Phantoms In Philadelphia (38 page)

“Then sigh not so, but let them go, and be you
blithe and bonny, converting all your sounds of woe into Hey nonny,
nonny.”

He would not dare.
Oh, but he would and he had.
Wait until I get my hands around Jack’s neck!

“Sing no more ditties, sing no more of dumps so dull
and heavy; the fraud of men was ever so, since summer first was
leavy. Then sigh not so, but let them go, and be you blithe and
bonny, converting all your sounds of woe, into Hey nonny, nonny.”
Andrew ended and raised my hand to his lips.

A crow of laughter came from the other side of the
door, and Andrew’s head turned to look. He was confused, and I
could not help but feel sympathy for him. Tossing a smug look at
the door, I put my hand behind Andrew’s head and pressed my lips to
his. He did not react for a whole second, but then he leaned
nearer. Once I broke the kiss, Andrew looked at me in a daze.

“I should quote poetry more often if that is what I
am to receive.”

I placed my hands against his cheeks. “No, my dear,
I do not need flowery words, I need only you.”

“Elizabeth Martin, will you marry me?”

My flutters were returned, and I sighed in my
complete and utter happiness. “Yes.”

Andrew kissed my hand and sat beside me. We held
hands as he told me about how excited his family would be.

The parlor door opened, and my mother and Jack
entered. “Let impropriety rule thy heart, and it shall rule thy
ways,” Jack announced.

I glared at Jack as Andrew and I rose. “It is
perfectly acceptable in a betrothed couple, brother dear.”

“I took your advice, John. I made my way with what
haste I could,” Andrew looked into my eyes, “and have found myself
at last.”

Mother came toward us with her hands held out. “Such
glad tidings. Welcome to our family, dear Andrew.”

Andrew took Mother’s hands while I moved toward
Jack. He took a step back. I smiled and put every ounce of sinister
in it that I could. “That poem was a dog’s trick.” I hugged Jack,
whispering against his ear, “I shall repay you one day.”

“I shall make Leo stand sentry over me while I
sleep,” Jack retorted then laughed as he kissed my cheek.

After hugging my mother and receiving her
exclamations of joy, Andrew led me to the window.

“I have a gift for you. Look out there.”

Rather amused, I looked. Outside the house, a groom
was walking a pure black horse around the drive.

I turned to stare at Andrew. “You have brought me a
horse?”

“Not just any horse, but a lovely creature bred on
my family’s land.” Andrew placed his hands on my shoulders as we
both looked out the window. “With her spirit, she and you will suit
magnificently.”

We all walked outside to see the animal. She was a
lovely creature as Andrew said, and I was so pleased with the gift,
that I smiled like a child receiving their first pony.

“What is her name?” I asked, as I stroked her
mane.

“That I leave to you, my dear.” Andrew took his
leave a few minutes later, but informed me that he was returning
for dinner per Mother’s invitation.

After Andrew had gone, Jack and I took the horse to
the stables. “The poetry was a dark trick,” I informed my brother,
before laughing. I was in a complete state of bliss, unable to be
upset.

Jack chuckled, looking positively gleeful. “So it
was, but no less than he deserved for leaving you like he did.”

“Jack, you must forgive Andrew. I have.” Jack
remained silent, so I nudged him.

He did not look at me as he replied. “Now that
Andrew has come forward it would be best if you left the Phantoms
now, before any danger can come to you.”

I halted, turning to stare at him. “Jack, you are
not serious.”

Grabbing my hand, Jack moved us forward. “I am, dear
sister. Andrew needs never to know about our work, but if you
choose to tell him, I would rather you were not still working when
you break the news to him.”

He wanted me safe. He had always wanted me safe and
protected, but I could not give up because I now had the future I
craved; I owed more to my father, to my team. “Once we have
Levitas, then I shall leave the leading of the Phantoms to you,” I
said with decision, and this time Jack was the one to stop. He
began to protest, but I halted him. “This is what our father would
want,” I started to walk on, but paused, looking over my shoulder
at him, “and it is not open for discussion.”

Bess

W
e met
George at his house on the expected day, and for the first half
hour, he did nothing but rant. He wanted Richard in irons. He
wanted a noose around Nicholas’s neck. Most of all, he wanted the
white phantom. Jack looked harassed, but never spoke. None of my
team spoke. Freddy and his five men along with me and my five team
members filled nearly every available corner of the dining parlor,
and what we did not fill, George did with his pacing.

When George completed his tirade, we were able to
form a plan. George had let himself be seen at a party that Richard
was attending. He did not speak to Richard, but he did tell us
about Richard’s astonished face when he watched George walk into
the room. George dropped a word in a friend’s ear that Monroe was
to stay with him on the night of the tenth before Monroe journeyed
to Virginia. As it was the last time James would be in the city
until after the election, it was the only time that Levitas could
strike. George knew that Richard had overheard, and our plans were
set in motion.

After the meeting Jack, Leo, and I stopped at the
Inn that Jack bought his brandy from. He said that with Frederick
staying in our town house, there would be none left.

Since I was dressed in my work clothes, I was able
to sit in the taproom with Leo and Jack. We were seated at a table,
my back to the door, when Leo’s brows rose, and his eyes followed
someone across the room. Jack and I turned. Dudley Stanton was
standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the
bedchambers.

A feminine voice called out to
Dudley, and my surprised gaze shot to Jack. His brows were lowered
over his blue eyes. When Dudley went up the stairs, we jumped up,
moving swiftly to follow. Dudley was at the top of the stairs
passionately embracing
Hannah
Lamont.
I gripped Jack’s arm for support,
nearly falling over from astonishment. Without taking their eyes
from each other, they disappeared through a door to a bedchamber,
and it closed behind them.

Surely it was the apocalypse, the heavens were going
to open, and the stars would burst into thousands of pieces raining
sparks upon the earth. For no other reason could I credit Dudley,
doing things I would not even think about, with Hannah Lamont.

“As I live and breathe, nothing will ever have the
power to surprise me again,” I murmured.

Leo laughed then mumbled, “Just you wait.”

Jack went up the stairs to the
door. He was
listening
at the keyhole. Four minutes later when Jack ran down the
stairs, his brows were still pinched, but he told us we must depart
immediately. We were riding away from the Inn when he told us what
he had heard.

Hannah had been spending time with Nicholas, and in
his cups, he had told her about Levitas and their plans to capture
James and replace him, but he would not say with whom. He said that
his men would ride up to the house in a borrowed carriage, capture
James, and none would be the wiser. Why Hannah was sharing her
information with Dudley astounded me, but what rankled me more, was
Dudley’s apparent relationship with Hannah after spending years
chasing after me; unless my betrothal to Andrew drove him to her.
That I could almost believe. I shoved thoughts of them away, for it
was least important. We had a date, we had the plans, and I was
sure we could not fail. We were finally going to capture
Levitas.

10 August 1816

George’s country house was a comfortable, brick, two
story structure built in the Federal style. Windows overlooked the
front lawn and the woods that surrounded the house. Freddy and his
five deputies were outside the house hidden among the trees and
outbuildings, while Mariah and I were hiding in the two bedchambers
that had windows overlooking the front drive. The drive was a long
one that split the forest in two.

Mariah’s accomplished weapon was the bow, and as I
was skilled in archery, as well, we were to open the windows at the
first sign of trouble and shoot down anyone who tried to enter the
house. Jack was keeping guard over Monroe in the parlor, while
Jericho and Levi were outside with Freddy’s team.

Great black clouds were rolling through the sky, and
there were a few flashes of lightning as thunder rumbled the earth.
We were in store for another rain storm. The last week, we had seen
nothing but rain and cold. The sun had been absent, and nothing but
gloom surrounded the city and the countryside.

The clock in the foyer below started to chime the
hours, and I could feel each ding in my nerves. I was stretched
tighter than the string on my bow. We had gone over the plan many,
many times, but I had been a Phantom a long time, so I knew
missions rarely went according to plan. After seven chimes, all
went silent. I was seated before the window, when I caught sight of
a flash of light down the drive.

A black carriage moved up the drive with lanterns
illuminating it until it stopped before the door. One of Freddy’s
men was there to meet the carriage in the guise of footman. The two
men on the box seat stared down at Anthony but said nothing. The
light from the parlor windows illuminated their black eyes. Fear
skittered down my spine as I saw our mistake. They knew we were
here. I threw open the window to yell a warning, but Anthony had
opened the carriage door. The first gunshot exploded from within
the carriage, hitting Anthony in the chest. A cry caught in my
throat as I gripped the windowsill.

Phantoms ran forward from their places, and the
driver whipped the horses. The carriage lurched forward moving
straight for the trees. Freddy and the Phantoms fired upon the
carriage. They hit the driver and the man beside him. The bolting
horses ran the carriage straight into a tree.

From the front woods, six horses charged onto the
lawn, their riders armed and firing upon my team below. I grabbed
for my first arrow, and when I looked out, Mariah had shot two. I
took aim at one of the riders as he pulled to a halt, unsheathing
his sword and raising it in the air. He, like the rest, was masked.
My arrow pierced him in the chest, knocking him off his horse.

Mariah and I let arrows fly, as Freddy and Jericho
charged with swords drawn to fight the horsemen. Six more men came
running from the trees, and I turned my aim toward them, hitting
one, missing one, Mariah hit one and then another. The men mixed
together in their fighting; all of them masked. In the dark, I
could no longer make out one from the other, so I set to guard the
front door. If anyone approached I shot at them.

An arrow of fire flew down from Mariah’s window, and
then another. She shot her fire arrows, until she had formed a line
before the front door. A man ran toward the arrows but stopped
short. He raised a pistol toward Mariah’s window. I dropped my bow,
reaching for my revolving triple barrel pistol. Before I could aim,
he fired at her window.

With the swift jerk of my finger, a ball flew from
my pistol and the man fell back. I jumped to my feet and flew out
of the bedchamber, sliding on a hall rug before running into the
chamber Mariah was using.

She was lying on the floor, but she was unharmed. I
helped her up, and she crawled to the window. She peeked out from
the side and jerked back as another ball flew through the open
window. She picked up her own triple barrel pistol that was
identical to mine and inched closer to the window. She fired three
shots and tossed the pistol away, picking up another arrow. She
continued shooting arrows into the darkness, and I left her to go
back to my own window.

Levi was guarding the door on the back of the house,
but I felt a sudden, strong urge to check on him. Grabbing my
sheath of arrows and my bow, I ran across the hall to the back
bedchamber. When I reached the window, he was not at his post.
Searching the grounds, something flew from within the trees. Levi?
I bumped my head against the glass as I leaned into the window. A
man’s form was on the ground unmoving, but from the length of his
body, he was too tall to be Levi. Then, three more figures
appeared. Levi was wildly struggling against two men who were
trying to pull him back into the woods.

A strangled cry came from my throat while my heart
beat too fast, hard. I would not let them take him! Unlatching the
window and throwing it open, I pulled out an arrow and took aim.
Breathing in and out, I watched and waited. If I took the shot too
early I could hit Levi, who was fighting valiantly. He thrashed
against them, threw his head around like a wild animal and finally
got an arm free. They were at the edge of the trees. Levi kicked
one of the men into the clearing, and I let my arrow fly. The arrow
went through his stomach.

Levi and the other man stopped fighting to look
toward me. The man beside Levi raised something that looked like a
thick tree branch and hit Levi over the head. Levi pitched forward
onto the lawn.

Terror washed over me like the
waves of the ocean during a hurricane.
As I
unleashed a flow of arrows, the man ran back into the trees. I shot
until my quiver was empty. The man appeared through the trees and
wasted no time in picking Levi up, tossing him over his shoulder,
and disappearing again. I ran to the bedchamber door, about to run
down the stairs and chase after the man, when I heard a gun fire.
It did not come from outside. It came from the parlor. I had been
afraid many times in my life, but I never knew true fear until that
night.