by Cathy Peper
“Who else? He wants it back.”
“I visited a voodoo shop while we were in New Orleans. I hoped the owner might be able to tell me how to activate the stone.”
Sebastien brushed this aside. “New Orleans is hundreds of miles away. Unless Bryce or Ari told someone about the necklace, it must be Dalton.”
“She came to see me in New Madrid. Wanted the necklace. I meant to tell you, but I forgot and it didn’t seem important at the time. She believed me when I said I didn’t have it anymore.”
“A voodoo woman tracked you all the way to New Madrid and you didn’t think it important enough to tell me?”
“She didn’t threaten me. It truly slipped my mind.”
“The note says ‘we.’ Could Dalton and this voodoo woman be working together?” Ari asked.
“Maybe,” Tori said, “But the woman claimed it was her partner who wanted the necklace. Back in New Orleans, she wanted nothing to do with it.”
“You told her what it could do?” Sebastien asked.
“No, I merely showed it to her. She recognized what it was or guessed it had power. She told me the power was drained and it would take ‘black magic’ to get it back.”
“No magic required, just electricity.”
“Which is hard to come by in this century.”
Bryce barged into the room, short of breath. “I heard the shots. Did someone find Hannah?” He looked at all their faces and slumped into a chair. “If no one found her, why sound the signal?”
“We got a ransom note,” Ari said.
“What? Someone discovered her relationship with my father and expects him to pay out.”
“No, someone knows about the necklace.” Tori handed him the note.
“So we go in guns blazing.”
“No, they said to come alone or they will kill Hannah,” Ari protested.
“Do we know who we are dealing with?” He gazed at each of them accusingly. “Who else knows about the necklace?”
“Dalton, for one, since you hired him to steal it from Victoria,” Sebastien accused.
“He doesn’t know what it does.”
“Are you sure?”
“I kicked him off my boat before I tried to use it.”
“He might not know what it does, but he knows it’s valuable,” Tori said. “There is another possibility.” She explained about the voodoo woman.
Bryce tapped his fingers on the table. “Never believed in magic, but then I never believed in time travel either. I still think we should go in full force, but if they have some sort of abilities…”
“They might see you coming and kill our daughter. It’s too risky. We need to give them the necklace.”
“They threw the rock at me. Should I make the trade?” Tori asked.
“Absolutely not,” Sebastien said.
“I will go,” Ari said.
“If we only send one person, it has to be me,” Bryce said, “But we will be playing into their hands.”
“Bryce has a point,” Sebastien said. “As do you,” he added when Ari interrupted. “I should go too, but hang back.”
“If we give up the necklace, there’s no going back,” Bryce said to Ari. “We will be stuck here forever.”
“Are you suggesting the stone is more important than our daughter’s life?” Ari asked.
“Of course not, but we have a lot more men. We could overpower them, rescue Hannah and keep the stone.”
“They have Hannah. If they suspect we’re not living up to our end of the deal, they could slit her throat before we can stop them.”
“If I go in alone, they could still kill her. And me. We would have no bargaining power.”
“So let me go. I would happily risk my life for hers.”
“And if they kill both of you?” Bryce’s voice grew louder.
“Then we will have done our best.”
“Stop it, both of you. Sebastien’s suggestion makes the most sense,” Tori said. “He’s like a ghost in the woods. They will never see him coming.”
“Unless they have magical powers,” Ari said.
“I think that’s a risk we have to take,” Tori said. Not that she was happy about it. Could this be the reason for her missing wedding certificate? There was a very real chance Sebastien wouldn’t make it back. That none of them would.
“I will scout the area today and find a hiding place,” Sebastien said.
There was a knock on the door and a crewman stuck his head in. “Captain, the other boat is here, the one that fired upon us. They want to talk to Rivers.”
“I go by Bryce Poole, now.”
The man barely glanced at him, his attention focused on Sebastien.
“Go talk to your father. When I get back, we’ll put our heads together and come up with a plan.”
* * *
Bryce met his father in his cabin and told him and Olivia about the ransom note.
“A piece of jewelry? How valuable is it?” Gordon asked.
“I’m no expert, but it is a pretty piece. Old too; Ari’s mother gave it to her,” Bryce said. He wasn’t about to tell his father about its time travel capabilities.
“So you plan to give it up?”
“Of course. My daughter’s life is at stake.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t ask for more, but I suppose they don’t know about our connection.”
Bryce held his tongue.
“There’s nothing else you can do,” Olivia said. “I know I would give up anything for Danny.”
“Danny?” Bryce asked.
“I guess your father didn’t tell you. You have a half-brother. My son, Daniel. He is two years old.”
Bryce’s jaw dropped. He had a brother? A brother younger than Hannah? He shouldn’t be so surprised. Olivia was of childbearing age and men could procreate until their eighties. Maybe longer. Still, he had been an only child for so long he’d assumed he always would be. If they gave up the necklace, he would have to stay in this century and he now had a rival for his inheritance. He wondered why his father hadn’t mentioned the boy. Wanted to have an ace up his sleeve, more than likely. “Dad forgot to mention that important detail.”
Gordon chuckled and rose to pour drinks. “It wasn’t relative to our conversation.” He handed a glass of whiskey to Bryce and asked Olivia if she wanted one.
“No, I’m going to go over to the Fury and visit with the ladies there.”
Bryce narrowed his eyes as he watched her leave the room. He wasn’t sure how Ari would feel about meeting the girl he’d been engaged to.
“She’s just a girl,” Gordon said.
Bryce turned back towards his father. “Olivia? She is young for you, but I wouldn’t call her a girl.”
“I’m not talking about Olivia,” Gordon snapped. “I’m talking about your daughter. Girls are expendable. If this necklace really is valuable, you should reconsider giving it up. You suspect only two kidnappers, maybe three if Dalton is working with the pair from New Orleans. Take Sebastien’s men and my own and attack.”
“And if Hannah dies in the process?”
“You will have other children. Maybe even sons.”
Nausea churned in Bryce’s stomach. That had been his first instinct, too. Was he so like his father? “Ari would never agree to such a plan.”
“Then don’t tell her.” Gordon reached for his pipe. “You can’t allow a woman to control you.”
“Ari doesn’t control me. I agree with her. I hate giving in to kidnappers, but I’m not willing to risk Hannah’s life.”
Pipe lit, Gordon leaned back in his chair and inhaled. He blew out a stream of fragrant smoke. “You always were too soft, Bryce. Too much like your mother. You can’t allow emotions to rule your life, either.”
“Emotions like my love for Ari and my growing affection for Hannah? Maybe you should learn to let emotion have some place in your life. Why didn’t you tell me about Daniel?”
Gordon’s eyes grew hard. “I didn’t search for yo
u at first because I was angry. Then, when Daniel was born, there was no need. I already had an heir. But I was worried about you and allowed emotion to cloud my judgment. I hired a private detective to find you and then came here, in person, to offer you a deal.”
Gordon expected him to be grateful and a small part of him was. His father had shown little interest in him while he was growing up and he had wanted to prove himself when he came out to St. Louis to determine whether his father should expand their family business there. But then he had fallen in love. “I may still take that deal. If all goes as planned and we get Hannah back, but lose the necklace, I won’t have the means to go west like I planned.”
“So it is valuable.”
“I know I could use it to get a new start in life, but I can’t give you an actual dollar amount.”
“You could sell the Revenge.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure it would bring enough. With the advent of steamboats, keelboats will soon be a thing of the past.”
The two men stared at one another and sweat trickled down Bryce’s back despite the relative chill of the room.
“You turned down my offer last night. What makes you think it’s still available?”
“If it’s not, then I will need the Revenge to make my living as I have for the last four years.”
“With a wife and child in tow?”
“I will buy a house in St. Louis. They can stay there if they wish.” He wasn’t going to budge. He’d prefer to head the western branch of the Poole Empire, but he would go back to trading on the river before he’d give up Ari and Hannah. And there was always the chance, small though it may be, that he could get his daughter back and keep the necklace. Bon voyage nineteenth century.
“You’re more stubborn than your mother.”
“Well, at least I’ve got that going for me.” Bryce tossed back the rest of his drink and stood. “Wish me luck. I’ve got to make a ransom drop.”
Chapter 25
After speaking to his father, Bryce practiced shooting at a target while he waited for Sebastien to return. He would bring his rifle, but Ari’s modern pistol, tucked into the waistband of his breeches, would be his unexpected advantage. It could fire six shots before reloading and was far more accurate than the clunky weapons of this time. He emptied the chamber into the crude image of a man he had drawn on a piece of paper, pleased with the results. He dropped his arm, spotting Ari out of the corner of his eye.
“May I?” she asked, reaching for the gun.
“It’s your weapon.” He handed it over.
Ari expertly loaded it and took a few shots herself. Bryce had to admit that her aim was as good as, if not better than, his.
“Where did you learn to shoot?”
“My father taught me, but when I bought this gun, I took a course so I could be licensed to carry.”
Bryce shook his head. The modern tendency to track and regulate every aspect of life was one of the few things he disliked about the twenty-first century. “Why? You kept it locked up in a safe at home. I never saw you with it until we decided to return to the past.”
“Most of the time I felt safe in my little town. Not really a lot of crime there, but I grew up with guns. Father and Sebastien always carried. Even my mother could shoot. She was good with a bow and arrow, too.” She reloaded the gun and handed it back to him. “Maybe I should go with you.”
“They said to come alone,” Bryce reminded her.
“I know, it’s just hard to sit around and wait.”
“They won’t hurt Hannah until they have what they want.”
“But then you think they will.”
“There’s really no reason to kill her. She’s just a child. But they won’t want me on their tail.”
“You don’t have to do this. I could go. They might decide I’m not a threat, either. If not, I would gladly exchange my life for hers.”
“And you think I wouldn’t?” Bryce rammed the pistol into the small of his back. No need to waste more ammunition.
“You’ve only known her a couple weeks. It would be unreasonable to expect you to love her as I do.”
“I’m doing this for you, Ari. I would do anything for you?”
Ari looked stricken. “I’m sorry I doubted you about Olivia. When she dropped by earlier, she made it very clear you had thrown her over for me. If it hadn’t been for my stepmother, you could have come back for me as you planned.”
“You still might have died in childbirth.”
“I know.”
“Which is why I want to rescue Hannah and keep the necklace. We might have more children, and I don’t want to lose you.”
“If you see a way, take it, but Hannah is our top priority.”
“Agreed.” Bryce walked over to the target and tore it off the tree. He crumpled it into a ball, looking up as Sebastien entered the clearing. “What did you discover?”
“No one is at the cave now. I scouted the area and found no sign of them. I found a tree where I could observe the entrance to the cave but stay far enough away they shouldn’t spot me. I will go early and settle in.”
Bryce nodded.
“You should have been able to find them. If they’re going to meet us at the cave tonight, they can’t be that far away,” Ari said.
“I didn’t have time to search the entire area and where there is one cave, there are often others.”
“Don’t worry, Ari. We will get her back,” Bryce said, hoping he spoke the truth. As the hour for the exchange grew closer, a numbness stole over him. It wouldn’t be long now.
They returned to the boat, where he and Sebastien wrote out wills, Sebastien leaving everything he had to Tori and Bryce leaving his assets to Ari. They ate dinner, a nearly silent affair. Sebastien left soon after to take up his post.
“Where did the necklace come from?” Tori asked Ari. “Are there others like it?”
“It has been passed down in my family for generations. My mother got it from her mother and so on. I don’t know how we first acquired it and if there are others, I’ve never seen one.”
“You were the first to use it?” Bryce asked.
“Maybe. I certainly don’t think my mother had any idea what it could do.”
Wanting his head to be clear, Bryce drank only water, but his father had given him a pipe and some tobacco at his earlier visit and he broke them out. He sat on the roof, Ari wrapped in his arms, puffing on the pipe as the sky darkened and the stars shone like jewels.
“Save Hannah and come back to me.” Ari removed the necklace from around her throat and handed it to him.
“I’ll do my best.” He slipped it into his pocket.
“We can manage here. After all, it is our time.”
“Of course we can,” he said, but the future called to him like the stars in the sky. With the financial backing created by the sale of his treasure, he could make a fortune. He would need to learn some new skills, but he could sell and sales were sales in any time period.
There was the problem of Reggie, but he had weighted the man’s body down with rocks and didn’t think it would ever surface.
When the time came, he kissed Ari good-bye, hoisted his rifle and followed the trail Sebastien had left him by tying the occasional ribbon along the trees. Bryce didn’t have the backwoods skills Sebastien had learned as a boy, but he’d picked up some woodcraft since buying the Revenge. He’d decided to bring a flashlight rather than a torch since presumably the couple from New Orleans already had some idea of the stone’s power and the flashlight provided better and more reliable illumination.
It seemed very dark in the woods beyond the circle the flashlight threw. Hannah must have been terrified. She had probably lost her way within minutes. Bryce would have as well, without Sebastien’s markers. The kidnappers shouldn’t have harmed her, but had they treated her well? She must still be scared. Was she also cold and hungry? Had they beaten her or tied her up? Bryce found himself determined to save her and not just for Ari’
s sake.
What would happen when he arrived? Would they shoot him on sight, hoping to take the necklace from his dead body? They would lose if that was their plan, for Bryce intended to hide the necklace somewhere close by. Of course, he would lose, too, being dead and all, and Sebastien might not be able to rescue Hannah.
If they allowed him to approach the cave, he would demand to see Hannah before producing the necklace. Perhaps the exchange would go neatly, but he didn’t think so. He would come after them if they left him alive.
He wished he could walk as silently as Sebastien, but dead leaves rustled underfoot with every step. Wind rattled the bare branches and he heard the occasional hoot of an owl or the scurrying of small animals. He heard nothing that appeared large enough to be a threat. He had been walking for over an hour. He had to be close. A knothole in a distinctive tree provided a place to stash the necklace.
Finally, he saw the dark maw of a cave entrance. He paused, his heart rate accelerating. This was it. He switched off the flashlight and waited for his eyes to adjust. At any moment he expected to be attacked, but nothing happened. He waited until he could make out shapes by moonlight, but the only sound he heard was his own breathing. Reminding himself Sebastien was watching and could swoop in at a moment’s notice, he took the few remaining steps to the cave opening.
“Hello.” He didn’t raise his voice, but it echoed in the stillness. “I’m here. I’ve come for the girl.” Nothing. Had they not shown up, fearing a trap? Had something happened to Hannah and they no longer had anything to trade? Was he even in the right place?
He stepped into the cave and flipped on the flashlight. The expanse, which had appeared to be little more than a small cranny, opened up to one side. A sweep of the flashlight showed him a tunnel. “Hello,” he tried again before stepping into the narrow space. Again, no reply.
He ducked under low ceilings and wiggled through tight gaps. He came to another passage, veering off to the right, but continued straight. Discerning a faint glow in the distance, he turned off the flashlight. Yes, there was light ahead.
He proceeded, trailing his fingers along the tunnel wall to feel his way. At last the tunnel opened up into a medium sized chamber. Torches glowed along the walls and a robed man stood in the center of the room, his hood obscuring much of his face. “You were told to come alone.”