3
Levi had to find a way to shift the focus away from himself and move the conversation far from anything involving MacManus. He kept his expression light, then scanned the chamber around them. “This is quite a remarkable room you’ve built in the mountain.”
The ceiling rose in a dome. Surely something as grand as that must have been crafted by the Lord’s hand, not chopped out with hammer and chisel.
He dropped his gaze to Chief Durand. “How long have you occupied this area?”
The lines across the man’s brow deepened. “We appreciate your kind words, but our council needs time to discuss your presence here before we will consider answering your questions. First, though, we have a few more things to ask.”
Levi raised his brows. “I’m expected to answer inquiries when you refuse to respond to my own?”
The man tipped his chin. “You approached our gate of your own accord. We didn’t summon you.”
Touché.
Levi acknowledged the truth with a respectful dip of his head. “What do you wish to know?” He would answer honestly,place the outcome of this inquisition in the Lord’s hands.I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.He’d claimed that as his banner verse when he first left England to pursue this work. Now he would finally live it.
The chief’s gaze narrowed, taking on the look of a shrewd judge. “How is it you overheard Evan speak of our village? What were you doing at the time?”
Levi swallowed, pressing down the knot in his gut. “I sometimes keep watch outside the Army headquarters building. I saw him enter, and his appearance proclaimed him fresh from the frontier. It intrigued me enough that I followed him. The room where I hid stood two doors down from the chamber in which he met with one of the officers. I ... might have removed one of the ventilation pieces to better hear.” Heat flared up his neck at the obvious spying he was admitting to.
Lord, you promised to protect me, right?
But protect him from the results of his intentional deception? How did that work in God’s eyes, exactly? If only he’d never accepted the intelligence commission. He could kick his brother for recommending him for the assignment. Levi had been so eager back then, relieved that he’d finally found a way to serve his country, something that might give him more acclaim than his brothers’ multiple merits of valor. A way that he could finally make his father proud.
He’d had no idea the miry pit he was sliding into.
But no more. From this moment forward, every word and every action would be matched up against God’s guidance through Scripture.
“And your purpose in following Evan so far was...?” The chief left the sentence for him to finish.
This time, the truth wasn’t as hard to push out. “I felt my country needed to know about this new discovery and what America planned to do with it. Evan spoke of a mineral, but I don’t know how that would help America win a future war. That’s what I came to find out.” With each statement of truth, a weight lifted from his chest. Though the scowls around him grew darker, especially the one MacManus aimed at him, the lightness inside meant he could finally breathe freely.
A motion by the door caught the edge of his focus. He didn’t let his gaze flick that way immediately but swept his attention around the group until he glimpsed a single figure standing by the door.
Miss Audrey Moreau.
She must not be one of the elders or soldiers, or she would have been invited into the room. Of course she wasn’t. She didn’t look aged, nor did she dress as a man and wield a knife. She looked like a nymph standing in the shadows. But the darkness shrouded the beauty he’d seen so clearly outside. A brown-haired angel with wide green eyes. Had he frightened her hiding in the woods like that? With everything in him, he hoped not.
“What did you plan to do when you discovered the information you sought?”
Levi forced his focus back to the chief, struggling to clear the muddle from his thoughts.
“I ... had planned to take the details back to my superiors. With the war over, my commission is also ending. I had hoped this would be my last bit of intelligence.” He’d also hoped it might earn him an award of merit.
Consternation flicked across some of the faces around him, and he hastened to say more. “I’m assuming whatevernews there would be to share would not endanger your village. Britain would not wish to bring harm.”
He sent a glance toward MacManus. “Perhaps my country has not always been fair to its colonies”—he returned his gaze to Chief Durand—“but Parliament wishes to bring aid and protection to its remaining colonies in the New World. I suspect your village is outside the border of the Canadian colonies, but our government would wish to extend the same kindnesses to you, I’m certain.”
Levi didn’t dare a glance at MacManus again, but the heat emanating from him made the room downright stuffy.
Durand rose, and with him the rest of the group. He looked to the woman. “Have him held until we reach a decision. Once he’s secure, I would like you and Evan to join us for the meeting.”
One of the guards who led him there stepped forward to grip Levi’s upper arm and haul him up. He almost scowled at the fellow’s roughness, but with so many around, he had to do his best to stay quiet and follow orders.
Audrey slipped out the moment Papa Durand gave his final instructions. She shouldn’t have listened to the questioning, but curiosity about the stranger had stirred too strongly within her. Not that any of the elders would object to her presence, especially since her father hadn’t felt up to attending this unexpected council meeting. Every family was allowed a representative on the council, after all, though she rarely attended in her father’s stead.
But now the curiosity had turned into unrest, with achurning inside of her building with intensity. Everything the man had said would likely turn the council against him. Though not for the reasons Laurent would have worried about six months ago.
