O’Malley gestured for them to drop to their bellies and crawl to the base of the tent, where they pressed their ears as near to the bottom of the canvas as they could.
“I tell you, we have one of them,” said a voice Matthew did not recognize.
“Perhaps,” said the distinct voice of Lieutenant Colonel Hood.
Something rattled within. “I’m telling you,” said the other. “I have been tracking this for months. There is some sort of group within the ranks that is plotting something. Something that could be detrimental.”
Matthew’s heart began to hammer, and he forced his breathing to remain even.
“Come now. Do you not think you are being a bit paranoid?” Hood said.
“Did I not tell you about their password just two nights ago? What further proof do you need than one of them giving it just this very night?”
The lieutenant colonel was silent for several moments, and Matthew began to wonder if the men had left the tent or had heard the eavesdroppers outside. He tried to keep himself perfectly still, only moving his eyes to look over at O’Malley. The man seemed unaffected, keeping his eyes closed and his ear to the tent.
Something crawled from the frigid ground and into the leg of his breeches. As the ant began to bite, he slowly moved his opposite foot and tried to scrape the vile insect free. O’Malley placed a staying hand on his arm. Matthew gritted his teeth and was just about to suggest they move when Hood finally spoke again.
“I must agree. The evidence is quite compelling. And they did discover some type of homemade dagger hidden upon her person.”
“So you see what must be done. Good wits, man, playing along with the ruse and getting the message.”
“Indeed. It seems that if she is a spy, she is not a very good one. I had to do little other than say I was from the location she mentioned to get her to hand over the document.”
A small whoosh of air escaped from the man beside him, and Matthew threw his gaze in that direction. O’Malley’s hand clamped down tighter on his arm.
“Where is it, then? This message. I must see it.”
“There is not much to see, I fear. It appears to be in code. Little more than a series of odd pictures,” Hood said with a sigh.
O’Malley tugged on him and began backing up. Matthew followed, regaining his feet and slipping through the shadows unseen. They found some manner of distance from the lieutenant colonel’s tent before O’Malley spoke. “This isn’t good. They have more information than I thought. They might even have what we have been waiting on. We are going to have to enact the dispersion plan.”
“The what?”
“No time. I have to warn the others so they can get out. If we are scattered, they are less likely to piece together any more information,” he said, beginning to pace. “If I could just get that message,” O’Malley mumbled under his breath.
Matthew was about to object to the wisdom of such a plan, but O’Malley reached up and gripped his shoulders, speaking quickly. “I need you to get the girl. They have her in a tent just outside the medical station. You will need to take her and head south. I will meet you on the outskirts of the town of Lorman. There is a house there with a red barn. The owners sympathize with our cause and will pretend not to know you are there. I will find you in the loft. Now, go.”
Matthew caught his arm before he could leave. “I don’t know how wise this is. You are talking about deserting. Never mind aiding a prisoner in escape. We could hang for this.”
“If you don’t, she will be executed. This is her only chance.” He pulled free and disappeared into the night. Matthew watched him go until he could no longer distinguish his form. He had never heard of a woman being executed. He stood there thinking, his feet beginning to grow numb from the cold seeping in through his socks. Then he snapped his teeth against the curse forming on his tongue and crept through the still camp toward the medical tent.
As O’Malley had said, in the rear sat a single tent away from the others, hidden from view of the encampment. Matthew drew closer, wondering why they would not have placed a guard on duty. Something was not right with this entire situation, but he did not have the time to dwell on it. He eased open the tent flap and saw a huddled form inside, just illuminated enough by the silver light of the moon to assure him it was the girl.
“Miss?”
The girl retreated further into the recesses of her small confinement. “Who is there?”
“Captain Daniels. I’ve come to take….” A bugle blast cut through the silence of the night, and it would soon bring slumbering men from their pallets with weapons in hand. “Miss! We have to go!”
“I do not wish to go anywhere with you,” she hissed. “I am not a spy, and I will not be treated as such.”
Matthew crawled into the tent. “Now, you must listen to me, girl. I don’t know what sort of business you are involved with, but if you don’t come with me right now, you won’t live to see the sun set tomorrow.”
She hesitated, stoking the fire that burned in Matthew’s gut and pushed nervous energy through his veins. When she finally spoke, her voice was purposeful. “I am bound. I do not see how I will run from here, even if I chose to.”
The bugle sounded again, and shouts mingled with the blast. It would not be long before someone came around and found him here. His fate was already sealed. He grabbed the girl by the ankles, ignored her screech, and hefted her over his left shoulder.
She pounded her small hands on his back, her shifting weight making his balance more difficult with each step he took toward the woods. “Unhand me this instant!” she hissed. Other than her initial cry of alarm, she had not decided to scream for help. If nothing else, Matthew would take that as a sign of consent and keep moving, regardless of how awkward it felt.
“I cannot do that, miss. Right now either we run or we die, and since you are incapable of the former, I will strive to keep us from the latter.”
She moaned but did not protest further, her body growing stiff against him. Despite the fire burning in his leg, he pushed on through the darkness, weaving through low-hanging limbs and pushing vines out of the way. Twice he stumbled and feared he would drop the girl, but he maintained his grip and plunged deeper into the cover of trees. When the sounds of the camp began to distance, he risked setting her down on the damp earth.
“I am sorry for carrying you so, but I am afraid it was necessary.”
“So you say,” she said, lifting her chin. “I think it may have well been an excuse to place your hands upon my legs.”
Heat flooded his face. What would give her such a ridiculous idea? “If I did not restrain you, you would have found yourself sprawled on the ground.”
She looked up at him, the curve of her jaw appealing even in the dim light. “I suppose that is true.” She appeared to eye him, and he once again felt the disadvantage of inadequate light. “I would not wish to fall from so great a height,” she said with a small sigh that bespoke of resignation. “It would be like tumbling from the saddle.”
He stifled a chuckle that threatened to escape despite the dire nature of their situation. “Good. Then we are agreed. Let me see if I can undo the ropes so you might travel on foot and save us both the indignity of me having to carry you.”
“And to give your injury a lighter load to bear,” she said softly.
“What injury?” He’d thought he’d done well concealing his affliction.
“I am not a fool. Besides, I have spent a great deal of time tending to wounded men. I know the signs of injury. From the way you favored your right side, I would say you have an injury to your lower leg.”
His brows pulled together. Perhaps he had not concealed the weakness as much as he’d thought. “How very observant of you. Now, the ropes, miss. Give me your legs.”
She pulled her feet underneath her long skirts. “I think not. I will not have another strange man putting his hands on my ankles.”
Matthew sighed. “Well, I don’t think we have
the time for you to waste trying to untie them. If you could do that, you would have already done so by now.”
She drew in a sharp breath, and he knew that even though he could not make out her features in the dark, she wondered how he’d been able to guess what she’d been doing. Not that it was such a difficult thing to discern. Who wouldn’t attempt to untie the feet when some idiot had left the hands unbound?
“And since I have a knife with which to cut them,” he continued, “I suppose you’ll just have to allow me access.”
“I’ll do no such thing. You can hand me the knife, and I will free myself.”
Stubborn girl. He held up the blade. “And how do I know you won’t try to stab me with it once you are free?”
“And how do I know you won’t try to take liberties with me while we are alone out here in the darkness?”
Matthew chuckled. “I suppose we will just have to trust one another.”
“Indeed. So, hand it over.” She thrust out her hand, and he placed the pocket knife in her small palm.
To his surprise, she flicked open the blade with practiced ease, sawed through the ropes in short order, and returned the closed knife back to him. He’d have to remember that not all women were the pampered ladies he had known in his days at the plantation. There were plenty of working women who thought nothing of such things.
She rose to her feet and stood close to him, her head only reaching to his chest. Without looking up she said, “Well, we’d better get moving before they start searching for me.” She started out through the woods, not giving Matthew the opportunity to lead.
He fell into step behind her, but after having to push back several limbs that she simply ducked under, he moved around her and assumed the position of clearing the way. She made no remark to this but followed along behind him.
After they had walked until his leg screamed and the sky began to lighten with the first rays of a new day, he finally stopped and lowered himself onto a fallen log, amazed they had not been overtaken. The girl remained standing, not looking as if the walk had tired her in any way.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
He massaged his aching calf and kept his eyes turned down. “We are traveling to the town of Lorman.”
She stiffened. “And then?”
He cut his eyes up at her, for the first time able to make out the distinct features of her face. What he saw stirred something within him that he quickly dampened. She was strikingly beautiful, despite the streaks of dirt marring an otherwise perfect complexion. She watched him with piercing blue eyes that suddenly lit with concern as her hand flew up to smooth the flaxen hair that had escaped from its pins.
He cleared his throat and looked away. “We will wait for the others.”
She nodded and said no more. “Let us be going on, then.”
“I think we can tarry for a few moments.”
“Oh, of course. Forgive me. You must need to rest.”
Annoyance flared within him. He was not an invalid in need of special tending. But regardless of his wounded pride, the leg would need to rest. It was beginning to seep, and he could not afford to have it open back up and risk infection.
“I do not believe we have been introduced,” he said, turning the conversation away from his injury.
“No, we have not.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I am Captain Matthew Daniels.”
She inclined her head. “Miss Smith.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Miss Smith.”
“And I you,” she said, though the words were thick with sarcasm.
Matthew stretched his leg out in front of him, listening to the early-morning twittering of birds and trying to dampen his frustration at his missing boots. He glanced at the girl, who stood quietly watching the woods in the direction from which they had come.
“How old are you?” he asked, pulling her attention back to him.
She frowned, confusion settling in her eyes. “I am nearly twenty.”
He tilted his head. “Is that so? There is no reason to be dishonest with me, you know. I have no interest in your profession.”
She gaped at him. “How dare you! Why do people keep assuming I am a harlot?”
“I mean no disrespect, miss. But, women don’t generally come to the camp in the middle of the night unless they are seeking…. certain companionship.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I am not a harlot! Or a spy. I was merely helping a soldier who’d been under my care. Before he passed on, he asked me to deliver a message for him. I tried to honor his final request before continuing on my mission to locate my uncle. I did not know that such a simple thing as delivering a message would land me in this predicament.”
He studied her a moment, with her flushed face and flashing eyes. There was no way to know if she was telling the truth or not, so he tried coming at the solution from a different angle. “So, you really are nearly twenty?”
She glared at him. “I was born on the fifth of March, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-five.”
He lifted his shoulders in an if-you-say-so shrug. “You look like a girl of no more than seventeen, and that is being generous.”
“So I have been told,” she spat. Then as if remembering herself, she straightened and smoothed out her tattered skirts. “However, I do not see how my lack of development has anything to do with our situation.”
Lack of development? Before he could ponder the odd statement further, she said, “And just how old are you, Captain Daniels?”
“I am twenty-five.”
“Well, since that’s settled, and you are properly rested, I suggest we be on our way.”
He stared at her for a moment, then shook his head and returned to his feet.
She glanced down at his socks. “I am sorry to be so rude, but I simply cannot stand it any longer. Why are you without boots?”
“I didn’t have the time.”
She looked incredulous but simply shrugged and began to walk away. Matthew once again had to position himself in the lead, this time earning a small snort from the woman behind him. He pushed into the woods, feeling her eyes staring into his back.
It took them only perhaps two hours more to clear the woods and locate the farmland that marked the proximity of the town they sought. Matthew kept to the edge of the trees, the girl on his heels, and skirted around the field. By the time the sun hit its zenith, he had located the barn O’Malley had mentioned, just out from a large white farmhouse. There didn’t seem to be anyone about, so he looked back at Miss Smith. She gave a small nod.
Matthew walked up to the rear door of the barn, his eyes darting around for danger. Seeing not the first sign of life—beast nor man—he grabbed the rusted handle and pulled the large door open.
The place appeared unused, with cobwebs hanging from the rafters and the musty scent of lingering animal waste permeating the stale air. He stepped inside and quickly checked the four stalls, but it did not appear any horses had been housed in here for some time. That was certainly a good thing, because despite O’Malley’s assurances the owners would look the other way, Matthew felt more comfortable knowing they might not know he and Miss Smith were here at all.
Near the rear of the barn stood a ladder to the upper loft, which would be the best place to wait for O’Malley. If they did not leave any footprints in the soft red dirt, they might remain there unnoticed for as long as needed. Matthew glanced down at his soggy socks and thought about the best way to cover their tracks down the center aisle. But first he must get the girl safely above. Then he could worry about the trail.
He turned to offer Miss Smith assistance with the climb but found only the open door held ajar on rusty hinges. Alarm bubbled in his chest as he hurried the short distance back to the door and stuck his head outside, hoping she’d merely decided to wait for his assurance that it was safe to enter.
Curse that woman!
He should have known better. True to her kind, she had fooled
him into trusting her. Blast! Where could she have gone? Matthew poked his head around the barn, but found only swaying grass.
The girl was gone.
“Such attempts, if they fail, will only make the Yankees strike the blow harder, for – it must be acknowledged – they have the power, and if the South can obtain no outside assistance, she must fall.”
Annabelle hiked her skirts to her knees and dashed through the underbrush with little heed to the brambles that further ruined her dress. She felt a ridiculous pang for the loss of her change of clothes in her small traveling trunk, which was still in the abandoned wagon she had left on the outskirts of the army camp.
Such a foolish thing to mourn, but she had little enough clothing as it was. Worse, she’d been stripped of Peggy’s weapon when they had searched and bound her before tossing her in that tent. Now she would never be able to return the priceless family treasure. Hot tears burned in her eyes, but she blinked them away. Now was not the time to worry with things she could not change. The present moment presented far more pressing troubles, such as keeping her footing and praying she could outmaneuver the giant who would not be long in noticing her absence.
She ducked under a low branch and drew in a deep breath of cold air, which burned her lungs in a way something so frigid should not. Annabelle almost felt remorse for leaving the man behind, but not regret. Though he had likely saved her from being tried as a spy, he just as likely had landed her in an even greater predicament. Captain Daniels seemed kind, and she’d studied the eyes of enough men to recognize one with honest intentions. Whatever was happening, Captain Daniels truly seemed to believe he was helping her. But what she really needed was freedom. She could not risk asking for his aid as she had with the lieutenant colonel.
She glanced up at the sky, but the canopy of limbs obscured the location of the sun. Not that it mattered. She’d passed by this place before. If she remembered correctly, if she continued forward she would eventually end up back in Lorman. Perhaps if she could reach it, she could find someone to help her untangle this mess and get a ride back home. Lungs burning, Annabelle ducked behind a large pine and drew labored breaths. She needed to rest, or her heart might explode.
The Liberator Series Box Set: Christian Historical Civil War Novels Page 10