Stars

Chapter Nineteen

Ben sat at the sermon the Reverend was delivering this morning when Caleb came up to him. "Something from Culper Jr."

Ben looked down at the newspaper in Caleb's hand.

"Amen," the reverend spoke.

"Amen," a few men repeated.

Ben made his way towards the reverend as the man was about to leave. "Reverend Worthington!"

Ben caught up to the reverend. He looked at Caleb for reassurance. "I- I wanted to apologize, for the mishaps that attended last week's hangings."

Worthington walked towards his cart with Ben following behind. "For the living know that they will die, but the dead have nothing. Their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished."

"Ecclesiastes, I believe." Ben offered, trying to make conversation with the man.

The reverend turned to him coldly, "what is done, is done. But if you have any qualms of your own, Major, my door is always open." With that, Reverend Worthington turned away from Ben and marched into his tent.

The Major quickly made his way back over to Caleb. "Alright, show me."

Caleb unrolled the paper and pointed towards an ad at the top. "French Raspberry Brady," he said. "Copper Jr. has raised the flag.

Ben sighed. "Which means his father will have seen it by now and should be on his way to New York."

"And Culper would have seen it too and be on his way to Oyster Bay," Caleb finished. "In best get myself to Setauket..."

"It's working... isn't it?"

"That it is, tall-boy."

Caleb ran off to find his horse and ride for Setauket as soon as possible.

~~~

A little of a day later, Ben was sitting in Isabella's tent with her, organizing her letters with her. Well, they were supposed to be organizing the letters. At the moment, they were sitting side by side on the cot, reading through their old letters to each other.

"You really kept all of these letters?" Ben said with a laugh.

"Of course I did. They're wonderful." Isabella exclaimed.

"I sound like a lovesick puppy. I had only known you for a few days, and there I was, making a fool out of myself."

"Well, I thought it was endearing." Isabella said, snuggling into Ben's embrace.

"I'm glad you did," he snaked both of his arms around her and held her close. "God, what would I do without you?"

"You wouldn't have any of these letters to read in your free time, for starters." Isabella teased.

Ben smiled down at her and pressed his forehead lightly against hers so that their faces were centimeters apart. Their lips touched and Isabella immediately moved closer. Their whole seating arrangement was making the kiss awkward so Ben hoisted Bella onto his lap and continued the kiss. They didn't stop until they both heard a cough from the entrance of the tent. Caleb stood in the doorway, not wanting to look at his friend practically making out with a woman.

Isabella sat down next to Ben to avoid making this situation more awkward. Ben stood up and straightened his coat and then helped Isabella up. Caleb handed Ben the paper as Isabella looked over his shoulder to see what the news was.

The two made eye contact as if to say "not again."

Ben turned to Caleb and Isabella with a sigh. "I must go see the General..."

"I'll go with you," Caleb offered, wanting to break the awkward silence.

"If Caleb is going, I'm going. He is my uncle after all." Isabella argued as the men began to leave the tent without her.

"Bella... you won't like what you will hear in there." Ben explained, looking deep into her eyes and silently pleading for her to understand.

"B-ben... what are you going to do to the reverend?" She asked, fearful of what the answer may be.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." He said with a tone of finality. He kissed Isabella's forehead before leaving the tent with Caleb.

~~~

"Worthington took the confessions of both Bradford and Hickey and it's likely he was their go-between with British intelligence. What's more, he's been extracting information from other soldiers under the guise of offering moral counsel." Major Tallmadge stated to General Washington. He was briefing the commander on what Townsend's letter was about.

"Your recommendation?" The General said flatly.

"Sir, we can't arrest or hang him... the news would leak out." Ben stated.

"It could expose Culper as the source..." Washington said as he began pacing.

"Right. So we kill him." Ben said, causing Washington to stop in his tracks. "Quietly... I'll do it myself."

"Uh, Sir?" Caleb began.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Shouldn't we at least wait until we can identify his contact?" Caleb stuttered our.

A moment of silence passed over the three men. Washington took a sip of water from a flask and turned to Ben. "Make it look like an accident if you can."

"Sir, we are going to kill him just like that?" Caleb asked, not able to wrap his head around the idea.

Washington leaned in, "the risk of exposing Culper Jr, far outweighs any advantage gained by letting Worthington live."

Before exiting the tent, Washington looked to the ground and frowned. "It's a pity... I rather liked his sermons."

Caleb and Ben looked at each other before exiting the tent as the General had done.

~~~

A short while later, Ben stood next to an open camp fire and thought for a moment. He needed to mentally plan his journey. After meeting with the General, he had gone to find the reverend. Ben found that Worthington was leaving camp today to return to his hometown to deal with some misdoings there. Or that was his cover story at least.

After thinking for a few minutes, Ben knew what he had to do. But he needed help.

"Isabella... pssst... Bella." Ben called out to her as she walked past him with letter in her hand.

At the whisper of her name, she jumped slightly and turned to find the source. She smiled and relaxed when she saw that it was only Ben.

"What are you doing?"

"I need your help." He said, pulling her aside. "Can you give those letters to somebody else to take care of?"

"Umm... I'm sure Anne will take them. Let me give them to her." She said, confused as to what Ben was plotting.

"When you give those to her, come straight to my tent." He kissed her forehead and ran off towards his tent.