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“Sir, I’m sure it’s nothing. ”
Josephine Early wasn’t sure. She heard it, too, very faintly—it was coming from the far side of the men, from below the wharf, nearer the water. Crouching down, she reached for the Schofield under her skirt and retrieved it from the heavy-duty garter where it had been fastened. She removed her gloves and stuffed them into her pocket, then grasped the gun carefully, readying it, adjusting her grip.
“It sounds like … like someone having a hard time breathing. ”
“Yes, sir, something like that. Where’s it coming from?”
“There … no. Over there. Or maybe over there. ” He indicated several directions, none of them certain.
The woman behind the crates closed her eyes, in case it’d help her listen harder. She concentrated and breathed as shallowly as she could—until the pounding of her heart was nearly as loud as the distant wheezing. Her hips and lower belly ached against her foundation undergarments from maintaining such a cramped posture, and her head was beginning to throb.
“Cardiff, I don’t like this. ”
“Me either, sir. Maybe we should be on our way. ”
The colonel wasn’t quick to move, but he was quick to reach into the gun holster he wore hanging off his shoulders. Josephine couldn’t see what he carried, probably a Colt service revolver—something loud and high caliber, being a Texian and a man of authority. Very likely, it was the kind of gun that could take somebody’s head off in a pinch.
Against all reason, she was glad to see he had it. He was going to need it, but not to defend himself against any hidden Union spies like herself, crouching behind crates. She was sickeningly confident of that much. She knew it from the rushing sound of broken breaths being dragged in and out through rotted throats. She knew because the sound was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, drawing closer, coming toward the lantern light on the dead-end wharf.
The lieutenant drew a handgun as well, more nervously than the colonel. He instinctively retreated until his back was nearly pressed against the commanding officer’s—and he held the lantern high, throwing the light as far as he could, hoping to get a glimpse of whatever was approaching from the darkness.
Josephine didn’t want to see it, but she needed to.
This had all been a terrible idea—on everyone’s part, and at least the colonel ought to have known better. Maybe he had known better, but he was cocky with his guns and his rank; maybe the lieutenant had been the ignorant one, seeing the place during the day when the sun had chased off the worst of the shadows.
If only they’d left the light off. If only they’d kept their voices down.
Every muscle in Josephine’s body was tighter than a violin string. She watched around the corner, crouched on one knee, gun held up at the ready, almost next to her face as if she were praying. She considered running, back out the way they’d come—but no, they’d see her, or hear her. They’d open fire, not knowing she wasn’t the most dangerous thing on the wharf, and not knowing she only meant to escape.
Besides.
She jerked her head away from the corner and listened.
Coming down the walkway, up from the river in staggering, shambling steps that didn’t keep time like an ordinary walker. …
Josephine retreated away from the crate’s edge, shrinking herself to the fullest extent possible, down at the bottom edge where the angle was sharpest and the shadow was deepest.
It wouldn’t help. They didn’t have to see her to know she was there.
The ragged, sickly gasps grew nearer. Josephine tried to sort them out—to determine how many were coming. She detected three on the far side of the Texians, who were sweating with fear; she was sure of two more, from farther back on the wharf; and one more … no, two more coming up the back way, cutting off the only obvious means of retreat.
“Sir, we should go!”
“Put out that light, you idiot. ”
“We won’t be able to see!”
“What’d you walk me into, Cardiff?” The colonel’s voice was rising, not from panic, Josephine didn’t think. She’d give him credit there—he was holding steady, feet planted and firearm level. Texians were repugnant, problematic, occupying, Confederate-allied bastards down to the very last man … but she couldn’t accuse them of being cowards.
“Sir, we should be quiet—”
“Turn it out!” he ordered. “I’ve heard about what goes on here, I’ve heard what people say. ”
“People say a lot of things, sir. ”
Lieutenant Cardiff struggled to hold his gun and turn down the lamp without dropping it, a prospect that flooded the watching woman with horror. What a thought, burning alive or being eaten alive—a choice no one should have to make.
His voice quivering, the lieutenant said, “So many people have made reports. Word from Austin says they’re sending a specialist—some Ranger with an interest in strange … things. ”
