“We are not going to hurt you, miss. My name is Richards. Greg Richards. Those men…where?…”
“They’re gone,” Alexis said quietly, her voice trembling. She looked down at her torn bodice and thought what a nice effect it was. She went on. “They tried to…tried to…”
Richards held out his hand but Alexis pushed it aside. “You’re Francine, aren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“Your brother is back at the prison. He told us about you. Why don’t you come back with us? He’ll want to know that you’re safe.” His voice was soothing and Alexis almost wished he wouldn’t show quite so much kindness.
“Not just yet,” she answered. “I don’t want to move. Those men, they knocked the wind out of me.”
Richards nodded. “Davis, you stay with me. John, you better go back and tell the boy his sister is all right.” He motioned to the other two. “Go back to your posts as well.”
“Oh, no!” she pleaded. “Don’t any of you go. What if they come back?”
“And don’t you think the two of us can handle them? That doesn’t say very much for us, does it?”
Alexis knew her men needed more time to get ready. “It’s not that,” she answered. “I just feel safer with all of you around.”
Richards grinned. “You’ll be fine. These men have to get back. We have an important prisoner to watch.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when he felt a sharp pain creasing his skull. He did not know the others, so captivated by Alexis’s soft voice and appearance were experiencing the same pain.
Alexis pushed Richards’s body off her own and stood, brushing herself off. She smiled at her men, Jordan and Allison among them. “It doesn’t say much for my ability to hold a man’s attention when they all wanted to go back to their posts.”
“Don’t know about that, Captain,” Allison said. “They were so busy looking at you they didn’t hear us come up on them.”
Alexis glanced down at the bodies. “I’d say you did your work pretty well. I don’t think we’ll waste time tying them. Let’s get rid of the walking patrols next. The fire will take care of anyone else who might see Peach and Cloud leave.”
As Alexis was leading her men to the next post, Peach was lifting the butt of a pistol Matt was kind enough to show him high over the guard’s turned head. He brought it down sharply and watched in fascination as Matt slumped forward in his chair. Peach did not waste any more time. He thought he’d lost too much already winning the guard’s confidence. He quickly grabbed the ring of keys from their place on the wall and he opened the door that led to the cells.
He found Cloud in the next to the last cell, sleeping peacefully. Peach wondered how a man who was supposed to die could possibly sleep. He slipped the key into the gate and opened the door. The captain still did not move. Peach drew closer to the cot. He was in the process of reaching out to touch Cloud when the captain suddenly shot forward, knocking Peach to the ground.
“My God! It’s you!” Cloud could hardly believe he saw the small boy sprawled out on the floor in front of him. The boy was glaring at him. He smiled, remembering these were the eyes he had once accused of being lovesick for Alexis. Love was no part of anything they were expressing at the moment.
Peach continued to glare as he got to his feet. “You have a strange way of saying thank you.”
Cloud realized the boy was angrier for being taken off guard than anything else. “I’ll make it up to you later,” he replied, grinning.
Peach ignored him. “Come on. We have to go out front. Be ready to move quickly when the time comes.”
“Where is your captain?” asked Cloud as he followed the boy to the front room.
“She’ll be waiting for us,” he answered tersely.
Cloud pointed to the unconscious guard. “You did that?” His voice held the proper amount of admiration and Peach responded in a friendlier manner, assuring Cloud that he had. “What about the others?”
“They’re being taken care of.” Peach kept his eyes trained on where he knew the lumber pile should be, although he couldn’t make it out in the dark. Occasionally he glanced away from the window and looked at Cloud, who was confiscating Matt’s weapon for his own.
“What are you waiting for? Why aren’t we leaving now?”
“It’s a good thing Captain Danty is planning this. You’d get us both killed. Did you really expect to get out of here after you knocked one guard out?” Peach’s tone left Cloud no doubt the boy was unimpressed by his actions back in the cell.
“When you have been assured your death is inevitable you take almost any chance.”
Peach shrugged. “I suppose. Still, it’s better Captain Danty is in charge.”
Cloud laughed. “You’re probably right. Now, why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for so I can watch too.”
