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Sam shut his eyes. I waited until the men had Will securely on the stretcher and watched them double step toward the closest hospital. They might take his leg, but Ida Belle would get her wedding.

“Are you going to be OK?” I asked Sam. “No more fighting.”

His light eyelashes fluttered open and he gazed at me with his serene blue eyes. “You’re a good angel, but I ain’t ready to go with you, yet.”

Yep, not for almost ninety years. His eyes shut for a minute and a pretty vivandière knelt next to us and wiped the blood from his face.

“You take care, Sam.” I rose to leave and he grabbed my wrist.

“Doc, the box?”

I wasn’t sure if he realized I was the angel or if he thought I’d arrived later. Mamma Bea’s voice reciting the bible verse the truth shall set you free rang loud above the deafening sounds of battle.

“Sam. I’m from the future. General Lee is back in the saddle, running the show. I was sent here to make sure you have a long and happy life.”

He smiled. “Will I get to know a woman, and see the most beautiful thing on Earth?”

The vivandière blushed beside me.

“Yes, Sam, you will,” I said, mentally apologizing to Keanu Reeves for hijacking his words.

“Thanks, Doc.”

I left Sam in the hands of a the pretty vivandière, who assured me she would see him to a medic. I had to get back to Lee’s headquarters before they figured out Lee was in two places at the same time.

A riderless horse ran past me, skittish from the roar of the cannons. I limped toward it. My leg ached, but only a trickle of blood stained my shoe. The horse calmed when it reached a thicket. I commandeered the horse and rode toward the Thompson farm.

Lee would return to his camp on the farm grounds immediately following the battle. I had to get Marco and Gertie, and we had to find the seer. Ace told me he arrested Caiyan near the Thompson farm, maybe they were close.

My time was running thin and when I returned home and saw Caiyan again, I was going to kill him. My heart took a jump at my thoughts. He might already be dead.

Nope, not going to think about it. I pushed my ride harder.

My wig was in the dust, and my mustache hung on by a sticky hair. I yanked it off and tossed it in the breeze. No more hiding. If the brigands wanted a battle, they’d have to fight Jennifer Cloud.

Chapter 23

Broken men straggled off the battlefield. The Thompson house was flooded with the injured.

When I arrived at General Lee’s headquarters, the mass of staff was missing. Probably packing their things to flee the area. A group of men stood outside a tent, an injured man laid across a table probably confiscated from someone’s dining room.

I tried not to look at the men as I hurried toward General Lee’s tent. The guards were absent from their position in front of the tent, and a knot squeezed my stomach. I peeked through the tent flap and entered when I found the room empty.

Marco and Gertie were gone. The desk didn’t have a note that read hey, stepped out for some hardtack and coffee so I moved carefully out of the tent. Was Marco discovered impersonating an officer? Where would they have been taken?

As I stood in the shadows of the canopy outside the tent contemplating my options, I saw Victory cut across the campsite toward a densely wooded area. She paused and looked over her shoulder. Checking for a tail. Where was Caiyan? She disappeared into the thicket. And then I saw him. Moving stealthily behind her, at a distance. Odd. Why weren’t they together? His eyes swept across the campsite. I froze, hoping the dancing shadows caused by the sun cutting through the canopy of trees hid me from his view.

He smoked into the woods. The guy really did have a talent for stealthily stalking his prey. I followed him at a respectable distance. I heard their argument before I saw them.

“Victory, where do ye think yer going?”

“I found another way home.”

“What are ye talking aboot?”

“I’ve done all I can do here. I can’t stay any longer. I want to go home.”

“Ye cannae travel in yer condition.”

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