Phantoms In Philadelphia Read Online Free PDF

since many people
surely saw me galloping out of the city, and I did not want them to
see my face if they should recognize my horse. I rode to where
Bess’s horse had been left. It was gone, giving me hope that she
had made it safely to the tree. I left Brutus at the stable where
we kept our horses; a stable ran by the Washington Phantoms, then I
made my way across the three roads to where our house was
located.
    As I entered through the back door, I removed my
muddy boots with the bootjack then hurried to the parlor. As I
rounded the corner, I stopped. All of my team was there with Bess,
who was seated on the sofa. There was a cloth around her throat,
and Leo was kneeling before her, but it was the man standing behind
her with his hands resting on the back of the sofa that drew my
attention.
    “Frederick. What are you doing here?”
    Frederick smiled at me, creating a desire in me to
rearrange his teeth, but that was always my first impulse where he
was concerned. I pushed my annoyance away as I advanced into the
room holding out my hand. Frederick moved around the sofa to greet
me.
    Frederick Nolan was the leader of the Washington
Phantoms; a wealthy dandy who thought himself far above the rest of
us. When my father formed the Phantoms, my father led the
Philadelphia team, while one of the other founders, a soldier, led
the Washington team. When they died, Frederick and Bess took their
places, though no one outside the Phantoms and my mother knew that
Bess was the leader. Anyone who heard of us, which were not many,
thought I, Loutaire, was the leader, a ruse that Bess had insisted
upon.
    “Greetings, Jack. I would ask how you fared, but I
can see from your attire, not well.”
    Ignoring the bait, I replied, “You have yet to say
what you are doing here.”
    “Freddy was kind enough to bring me home,” Bess
rasped out causing me to take a good look at her.
    Bess was a naturally beautiful woman, even though
she spent more time in breeches than she did in petticoats. Her
oval face, if a little too brown from the sun, was smooth as fine
silk. Her shoulder length, brown hair was hanging limply, and her
brown eyes were tired. She had our father’s coloring, but where she
saw that as a disadvantage, I saw it as a blessing. She had both
height and beauty. She was not considered inconsequential due to
her height the way I was for my lack of inches.
    Other than the cloth that covered her injured neck,
she did not look like much was wrong with her. Until she spoke. She
should not have been talking. I was about to say as much, as was
Leo, when Frederick spoke.
    “You should not be speaking, dear Bess.” He picked
up her hand, holding it between his two. I could barely see him
through the haze that was my annoyance.
    I stepped between them, forcing him to drop her
hand. I sat beside her on the sofa staring up at him with my arms
crossed over my still damp chest. “What do you want, Frederick?” My
tone said that I would accept none of his usual babble. I wanted
him to state his business and depart.
    It was not that I did not like
Frederick, for I liked most people, but I detested the way he acted
around the deputies of the Phantoms. Frederick may be the team
leader of the Washington Phantoms, but he had lost many good men
through his carelessness—not a good trait for a spy leader—that,
and he was fond of my sister. Frederick had a reputation with
women, and I would not allow him to add Bess to the list of his
conquests.
    “I see your manners have not improved, Loutaire,”
Frederick said as he seated himself in a chair across from the
sofa.
    Leo propped himself against the wall, watching the
banter between me and Frederick.
    “I save my manners for the women,”
my lips twitched, “a trait we have in
common.”
    Frederick’s top lip curled. I could tell that he was
not amused. It added to my own amusement.
    “How did you happen upon my sister?” I looked from
him to Bess. She stared down at her folded hands.
    She