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“Interview?” Dewhurst demanded, looking offended. “It sounds much more like an interrogation to me, and we have done nothing. We are patriots.” He gestured to the wrinkled tricolor cockade on his coat.
Chevalier nodded at this, and Alex wished it would have helped their cause to reveal who he was. But his presence here would only raise more questions, and if word reached Robespierre, their hard work and plans were all for naught.
“I am sorry, citoyen—” the leader began.
“Sorry!” Dewhurst bellowed. Then out of the corner of his mouth, he muttered in English, “Run.” He stepped forward, speaking in French again. “Sorry? You insult me and my honor—run!—and all you can say is you are sorry? Run, damn you!” He hissed the last in English.
Alex had told herself Dewhurst was mad or perhaps she had heard him incorrectly. He could not possibly wish her to run when a rifle was pointed at them.
And then Dewhurst fired his weapon, above the heads of the peasants, and she didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Chevalier’s hand and yanked him toward the nearest thatch of trees.
The peasants scattered, but it was only a moment before they returned fire. Dewhurst dropped and rolled and Alex dove behind the trees. They were all but bare of leaves and scant protection. But Alex bent and loaded powder and ball into her pistol to cover Dewhurst while he reloaded.
She fired, causing the peasants to duck, and Dewhurst gave her a hard glare. “Run!” he yelled again. Then he turned and fired at the peasants, running immediately after for the light cover provided by a nearby haystack.
“Now!” Chevalier said when Alex bent to ready her weapon. “Before they charge us.”
“I’m not leaving Tony,” Alex gritted out, shaking Chevalier’s hand off and loading her pistol. She primed it, aimed, and fired, making the peasants drop back down behind a rock outcropping, where they’d taken shelter.
“He told us to run. We have a better chance of escaping them if we split up.”
Alex could not argue with the truth of that statement. It was far easier to track three than one, and she could not allow Chevalier out of her sight. Without another word, she tucked the pistol in her skirts, lifted the hem, and ran. She followed Chevalier, who wisely did not head toward Paris but toward a small wooded area to the northwest.
More shots rang out, but they seemed to remain in the distance. When they finally reached the trees, Chevalier leaned against one and she took another. They both fought to catch their breath.
“He’s leading them away from us,” Chevalier said between breaths.
Alex could only nod. Dewhurst might not care for Chevalier, but he would risk his life for the man because they needed the rebel. The little boy in the Temple Prison needed him.
“Do you always have this much trouble?” Chevalier asked.
“It’s not uncommon,” Alex said. “We had better keep moving. Dewhurst will lead them away, but there’s nothing to stop them from dividing and sending two men after us.”
Chevalier pushed up from the tree and followed her deeper into the woods, where the trees grew more densely and blocked out the gloomy afternoon light.
“You didn’t like to leave him,” he said, picking his way over fallen logs and jutting roots. “But he seems quite capable to me. I am certain he will meet us back in Paris.”
“I hope so.” She struggled to keep up with Chevalier, not easy in her heavy skirts and flimsy shoes that became mired in the mud more than once. “And I don’t like to leave him because he is my brother.”
Chevalier looked at her quickly, and Alex realized he misunderstood. “Not in that way. I only mean we have worked together for some time. We protect each other. Your new government loves to speak of fraternity, but I do wonder if you really know what it means.”
She would have sworn she heard him mutter, “So do I.”
Alex spotted a large log and pointed to it. “I think we’ve gone deep enough. We had better start heading south if we are to reach Paris. I don’t like the main road, but we need to find a farmer willing to give us a ride on his cart or those peasants will catch up to us again.”
“You think they will pursue us?”
Alex sat on the log and examined her shoe. It had been pretty once. Now it was caked with mud. She removed it and scraped the bottom on the bark, attempting to free it of some of the heavy mud. “What else have they to do? I am certain this is quite the adventure for them. It will make a good story to tell around their friends’ tables and at the local tavern. Under other circumstances, we would have simply gone with them and...” She trailed off, realizing what she’d said.
Chevalier sat beside her. “So once again I have caused the trouble?”
“When we return to Paris, I’ll have our forger make you false papers. Dewhurst and I have them. We would have had no trouble from the mayor, but your presence would have raised questions.”
“My identity would have freed us quite easily as well. No one could claim I am not a patriot.”
“Yes, but once we returned, you would be under suspicion. If you are under scrutiny, that defeats our purpose.”
“Which is?”
