Page 119 of After 5
“It doesn’t matter, I need to find Sam.”
“Where’s Sam?” Marco asked.
“I don’t know. Victory is a spy for the Union.” I explained the situation about the maps. “She identifies the carriers with a red heart sewn into their coats. Sam took off after a friend. He—.”
“His friend had a heart sewn on his jacket.” Gertie finished my sentence.
“Yes, I need to figure out what regiment the friend is in. If Sam gets killed our entire mission goes awry.”
“Sam won’t have the sword for Caiyan to discover,” Gertie said.
“Sam won’t be alive and living in Texas.” Marco moved to sit on the side of the cot. “I see your point.”
“Sam’s friend was…is named Will. He’s from the same regiment as Sam, the Seventh Tennessee. He told Sam he was under the command of Major General Heth.” I walked over to the map General Lee had spread across the desk. Using a pencil, I drew the patch I recalled from Will’s jacket.
“That would be the third brigade.” Gertie placed a marker on the map. “They’re part of Pickett’s charge.”
“Pickett’s charge!” My DEFCON level shot to a one.
“Jen, this brigade along with General Armistead’s brigade made it to the high-water mark.”
“The furthest in the battle of Gettysburg.” I grabbed Gertie’s shoulder. “He’s going to the front line. I’ve got to stop him!”
“Jen, you can’t.”
I reached for my pocket watch to check the time and realized I gave it to Sam. “I still have time. Where do they enter the battlefield?”
“Here,” she pointed to a spot on the map. “They line up along Seminary Ridge. Archer’s brigade is the fourth regiment down from our direction.”
“What’s General Archer look like?”
Gertie shook her head. “He won’t be there. He was captured on the first day of the battle. I believe Colonel Fry oversees that brigade, but I’ve no idea how to identify him.”
I surveyed the letters on the table. Requests from other generals, letters from loved ones. An incomplete letter written by General Lee to his wife lay aside from the other papers. “I’ll need an order. Can you copy his handwriting?”
Gertie set to work providing me an authentic order to retrieve Lee’s aide and his good friend.
Marco limped over to view the map. “As your defender, I forbid you to go.”
I raised an eyebrow at him.
He cleared his throat. “What I meant was, I don’t like you going alone. I should go with you.”
“I’m riding over there and pulling Will and Sam off the front lines, General Lee’s orders.” Gertie handed me the letter and I stamped it with the seal on Lee’s desk. “I’ll be back before the battle begins.”
I started to leave and stopped short. Turning around to speak to them, “I have another problem. Brodie thinks I know where Caiyan is, he’s outside.”
“My Brodie?” Gertie’s eyes twinkled.
“No, not yet, and I don’t want you to talk to him because it could ruin your meet cute in the future.”
The scary thing about time travel is there’s always a chance when I return, my life will be different. People I love would be gone because I messed up history, or they won’t have any recollection of me. If I tell Caiyan who I am and how we met, he wouldn’t take advantage of me in the barn. Our relationship wouldn’t exist. My first love affair would be sucked down the toilet in one revelation, and I feared the same for Gertie.
“You’d better hurry. I don’t know how I’m going to keep Lee’s staff at bay much longer. The natives are getting restless.” She hiked a thumb toward the front of the tent.
“How are you keeping them out?”
“The concoction I have in the bowl is part cow manure, part tobacco, and part gunpowder. I call it sewer manure.”
