“I know it’s a lot to ask. I hardly dared hope you would come, but you’re dressed. Admit it, you were waiting for me.”
She opened her mouth to lie again, to tell him she would never wait for him or any other man, but the words died unspoken. “We’d better get going. Janet could spot us at any moment, and we’ve got an appointment at a bar.”
Thirty Three
Chapter 33
She was coming with him. Jesse’s chest felt lighter even though the stakes had doubled. He’d seen the hurt in her eyes when he refused to bend to her wishes and wait for parole. She didn’t understand the horror he’d felt at being locked up, even though he’d been treated decently. He wasn’t sure he could explain it himself. He couldn’t justify asking her to come on the run with him, but she’d done it anyway.
They hurried to the bar. Almost no one else was out on such a foul night so they didn’t worry about attracting undue attention, but they didn’t run.
“This is it,” Jesse said, catching sight of the sign. He pushed open the door, his eyes already scanning for Crawford. A man sat in the corner drinking something hot enough to send a curl of steam. A slouch hat shielded his features, but Jesse recognized him immediately.
Taking Diamond’s arm, he strolled across the room and took a seat directly behind the other man. Diamond sat next to him and pushed back the hood of her cape. The strands of hair which had escaped her up-swept locks curled around her pale face. There was no sign of her customary wide smile. He gave her a fleeting smile of his own before speaking low, but loud enough for the man in front of him to hear. “Thank you.”
“I’d given you five more minutes,” Crawford replied. He nodded towards another patron who tossed back the last of his beer and settled up with the barkeep. The man left the bar, his gait slightly unsteady as if he’d drank a bit too much.
“You go first,” Crawford said.
Jesse rose and held his arm out to Diamond. As they passed the barkeep he gave them a look, but said nothing about them leaving without ordering. They stepped from the warmth of the bar into the cold rain. Their contact stood in the shadows, his posture erect and still. All hint of inebriation had disappeared.
Crawford joined them a moment later. The man led them silently down a narrow, garbage-strewn alley. A young boy stood at the end holding the reins of three horses.
“Do you have any money?” Jesse asked Diamond.
She nodded, wide-eyed.
“Give them half.”
Diamond dug in her pack as Crawford handed the man a few coins. “Will this be enough?” she asked, showing Jesse what she had.
“We ask that you pay what you can to defray costs, but the South is not without friends in St. Louis,” their contact said. “Friends with deep pockets.”
Diamond handed over the money, wondering who helped fund the escape efforts. Bryce was one of the wealthiest men in the city, but she couldn’t see him pouring money into the Southern cause. Not when he knew it would fail.
Jesse gave Diamond a leg up onto the horse. There was no side-saddle, but that didn’t seem to bother her. Her skirts bunched up around her knees, showing a shocking amount of leg, but she paid it no heed. Jesse recalled the strange trousers she’d worn when he first met her. It seemed women had no qualms about displaying their legs in the twenty-first century.
Crawford and their guide politely averted their eyes, but Jesse saw the boy staring avidly at his wife’s shapely calves and wanted to cuff him on the side of the head.
“We will have a man waiting at Wilson’s Ferry. You know it?” their contact asked.
“Enough to find it,” Crawford said.
“Good luck.” The man and boy stepped back, giving them room to turn the horses.
“Can you ride?” Jesse asked, remembering Diamond telling him that in the future people traveled in ‘horseless carriages,’ great metal beasts powered by liquid fuel.
“Yes, but I’m no expert.”
“We just need to get clear of the city,” he said, hoping her skills were up to the task. “Then we can move more slowly.”
“I can manage for a couple hours. Probably not much longer.”
Crawford had already started forward, and they followed, Jesse bringing up the rear. They kept the horses to a walk as they moved through the city streets, but as soon as they reached the more open areas, Crawford kicked his mount into a canter. Diamond held on grimly, but she hadn’t the easy balance he and Crawford shared.
The thunder had abated, but the rain still fell heavily, providing a mixed blessing. Visibility was poor, making it hard to see where they were going, but the same was true for any pursuers. The roads were a mess of mud, making traction poor. Crawford didn’t attempt a gallop which was probably good considering Diamond’s limited equestrian skills. Lightning still flashed in the distance, but clouds blocked out most of the stars and drifted here and there across the moon, sometimes plunging them into almost total darkness.
Wind drove the rain into their faces and even though it was August a chill had settled in Jesse’s bones. He hoped that Diamond, with her cape, was not as cold.
They raced on with no sign of pursuit, but the threat hung over their heads, worse than the clouds which kept the night dark, their skin damp and their clothes soggy. A faint tinge of approaching dawn gathered in the eastern sky as the lightning faded away and the rain slowed to a drizzle.
“We’re almost there,” Crawford yelled back to them.
Jesse heard the rushing water before the Missouri River drew into view. A night of torrid rain had swollen the waterway, swallowing the trunks of trees and leaving
