Wellspring (Paskagankee, Book 3) by Allan Leverone Read Free Book Online Page A

to kill he and Sarah if
they were intercepted, and there was no way of knowing how close the stranger’s
pursuers were. For all he knew, they might be in town already.
    Minutes
later the strange trio reached the road and turned left, walking quickly toward
the tavern. They encountered no other travelers, an unsurprising development given
the location and time of night.
    For the
first time since this horrifying saga had begun more than two hours ago, Luke found
himself with a few minutes to think, and something occurred to him that was so
obvious he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it until now: all they had to
do was make it back to the Paskagankee Tavern undetected and seal the stranger
in the secret room! The man would then be trapped and Luke could alert Sheriff
Cowles to the situation. Cowles could round up as many men as he thought
necessary – the more, the better as far as Luke was concerned –
then come out to the tavern, open the room, and subdue the stranger.
    This
plan, of course, if successful, would result in the discovery of the secret
room. Such a discovery would shut down the Paskagankee stop along the
Underground Railroad forever, and quite possibly result in jail time for Luke.
But under the circumstances, incarceration was the least of his worries.
    He
glanced over at Sarah, her face blurred and indistinct in the inky northern
Maine nighttime blackness. He flashed her what he hoped was a reassuring smile
and kept walking.
    ***
    Several hundred yards south of
the Paskagankee Tavern, the stranger growled, “Stop right here.” He flicked his
wrist, indicating they should enter the forest on the side of the trail, and
after a moment’s hesitation, Luke plunged off the road and into the underbrush.
Sarah followed right behind him. The stranger brought up the rear.
    A sense
of disquiet, not quite panic but damned close, gripped Luke’s heart. What was
happening? Why would the stranger herd them into the forest when they were now so
close to the hiding place he claimed to need so badly?
    In his
head Luke knew the man was not going to kill them; not both of them, anyway.
Not yet. He still needed at least one of them, because although the stranger
now knew the secret room’s location and how to enter it—assuming he had
been paying attention—no one else in the world would know he was in
there. He would be trapped forever if he killed both of them.
    Of
course, it was entirely possible he intended to put a bullet in Luke’s head. He needed one of them, but
he didn’t need both, and from the stranger’s point of view, it would make sense
to eliminate the one who could cause him the most trouble.
    Luke thought
desperately, trying to decide what to do if the stranger leveled his Colt at
him. There weren’t many good options. He supposed he would lunge at the man and
try to wrestle the gun away from him. Of course, as the stranger was walking
behind him, he might never see the kill shot coming.
    All of
this went through Luke’s head in a matter of seconds, and then, no more than
ten feet into the woods he struggled through the underbrush and nearly ran
right into a horse. The animal was secured to a tree, standing motionless,
staring through the near-complete darkness at Luke with accusing eyes.
    The
stranger brushed past Sarah and then Luke. He reached into a saddlebag and rummaged
through it quickly before pulling out a large disk, roughly the size of a chef’s
serving platter, only much thicker, and apparently, much heavier. The stranger
hefted it with his left hand and reached back into the saddlebag. He pulled out
a second item, this one smaller and lighter. It was a long, clear tube, filled
with what looked in the darkness like a thick liquid.
    The
gunman spoke quietly, his voice hard and gravelly. “These things stay with me.
Now, let’s get to that secret room so I can snuggle up with an old black man.”
He gestured again with his gun, indicating that Sarah and Luke should return to
the