Rapture's Tempest (49 page)

“I will be. Don’t worry.” He climbed down. “Wait here for me. I won’t be long.”

Annabelle nodded and sat back, not wanting anyone to see her, but watched carefully while Nathan casually entered the office in search of Wade.

“Excuse me.” He approached the corporal sitting at the front desk.

“Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for Major MacIntosh. Is he here?”

“I’ll check for you. Just a minute.” The soldier went off in search of Wade, leaving Nathan to cool his heels.

Though his manner didn’t reflect it, Nathan was upset by the entire situation, and the long minutes that he spent awaiting the man’s return did little to ease his anxiety.

Annabelle wanted to scream. Where was her father? And where was Wade? She’d been sitting there for over ten minutes and there was no sign of either one. Her instincts told her to run, far and fast, but she knew she couldn’t leave without her father. Maintaining what little control she had, she waited, frightened and frustrated.

“I’m sorry I took so long, sir,” the corporal told Nathan as he came back to his desk. “I thought the major was in a meeting, but I was mistaken. It seems he left on an errand for Captain Clayton some time ago, and he’s not expected back until much later this afternoon.”

“Thank you.” Nathan said curtly, furious that he’d been detained so long. Leaving the office as calmly as possible, he climbed back into the carriage with Annabelle.

“Well? Where’s Wade?” she demanded as he took up the reins again.

“He’s gone.”

“Gone? You mean he’s left town?” Annabelle said, aghast.

“No. No, nothing like that. The man I talked to said that he was on an ‘errand’ for Captain Clayton.”

“For Mark? What could he possibly be doing for Mark Clayton?”

“I don’t know, but we’re not going to wait around here to find out.”

“Did you leave a message for him?”

“No. I don’t want it known that we have been here.”

Annabelle nodded. “Where are we going now?”

“We are going on a voyage, my dear.”

Nathan drove straight to the offices of Mid-Rivers Steamship Company and again bade Annabelle wait in the carriage. Disappearing inside, he was gone only a few minutes before he came back outside with Micah Abernathy.

“Annabelle. It’s good to see you.” Micah was cordial, but nervous. “We’ll have you and your father taken care of shortly. You’ll be booked under the names of John White and wife.”

She glanced quickly at her father, but didn’t interrupt.

“That will be fine, Micah. You know we appreciate all you’re doing.”

“It’s for the Cause, Nathan,” he said proudly. “I’m glad you asked.”

“We appreciate your kindness, Mr. Abernathy.” Annabelle was gracious.

“You can go on aboard now, if you like. The boat will be pulling out in about twenty minutes.”

“Fine.” He shook hands with him and handed him an envelope stuffed with Yankee greenbacks.

“Good luck, Nathan.”

They drove off to the levee and tied up near the boat on which their passage had been booked. Nathan helped Anna-belle descend from the carriage, and they started toward the steamer.

“Wait. I’ve got an idea….” Nathan paused and then called to a roustabout standing nearby.

“Yes, suh?” The burly man hurried to do his bidding.

“Do you see that carriage?” He pointed out his own vehicle.

“Yes, suh.”

“I want you to drive it downtown and park it near the Westlake Law Office. All right?”

“Yes, suh. Should Ah tell anybody dat it’s dere?”

“No. Just tie it up and leave it. It will be picked up later.” Nathan handed the man a large bill. “Hurry now.”

“Yes, suh. Ah’ll hurry real good.” And the man rushed off and climbed into the carriage and drove away, while Nathan and Annabelle exchanged looks.

“They’d never think to look for it there.” She couldn’t stop the smile that threatened, despite their precarious situation.

“I know. It could be a full day before they realize it’s ours.” He escorted her up the gangplank.

After being directed to their cabin, they remained in seclusion until the boat had pulled away from the levee. Only then did they venture out on deck.

“Father! We’re heading north!”

Nathan smiled blandly at her. “Of course. The last place they’ll expect us to go is the North. They’ll have every trooper from here to Memphis on alert trying to catch us, and we’ll be heading in the opposite direction. We’re going to make connections at Rock Island and go on to Chicago. There are people there we can stay with until things settle down.”

Annabelle beamed at her father’s ingenuity. “I’m glad you had all of this figured out. I was really in a panic.”

“My only concern now is Wade. He was like a son to me, and I’m worried that he’s going to get caught in a hornet’s nest…”

“He’ll do fine, Father. Wade always does.” Annabelle gave her lover no further thought; her own survival was her only concern.

“I know…I know…I just can’t help but think that he’s involved in something far more dangerous than he ever realized….” Nathan sighed.

“Perhaps. But let’s not worry about him. He’ll catch up with us sooner or later.”

She distracted him with idle chatter as they walked along the promenade deck, but still, in the back of his mind, Nathan wondered what was to become of Wade.

Delight was sitting with Renee in the parlor. The hours had passed slowly since the men had gone, and they were growing more and more concerned. Clara had long since left to return home and they were alone, waiting anxiously for word from their men.

“What do you suppose is taking so long? All they had to do was to go and meet with Sam, right?” Delight played nervously with the bit of needlepoint she was holding.

“That’s what I thought, too.” Renee glanced out the window again in hopes that she would see them drive up, but the street in front of the house remained empty.

They looked at each other helplessly, wondering what, if anything, they could do. It was then that they heard the sound of the carriage, and they both rushed to open the door as they saw Jim and Marshall ride up with Sam.

“Where’s Mark? Did everything go all right?”

“We don’t have time to explain right now,” Jim said tersely as they came inside. “Sam will tell you everything. He’s staying here.”

“Renee, get me the key to the gun cabinet,” Marshall ordered, leading the way back to his study.

“The gun cabinet? What are you planning on doing?” Renee asked, following quickly along behind him. “What do you need a gun for?”

“Jim and I are going after two spies, and we want to be prepared, just in case.”

“In case of what?” Delight worried, and Jim stopped to calm her.

“We’ve discovered that Annabelle and Nathan are a crucial part of the spy ring. We’re going for them, while Mark rounds up the others.”

“Others? You mean there are more?”

Martha and Dorrie had heard the commotion and were hurrying down to greet them when Marshall came out into the hall with two revolvers and a rifle.

“They’re loaded,” he informed Jim as he handed him a pistol.

“Thanks. Let’s go.”

“Where are you going?” Martha asked.

“We know Annabelle and Nathan are spies, and we’re going to get them before they have a chance to get away,” Marshall explained as he headed down the hall.

“Can’t you wait?” Renee pleaded. “Surely, Mark will send some soldiers to help….”

“He might, but by that time Annabelle and Nathan could be miles away.”

“She was here when you opened the note,” Delight remarked.

“I know, and they might already be long gone.”

“Be careful!” She hugged Jim quickly and then let him go.

“We will,” he told her confidently as they disappeared outside to make the short trip to the Morgan house.

Marshall reined in the carriage a few houses away. “I’ll check around back, while you go on up to the front.”

“All right.” Jim climbed down after his brother and made his way up the front steps.

He somehow knew before he even knocked that they had gone. The house had an aura of desertion about it, and his suspicions were confirmed when he knocked on the door.

“Yes, sir?” The maid answered and looked at him questioningly.

“Is Mr. Morgan or Miss Morgan at home?”

“No, sir. They’re gone,” she told him.

“And what time do you expect them back?” Jim asked courteously, stalling for time.

“I don’t know, sir. They didn’t say. They left together some time ago.”

Jim cursed under his breath. If what this servant was saying was true, there was little chance that they could catch up with them now.

At the sound of hurried footsteps coming down the hall, the maid turned nervously. “What are you doing in here?” she demanded as she saw Marshall walking toward her from the back of the house.

“I’m looking for the Morgans. I’m going to check upstairs, Jim.” He started up the steps.

“The maid says they left a couple of hours ago.”

“Right after she left our house,” Marshall supplied in disgust.

“It looks that way.”

“I’m going to check upstairs, anyway. They might have left a clue of some kind.” He hurried on up the staircase.

“What do you think you’re doing? I’m going to call for the sheriff!” the maid threatened.

“You go right ahead. I’m sure he’d be glad to know about what’s been going on here,” Jim said evenly, folding his arms across his chest as he waited for his brother to come back down.

“They’re gone, all right. And it looks like they left in a hurry. There’s clothes thrown all over Annabelle’s room,” he informed Mark as he came back downstairs after searching each bedroom.

“Where did they go?” Jim turned to the maid, his expression cold and unyielding.

“I don’t know,” the maid replied, her manner defiant. “You get out of here now. You know they’re not here, so you don’t need to be rummaging through this house.”

“We’ll go when we get some answers out of you,” Marshall threatened. “You can talk to us here.…or we can take you down to General Fields’s office and you can talk there.”

“General Fields?” She was suddenly frightened.

“That’s right. And if you stall too much longer you’re probably going to have a platoon of soldiers going through every inch of this house, instead of just us. Now.” He softened his tone. “Tell us where Nathan and Annabelle went.”

“He didn’t say. They left so quickly…I know they did
have a few bags with them, but nothing like they would have taken if they’d planned on being gone a long time.”

“Unless they planned on travelling quickly and quietly….” Jim added.

“Did Nathan say anything about how they were going to travel?”

“No. Not a word.” She couldn’t tell them what she didn’t know.

“All right. We’ll be back,” Marshall told her as he turned to leave, well aware that Nathan had no intention of ever returning to this house.

They walked slowly down the steps together. “Where do you want to start?” Jim asked, favoring his bad leg.

“Don’t you think you ought to go back to the house and rest for a while?” Marshall suggested, seeing the lines of fatigue and pain in Jim’s face.

“No. Not when we’re this close!” Jim refused. “Let’s check the riverfront. That would be the fastest, safest way for them to slip past us.”

“Right.” They drove off toward the levee, hoping to unravel the sudden and convenient disappearance of Nathan and Annabelle.

“Captain Clayton is here to see you, General. He says it’s important.”

“Send him right in, Corporal.” General Fields ordered.

“Yes, sir.” The soldier went out of his office and motioned to Mark. “He’ll see you now.”

“Thank you, Corporal.” Mark strode into the room to face his superior officer.

“Sit down, Captain.” He waved him to a nearby chair. “I hope you have something for me.”

“Yes, sir. I do. But I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to tell you.”

“Let me be the judge of that. What have you found out?”

“The traitor in our midst was Wade MacIntosh.”

“Major MacIntosh? Surely you’re mistaken.” The general scoffed at the idea.

“I am not mistaken. I have here a list of all the Southern spies who were involved in the plot to steal the gold. At the top of the list is Major MacIntosh.”

“Where is Wade? I want to hear his side of this.”

“He’s outside, sir,” Mark told him slowly.

“Well, get him in here. I want to talk to him.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, sir.”

“And why is that, Captain?” The general was growing angry.

“Because he’s dead, sir.”

“Dead?” He pondered that for a moment. “I think you’d better explain yourself. And start at the beginning.”

“Yes, sir.” Mark shifted in his seat as he related all that had happened since their last meeting. “We just received the note from Sam Wallace this morning, saying that he was still alive and had all the information we needed.”

“And you had hired Sam Wallace yourself? What for?”

“To follow MacIntosh, sir. There was something about him that didn’t ring true.”

“A n d? ”

“And Sam was listening in on the spies’ meeting when Wade discovered him. Wade took him down to the river, knocked him out, and threw him in.”

“You’re saying that he tried to kill Sam Wallace in cold blood?”

“Yes, sir. Not once, but twice. You see, MacIntosh intercepted a note for me from Sam, telling me where he was and that he had the information I needed.”

“And he went after him again?”

“This morning, sir. We got there—”

“We?”

“The Westlakes and I, sir,” Mark explained. “Anyway, we got there just in time to prevent him from shooting Sam.”

“And you shot him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was Sam injured?” The general grew concerned.

“No, not today. In fact, he’s just fine. He gave me the names of everyone in attendance that he could remember.”

General Fields held out his hand. “Let me see the list.”

“Yes, sir.” Mark handed it over.

“Wade Macintosh—Nathan Morgan—Annabelle Morgan— Gordon Tyndale…” The general paused in his reading of the names. “Captain Clayton, this reads like the St. Louis social register.”