“Then I must trust you to keep my secret and never tell a soul.” she said.-Will you?”
“He nodded.
“Will you swear?”
“I swear it,” he said. “I will tell no one if that is what you wish.” He grimaced, ruefully. “Anyway, how would it look if they knew that I was bested by a girl? But-but why? Why do you pretend to be a boy?”
“Because I am as good a patriot as you are.” she said, “and because I want to do my pan as badly as do you. But would they let me if they knew I was a girl?”
“No, naturally not.” said Johnny. “That is a man’s work.”
“And can you deny that I can take care of myself as well as any man?” asked Andre.
Johnny looked down at the ground again and shook his head. “No.” he said. “No, in truth. I cannot. I must admit that you are powerful strong. For a girl. And you can shoot, too.”
“Not well enough, apparently,” said Andre. “ I missed the horseman.”
“At such close range?” said Johnny. “I do not think so. You had aimed straight at him. The ball must have passed clea
n through him. And that other man, who fired from across the street..
“We both missed. Johnny,” she insisted. “I was forced to rush my shot, There was no time to take a careful aim. And a fast-moving target is difficult to hit. I do not believe that there is such a thing as ghosts.”
“But we both saw him disappear!” said Johnny.
“We only thought we saw him disappear.” said Andre. “Sometimes the eyes play tricks. Have you never been hunting in the woods and seen something move out of the corner of your eye, then turned to see that there was nothing there?”
“Yes, truly,” Johnny said, “but this was different. We were both looking right at him!”
“And the street was dark.” she said. “And there were people shouting from their windows and flinging open their doors. The horseman could have turned quickly into a narrow alleyway and in all the noise, we’d not have heard the stallion’s hoofbeats. Now admit it, does that not sound much more likely than the existence of a ghost rider and a ghost horse, who seem to be solid flesh and blood one moment and disappear the next?”
Johnny sighed. “I suppose so.” he said. He grimaced. You make me feel like a fool.”
“It seems this horseman has fooled a lot of people,” she said. “He clearly knows the streets of Boston well, knows all of the back alleys, knows of places to hide. He rides only when the streets are dark and the shadows can conceal him. He is a very clever man, but he is no ghost. And you arc no fool, Johnny Small.
“I have never in my life met a girl like you,” he said.
“Nor I a boy like you.” said Andre. She smiled and touched his cheek. Suddenly he darted forward and kissed her quickly on the lips. He seemed as taken aback by his own action as she was. Before she could respond, he turned and quickly ran down the alley and into the next street.
For a moment, Andre was too surprised to move. She slowly brought her fingertips up to her lips.
“Bit young for you, isn’t he?”
She spun around and saw Steiger, leaning with his arms folded against the wall.
“Damn it, Creed! Don’t go sneaking up on me like that!” She was grateful that in the darkness, he couldn’t see her blush. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Officially, I suppose I’m A.W.O. L..” said Steiger. “Un-officially, I’ve assigned myself to keep an eye on Hunter. Frankly, I don’t trust him.”
“That was you back there, firing the laser.” she said. “That was stupid. The boy saw you.”
“Yes, but I think he accepted your explanation about the muzzle flash,” said Steiger. “And the ghost rider made a much more lasting impression. As, no doubt, did you.” He grinned. “I think that’s called contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Lieutenant.”
“Forget the wisecracks,” she said. “What did you make of the horseman?”
“Well, he wasn’t any ghost, that’s for sure.” said Steiger. “Somebody equipped with a warp disc, programmed for a fugue clocking sequence, so that he keeps clocking in and out faster than the eye can follow. What you see was only there a fraction of a second earlier. It’s risky as all hell, a good way to wind up in the dead zone if you’re not very careful, but it’s certainly effective.”
“That’s what I figured, too.” said Andre. “It’s the only possible explanation. You think maybe it was Drakov?”