“If you go with him,” Cleopha’s husband said loudly enough for everyone to hear, “you can’t
take my children.”
Gabriel gestured to the area behind him. “The few of you who have children will find that they
are playing in a small area outside of this building.” That admission brought gasps from some
of the mothers. They had been instructed to leave their children in the care of Jean’s maids at
her house near the river. “As I said before, each woman will keep her children whether she stays
here or goes with us.”
Luke glowered angrily at the stunned men in the audience, a vein thrumming along his temple.
“You’re just going to let this half-cocked high yella Negro take your women? This is just some
cockamamie scheme to get our women for himself.”
“Your children, our children, will have the best chance, the brightest opportunities,” Gabriel
called out over Luke’s voice. He had prayed that, if nothing else, at least Lucille would make a
move to leave the anteroom with the guards who were taking a small group around the building
to the foyer. If she left, then Luke would certainly follow. Instead, the whore went to whisper
something to her husband, and his expression darkened.
The remaining men grumbled as the guards moved in to restrain them. Gabriel nodded to
Jeremiah, who seized Luke, dragging him to the front before shoving him toward three of the
waiting guards.
Luke railed against the men separating him from his wife. “So you’re just gonna kidnap our
women?” he yelled. “Our children, too?”
“Desperate times call for drastic measures,” Gabriel replied without an ounce of regret.
“Women who are not leaving with us will reunite with their children at the first entrance.”
Jeremiah came over to Gabriel, his brisk gait as telling as ever. “We understand there’s trouble,
but the men do not want to kill anyone. I agree with them.”
“We’re over our limit,” Gabriel replied, watching some of the women converse with others
whose indecisiveness was so strong, they were in tears. “I have to whittle down the numbers—”
“We can handle all of the women,” Jeremiah said. “Let’s roll with what we have. We leave
the moment that last bus …” his voice trailed off as he caught sight of his beautiful redbone wife
walking in from the anteroom, parting the crowd of women as she hurried toward him. An array
of emotions passed over his face, before he turned to Jean. “How did you get Betty here?”
Jean smiled up at him. “I am not without my own resources.”
His eyes widened with delight as they trailed over his wife’s face. “But she said she would
never accept this.”
Jean gave him a shrug of indifference. “She changed her mind.”
Gabriel looked at his wife. He was not at all pleased that she had taken it upon herself to do
this. He wondered if she had done the same for the other men. Had she been so sure that he
would not gather enough women to make this venture worthwhile?
The crash of chairs against the doors in Room 2 caused Jeremiah’s jaw to set and a hard gleam
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