We can still save him. He will survive this. He will!”

“He is gone, Sam,” William whispered, saying the words that neither Leo nor I could speak.

“No!” Sam shouted at the sky, the cry of a man broken. “Forgive me,” Sam said to Abe as he clutched him to his chest. “Forgive me.”

“Oh, God,” I whispered as I dropped back, realizing the truth. Abe was gone.

Leaning forward, Sam pressed his forehead against Abe’s and the storm broke. His weeping became cries, shouts, and pleas. It was as if I was watching a piece of his heart break and then shatter into millions of pieces that could never be replaced. Abe’s loss could never be recovered.

We had lost one of the greatest men who ever lived. A humble man who had endured more in his life than any person ever should. He was more than just a friend to Sam, he was family. He was Sam’s cousin, and Betsy’s brother.

Oh, Betsy.

My heart constricted for her, for she had now lost all of her family. Her mother, her father, and her brother.

“Why?” Sam suddenly shouted into the night. Moisture rushed into my eyes. Blinking it away, I rose and turned toward where William was standing.

“I sent Dudley and Freddy to see to the women, but one of us should…” I could not finish my words for it felt as if I was dishonoring Abe somehow. Moving on the moment after we lost him.

William laid a hand on my shoulder. “You should go. Go to your wife and sister. I will see to this.”

Nodding, I moved away, but only made it a few feet before I looked back. Seeing Sam’s grief and Abe’s motionless body, rage filled my veins. Luther had done this. And he would pay.

CHAPTER 9

GUINEVERE

W
e reached the harbor within ten minutes of setting out and began our search for the boat. It did not take long to find it because the men who had taken Bess were rowing to a boat anchored further out in the water.

There were several small boats tied around the nearest dock to us, so I moved toward it and began to untie the rope, before I realized that Rose had not followed me. Twisting in her direction, she was staring up at one of the warehouses that ran along the harbor.

“What is it?” I demanded as I finished untying the boat.

“We need a distraction,” Rose said thoughtfully, distracted herself. “Yes. That is what we need.” Rose began walking toward the warehouse instead of toward me.

“Rose,” I hissed, trying to draw her back. When she did not turn, I spoke her true name. “Arabella!”

She halted and glanced over her shoulder at me, still distracted, but willing to discover what I needed.

“The boat is that way,” I said, pointing out toward the water.

“Do you remember Baltimore in fourteen?” She asked it as if reminiscing.

Casting my mind back over years, I quickly tossed my sister a worried look as I remembered of what she was referring.

“You cannot blow up that boat with Bess on board.”

Rose huffed out a breath as she placed her hands upon her small hips, quite annoyed at me. “That is why I need the distraction. You row out to that boat, get Bess off of there, while leaving a trail behind you, and I will do the rest when you are safe away.”

“How will you know that I am safe away if you cannot see me, and you will not be able to in the dark?”

I was certain that my sister cast her eyes heavenward even though I could not perfectly see her doing it. “There are lanterns upon that boat are there not? Truly, Guinevere, one would think this was your first time blowing up a boat.”

“
I
never have blown up a boat. That was all you,” I retorted.

“Yes, without me you would be quite lost. Now, do make haste, there are not moments to spare.” With that said, Rose sauntered toward the warehouse where I was sure she would find just what she was searching for.

Climbing into the small boat, I gripped the oars and began to row myself out to the ship. If I kept to the starboard side and then made my way around, no one would see me approaching, for their attention was elsewhere.

When I reached the boat, I used my hands to guide the small boat toward the rope ladder that had not been pulled up after Bess was taken on board.

If any of the crewmen heard the lapping of my small vessel against the water they paid it no heed. I could hear laughter on the deck, and words spoken in both Danish and English, though I could not make them out over the slapping water.

After securing the rope from the boat to the rope ladder, I hoisted myself up and began to climb. When I reached the rail, I slowly glanced over the edge and onto the deck. What I saw caused me no small amount of pause.

Why would any of those imbeciles allow Bess to gain access to a sword? Did they not know who she was?

Bess was keeping all of the men at bay, but she was still surrounded as they laughed at her. When one would approach she would turn her blade in their direction, making the others laugh.

With their attention riveted upon Bess, I was able to grasp the rail and climb my way across the outside of the ship, trying to reach the nearest window that was open. It did not occur to me that someone would be inside the room with the open window until I was shoving my way through the narrow space.

A man with a mop stoop agape as my boots touched the wooden plank floor. His clothes were threadbare, and I was certain that he had more teeth missing than were crookedly perched inside his open mouth. I smiled at him and he gulped for air, dropping his mop with a clatter.

“Bbb-be you a gg-host?” he stuttered.

Casting him the full force of my grin, I replied, “I have been known to be called a ghost a time or two, though I prefer Phantom.”

His eyes stretched their length and then he turned and ran toward the door, not realizing that it was shut. His face smacked against the wood but it did not halt him as he tried to twist the knob and open the door.

Looking about me quickly, I grabbed the sextant from what I assumed was the captain’s desk. Running toward him, I threw the heavy object just as he reached the companionway and was trying to run. It struck the back of his head as I intended and I nodded my triumph when he fell face first to the floor. Hopping over parts of his spread out form, I moved down the companionway, but when I reached the stairs I did not go up to the deck.

Making my way down into the darkest parts of the ship, I found a door to the compartment that I hoped was the hull. When I saw the barrels, I quickly located the one marked as gunpowder. One of the barrels was open and there were several sacks lying around where the powder monkeys would have loaded the sacks to transport them to the cannons. This ship either practiced their strategies for war, or they recently had reason to fire upon another ship. Loading several bags as full as I could and still carry them, I began to sprinkle a path of gunpowder from the hull, across the small companionway, up the stairs, and toward the deck. As I went, I dropped the bags as they emptied, and when I found a lantern, I grabbed it before climbing my way up the last few stairs to the deck. The crew’s attention was still upon Bess, but it looked as if she had wounded several men who had gotten too close, for there were red slashes upon a few faces, arms, and torsos. Slipping behind some barrels, I paused to dip my hands into a rain barrel, washing away the powder from my fingers. With that finished, I moved toward the rail where the rope ladder and my boat waited. It was only when I stepped toward the rail did the first man see me. And it was the captain.

“What have we here?” he asked in perfect English. That my uncle was going to be the cause of Englishmen being killed caused me a moment of remorse, but only a moment.

His words caught the attention of the others, and Bess.

She breathed a sigh, but she did not halt her slow circle with the sword. Bess knew not to take her eyes from her opponents, even if their attention was not currently upon her.

“To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?” The captain asked as he stepped toward me.

I took a measured step back. He took another step toward me. I took another step back. We did this until my back pressed against the rail, as his boots stepped onto the gunpowder trail.

Quickly opening the small door to the lantern, I smiled at the captain. “I have come to rescue my sister.”

“Sisters is it?” The captain scratched his gray beard with his knuckle, but there was a light in his eyes that assured me that he knew exactly who I was.

“Sisters, and if you do not want to die, you will stay where you are.”

He laughed, and his crew followed his example. Some snickering, some boisterous, some growling more than laughing.

“You mean to kill me? The great Theodore Trenton. My girl, you either have some great courage, or great stupidity.”

“Look where you are standing, great Theodore Trenton, and then tell me who is full of great stupidity.” It was perhaps not the best of ideas to be taunting the captain of a boat full of men, but it sure was amusing.

As Captain Trenton looked down, I lowered the lantern toward the gunpowder.

“In case you are wondering, that trail goes all the way down into your hull where the rest of your gunpowder is to be found.”

The amusement was gone from his eyes. “You lie.”

“You could take that chance, but the moment I smash this lantern you will discover your mistake.”

“What is it that you want?” A man, whom I assumed was the first mate, asked.

Instead of deeming to answer him, I spoke to Bess. “Now, Bess.”

Bess broke through the circle around her and quickly backed toward me. As a group, the men moved toward her, trying to grasp her. She cut two hands before she reached me.

“Over the side,” I said to her.

She refused to move.

“Trust me,” I whispered.

Bess cast me a skeptical glance, but quickly climbed over the side and down the rope ladder to the row boat below.

“Captain, our prize!” It was shouted by one of the men Bess had scratched with her blade.

“Enough of this,” Captain Trenton said as he stepped out of the trail of gunpowder.

Time to make a hasty retreat. Throwing down the lantern as hard as I could, glass shattered, the flame sparked, and the trail was lit.

Jumping over the side of the ship, I tried to grab something to halt my fall but there was nothing. My body struck the water and I came up gasping.

“Swim, Guinevere,” Bess said as she rowed the boat a little away from the ship.

The waves struck my face, but the one guarantee about spending much of your childhood on an island was that you learned how to swim. With long, cutting strokes, I made it to the boat and Bess helped me to climb aboard. She rowed while I pushed myself onto the bench.

There were shouts coming from the ship and we could see men climbing down the ladder toward the boat that they had used to take Bess to that ship.

“They will catch us, you know,” Bess said as she quickened her strokes with the oars.

“You would think that,” I said as I shivered on the seat across from her.

We were nearly to the long dock where I had set out with the row boat when an explosion shattered the sounds of the night and caused Bess to nearly capsize our boat with her jumping.

My ears were ringing, and I knew that Bess was saying something, but my attention was upon the ship, as the cannonball struck its side.

We reached the dock as another shot was fired. The second was all that was needed to cause a large enough hole to start the ship sinking.

Boots were pounding upon the wood of the dock as I climbed out of the boat to tie it to the dock. Arms wrapped around me from behind and then I was forcefully turned.

“Have you run mad?” Jack shouted.