Chapter 14

Ten minutes after Jim West left the house, Dr. Loveless was searching for Helen. He knew she had gone to feed the prisoner. After that, she was supposed to come to him to finish their packing. He had waited in his room until she was well overdue. Now he was getting worried.

His use of Helen had always been for her mind and what she could store for him. He had also made her into a decorative companion. The process used by the League to strip away the memories of her previous life had left Helen a blank shell, a child. He had tried to mature her in Paris with only partial success. He might have been happier had Helen been more for him, but had settled for what she was. Helen's loyalty to him was as unshakable as the most dutiful of daughters, and that counted for a great deal.

In France and here, League members understood what she was and had never offered her a second glance. Other men, attracted by her beauty, were a danger Loveless kept a careful eye on.

Finding her nowhere on the lower floors, Miguelito checked the kitchen to see if she had returned the dishes. There had been no one there either, including the English prisoner.

Now he was anxious. Before this, his only concern was that one of his staff would discover he had laced the survivor's stew with castor toxin. That had been necessary to free him of the League fanatics. Now, he had government agents and England to America to contend with. Things had gone from bad to worse too quickly.

Maybe Helen is still with Agent West?

Miguelito moved back to the house and up to the prisoner's room. Helen was there, tied, gagged. He unbound her. When he pulled her gag away, a tumble of words came forth, telling him everything.

"He tricked me! He tied me up and escaped. I've tried to get loose…"

"It's all right, Helen," Miguelito soothed. "You're not to blame, but we must now hasten. There is no time to lose. We have to leave now."

Phileas and the twins found Rebecca, the two American agents, and the others on their way back to the house.

Rebecca did not care what anyone thought the moment she saw Phileas moving in the brush ahead of her. She broke from her group to give him a heartfelt hug and kiss for joy. Phileas took the kiss eagerly, but held her back from wrapping her arms around him. His sore ribs would not have been able to take it.

Looking up, he saw agent West, a surprised Jules, a subdued Jason with his full arsenal along with Passepartout and Phileas's own mission kit from the Aurora. Jason and Phileas traded a look of understanding, putting any thoughts the man had about Rebecca's availability. He caught a similar look of disappointment in Agent Gordon's eyes, but ignored it. This was not the time.

"Good to see you well and whole," Phileas said to Jim West.

"Likewise," Jim said. "It looks like you took the brunt of it."

Phileas pushed what he must look like aside. "We need to capture the Captain and Dr. Loveless. The other soldiers will accept your authority and surrender, will they not?"

"I think they will," Jim said. "That or face Courts Martial."

The full group, now better equipped, returned to a silent house. The few soldiers on guard in the front yard were quickly told to stand down. Phileas and Rebecca came into the parlor with Jules and Passepartout to find Captain Johnson still drinking shots of whiskey.

Agent West and Gordon came into the parlor moments later. "There is no one left in the house or on the grounds," Jim said. "The servants have disappeared. The Doctor and his assistant are gone." He turned to the Army officer, who did not seem at all surprised to see several guns leveled at him.

Captain Johnson stood with some careful effort and saluted the invaders with his shot glass, pouring out the dredges of the decanter and finishing it in one gulp. "You have me, but the doctor is gone," he said. "He took off without even telling me. You won't find anything of importance here. I've already looked. All he left was the furniture and a few knick-knacks."

Seeing the thorough destruction of the room, they accepted his word on it.

"I have decided that your story may be true," Johnson said, putting the bottle down and handing over his service pistol. "My men and I are at your service."

"That wagon by the stables is gone," Matthew told everyone as he, his brother, and uncle came into the room. "They can't get far in a wagon."

"We will find them," Phileas said and left Passepartout and Rebecca to search aloft.

Securing the abandoned plantation went easily. Captain Johnson called his bugler to bring in the men from their posts. He stood resolutely as Jim West and Artemus Gordon took command of his troops and ordered them to search the area for the last of the League personnel. Staff members were found in the woods, fleeing in several directions. Loveless had told them to leave before he fled, but not where to meet him later.

Several servants from the stables reported that Loveless had taken a wagon and his assistant when he left. Soldiers followed wagon tracks from the stable around the field to the seed barn. They found both wagons in flames. The search stopped as everyone worked to get the fire under control. By the time they could begin the search again, the doctor had earned himself a good lead.

For several days, the woods and roads near the plantation were combed. But no one else was found. The doctor and his assistant had disappeared without a trace.

Many miles away and two days later, Helen and Dr. Loveless had settled into a small-town hotel on the east side of the Texas border. Their mounts were tired, but well-tended after so long a ride through rough terrain. Miguelito sat at a small table, sharing a simple meal with Helen, paid for with cash the League had left him. They ate by candlelight, considering their next move.

"So you see, we are not without funds or prospects, my dear," Miguelito said. "I have all the money the League had in America at my disposal. Between that and the information you carry in your head, we will do very well. We will have to lie low for a time. How would you like to see New Orleans or maybe take a riverboat ride up the Mississippi to Illinois? Autumn is beautiful there."

"That would be wonderful," Helen said. "Whatever you plan will be wonderful."

Loveless smiled warmly to her and refilled her wineglass. The candlelight camouflaged the fact that the room was worn and the inn of low quality. Loveless was used to having the best. His tastes were an inborn thing, cultivated in the cities of the east coast while he had been a student, and then refined and liberally indulged in Paris.

"This Is just a minor setback. Once out of the frontier and back in civilization, we will enjoy the best again," Miguelito said. "We will do very well indeed." He raised his wine to her. "With the clink of glasses, our beginning is created."