Love, Lies, Traitors & Spies

Six

Chapter Six

Kneeling beside Cole, Juliet lifted her gaze in horror. A single gray clad soldier shifted slowly amidst the trees with a rifle barrel trained on them. "Sergeant Jennings!" Almost instantly she recognized the kindly soldier from Reynolds' troop. She didn't know whether to be relieved or panicked. "Don't shoot us. Please."

Jennings didn't flinch.

Juliet swallowed nervously, her gaze flipping from the sergeant's partially obscured face to the rifle barrel and back again.

Finally he lowered the weapon, face pensive. "I don't want to shoot you," he grumbled. "He looks half dead as it is."

Juliet's shoulders slumped in relief and she began shaking. What a wretched day this had become. Forcing herself to remain focused, she took quick stock of the surrounding woods. She didn't readily see any of Reynolds' other men.

Cole moaned beside her. "I failed. I'm sorry, Juliet... so sorry."

Jennings moved cautiously in on them. "What is he mumbling about?"

Juliet squeezed Cole's hand. His shoulder wound must be infected. He was weak from the fever, and she didn't want delirium to set in. She closed her eyes. Think, Juliet. Think. She knew how to help Cole if there was a safe place to rest. A plan started taking shape in her mind. It might be total madness, but... She glanced up to Sergeant Jennings. "Would you help us?"

"Help you?" Jennings' jaw dropped at the prospect.

"Cole has information that will end the war."

Jennings froze and stared at her for an agonizing few seconds. "Th-the fighting could be over for good?"

"It's true," Cole affirmed. "The intelligence I'm carrying would give the Yankees the advantage, but..."

"It would all be over," Juliet finished for Cole. "The war could be finished in a matter of months. Weeks even."

Jennings leaned heavily against a tree, expression dazed. "No more fighting," he whispered, more to himself than to them. He shook his head, eyes flipping back and forth between Juliet and Cole. "These days I don't much care which side wins," he said softly. "I just want it to be over. Almost every day I talk myself out of deserting. All I want is to go home to my wife and little girl." He slung his rifle strap over his shoulder. "Is this a ploy? I swear to you, if I find out you're lying I'll skin you both alive and leave you to rot."

"I swear on all that's holy," Cole replied gravely.

For a full minute Jennings did not utter a sound. Finally he nodded curtly. "What can I do?"

Stunned by the unexpected turn of events, Juliet's heart skipped a beat. What an unbelievable stroke of luck. As though a guardian angel was watching out for them. "Help me get him up. We need to find a house or some place with good shelter. I know how to tend his wound until we find a doctor."

"I passed a farmhouse not too far back," Jennings said.

"There isn't time for that," Cole protested. "We must keep moving."

"You're in no condition to travel on, Cole. You're too weak even to stand. We'll go to the farmhouse to regroup and form a plan."

"Listen to your girl, Turner. Life is always easier when you at least pretend to agree with the wife." Jennings knelt beside Cole and dragged one of Cole's arms over his neck and shoulders. Juliet wrapped her arm around Cole's waist and together she and Sergeant Jennings hoisted him upward.