The Sapphire Brooch (The Celtic Brooch Trilogy Book 2) by Katherine Lowry Logan Read Free Book Online

Union has very capable doctors, I’m sure,” she said.
    Lincoln clasped his hands and rested them on the table. “This is a delicate matter and requires more than simply a capable doctor.”
    Stanton sat heavily in an armchair next to the window overlooking the unfinished Washington Monument. “One of our best agents has been wounded and captured. He’s currently being held in Chimborazo.”
    “Chimborazo isn’t a prison hospital. Why is he there?”
    “He was shot while escaping. Chimborazo was the closest hospital. They want him alive for questioning.”
    “He should receive excellent care. Why do you need me?”
    “You don’t need to treat him. You need to get him out.” Stanton enunciated each word for effect, especially the get him out part.
    Whatever she’d expected to hear, this wasn’t it. Chimborazo sat on top of a hill in Richmond. She couldn’t march up there and steal a patient. “Do you have a plan for how it might be accomplished?”
    Stanton tapped his cigar against the edge of an overflowing ashtray. “No. You’ll have to devise a plan once you’ve made an assessment of the major’s condition. It’s to your advantage, though, that he’s not in a prison hospital.”
    Lincoln’s keen eyes challenged her. “Once you get him out, other people will take him to safety.”
    She sat back in her chair, not at all sure if what they asked of her was even possible. “If I facilitate a Union spy’s escape, what happens to me?”
    “You’ll be free to return to your unit.”
    “None of this makes sense.” Frustration throbbed in her every word. “I’ll be considered a traitor.”
    Stanton puffed, filling the room with a cloud of smoke. “We’re confident you can find a way without compromising yourself.”
    “ You’re confident .” Maybe it was time to yank off her wig and beard, confess, and throw herself on the mercy of the President, but it might get her thrown into prison instead. She waved away the smoke blowing in her direction. “If I don’t do this, Sheridan has threatened to burn my family home to the ground. If I’m found to be a traitor, my neighbors will do it for him.” She made a low sound, like someone absorbing a body blow.
    They sat in silence as the noise level in the hallway increased in sharp contrast to the present-day White House. How did the President work in this environment with dozens of people waiting outside the door to see him? No appointment needed. All you need do is show up and wait.
    “How serious are your agent’s wounds? Is he able to walk?” she asked.
    “We don’t know his condition, but we have to get him out. He has valuable information Jefferson Davis wants, which could compromise a dozen or more northern sympathizers,” Stanton said.
    Something in his expression told her he wasn’t telling the truth…or he wasn’t telling all of the truth. “Will his information shorten the war?” she asked.
    Stanton tapped his cigar against the edge of an ashtray already filled with a day’s worth of ashes. “The information we get from the sympathizers is invaluable. If we lose even one, we lose a link which took us months to establish.”
    “Do you want the war to end?” Lincoln asked.
    “I never wanted the war to start,” Charlotte said. “But what’s to stop me from assisting Jefferson Davis?”
    “I’m a firm believer in people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet the crisis. You want the war to end. This will bring the end closer.” He picked up a pen and placed a sheet of writing paper in front of him. The scratchy nib didn’t glide effortlessly across the surface of the paper, but it didn’t seem to bother the President, who scratched away with a flourish.
    “A ship will take you to City Point, where you’ll be met by an escort who will introduce you to General Grant. Then he’ll see you through the lines,” Stanton said.
    “Will I be on my own in Richmond?”
    Stanton puffed more smoke in her direction.