Underground Captive (23 page)

"Nicollette? What are you doing out here?"

    
             
"Pa Pa!" Nicki gasped, spinning on her heel and gaping in shock at her father.  He stood on the veranda with Louis, one of the entrance doors open wide.

    
             
"I asked you a question, Ni..." his voice trailed off as he walked toward her.  A startled gasp resounded in the quiet night.  "Breeches?" he shouted, pointing to her legs.  "Do you live to humiliate me, Nicollette Solange? Get inside and don't come out of your chamber until I give you my permission."

    
             
Her heart sinking, she had no choice but to obey.  She would be in even more trouble then she was in now if she told her father she’d intended to tail the Black Rider.  With her terrible fear of thunderstorms, she probably wouldn't have gotten far before deciding to turn back.

"Goodnight,
mademoiselle
," Louis said, smiling.

    
             
Not answering, Nicki marched to the veranda and into the house, passing several other planters taking their leave.  She heard her father ask Louis and the departing planters were they up for some serious card playing.  If they left now they would surely be caught in the approaching downpour, her father told them.  Without nary a glance back as she heard their enthusiastic yes in answer, she hurried to the winding staircase and up to her bedchamber, slamming the door once she was safely inside.

    
             
Her thoughts centering on the black horse Jared had ridden away on made nausea churn in her stomach.  She laid on her bed, still fully clothed, and her deflated spirits couldn't even rouse her ire.

*  *  *

    
             
Riding away from Crescent Wood, Jared prayed that Nicki had really gone inside.  He should have stayed on the veranda to see that she had, but he chose to believe her.  Now, doubt gnawed at him.  He’d already concluded that Nicollette knew there was an escape planned for tonight.  Jared guessed she hadn't told her father about tonight's activities.  She’d wanted to catch the Black Rider herself.  Bloody hell!  He should have brought Nicki back to her father while Hugh got Thunder from the stables.  Hopefully, her intentions were to merely follow him.  What had made him feel he could trust her?  She was too impulsive.  'Twas the kiss, he decided with self-reproach.  Nicki had returned his kiss with the same passion with which it was given and it had clouded Jared’s thinking.

    
             
"Where are Angus and Robert?" he asked, wondering should he head back to Crescent Wood and ensure Nicki’s safe presence there.

    
             
"The thicket two miles away, going toward New Orleans, Master Jared.  I 'ope we reach them before they 'ang them," Hugh said and told Jared of the dangerous predicament Angus and Robert were in.

At Hugh's explanation, Jared pushed aside his worry for Nicki.  The patrollers had killed one of the runaways and then had taken the remaining four fugitives, and Angus and Robert prisoner, with the intent of hanging them.  Hugh had been hiding with a buckboard in a copse of trees not far from Crescent Wood, awaiting everyone when he'd intercepted a slave working with the patrollers as the man was heading to Crescent Wood in search of the planters so they could assist with the lynchings. 

"Where's the slave now?" Jared asked.

"I 'it 'im ova 'is 'ead wi' the butt o' me pistol.  Then I bound and gagged 'im in case 'e regained consciousness before we returned."

    
             
Jared reined in Thunder at the copse where Hugh said he had left the buckboard.

    
             
"Take the unconscious slave away.  Hopefully, the blow ye gave him wasn't mortal.  The patrollers may decide to search for this slave to find out why he hasn't returned with the help they requested.  Do it as quickly as possible.  Take him wherever ye think is prudent.  Afterward, go to the thick brush two miles along the levee and wait for me and the freedom seekers.  Word will get to ye within the hour."

    
             
"Aye, master."  Climbing out of the saddle, Hugh left to do Jared's bidding.

    
             
Jared nudged Thunder into a canter and didn't stop the horse until he turned on River Road.  He climbed down from the horse's back, searching through his saddlebags.  From one side, he pulled out his black cloak and hood, exchanging his top coat and waistcoat.  Lightning flashed across the darkened sky, followed by a clap of thunder, momentarily lighting the fields and surrounding area.  The light, steady rain promised a coming deluge.  Jared quickly checked the other saddlebag for the two loaded pistols he had put there and placed them in his waistband.  He tied a black bandanna across his face and secured the hood and cloak around him against both the rain and possible recognition.

    
             
When he remounted Thunder, he gave a command and the horse flew like the wind toward the place Hugh had said the patrollers waited for help to arrive.

After several minutes of hard riding, he reached the grove he and Angus had passed earlier, the same grove where Hugh said the patrollers would be waiting.  Slowing Thunder's momentum, he approached cautiously.  He didn't see anyone.  Suddenly and without warning, a man wearing a rain cloak and hat stepped out from the concealment of the copse of trees.  Jared was close enough to see that it was the patroller who had stopped his carriage earlier.

    
             
"Halt!" Hollis Franklin demanded with his pistol drawn and ready.

    
             
Grabbing his pistol from his waistband, Jared signaled Thunder to rear.

    
             
The startled patroller fired off one shot, hitting Jared in the shoulder.  With incredible speed and deadly precision, Jared aimed and fired, laying Hollis Franklin to waste with a bullet to the head.

Chaos reigned.

    
             
Four more patrollers rushed out of the thicket, firing their weapons, but like a ghost, Thunder's amazing speed carried Jared out of harm's way.

The patrollers, intent on capturing or killing the Black Rider, forgot about

guarding their unbound prisoners.  As a result, they found themselves fighting to regain control of them.  They were not only fighting the two white men but also four very desperate slaves.  With little or no regard for the weapons their captors carried or the commands they shouted to the dogs, the prisoners threw the four men to the muddy ground.  They wrestled their guns away from them while the dogs viciously attacked, ripping their clothes and tearing into their flesh.

    
             
Far enough from the danger of being shot again, in acute pain, Jared watched the commotion, deciding he was needed again.  As suddenly as he'd disappeared, he reappeared on the scene.  The rain was coming down harder now with claps of thunder and frequent flashes of lightning, enabling Jared to distinguish one figure from another.  Taking careful aim, he fired three shots.  Three agonizing yelps and the dogs fell dead.  Their blood, like Hollis Franklin's, mingled with the mud and water and rain.  His regret at their killings ran deep, but ‘twas necessary for survival.

    
             
Wordlessly, Jared walked Thunder to the former prisoners, whose reversal of fortune now put them in charge.  He didn't want the sound of his voice to be recognized by the slaves so he spoke to his servants in their native Gaelic language.

    
             
"Angus, Robert, tie these men up.  Hugh has had to change his location.  He's two miles away, waiting along the thick brush growing near the levee."

"Aye, master," Angus said.

Jared was loosing blood and growing weak.  "I want to get back to the

ramparts before daybreak.  I'll ride ahead of ye to tell Hugh to start off toward ye so he can pick ye all up along the way."  He signaled to them to get started.  Nudging Thunder's flanks, he started for the brush that concealed Hugh.

"Hugh!" he called weakly, upon reaching him.

"Master Jared?  Have things gone awry?"

    
             
"Aye, terribly awry.  Ye must hurry before anything else goes wrong.  Angus and Robert are coming to meet ye."  Jared swayed in the saddle.

Hugh rushed to his side.  "M'lord! Are ye ill?" 

"Nay, not ill.  I've been shot.  Make haste to meet Angus and Robert.  I'll wait here...."

"Nay, m'lord.  Let me 'elp ye into the wagon and--"

    
             
"We don't have time to stand out here and argue.  I will be fine until ye all return.  There won't be enough room in the wagon for me and the freedom seekers."

"But m'lord--"

    
             
"Enough!" Jared snapped.  "Ye may voice yer disapproval later.  And don't call me lord!  Now go quickly!"

    
             
"Aye, master."  Hugh climbed back into the wagon, reluctant to leave Jared, but obeying him.

    
             
Jared didn't want to fall off his horse so he slid off, leaned against Thunder and held onto the saddlehorn.  The relentless rain beat punishingly down on both of them.

    
             
For a moment, Jared was sorry that he hadn't taken Hugh's advice and gotten into the buckboard.  Yet he knew he'd done the right thing.  If the patrollers had stopped the wagon and searched it, finding him in it--still in his black garb and wounded with four slaves hiding with him--he shuddered to think of the consequences.  'Twas bad enough his servants and the slaves were not yet out of danger.

    
             
For what seemed like an hour, Jared stood holding onto Thunder's saddle.  Even with the steady flow of cool rain soaking his clothes to the skin, he felt like he was going to go up in flames.  He kept slipping in and out of consciousness.

    
             
Through a haze he saw the wagon returning with his three servants riding in it.  As soon as they reached Jared, Angus jumped off and ran to him, catching him just as his hand let go of the saddlehorn.

"Master Jared!  Mother of God!  Quick, lads!  We ha'e tae gi' ' im tae a

doctor!"  Angus lifted Jared up and, straining against the weight of him, carried him to the wagon. 

Hugh took the reins of Thunder, led him to the back of the wagon and tied him behind it.

    
             
"N-nay, Angus.  I can't go home like this," Jared said feebly.  "My saddlebags.  Look in my saddlebags.  My topcoat and waistcoat." He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing.  "No one must see me dressed like this. Ye must help me switch my clothes."

"Aye, master," Angus said worriedly.

    
             
They worked swiftly, exchanging the wet, bloody, black outfit for his topcoat and waistcoat that quickly became soaked from the rain.  The bullet hole in Jared's left shoulder was, now, barely trickling blood.

"Master, we must ge' 'elp," Angus said with concern.

"Aye," Jared agreed.  "But ye must not bring me home."

"But, master," Robert protested.

    
             
Jared held up his right hand to silence them.  "Listen to me, lads.  We must invent a story about how I got shot.  Ye must bring me back to where Hugh left the unconscious slave.  Leave me there to be found by someone.  Everyone must think that robbers shot me.  I know 'tis dangerous with the patrollers about, but if I am found near where the slave is, the story will have more credibility."

    
             
"Aye, Master Jared," Angus said.  "I willa do it, but I dinna like it!"

    
             
"I know," Jared said tiredly, another task coming to mind.  "Ye must do something else.  Ye must shoot a hole through my topcoat and waistcoat to match where the bullet struck me in the shoulder.  Help me off with them again."

    
             
"Aye, Master Jared," Angus replied tiredly.  He did Jared's bidding before moving their small party.

    
             
Riding along the levee, they kept to the shadows.  Dawn began to break.  Jared continued to talk to his servants, reassuring them that he was fine.

    
             
Passing two plantations, Hugh pointed in the direction of a cane field.  When they finally found a spot that satisfied them, they gently laid Jared down.

"We willa keep watch, master," Hugh assured him.

    
             
If he hadn't been in such pain, he would have questioned the daft reasoning of Hugh.  "Nay, ye all get back to the ramparts."