The Captain's Lady Read online

  “Several. They didn’t give us any notice. Ran up a Union Jack and gave our destination as London. They let us through. We changed our course again when we were clear.”

  “Good. We will continue that way. I do not anticipate them as being much of a problem. Our biggest worry from them remains impressment.”

  “Do you know where the captain will be taken?” asked Jordan.

  “No. But his crew is bound to know something by the time we return. We will have to rely on them for information. And Mr. Jordan,” her voice was deadly serious, “that’s all we can ask of any of them. They don’t dare be implicated in any escape.”

  “I understand, Captain. Do you have a plan?”

  “The beginning of one. Only the beginning. I need more time to think.” She stopped pacing and faced Jordan, her slim smile rife with self-mockery. “I am more accustomed to devising my own escapes, not someone else’s.”

  Jordan chuckled. “Do you want me to talk to the men?”

  “Yes. I do not want any man involved unless it is his own choice. Those who do not want to help will have to be left in Washington, otherwise they’ll be in danger if we’re chased.”

  “They’ll all come,” he answered certainly.

  She nodded. “I think they will. You can go now. I’ll have something worked out in an hour or so. Come back then and we can go over the details. I want you to tell me anything that doesn’t sound plausible. We cannot afford one mistake.”

  Jordan started to take his leave, eager to tell the others about their new plans. He halted when Alexis called to him. He heard the anxiety in her tone and when he turned he saw it clearly displayed on her face. She stood before him with all her defenses down and he felt a certain pride that she trusted him to see her this way.

  “You never answered my question,” she said quietly. “Do you understand why I must go back?”

  He smiled. After a pause he said, “I might even understand it better than you.”

  She stiffened. “What does that mean?”

  “You are going back to the captain because you want to put an end to this farce once and for all. The charges of treason—his death—have to be stopped because they would give the illusion of truth to all the lies that have been stacked against you. And there is another reason you’re going back—the one you don’t want to name.” For the first time since he had known her, Jordan thought he detected a blush surfacing on the planes of her cheeks.

  “Am I so obvious?” she asked, meeting his gaze directly.

  “This time—yes.” Jordan leaned against the door, crossing his legs at the ankles. “Were you worried we might not want to follow you if we thought you were doing this because you love the captain?”

  “I didn’t know if you would understand.”

  Jordan’s sun-white brows furrowed and lines creased his face. His voice was sharp. “Captain Danty, we have followed you all over the Atlantic because you hate a man. There is a reason for hating him. You have a reason to want your revenge. Now we’ll follow you into Washington because you love a man. There are reasons why you love him. You must have a reason for wanting to see him free.”

  “I should have known,” she said. “I should have known without having to hear it from you.”

  “Yes, you should have,” he said flatly. “All this time aboard this ship together, you shouldn’t have had to ask.”

  Alexis cast him a sharp glance then she laughed. “I deserved that.” She sat down. “Now, Mr. Jordan, as to this ship. What exactly are we calling her these days?”

  He stood at attention, once again the competent first mate. “Why, it’s the Dark Lady. We’ve come full circle.”

  “Then suppose you go on deck and see that Dark Lady’s crew knows what’s going to take place this evening. When you’ve accomplished that we will go over precisely how it is going to take place.”

  Jordan caught the excitement in her voice. “Aye, Captain,” he answered and left the cabin with a new spring in his step.

  While Alexis and Jordan were discussing the plan that would release him, Cloud was counting the stone blocks of his prison walls. It did nothing to keep his mind off the doubts and unanswered questions plaguing him.

  Twenty-five. But why had Howe come to the house? He had expected naval authorities to take him into custody. Why had the senator? Twenty-six. And the guards with him seemed to be taking orders from him. Howe did not have that kind of authority. Madison must have given him orders to supervise the arrest. Twenty-seven. If only the President had been at the meeting. He would have understood why it had been necessary to release Alexis. Twenty-eight.

  And why wasn’t he allowed to see his superiors? Why had the guards told him only Farthington and Howe were permitted to see him? He supposed it didn’t matter for the time being. He would be able to explain everything at his trial. Twenty-eight. No. Twenty-nine. Damn. One. He would be able to make the officers at his trial understand that freeing Alexis was not a treasonous act. He would make them see that by releasing her to find Travers they would have her help later and it would be given freely. Two. Three. What was it about Howe and the others he did not trust? They seemed to want the same things. Seemed to. Two. No—damn! One.

  A key grated in the gate of his cell door. Cloud looked up and saw the guard named Matt usher Senator Howe into the cell.

  Howe glanced around briefly before his gaze rested on the captain. His eyes were cold, mocking. His thick lips formed a derisive smile. “Not very pleasant, is it?”

  “Not very. Would you care for a seat?” Cloud patted the end of his cot, the only available space in the room.

  “I’ll stand. I understand you’ve asked to talk to your commander.”

  “That’s right. I thought I should arrange for counsel.”

  “You won’t need counsel.” He saw Cloud’s questioning look. “There isn’t going to be a trial.”

  “No trial?” He was confused and a faint alarm sounded in his head. “Then you realize why I had to let Captain Danty go?”

  “There isn’t going to be a trial because you have already been found guilty, Captain.”

  “What?”

  “Are you really surprised? You’ve already admitted you freed Captain Danty. She was a criminal.”

  Cloud forced himself to speak with deadly calm. “You know that isn’t true, Senator. She isn’t a criminal, at least as far as the United States is concerned. That is one of the things I wanted to make clear at my trial.”

  Howe laughed. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you understand that is precisely why there isn’t going to be a trial?”

  “What are you talking about? Just exactly what is going on?”

  “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “I don’t make a habit of asking questions I know the answers to.”

  Howe frowned. “You won’t be quite so cocky after I finish explaining a few things to you, Cloud. First, there won’t be any trial because as you’ve known all along there were never any real charges against Danty. You were right in expecting to be able to prove that. Therefore, there can’t be any charge of treason against you. Although Danty’s help would have benefited us we couldn’t force her to cooperate.”

  “Then why—”

  “Don’t interrupt.” Howe warned him sharply. “I don’t have to tell you anything before you’re hanged.” He saw Cloud’s attention was riveted on him and he felt a heady sensation knowing he held so much power over this man.

  “As I was saying, no one would convict you of treason because no such act really took place. I know what you’re thinking—the orders. Well, the orders from Little Jemmy came from Bennet Farthington’s pen.”

  “A forgery, then.”

  “You’re very bright, Captain,” Howe responded sarcastically. “But not bright enough when it counted. Do you know how you were picked for the mission to bring in Danty?”

  Cloud shook his head.

  “No, of course you wouldn’t realize it. You were cho
sen because, unlike some of your fellow officers we could have picked, you believed a war could be won. You truly thought the United States had a grievance against Great Britain. We knew about your impressment by the Royal Navy, but we also knew you didn’t see this as a personal battle. You actually thought there might be a favorable outcome.

  “You were chosen because we knew we could make you believe Captain Danty’s help could bring about that favorable ending sooner. And indeed, Danty would have been of some assistance if that’s what we really wanted. You’ll have to believe me when I tell you we had no idea you actually knew her. We were genuinely surprised to discover she was a woman.

  “It almost made us change our minds until we realized she had to be stopped regardless of her motives or her sex. And there remained the matter of Lafitte who was our second target. You helped us stumble on the means to get both of them at once.

  “You see, Captain, winning this war is not our desire. I never wanted to enter it in the first place, and I have a lot of company. My biggest concern, and Robert’s, too, when you arrived here with Danty was that somehow you would find out that both of us voted against the proposal for war. There were hardly any votes from New England to support Madison. Because Robert, Bennet, Richard, and I knew there was probably no way to stop a declaration, our primary interest became how to survive it.

  “Contrary to what you believe, we cannot hope to win. The real problem is how to end it quickly. The fewer losses the British suffer, the sooner this is over and the better chance we have for negotiating a favorable peace settlement. Turning Captain Danty over to the Royal Naval authorities would have been seen as a friendly gesture on our part.”

  “You bastard.” Cloud spoke under his breath. “You treacherous bastard.” He glared at Howe, piercing him with icy green eyes. Cloud gripped the edge of his cot to keep his hands from going around Howe’s throat.

  Howe shifted nervously, backing toward the gate toward the safety of the guards who sat playing cards in the outer room. With one large hand he grasped one of the iron bars.

  Cloud threw his head back and laughed. Dark copper hair rippled as his head shook. “I am not going to attack you, Senator. At least not yet. There are still too many things I want to know.”

  “For instance,” asked Howe, feeling much safer on the far side of the cell.

  “You said you planned to turn over Captain Danty. What was your reason for asking her to bring in Lafitte?”

  “Danty was right about Lafitte, Captain. That is what made this all so interesting. Neither of you could understand why we insisted that Lafitte be brought in when you knew he would help of his own accord when the time came. But actually that’s what concerned us.”

  “And that’s why you wanted him locked up,” Cloud finished, more to himself than to the senator. “To make sure he didn’t help.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But now you don’t have Captain Danty. You can’t turn her over to the British, and you won’t be able to reach Lafitte. Where does that leave you and your friends?” He said the last word with as much contempt as he could muster.

  “It leaves us with you,” Howe answered amiably, ignoring Cloud’s tone. “You will be hanged for treason, Captain, but hardly on the charges you anticipated defending yourself against.”

  “And the charges are?”

  “Giving vital information to the British. The Benedict Arnold of Mr. Madison’s little war.”

  “You won’t get away with that, Howe. Someone will listen to me.”

  “Do you think I would be telling you any of this if I thought that was even remotely possible?”

  Suddenly Cloud felt weary. He wondered if this despair taking possession of his entire being was similar to what Alexis felt when she’d refused to look at him, when she had thought she’d failed. He held on to the thought of her, miles away, heading toward her goal, and it gave him strength. “The guards,” he said, clutching at any hope. “I’ll inform the guards.”

  “They won’t listen. As far as they know you were already tried and sentenced in Boston. You were delivered here for execution because of the nature of your crime. They won’t believe anything you have to say and I have taken the added precaution of warning them to stay away from you. They’ll carry out the sentence in the morning.”

  “Why are you going to all this trouble? Why not just kill me yourself or have one of those guards you had pick me up today do it for you?”

  “It had occurred to me. You have Davidson to thank for your short reprieve. He realized we could make your death work for us in a way that compensated generously for the loss of Danty and Lafitte.” He leaned against the bars, releasing his grip, savoring his return to control over the captain. He allowed himself a brief satisfied smile as he realized how hopeless Cloud’s plight was and how secure his own position. “You will be executed as a traitor. The story will be released and there will be a great furor over the fact that one of our most respected commanders decided to become a turncoat. People on the fence over the issue of war will immediately leap to my side. Their anger over what you did may be enough to end this war before it gets too far along. What hope can they have when they find out what kind of men are fighting for them? Your name will be a disgrace. Don’t frown, Captain. I plan to exonerate you eventually.

  “I’ll see that your name is cleared and it will be discovered that Madison himself was responsible for your death. It will be found that you were condemned without a trial. When the public finds out you were innocent their outrage will be greater than when they thought you guilty. What kind of administration is Little Jemmy running? they’ll ask. Doesn’t the navy know what’s going on in its own ranks? How can a man who let a thing like this happen possibly hope to win a war?”

  “And you’ll be there to encourage that attitude,” Cloud replied, disgusted.

  “Encourage it?” Howe asked incredulously. “I am going to feed it! I am going to make sure we end this debacle quickly! I am going to pull out every foundation Madison is standing on and I am going to make sure the United States survives this insanity. I am not a traitor, Captain. In spite of what you think. I want to see us with something left. The British will go easier on us if this is over soon.”

  “Why do you assume we are going to lose?”

  “Our eighteen warships against their eight hundred? I don’t assume it. I know it.”

  Cloud chuckled joylessly. “And you are doing everything to make sure you are not wrong.”

  Howe nodded. “You know, Captain, you exceeded all my expectations. You were the perfect choice.” He pressed his large bulk against the bars and called for a guard to let him out. He turned to Cloud and observed him coolly. “Even now you sit there as if you were entertaining in your own home. There’s an arrogance about you, Cloud, and this time it worked in our favor. You were so sure you could expose the truth of what we had done to Captain Danty. You were so sure you were right in releasing her that you blindly fell into our trap. Well, the truth you’ve discovered this evening is a little more than you bargained for, isn’t that so?”

  “You know it is. I didn’t think people like you could find their way into our government.”

  “I assure you, we do. And now that you know it, you’ll be more careful in the future, won’t you?” He laughed triumphantly.

  The guard approached Howe from behind and released the gate. Howe stepped out, shut the gate, and motioned the guard to leave.

  “You haven’t accepted this yet,” he said to Cloud. “I’d wager my next term in office that you still think there is some way out.”

  Cloud shrugged his shoulders and lay back on his cot, stretching his long, lean frame over the rough blankets like a powerful cat feigning disinterest in the prey temporarily out of reach. “Perhaps not for me.” His voice was deceptively soft, almost a purr. “But you won’t get away either.”

  Howe stared at the captain a moment but Cloud would not meet his eyes. Then he turned abruptly and hurried down the hal
lway, away from the cell, not totally unaware he was trying to escape the man he held prisoner.

  Cloud’s laughter reverberated in the cell. Howe had called him arrogant. Maybe he was. Maybe he was just confident enough to believe there was a way out—at least for the truth. Howe did not know about Landis. He was not aware someone existed who might be able to sort through this before morning. It did not matter to Cloud if Landis was unable to stop the execution. It only mattered that he exposed Howe and the others—and that he should not die in the service of men he despised.

  He closed his eyes and thought of Alexis. Howe can’t wear this mantle forever, Alex. I’ve seen what kind of warped loyalty he hides beneath it. I know it exists. Someone else will discover it, too. And when they do you’ll know I did not die for nothing. I knew what might happen when I freed you. I warned you this afternoon when I held you in my arms. I held you tightly, knowing I might never hold you again. I didn’t know what I was fighting then, only that something was terribly wrong and you could not be a part of it. Somewhere in the back of my mind I clung to the fact that my trial would free me even while I clung to you. I hoped for that but was aware it might not happen. What Howe has told me makes it more difficult to accept, but I can, knowing that you’re out of his reach.

  Amber eyes suddenly mocked him. Cloud’s eyes flew open. Aloud he pleaded, “Don’t do it, Alex! Don’t come after me! You don’t know…you can’t suspect what you’ll be walking into.” He wondered why he felt the conviction so strongly that she would come when that possibility had never occurred to him before. He tried to dismiss it, but with his eyes open or closed he saw her face, her chin lifted defiantly, her mouth set determinedly, and her golden eyes blazing with fire fed by anger.