Turner's Vision (22 page)

“We found you in one of Gibson’s warehouses, and brought you here. You were injured pretty badly. You’ve been unconscious for three days.” She ran the cloth over his face to comfort him. “Can you tell me what happened to you?”

“She needs me, Claudia. I have to get to her.” He struggled to sit up, only to flop back onto the bed, his injuries too great to allow him to succeed.

“Noah, you’ve been seriously hurt, and need to rest.” Claudia continued to wash his face with the cloth, holding him down with her hand on his shoulder. “You need to think about what happened to you. We need to know so we can help you and Patrice.”

“You know Patrice? Is she here? How did she get here? I have to see her.”

“No, Noah. She isn’t here. We need you to help us find her.”

“How do you know her, then?”

“I’m married to her brother.”

“No! You have to get away from him. He’s evil, Claudia. You don’t know the things he’s capable of doing. I swore I’d kill him, when I found him.”

“Here I am, Howard.” Claudia and Noah both swung their attention to the foot of the bed. Micah stood there in his buckskins, shirtless and barefoot and looking very much like a dangerous wild cat.

“I’ll kill you, you bastard.” This time, Noah managed to force himself up out of the bed, knocking Claudia onto the floor. He stood on wobbling legs, sheer determination and hatred keeping him upright.

“Micah! He’s in no shape to take you on.” Claudia scrambled to her feet.

“Micah? Who is Micah?” Noah asked from his shaky stance.

“I am.” The reply was cold.

“No. You’re Stephen. You’re the one who sent her on that ship. You’re the one who did those things to her. You’re the one I have to kill.” Noah started to lose his battle with staying vertical, falling toward the floor.

“Oh no,” Claudia moved to support him, only to have herself pushed out of the way as Micah lunged to grab the weaker man. Lifting him underneath his shoulders, Micah set him back on the bed.

“I believe my wife was right, Howard. You’re in no shape to take on anyone, especially not me.” Micah reached behind him and drew up a straight-back chair to sit next to the bed. He leaned back, settled himself into the chair and began his explanation. “Patrice has three brothers. I’m Micah, her only true brother. Then there are Stephen and Henry, her two half-brothers. But I can assure you, you will not be permitted to kill my brother Stephen. He’s mixed up in something here, and I’m going to have to use him to stop it.”

“Opium.”

“That’s right. But I believe he and the Gibsons are also involved in another lucrative endeavor.”

“White slavery.”

“Good. Two for two. You’re a quick learner, Howard.”

“Really, Micah, can’t this wait until later? He’d been ill for so long, he needs his rest.” Claudia was busy folding up the blankets and sending angry looks at her husband.

“I don’t know how much time we have after last night’s adventure, my dear. I need whatever information Howard can provide. If this is too much for your delicate ears, then perhaps you can make Howard, here, some toast and tea while we talk. I’m sure the man is starved.”

“So, I’m being dismissed now?” She turned on her husband, shaking her fiery mane to one side.

“No, just put to task, my dear.” Micah grinned up at her. Some of the sting from his earlier words disappeared. He walked her to the door, gently swatting her on the behind, which made her narrow her eyes at him.

“Oh, all right. But give him some time to rest, please?”

“I will, I promise.” He watched her walk out of the room, the gentle sway of her hips distracting him from the man in the bed.

“She’s a good woman.” The comment drew Micah’s attention back to Noah.

“That’s right, and she’s
mine
.” Micah steeled himself to the man before him.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Noah struggled to sit up.

Micah watched, not moving to assist him, but allowing the other man to face him on his own strength.

He looked Micah straight in the eye. “Based on your brother’s behavior, I’m not too convinced of her safety. Is she safe with you?”

“Very.” The one-word reply, given in its strength of conviction, seemed to reassure Noah.

“Good. What do you need to know about Patrice?”

“Everything you know. But first allow me to finish dressing while you collect your thoughts.” Micah left the room, only to return the image of the Colorado mountain man. His buckskin shirt and well-worn leather boots completed his image.

“I’d better begin with the disappearance and subsequent murder of Senator Anderson last spring.”

“I know about all of that.”

“You do?” Noah sounded suspicious.

“Claudia’s friend, Laura, was a witness to the murder. She left town to hide by marrying a friend of mine. That was one of the things that brought me back east. Laura wanted her friends to know she was all right, and that the man who had actually killed the senator was no longer a threat to anyone.” Micah leaned back in the chair, stretching his legs out before him. “What I need to know is what happened to my sister and where I can find her. Also, how you happen to know her would be real interesting to hear, too.”

“As I was saying,” Noah continued, “while investigating the senator’s murder I happened upon some information that the senator was working on. It seems the gentleman was researching the connection of some of our other government officials in the distribution of opium. He had gone as far as connecting them with an import company known as the London Far East Trading Company. This company is under the management of Lord Townbridge, a man no one can seem to actually claim to have met.

“The company also uses two shipping companies. One of them imports and exports legitimate cargo. The second trades in less-traditional cargo, such as opium and white slavery. The senator had also pieced together names of several key military men who were deeply involved. I believe that is why the gentleman was killed.”

“It fits the puzzle we’ve been working. Did you get the list of these military men?”

“No. Our senator was a most cautious man. I can definitely say a general, someone stationed in Washington, was on the list. What I can’t figure out is what they stand to gain by risking their careers for this kind of business.”

“We’ve managed to place them in association with several ranking bank officers, as well as some of the men in charge of guarding the gold reserve.”

“Whew.” Noah whistled his astonishment. “That narrows down our general, then.”

“Wallace.” Micah confirmed the agent’s thoughts.

“General Aaron Wallace, senior military officer in charge of the national gold reserve in Alexandria, Virginia. With all the confusion Garfield’s assassination caused in the government last year, he was able to move his men into position on the gold reserve.”

“Thereby giving him control over the nation’s economy.” Micah finished Noah’s thoughts. “Using the opium to control members of Congress as well as the officers of the nation’s leading banks, he’s assured himself virtual control of the country. He can increase or stop shipment of the drug at will.”

“And the disappearance of young women without families could be covered up easily by a man with that kind of power.”

The aroma of strong tea and fresh nut bread filled the room as Claudia entered, bearing a tray laden with plates, cups and a server. “To think that anyone could be that evil is appalling.”

“Greed can do strange things to any man.” Micah helped her lower the tray to the table. “Even those you trust the most.”

“Have you determined what happened to Patrice yet?” Claudia handed them each a cup of tea, and a plate with bread on it. “Start out slow, Officer Howard. We don’t want your stomach to revolt on you after so many days without food.”

“Thank you, Claudia. I was just getting to how I met Patrice.” Slipping slowly on the hot liquid, Noah savored its flavor for a moment before continuing. “I decided to join the crew of one of the clipper ships owned by the Gibson brothers. It was while working on one of these ships that I discovered they were transporting women to the orient. Last fall, when I returned from my first voyage, I saw a young lady tour the ship with Jonathan Gibson and the captain of the ship, Stephen Turner. The young lady did not appear to enjoy her tour, saying as much to Stephen. That’s when I learned she was his sister.

“I didn’t see her again for a few weeks.” Noah paused to take another drink of the tea. “But then one night, I was told to help carry on board a rug that was all rolled up. The rug felt heavier than normal and when I had a chance, I sneaked below to see what was inside. That’s when I found your sister. She’d been heavily drugged. I was trapped below for some time and was unable to get her off of the ship before it sailed.

“God! When I think of it, I could kill myself for not finding some way to do so. It would have been so much better than letting her go through what she did.” He sagged against the covers, the plate and cup clattering to the floor. His eyes squeezed shut against the memories. “I’m so sorry, Patrice.”

“What happened to her?” Micah’s quiet question brought Noah back to the present.

“Micah, he needs his rest.” Claudia picked up the china. “Can’t this wait until later?”

“No, it can’t. I need to know now.”

“Micah,” she tried to reason with him once more, the rest of her words dying on her lips at the look of anguish on his face.

“He’s right,” Noah said from the bed. “You have to hear it tonight.”

“Just take your time, then.” Claudia settled next to her husband to await the worst.

“When the clipper ship was loaded with women to sell in the Far East,” Noah continued his tale, “the women were treated with the utmost care. They were given fine foods to eat, and rich clothes to wear. The men were never allowed near them. This was so that they’d bring the highest price from the buyers. Damaged goods were useless. Part of the payment for these women was tons of opium.

“But as soon as Patrice came around, Stephen let it be known to the men that the woman in the smallest cargo hold was free to all. Her screams were endless that first day, even though several men tried to stop it, myself included. I still hear them in my sleep. Her own brother did that to her.” He paused again, disgust and pain on his face.

“At the end of the first week of her torment the men had grown sated, and she was only used upon occasion. By this time her spirit was broken and the men complained it was like using a corpse. That was when I managed to get below often enough to make contact with her. I started at first by cleaning her cuts and bruises, bringing her food and water. After she was sure I wasn’t going to hurt her, she began talking to me, baring her soul. I learned her name and the reason she was enslaved by her brother.”

“Why?” Micah asked, his voice tight with rage.

“Because she saw the men abduct a woman off the street. That, coupled with her outrage over their involvement in the opium trade, forced her brother and stepmother to decide to get rid of her. But first, Stephen, the sick bastard decided to torture her.”

“Just like he used to do to our slaves and any animals he came across. He hasn’t changed in all these years.” Micah leaned over his knees, his head hung down and his hands intertwined behind his neck.

The silence in the room as they absorbed the horror was suffocating.

“Uhh…” Micah broke the silence with his rage. He shoved himself out of the chair and stomped to the doorway.

“Where are you going?” Claudia lunged, grabbing him by the arm and stopping him at the door.

“Out. And this time, you will stay right here.” He shook her loose and the fierce look he gave her before striding out the door made the hairs stand up on her neck. This was a primeval man, one striding determinedly on the warpath of destruction.

“Leave him be, Claudia.”

“Oh, my Lord.” She spun around to see the look of approval on Noah’s face. “You think he’s right. You think he should kill his brother. The man is evil, Noah. Micah could just as easily lose his life, let alone his freedom.”

“If the cause is just, then he will prevail.” Noah closed his eyes, lying back against the pillows, wishing he was beside the giant man.

“I can’t believe you two. I have to stop him.” She ran out the door.

“Claudia!” Noah called from his bed. He forced himself to sit up, leaning on his good arm. The pain sent lightning bolts through his body, but he steeled himself against them. “Claudia, come back here!” He maneuvered himself to the door, grasping onto it with his arm to steady himself. Leaning there, willing the waves of nausea to pass, he heard voices at the bottom of the stairs.

“Adam and Joey caught the carriage at the corner, Claudia,” a male voice said below. “We’ll know soon where he’s gone, and what he’s up to. He went armed. Do you want me to go around and fetch Colonel Duncan?”

“No, Robert, rig the carriage. There’s no time to waste waiting for the Colonel.”

She dashed back up the stairs and paused at Noah’s door. He stood wrapped in a sheet, sweat beading on his brow from the sheer effort of remaining upright.

“He doesn’t want you there, Claudia. You heard him.” Noah grabbed onto her arm, gently squeezing it in restraint.

“He’s my husband, Noah.” The quiet statement held more than mere words. It held her heart. Looking at her face, Noah read all he needed to and released her.

“And you love him.” It wasn’t a question.

She nodded, then flew down the hall to her room.

Noah wobbled his way to the dresser. He struggled into a pair of pants he found there, then sat in the straight-back chair. He could do nothing to help the Turners, but he could regain his strength as quickly as possible. Patrice needed him.

Closing his eyes and listening to Claudia prepare to leave the house, Noah awaited the return of his equilibrium and the giant man, Micah Turner. When the mountain man returned, and he had no doubt that he’d be the victor in this campaign, they had a trip to take.

Claudia rushed to her armoire. Her robe and nightgown landed on the floor as she went. She searched through the clothes there until she located her britches and sweater, scrambling into them and grabbing her dark sailor’s jacket.