The Charleston Chase (Phantom Knights Book 2) (9 page)

My mother had owned two ships that
had been made privateers during the war. They had made many
successful voyages past the blockade during the war, bringing her
enough money to make us wealthy for the rest of our lives. Captain
Carter had bought the
Queen’s
Reward
from my mother last year. Levi had
to be mistaken, because that would mean that Sam was in part
responsible for rescuing my family from financial ruin.

As I looked toward Sam’s ship, he was no longer by
the helm, but I still caught sight of him. He saw us. He smiled as
he lifted his hand in a wave. Levi waved in return, but I did not,
for, at that moment, a woman came up beside him.

She may have had blonde hair, but that face I would
always recognize. Guinevere was aboard Sam’s ship.

“We must do something, steal a ship, go after them,”
I said, frantically looking over the boats for one prepared to
sail.

Levi grabbed my arm as I started toward a group of
sailors. “We cannot stop them, Bess. You must have faith in Sam. He
can handle her if she tries anything.”

Doubt set into my heart, but I knew we could not
stop them. I would have to trust that Sam would be safe. Then
again, how safe could he be? She was the white phantom; she was Ma
belle; she was the source of too much trouble to be recounted, and
she had sailed away with Sam.

Jack

4 March 1817

Washington

F
ive
years ago to the day, I was attending the second inaugural
celebration of President James Madison when my father introduced me
to James Monroe. I was thirteen and did not know the greatness of
the man I was meeting; I did not know that he was a founder of the
Phantoms. He never sought distinction for the Phantoms like George
Crawford and my father had, for he wanted only a deterrent against
smaller threats to our great country. He thought that by having
people who both mingled in society and worked among the lower
classes that we could be the eyes and ears that gave the alert
about unknown threats. He never truly involved himself, other than
pledging his support to my father that he would remain both silent
about the Phantoms and prepared should he ever be called upon for
help.

As I stood among a large crowd who were all facing a
raised stand adjacent to the brick Capitol, there was an excited
air of anticipation. The sun was bright and warming the air, so
that the thick overcoats of winter were not required. It was as if,
after being absent most of last year and earning 1816 the title of
the year without a summer, the sun was ushering in James Monroe’s
new leadership with approval. This day marked the first
inauguration of a president out of doors.

As Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath
of office to James, I felt a swell of great pride and a small sense
of sadness. My father would have relished this day. He would have
considered it a triumph, not only for James, but for himself.

As James placed his hand on the Bible and swore to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, I knew that every
person in the crowd was feeling the same awe as me. It was a great
day for our country. After the ravages of war and then a year of
weather that caused even more deaths, we were eager for a new
era.

James stepped up to give his address smiling at the
crowd. From his dark suit to his powdered wig, he reminded me of
the portraits of the men who stood in that role before him, and I
knew James would serve the nation well, never taking advantage of
the power placed in his hands.

James had held many offices in the past; Senator
from Virginia, Minister to France, Minister to the United Kingdom,
two time Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State, Secretary of
War, and now the President. He had also fought in the Revolution,
receiving a nearly fatal wound to his shoulder.

When he said, “During a period fraught with
difficulties and marked by very extraordinary events, the United
States has flourished beyond example. Their citizens individually
have been happy, and the nation prosperous,” people cheered and
clapped, me among them. There was a smile on his lips as he
continued.

He spoke of commerce; new states admitted to the
union, and that there had been no example of a capital punishment
being inflicted upon anyone for the crime of high treason. Nor had
there been. I do not know what the ruling would have been against
Richard if it had ever been taken to higher courts, but James did
not know everything that Richard had planned to do with Levitas. My
mother had cut Richard’s life short before he could be tried.

James spoke of agriculture and
of
the abundance that
our great nation is able to produce
,
a surplus for the wants of our fellow men in other
countries.

“Such, then, being the highly favored condition of
our country, it is the interest of every citizen to maintain it.
What are the dangers which menace us? If any exist, they ought to
be ascertained and guarded against.”

I was sure he looked at me when he spoke that. It
was for that exact purpose that the Phantoms were created.

“Had the people of the United States been educated
in different principles, had they been less intelligent, less
independent, or less virtuous, can it be believed that we should
have maintained the same steady and consistent career or been
blessed with the same success? While, then, the constituent body
retains its present sound and healthful state everything will be
safe. They will choose competent and faithful representatives for
every department. It is only when the people become ignorant and
corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are
incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy
attainment, and a usurper soon found. The people themselves become
the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin. Let us,
then, look to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full
force. Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote
intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our
liberties.”

Our eyes met, and he gave a slight inclination of
his head.

He spoke of the future, should our country ever be
engaged in war again, of the greatness of our military, and the
organization that trains them to be prepared for any emergency. He
spoke of the improvement of our country by roads and canals, making
it convenient and comfortable to travel, by shortening the
distances and making each part more accessible to and dependent on
the other. We would bind the union more closely together. He spoke
of the rapid growth of our country and the prosperity of its
people. He proclaimed that if we persevere in the career in which
we have advanced so far and in the path already traced, we cannot
fail, under the favor of a gracious Providence, to attain the high
destiny which seems to await us.

“I enter on the trust to which I have been called by
the suffrages of my fellow-citizens, with my fervent prayers to the
Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that
protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our
favor.”

A great cheer went up as James bowed his head. The
cheering continued while James shook hands with other political
leaders.

Someone touched my elbow, and I turned to look up at
the face of George Crawford. He was smiling, and his brown eyes
were filled with excitement. He was always dressed neatly, and he
stood with a straight back and his chin held high.

George had been captured by
Levitas and held as their prisoner until my sister and one of our
fellow Phantoms had rescued him, but this day, there was no sign of
the ragged man who had come out of confinement, of the bruises that
he had
endured, nor the anger he had
shown. No, indeed, for that was all past now, and I could see in
his eyes that George expected James’s election of President to be
beneficial to us all.

I had not seen George since August, when I told him
I was leaving the Phantoms for good. He had not been pleased and
had declared himself to be the head of the Phantoms, which had been
something that my father never wanted. George was an attorney with
no true understanding of the life of a spy.

George and I walked together away from the crowd. He
was the first to speak.

“Freddy told me what transpired between you. You
should not have involved yourself, John.”

“He was giving information to the enemy! Did he tell
you that? He was betraying the Phantoms, placing your own nephew’s
team in harm’s way.

George shook his head, his round face red from
either the wind or anger, I was not sure. He stopped and turned to
face me. “Be sensible, John, we have a common enemy. They are not
against us, but the Holy Order and Ma belle. Yes, we provided them
with the location, and now we will stand back and wait while they
remove each other. Less pressure, less pain for us.”

After a moment of staring at George in astonishment,
I looked away. How could he order something like that? He knew that
Bess was in Charleston searching for the Holy Order, for he had
sent her there. He was placing my sister in harm’s way, because he
did not want to get his own hands dirty. I would not stand for it,
and I told him so.

George only
smiled; his look purely amused. “There is nothing you can do,
John, for you hold no place of authority.” He moved away, offering
a wave of his hand. “I shall see you on the morrow.”

We had a meeting scheduled with James in the
morning, one where I would gain some authority by a person who had
more say than George.

***

In the morning, when I was walking
away from the house that my family owned in Washington, I was
accosted by four men. They grabbed me, pulled me into an alley, and
held me tight
against the wall. I did not
try to fight, for I knew each of them rather well. They were the
Washington Phantoms. When Frederick stepped into the alley, as I
knew he would, he was smiling unpleasantly.

“Why, John, so good of you to agree to this
meeting.”

“If you want to hit me for Leo knocking you out, get
it over with, I do not have time for your games, Frederick.”

His eyes narrowed. He hated when I called him
Frederick. He was Freddy to everyone else.

“He caught me unaware is all. I would have come out
the victor if he had fought fairly, and he knew it.”

“Your delusions are as comical as your raiment,
Frederick, but I do not suppose you are holding me here to puff off
your imagined abilities. What do you want?”

Frederick stepped closer, and his lackeys backed
away. The only one of them that had not touched me and was looking
ill at ease was Arthur, the only member of Frederick’s team to have
survived his leadership.

“At your meeting with Monroe, I want you to impress
upon our new President the advantages to be found in naming me the
leader of the Phantoms over George.”

Staring at him in stupefaction,
Leo must have him hit hard enough to have
jarred his senses. He must have caught on to my line of
thoughts for he smiled. “I have complete control of my faculties, I
assure you. We both know, however, that George does not. His new
position has gone to his head.”

“Apparently he is in good company. Now, if you will
excuse me, I have a meeting to attend.” I pushed my way through the
men and stepped back onto the road.

“You would be wise to heed my words, John, or those
closest to you will suffer.”

Incensed and spinning around, I said, “Be very
cautious whom you threaten, Frederick, especially those who hold
the ear of the President.”

I spun on my heels and walked
away.
Frederick’s team did not follow me,
and ten minutes later, reached I Street.

As I stepped up to the brick house
where the President and Mrs. Monroe were living while the
President’s house was being rebuilt, I knew that the meeting ahead
would change the course of the Phantoms. There was a feeling deep
inside me, whispering that change was about to happen. As I knocked
upon the large front door, it was opened by a stately
butler who led me up the staircase to a door on
the second floor. He knocked, and I heard James’s voice on the
other side. When I was ushered into an office, I saw George seated
in one of two chairs before James’s mahogany desk.

“Please be seated, John,” James said to me with a
smile after I shook his hand and congratulated him on both his
election and his inspiring inaugural address.

The new President sat in a high-backed chair and
placed the tips of his fingers together. “With the changing of time
and my new position, I have come to a decision about the future of
certain organizations.” He could not say the Phantoms name aloud,
for servants had remarkable hearing. “You and all like you,” he
said to me, “have served a great purpose, protecting us from more
threats that I am sure we knew, but you will agree that the need
for such measures has dried up.”

“What are you saying, sir?” George asked, leaning
forward in his chair, his eyes wide and his jaw taut.

“I am commissioning a new order. After the threat
presented to my life last year, I have come to understand, that, in
a position such as mine, there could be others wanting to usurp me.
With much consideration, I have chosen to disband certain
organizations.”

James was serious as he looked from me to George. So
much for Frederick’s wishes. That gave me a grain of happiness, but
I was not certain what to feel. I had left the Phantoms behind,
choosing to go my own way. I did not believe that the Phantoms
would always be needed, but that they would be dispersed so soon
was unexpected. The Holy Order still presented a threat, if not to
James, then to other innocent people.