Page 82 of In Honor’s Defense

The instant Luke’s boots hit the platform at the Austin station, he used the full length of his legs to stride through the milling passengers toward the telegraph office. Hopefully, Matt had communicated with his father-in-law and left word for Luke about where to meet up with the rest of the Horsemen.

“Preach!” The captain’s shout carried above the hissing steam of the locomotive and the hustle of the trainmen and porters.

Luke’s head snapped to the left, his pulse leaping as he searched the platform for Matt’s familiar handlebar mustache. A waving arm drew his attention, and he jogged over to the man he loved like a brother.

As they gripped forearms and pounded each other on the back, a weight lifted from Luke’s shoulders. The cavalry had arrived.

“I heard from Thaddeus,” Matt said. “Nate made it to San Antonio about an hour ago.”

Luke gripped his captain’s shoulder and leaned on him for support as his knees wobbled. “Thank God.” He recognized at once what Matt hadn’t said, but he needed confirmation. “Damaris?”

The small shake of Matt’s head made the situation clear.

“As soon as we got your wire about Mullins and Harbinger, we put Francis Kendall to work investigating all company holdings in town. Wallace and Brooks are checking out a pair of warehouses, but I think it more likely he’ll take her someplace remote.”

Luke didn’t know the newspaperman well, since Kendall had always communicated directly with Matt about their jobs, but having a local man familiar with the area could even the odds against Mullins. Damaris needed every advantage they could wrangle.

“Kendall was surprised to see Harbinger’s name attached to the investigation,” Matt said as he steered Luke toward the road where his horse, Percival, and a second Gringolet mount waited.

Leave it to the captain to think of everything. Luke had left Titan at a livery in Phelps, not wanting anything to slow him down or complicate his ability to get to Austin as quickly as possible.

“The company has a reputation for being aggressive but fair in their dealings. Are you sure they’re behind the Baxters’ troubles?”

Luke slowed as they reached the horses. He rested an arm on the saddle and looked over the back of his horse to where Matt collected Percival’s reins. “They’re the ones who benefit from the railroad building a spur into Madisonville, but I suppose it’s possible that Mullins has been operating without their knowledge. It doesn’t really matter to me at the moment, though. Mullins is the one who has Damaris. He’s got a killer with him and access to Harbinger resources. We can sort out where the blame goes after we get Damaris back.”

Matt held his gaze for a long moment, then dipped his chin. He understood. Damaris was more than just a kind woman who had nursed Luke back to health. She was his heart. His life. Justice was not the mission today. Damaris was the mission.

“Kendall has a command center set up at his home. Mount up, and I’ll take you there. You can fill us in on what you know about Harbinger and Mullins, and we’ll see what information Kendall has gleaned from his local sources. Lord willing, that will give us a direction to start the hunt.”

The last thing Luke wanted to do was sit around in a room talking. The bloodhound inside him already strained at the leash to be turned loose. But determination alone wouldn’t lead him to his target. A hound needed a scent to identify the trail. And no one was better at finding a viable scent in a pile of random information than Matthew Hanger.

So Luke mounted up without argument and followed his captain to a tidy little house near Shoal Creek. Seeing a pair of familiar horses tied up outside got Luke’s blood pumping. He hurried inside to see if by some miracle Wallace and Brooks had found Damaris.

But the only woman inside the house was a middle-aged lady fluttering about a small parlor.

“This is Eloise Kendall,” Matt said by way of introduction as she entered the room. “Ellie, this is Luke Davenport.”

“Ah. The one they call Preach.” She smiled, and the sparkle in her eyes gave her a youthful glow at odds with the smattering of gray streaking through her dark hair. “Please, come in.” She called out to the group of men huddled around a table. “Francis will want to talk to you.”

Luke had never considered that Francis Kendall might have a wife. But why shouldn’t he? Most men their age did. Still, it was odd to think of him as anything other than the reporter who’d chronicled the Horsemen’s exploits. Not a real person with a full life of his own.

“Sorry to cause such a stir,” Luke said as he removed his hat and ducked around a light fixture hanging from the hall ceiling.

“Don’t be silly.” Mrs. Kendall winked as she shepherded them toward the parlor. “I haven’t seen Francis this excited in years. He’s always wanted to meet the four of you in person, but to actually help you on a case? Why, he’s beside himself.”

When she caught Luke’s eye, her smile flattened, and compassion sparked in her gaze. She touched his arm. “No one knows Austin better than my Francis. With all the stories he’s written and the good he’s done in this city, people are eager to help whenever he asks, and he’s been asking all morning. He’ll find Miss Baxter for you. I have no doubt.”

But would he find her in time?

“Preach!” Wallace strode away from the card table where a short man with a fluffy mustache bent over a crazy assortment of books, maps, and seemingly random scraps of paper.

Jonah stepped out of the shadows in the corner and strode forward as well.

Luke embraced his comrades but only found the words for one question. “Any sign of Damaris?”

Jonah shook his head. “Nothing at the warehouses but cargo. I checked all the back rooms and storage closets while Wallace kept the managers busy with his usual song-and-dance routine, but we found no evidence of anything unusual.”

“Those were shots in the dark, though, made when the only clue we had to go on was the Harbinger name.” Wallace slapped Luke on the back and offered a crooked smile that somehow managed to be reassuring without diminishing the seriousness of the situation. “Other intelligence has been arriving all morning. We’ve got much more to go on now. With you here to fill in the missing pieces, Matt and Kendall will have things narrowed down in no time.”