Midnight Honor

injuries long enough to allow Archibald to stitch and bandage them. The men were in awe of him; his experience as a smuggler and reiver made him doubly valuable to the prince's army.
    As for the chief of Clan Chattan, he was a difficult man to read, not given to revealing too much either through his eyes or his expression. Perhaps that was what pricked Alex's instincts the most. Was the chief of Clan Chattan a more formidable adversary than he appeared to be? And if so, could it work to their advantage?
    Alex twirled one of his thin black cigars between his fingers and glanced across the table at Aluinn, but there were no insightful glances coming back his way.
    “Yes, well.” Cameron cleared his throat. “You play the devil well, Captain MacKintosh, but you are not telling us anything we do not already know.”
    “What if I
did
tell you something you didn't know?”
    “We might question the motive for your generosity,” came the blunt reply.
    “Of course.” Angus smiled. “Then why don't we speak of motives first and clear the air, so to speak?”
    Alex spread his hands. “You have our complete attention.”
    “Quite simply, when the army returns to Inverness, I want my wife sent back to Moy Hall. I care not how it is done or who does it, or under what pretense, but I want her sent home. I also do not want her to know she is
being
sent home, for if she believes that to be case, she will likely thumb her nose and tell you to break wind at the moon.”
    The midnight eyes narrowed further. “And in exchange?”
    “In exchange I can give you detailed maps of Fort George, inside and out. I can tell you where the walls have recently been reinforced and where there are concealed batteries of guns. And I can tell you the weakest points in the fortifications, which, conversely, would be the best places to lay your mines—assuming, naturally, that you wish to avoid another comedic debacle like Stirling Castle.”
    “We would indeed,” Cameron said after a moment, “but what if I told you your wife has offered us the same information?”
    “It would be accurate … to a degree. At least one of her rapscallion cousins has spent time behind bars there, and her grandfather has been around long enough to have seen the original walls go up. But there have been changes in the past year I doubt even they know about. Loudoun has been cautious since he assumed command. In recent months, he has been nervous, too, to the extent that he has had details of enlisted men doing most of the work, digging, building gun emplacements, setting traps and the like.”
    “Traps?”
    Angus nodded. “In the armory, for one. If you fail to reach it quickly, there are kegs of powder set with fuses that need only be lit by someone requiring ten minutes to exit through a nearby tunnel. If they blow, they will send half the fort to hell and gone—and anyone in it at the time.”
    The pause was noticeable as Cameron glanced once again at MacKail, who shrugged but looked intrigued nonetheless.
    “It seems to be a fair exchange. It would also help if wehad precise maps of Inverness as well as any defenses in the harbor and surrounding areas.”
    “Anne can give you that,” Angus said. “She has a better eye for detail and is more familiar with the moors and bogs. Plus, it will occupy her time when I have gone.”
    “Gone? You're going somewhere?”
    “Is that not why you asked to meet with me tonight? Because you want me to go back to Edinburgh with the other prisoners when they are released?”
    Alex tried not to look surprised—or excited. As had been the case following the Battle of Prestonpans, it had been decided that all prisoners would be released if they agreed to give their word not to take up arms against the prince again. The number was vastly smaller than the fifteen hundred prisoners taken in their first victory, but with supplies short and tempers frayed, the chiefs were more concerned with providing the bare necessities for their own men than catering to the needs of captured soldiers.
    “I will admit the thought occurred to us,” Cameron said. “The possibility of having someone close to Cumberland's command is intriguing, and your name did come up several times in various conversations.”
    “Now hold on a minute,” MacGillivray began.
    “You did not know this was what they wanted to discuss?” Angus asked.
    The big Highlander looked like he wanted to smash the table in half. “I did not.”
    “As I