“We’ll see about that,” Wolf muttered.
“Give them his description and any details you think will help them locate him, Ash,” James said.
Ash did as he was told, having given up arguing about his need to do this alone. He was outnumbered, clearly. He told them some of his story, skimming over the bits that he felt did not need to be spoken.
“He murdered an entire crew in front of my brother,” Gus said, and there was no doubting the anger in his voice.
“Then he must be stopped,” Daniel Dillinger said. He had a serious way about him; in fact both men did.
“He put my brother in chains,” Gus continued.
“That will do, Gus,” Ash said.
“He then tried to burn his ship and left the cuffs he’d chained him in as his calling card,” Gus said, ignoring Ash.
“Gus—”
“No more hiding,” his brother said. “If we are to get him, we must know the whole of it.”
His eyes went around the room, meeting each man’s gaze, and then he nodded. As if something had uncoiled inside him, he suddenly felt calmer. Well, as calm as you could get with a man hunting you. These people wanted to help him, and he was going to let them he realized, at least in locating Radcliff.
“I’m sorry you suffered,” Ace said.
Ash nodded again, and the look that passed between them said Ace had suffered too.
“We have many contacts, as do your family, Ash,” Daniel Dillinger said.
“Do you need more men to help with the fire damage on your ship?” Devon asked. “I have a few who are sitting about twiddling their thumbs.”
“I would be grateful,” Ash said, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. He never accepted help.
“I have all the supplies you could need,” Ace said. “Give me a list; I will send them to you.”
The discussion moved from Radcliff and theFreedomto business after that.
“I have given Ben money to invest in the railway,” Gus said, much to Ash’s surprise.
“He has conned money out of most of us,” Warwick said. “But it will show yields. It is the way of the future.”
He sat and listened and realized they were forward-thinking men. Men who had built their empires, or increased what had been inherited.
When the Dillingers left, assuring Ash they would send out word to their informants immediately, he rose to leave himself.
“We are going to the circus, and you are coming,” James said.
“I must go back to my ship and speak to Baron.”
“I will go with you, and we can travel to the circus from theFreedom,”Gus said.
All eyes were suddenly on Ash. He knew why. If he accepted Gus’s offer, then everything changed. His brother would board theFreedom, and Radcliff was likely watching his ship and would see him.
Gus would then be in Radcliff’s sights.
“Take the step, Ash,” Rory said. “We have the Charlton brothers’ backs.”
“Let’s go,” he said to Gus.
“You will take the carriage and then bring it to the circus,” James said.
