Disclaimer: I don't own Turn. All historical figures are used fictitiously.
Face to Face
It was the first time they'd ever laid eyes on each other. Rogers had seen Ben of course, but the boy had disguised himself as Welsh and the entire time Rogers had seen him, the boy's back had been to him. Now they saw each other face to face.
The boy was young, Rogers realized with annoyance. He'd been bested by a whelp! His friend shot by a barefaced child who had probably just learned to shave! And bested not once, but this now for the third time!
Even though it was dark, Rogers could see the fire and intelligence in the boy's eyes. He saw the way he carried himself and thought back to the day Tallmadge escaped death in New Jersey. The uniform made no difference to the way Tallmadge held himself. The sword at his side barely adjusted his gait. He was surefooted, confident, upright, the epaulets on his shoulders gleamed in the moonlight. Briefly, Rogers narrowed his eyes at the epaulets to study them.
This youth – this runt! – had the same rank as Rogers!
Akinbode's words came back to him, "You like him."
Another place, another war, another time…yes, Rogers would have gladly befriended Tallmadge. Gladly fought at his side, considered him like a son.
But this was now, this was this war, and Tallmadge would pay.
Ben wished his stare could kill Rogers.
The grizzled man's appearance both hid and explained his cunning. No one would look at him and think him a man with a brain worthy of a general's, he looked more like Caleb than Howe, Washington, or even Scott. If one looked at Rogers, one would think him brash, bold, successful because of his brawn.
But Ben knew different.
The grizzled appearance - even down to the color of his jacket! – was a disguise. The man wanted to blend in to the forest, wanted people to think him as inept so that he had the upper hand.
But this man knew who Ben was. Just as Ben had known who he was and the troop that destroyed his men in New Jersey, Rogers knew Ben. He knew him enough to set this trap for him. He'd placed it so well that Ben had almost fallen for it!
Rogers' plot burned in Ben; hot in his heart and it burned cold in his belly. But most of all, it burned in his eyes in the form of unshed tears.
Rogers had set a trap for Ben – a painstakingly well thought out plan, with an emotional gangrene that threatened to tear Ben apart if he didn't amputate his feelings – based on Ben's baby brother.
Had Samuel lived…would Rogers have killed him instead of setting this trap? Would Ben have gone to retrieve Samuel, embraced his brother for the first time in six months, only to have Rogers kill Samuel? Which would Rogers prefer – Ben's death or the destruction of Ben's soul?
The two men stared at each other throughout the meeting. Ben listened and responded to the British officer as he should. Rogers half listened, irritated at the obstacle of an officer. But their focus was each other.
"There is no place on this continent that you can hide from me," Rogers informed Ben. This isn't over, his eyes told the Continental Major.
"Oh, I won't be hiding," Ben replied easily. Ben's eyes replied to Rogers' unspoken words, I know. But you come for me and only me.
Author's note: In real life, Benjamin Tallmadge had four brothers. Samuel was his younger brother, but Samuel lived until 1825. Benjamin's older brother William, however, died of starvation as a prisoner of war in 1776. Ben's two other brothers were named John and Isaac, they too survived the war.