Fiddlehead (The Clockwork Century 5)

“I recognized the old army cut,” he said. “No business of mine, and so I never asked, but a man can be curious, can’t he?”

Outside, the invaders tried again with their untrustworthy shouted compromises. “You send out Wellers, and we’ll all go away! Call it a night!”

Grant and Gideon went to opposite windows and looked outside cautiously.

“This is good,” Grant murmured. “They want to make a deal. Men who are confident of victory don’t seek to make deals. ”

“Maybe they can’t get reinforcements after all. ”

“That’s possible. It’s also possible that Haymes doesn’t want the deaths of two presidents on her hands, and she’s told them to withdraw. Don’t forget: The advantage is ours, though we do not know its extent. ”

“Forgive me if I don’t get too excited while they’re out there holding us hostage. ”

“Absolutely. ” Grant lifted the quilt an inch farther, holding it away from the broken glass with the barrel of his ’58. He raised his voice to project it, and hollered out into the night. “Forget it! Wellers is innocent!”

“You can’t hide him forever!”

“We don?

?t have to, and you know it!”

Gideon frowned. “What do you mean by that?” he whispered.

Grant whispered in return. “Confused? Good. They’ll be confused too. Let ’em think we’re up to something. Right now, they’ll assume we mean to dig in our heels, but we could also have a plan to sneak him away, or call in reinforcements of our own. Lincoln has many friends, and someone will come calling eventually—or, for that matter, someone will notice that the president is missing. ”

“Good. If we can hold on until dawn, they may decide this is more dangerous than they’d prefer and try a different approach. But,” Gideon warned, “they’ll come again. For him. For me. ”

“Son,” Grant said. It was precisely the sort of voice that usually felt like nails on a chalkboard to Gideon, but for some reason, he didn’t mind it now. “All I can do is buy you time. But I doubt you need much more than that to think your way out of this. ”

“Your vote of confidence is … meaningful to me. ”

“You’re welcome. ”

Someone outside disturbed the moment with a threat: “Don’t make us set fire to the house!”

Gideon and Grant paused and looked at each other across the door—each one trying to read the other, and gauge what they thought about that. Grant shook his head first. “If they could, they’d have done it already,” he said. “Haymes is a gambling woman, but she wouldn’t push them that far. ”

“How do you know she’s a gambler?”

“She spends all her time with politicians. Name me a bigger risk if you can. ”

“Are you going to answer them?”

Both men sat on the floor, watching from behind the swaying blankets. The wind had calmed, but only a bit. The night was still full of treacherous gusts, and threatening, broiling black clouds that hid all the stars.

“Yes, I’ll answer them. Like this,” Grant said. Then he shouted, “Light up a flare, and we’ll shoot any man who holds it!”

Silence in response.

After a few seconds of what must have been conferral: “Our offer stands!”

Quietly, Grant said, “Oh does it, now? Well, good for them. ”

Nelson Wellers came tiptoeing around the corner, and announced himself by saying, “They’ll do it, if they’re Haymes’s men. She’s done worse than cook a family alive. ”

“Sit down, doctor. ”

“I can’t let them harm the Lincolns. I won’t have that on my conscience, not when I prevent it just by being less of a coward. ”