Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (19 page)

Moisture burned my eyes as rage
built like a wall, brick by brick. My grip tightened on the iron until it shook
with an uncontrollable force in my hand.

The scream that I heard was far
off, but I knew it came from me because of the sting in my throat. My hand was
moving, and I felt the strike of the iron against his body, but it was not
enough.  Neither was kicking his back. With my boot on him, I jerked up
his filthy shirt.

“Guinevere, no!”

Jack was ignored as the hot end of
the iron poker was slammed against
Sturges
.

As
Sturges
shouted, Jack pulled me off of him. Instinctively, I threw my elbow into Jack’s
stomach. He released me. Jumping on
Sturges
with the
point of the iron an inch from his eye, I gave him one last chance. “Tell me
what I ask! Where is George?”

Sturges
stared at me as if he did not
believe I would do it. The iron moved closer to assure him.

Shoving himself as far into the
stair as he could go, he rasped out, “The Pirates House.”

I held the iron for a moment more,
and then released
Sturges
and walked away.

Forcing my back straight and
refusing to give into tears, I made it to the door. My mind was at war with
itself. One part of me was still full of rage, but another more prominent part
was appalled at what I had just done. I did not want to be that person who Harvey
had created.

Leaving the Holy Order behind did
not mean that I had left the habits behind. Having been a spy for four years, I
had dealt such punishments to enemies. It had taken all of my fortitude to do
it, and years to recover from the shame.

When we were out of the house, I
threw the iron away from me.

“How are you, Guinevere?” Jack
asked.

“Ashamed. I knew he lied, but that
did not halt me. I am a monster.”

Jack pulled me against him, and I
felt his chest rumble.

“Are you laughing?” I tried to
pull away from him, but he would not allow it.

“Perhaps, but only because you
amaze me. You did as you have been trained, yet you feel immediate remorse. You
are far from a monster, my love.”

His words did not fully remove my
pain, but they were a balm.

“I must admit, for a moment you
frightened even me,” he said as we walked toward his mother’s house.

“I frightened myself. I wanted to
hurt him as much as his words hurt me,” I admitted, and it was a first for me.
Never before had I admitted that my actions frightened me. They did, but Harvey
considered verbal expression of any emotion to be a weakness. “You are making
me soft.”

“Let us hope not too soft, for
there is more fight ahead of us, and I will need you,” he said, surprising me.

“You do not condemn me?” I asked,
but felt foolish as soon as the words passed my lips. Jack was not Harvey, and
he was not my sister. Both had spent years scolding me for my actions or lack
thereof.

“It is not my place to condemn you,
my love, nor would I when you express remorse. It is my place to love you.”

The great swell of love within me
made me say, “After Charlotte is returned to us, I would like to choose a date
to be married.”

Jack halted abruptly, his mouth
open, his expression alarmed. “My love, if this is a jest, I warn you that I am
prepared to do something disconcerting.”

“It is the truth. I want to marry
you, Jack.” Sister’s permission or not, marrying Jack was just what I would do.

With that settled, it was on to
the Pirates House.

JACK

T
he Pirates House was located near
the Savannah River, and when we stepped down from the carriage, Hannah told us
that it was once a popular den for pirates. Seafaring men still frequented the
Inn and tavern, but pirates were not as common.

Sam and I tried to get the ladies
to stay in the carriage, but they would not be deterred from entering the
building.

The tavern was what I expected.
There were iron chandeliers, and tables spread around with a candle on each.
Two rather buxom women were carrying trays around the room. There were only
three tables occupied, and none of them was Charlotte. As Sam went to speak
with the barkeep, the rest of us went to an empty table.

When Sam came to our table, he looked
displeased. “The man claims that there is no Mr. Marx or Mr. Crawford staying
here and there have been no women of Charlotte’s description here this day.”

“So, we are either early or the
man is a liar. I lean toward the latter,” Hannah said.

“Let us wait and see,” I said and
the others agreed. We ordered drinks and waited.

“Who are you supposed to be this
day?” Hannah was wearing a traveling costume with a large hat and an absurd
amount of ostrich plumes.

“Sonya,” she said with an accent.
“Newly arrived from Indiana. It is the nineteenth state to be admitted into the
United States you know.”

When Bess questioned the change in
name, we spent time in recounting Hannah’s eccentricities.

After ten minutes of waiting, a
large group of sailors came in, but none of them Lucas.

“I am going to have a look above
stairs,” Sam said and got up.

As the barkeep and the serving
women were occupied with the sailors, he went up unseen. I watched the stairs,
ready to spring to action should anyone start up them when the door opened
again. Guinevere looked over her shoulder and immediately turned around,
ducking her head.

“He’s here.”

Hannah glanced toward the door
then away in unconcern. She leaned toward Leo, whispering in his ear as Lucas
and five of the royal guards moved to a corner table. Lucas had not seen Leo
before, and Hannah looked nothing like she did at the Stanton’s party, so all
we had to do was keep my face, Guinevere’s, and Bess’s averted and pray that
Sam did not come down the stairs before Charlotte and George arrived.

Leo leaned toward me and whispered
for my ear alone. “What do you want us to do?”

“We should wait until Charlotte
arrives.”

Leo looked me in the eyes. “We may
not have another such opportunity.”

Here we had Lucas with his guards
in a tavern room where it should be easy enough for Leo, Sam, Bess, Guinevere,
and I to secure them, but what if Charlotte arrived in the midst of a brawl?

Lucas took the decision out of my
hands when an altercation broke out between one of the sailors and one of the guards.
Chairs scraped back against the floor and the two men, equal in build, glared
at each other. The cause of the altercation was that the sailor accused the
guard of spilling ale down his front.

“Ye did it on purpose, I saw
ye
.
Ain’t
that right?” He made the
mistake of looking over his shoulder at his fellow sailors, and when he turned
back, he was met with a knife to the gut. The guard sneered and said something
in Danish. Slowly the translation slipped through my mind, having learned the
language as a child.

It should be sufficient.

The sailors shock turned into
rage, and they lunged for the guards. Pandemonium radiated through the room.

Leo and I were on our feet, but
not moving to help the sailors. We were trying to usher Guinevere, Bess, and Hannah
from the room. The door was blocked by the fighting men, so we moved them to
the stairs. Sam was just coming down as the girls were being pushed up.

Leo shouted that we had to get out
of there and Sam, looking down at the fighting below, concurred.

“Down!” Sam shouted and shoved
Bess down onto the stairs. A ball from a pistol splintered one of the spindles
on the stairs, sending fragments of wood flying.

Taking in the fight from on top of
Hannah and Guinevere, three of the sailors were dead on the floor. Warning
bells went off in my head right before one of the guards broke away from the
group and ran toward the stairs.

Jumping up, I leapt for him,
punching his face and knocking him down the two steps that he had taken.

Landing on top of him, I grabbed
his neck, slamming his head against the floor until his eyes rolled back in his
head.

Rising, I heard the girls’ shouts.
As I whipped around, Guinevere was pressed against the stairs by a guard, Bess
was not in sight, and Hannah was a few steps above Guinevere pulling something
from her own hat. She threw her hand down, jabbing what looked like a hat pin
in the guard’s neck.

As his body slid down the stairs,
I stepped toward them but was caught from behind and jerked around. I heard
Guinevere ordering Hannah to go for a constable as a fist was thrown at my
face.

I dodged him, escaping his grasp
with a jab to his side. He came at me, throwing both of his fists at my head.
As I dodged, he spun.

A loud crash came from directly behind
him, and then another and his head bobbed before he dropped to his knees,
shards of glass on his shoulders. Guinevere was standing there with the tops of
two broken bottles in her hands.

Grabbing her wrist, we ran around
the bar as Hannah slipped through the door behind the bar.

Glancing around the room after
pushing Guinevere down to sit on the floor, Leo and the only sailor left
standing were struggling together against the largest and meanest looking of
the guards.

One man was holding Sam’s hands behind
his back while another delivered blows to Sam’s midsection. Through all the
fighting, Lucas was standing in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest
and a pistol dangling from one hand.

Was he the one who fired at us? If
so, that pistol was empty, but if not he could use it on any one of us. It was
improbable that he would use it on Guinevere.

Sam’s grunts broke into my
thoughts, and it became evident what I had to do. Sam required my aid.

After ordering Guinevere to stay
put, I slipped around the bar, staying low and out of range to Lucas. I came up
behind the man holding Sam’s hands behind his back and struck hard with the
handle of my pistol. He grunted, and I hit him again for good measure. He
released Sam and Sam fell into the man who had been pummeling him.

For someone who had been hit
several times, Sam made a good show, hitting his attacker with several hard
blows.

Moving back to the bar and
slipping down beside Guinevere, I pulled my second pistol from my belt. The
tavern door opened, but I did not believe that Hannah could have returned that
quickly.

Hands grabbed the collar of my
coat, and I was lifted off the floor and pulled overtop the bar, my breath
puffing out and my pistols slipping from my hands.

Set on my feet, it was not a constable
standing in the room but five more of the royal guards.

Leo and Sam were both on their
knees with four guards standing behind them, holding guns.

Quickly conceiving and discarding
plans in my mind, I realized the only way out was to confront Lucas.

Lucas was smiling as he walked
toward me. “We have not been formally introduced. I am Valdemar Nichole
Augustus Jensen, Duke of
Lochelin
and member of the
high council under his supreme highness, Luther, Lord Protector of—”

“Liar!” Guinevere jumped up from behind
the bar with a pistol in each hand, which she raised and fired.

To my complete astonishment,
neither shot struck Lucas, for two of his guards leapt in the path.

Sam and Leo got to their feet as
Guinevere and I leapt for Lucas. I was pulled back again, but Guinevere got in
one good hit before a guard captured her with a knife laid against her throat.

Lucas ran his sleeve across the
lip. There was no blood, but there would be a bruise for my girl knew how to
deliver a punch.

“Unwise, min
kærlighed
,”
he said to her.

My chest and gut filled with so
much rage that my arms began to shake. If he called her
love
again, I would
break him.

“
Hæslig
tudse
,” Guinevere hissed in return.

When his eyes hardened, I had a
feeling it was a long standing history of her calling him a toad.

He focused his wrath on me
instead. “Jack Martin. Who you are and where you come from is of no import.
What is, is that you have been, how you say, foolhardy in getting in my way.
Kneel.”

I made no move to obey. Lucas
snapped his fingers, and the man behind me pushed me to my knees. Lucas was
still holding his pistol, but he did not aim it at me. He pointed it at
Guinevere and the man holding her shoved her forward. She stumbled into Lucas,
and his arm went around her waist. He pulled her up and turned her to face me
as he put his gun in her hand, his hand remaining over hers.