Free The Charleston Chase (Phantom Knights Book 2) by Amalie Vantana Page A

my heart. Moving toward the door, I tossed over
my shoulder, “If you are lying, I will return—with
friends.”
    Stepping out of the house, I met Levi, who had
straightened from the wall. I motioned for him to follow as I led
the way to the carriage. I gave Abe the direction and was not
surprised to see his lifted brows.
    Levi was not surprised when I told him what I
suspected. We both knew that Guinevere was daring enough for
anything. As the carriage rolled into the port, my feet were
tapping on the carriage floor, eager to find Guinevere, to stop her
from leaving Charleston.
    When the carriage halted before Sam’s warehouse,
Levi leapt down, and I followed. We rounded the corner, searching
the numerous people on the wharf for Guinevere.
    “There’s Sam,” Levi said.
    Sam was standing on board a ship out in the harbor,
away from the wharf, preparing to set sail.
    “That’s the Intended , she’s a clipper ship
modeled after Chasseur from Baltimore,” Levi informed me, pride lacing his words.
“She is Sam’s second fastest ship.”
    Sam shook a man’s hand, then
walked with that man to the helm. Sam looked like he belonged
there, a mighty sea captain. My relief was strong, as there were no
women on board his ship. Regardless, I wanted him to see us, I
wanted to wave farewell, so we started pushing our way through a
crowd of sailors, merchants, and passengers. Ships were being
loaded and unloaded; people were disembarking, making our progress
difficult.
    “Did you know that Sam was a
privateer during the war?” Levi asked as we edged our way around a
group of sailors carrying a heavy looking crate. “He captained one
of his own ships sailing munitions through the blockade. He helped
Captain Carter, who sailed us here on the Queen’s Reward , sail through the
blockade with a hold full of goods bound for the
Caribbean.”
    I stopped walking to stare at Levi. Pain was slicing
at my heart like how one of those ships could cut through waves. It
could not be the same occurrence, but I could not stop the thread
of thoughts.
    My mother had owned two ships that
had been made privateers during the war. They had made many
successful voyages past the blockade during the war, bringing her
enough money to make us wealthy for the rest of our lives. Captain
Carter had bought the Queen’s
Reward from my mother last year. Levi had
to be mistaken, because that would mean that Sam was in part
responsible for rescuing my family from financial ruin.
    As I looked toward Sam’s ship, he was no longer by
the helm, but I still caught sight of him. He saw us. He smiled as
he lifted his hand in a wave. Levi waved in return, but I did not,
for, at that moment, a woman came up beside him.
    She may have had blonde hair, but that face I would
always recognize. Guinevere was aboard Sam’s ship.
    “We must do something, steal a ship, go after them,”
I said, frantically looking over the boats for one prepared to
sail.
    Levi grabbed my arm as I started toward a group of
sailors. “We cannot stop them, Bess. You must have faith in Sam. He
can handle her if she tries anything.”
    Doubt set into my heart, but I knew we could not
stop them. I would have to trust that Sam would be safe. Then
again, how safe could he be? She was the white phantom; she was Ma
belle; she was the source of too much trouble to be recounted, and
she had sailed away with Sam.

Chapter 7

    Jack
     
    4 March 1817
    Washington
     
    F ive
years ago to the day, I was attending the second inaugural
celebration of President James Madison when my father introduced me
to James Monroe. I was thirteen and did not know the greatness of
the man I was meeting; I did not know that he was a founder of the
Phantoms. He never sought distinction for the Phantoms like George
Crawford and my father had, for he wanted only a deterrent against
smaller threats to our great country. He thought that by having
people who both mingled in society and worked among the lower
classes that we could