Page 94 of After 5
“Promise me, when you get back to base, if the doctors can’t help Caiyan, you’ll get Eli.”
“You want me to transport the chiropractor to headquarters?” Ace’s eyebrows rose.
“Just promise me, OK?”
“Cross my heart,” Ace said.
I laid my hand against Caiyan’s cheek, and kissed him lightly on the lips, hoping it wasn’t the last time.
He moaned again, and I stepped away from the vessel, allowing Ace to enter.
Ace left in a cloud of dust and a crack of lightning I barely heard over the cannon fire. The battle in the Peach Orchard was over, but the battle for Culp’s Hill was only beginning.
A rustle in the brush started me, and I caught a movement of gray out of the corner of my eye. The young soldier Marco had knocked unconscious stood slack-jawed in the mouth of the clearing. He clutched General Lee’s uniform like a safety blanket.
I moved toward him and he took a step backward.
“What was that?”
“What?
“I saw a box and it took that wounded Federal soldier away.”
“You fell earlier and hit your head. You’re hallucinating.”
“The tall man hit me.”
“No, he reached to grab you when you fainted.”
The boy cursed, then looked guilty that he had. “I never fainted.”
He was shrewd. It would be hard to convince him otherwise.
“I could use your help,”
“I have to find the general. He was under my protection.”
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Well, he sent…” he stuttered. “He sent his scouts to deliver orders, and I was all that was left. Did you put him in the box?”
“No. Are you one of the general’s aide-de-camp?”
“Yes, sir.”
Even faced with the possibility that I might be the enemy, he was polite.
“Look, I promise I didn’t hurt General Lee.” Using Ace’s oath, I began, “Cross my heart and…” Maybe not that one. I switched tactics. “How about if you help me find my friends, I’ll help you find the general.”
The boy paused, considered, then accepted. He held his hand out to me. “Sam Raney.”
I hoped my face didn’t reveal the shock over the recognition of his name.
I shook his hand and said the first name that came to mind.
“Dr. Seuss.”
Chapter 18
