by Jade Parker
“More’s the pity it wasn’t me right arm,” Ferret had said, once he recovered. “The pay’s better fer a right arm.”
It was like Ferret to grumble over the loss of coin more than the loss of limb. While James couldn’t deny that pirates were dastardly fellows, they did look after their own. A man was compensated for loss of limb, unless he had the misfortune of serving under a captain who would abandon him at the first sight of inconvenience. Which Ferret had.
As had James. While the Horizon was burning, Crimson had held a spyglass to his eye, taking pleasure in the destruction he’d wrought. While he attacked ships of all nations, he was in the habit of always burning British ships. Where they were concerned, he held a particular dislike.
As was his habit, James had been standing beside him, careful not to show the relief he felt when he saw the longboat moving beyond the hulking ship and brown hair blowing in the wind.
Crimson considered himself James’s teacher and liked to keep him close. James had started out as his cabin boy, keeping everything tidy and clean. He learned a lot from Crimson. Most were lessons hard learned, but learned nonetheless.
“There looks to be a wench aboard,” Crimson growled. “How’d we miss ’er?”
“She musta been hiding,” James said.
“We tore the ship apart, from stem to stern. Someone had to have seen ’er. I’m bettin’ she was in the ’old.”
Crimson gave him a hard glare, the kind of look that caused lesser blokes to cry for their mothers. It never signaled anything good.
James dug the ring out of his pocket. “She paid me well to let her go.”
Crimson snatched up the ring, studied it, and tossed it back to James. “It’s naught but glass, lad. A bit of fakery. We’ll see how well you think she paid you when I’m done with you.”
James realized then that he should have taken the necklace. Hell, he should have taken the girl. She was a prize worthy of any pirate.
Now all James possessed was the reminder of his foolishness.
It was months before a merchant ship had neared the island where they’d been abandoned and seen their signal fires. Six months of eating fish and lizards. When they made their first port, they’d jumped ship. Since that time, it had been a game of cat and mouse, hiding aboard one ship after another, trying to evade the pirate hunter who was spreading reward notices for James all along the coast. Six weeks ago, James and Ferret had arrived in French Louisiana. The ship that brought them was in port for repairs. It would be a few more weeks before it was ready to head back into open waters. James wasn’t of a mind to wait. Nor did he particularly care for life aboard an honest ship. It involved a good deal of work for very little pay.
Before Ferret could grab his tankard, James snatched it back. “Did you do as I asked?”
“I did. I swear.” He leaned toward James. “It’s as ye suspected. The pirate hunter is on our scent. The Dangerous Lady made port late this afternoon.”
James was already well aware of that.
“They say the cap’n be a woman who be equally dangerous,” Ferret began.
“So I’ve heard.”
“But yer not believin’ it. I can tell, but I’ve known women pirates.” He winked. “Known ’em very well, if you catch my drift.”
“But not privateers. No royal governor would issue a letter of marque to a woman. He’d be laughed out of office.”
“But what if he did?”
“Then he’s an idiot.”
“That goes without saying, if ye ask me.”
“I’m not asking you.”
“Ye think she’s lying about the marque?” Ferret asked.
James shrugged, thinking of his mother. “All women lie. All women betray.”
“Aye,” Ferret said, grinning. “But ye got to forgive ’em. Where else ye gonna get a kiss?”
James shook his head, wishing Ferret hadn’t mentioned kisses. It had been too long since James had kissed a girl, and that last kiss haunted him still. “The Dangerous Lady is not captained by a woman.”
“Believe what you will.” Ferret reached into his jacket, removed a piece of paper, and awkwardly unfolded it with his one hand. “Woman or no, she’s passing these around. She’s after you, ye know.”
He did know. It was the reason they were living in the shadows of the recently built port city.
James took the paper and studied his likeness, etched on the reward notice beneath the amount of one hundred pounds. It was like staring into a looking glass, so accurate was the portrait. Even his scar began and ended exactly where it did on his cheek.
Someone knew him very, very well. And wanted him badly enough to go to the expense of printing up a reward notice.
He resisted the temptation to crumple the paper and toss it on the floor. He didn’t want someone to pick it up, notice him, and decide the hundred-pound reward was worth the effort of trying to capture him. Such an action would interfere with his plans.
“Many a man would be tempted to turn ye in fer the reward,” Ferret said, as though reading James’s mind.
James lifted his gaze from the reward notice. “Are you tempted, Ferret?”
“’Course not. Yer me mate. Saved me life, ye did.” Ferret grabbed his tankard and quickly gulped the contents. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “I owe ye.”
But no other man owed him. And Ferret was right. Many a man would be tempted. He thought of the barmaid’s statement earlier, about him looking familiar. He wondered if she’d seen one of the reward notices. How many others might have?
With a reward on his head, he had to get out of Nouvelle-Orléans … and fast. But how he was going to accomplish that little miracle remained a mystery.
“I found us a cap’n who’s willin’ to take on a couple of experienced sea rovers like us.”
James studied him. “Even a one-armed sea rover?”
“Hey! I only need one arm to cook, matey!”
“Interesting,” James muttered. “You couldn’t cook before.”
“So I’ll be apprenticin’. Ye interested in servin’ as a crewman or not?” He leaned nearer and whispered. “The cap’n be askin’ no questions.”
“I assume the ship isn’t used for legal activities,” James stated.
“If he ain’t askin’ questions of us, I didn’t feel the need to ask ’em of him.”
And James had long since lost the luxury of being particular about where he berthed.
“When does he leave?”
“First light. With the morning tide.”
“Sounds like our luck is improving.”
“Let’s finish our drinks, mate, and I’ll take you to the ship and introduce you to the cap’n.”
James clanked his tankard against Ferret’s. “To fair winds and a fast ship.”
Ferret grinned. His front teeth crossed, making him look every bit like the creature he’d been named for. “And a bit of piratin’ along the way.”
There was no reason to delay, so James drained his tankard in one long, hearty swallow. But Ferret still finished his first.
Neither of them had a need to return to the squalor where they’d been living these past few weeks. James carried everything of importance on him. His pistol was tucked in his belt. His cutlass swung loosely at his side. The only clothes he owned were those on his back. He relished the freedom that his nomadic life offered him.
But sometimes he did find himself wishing for something with more permanence to it. A ship to call his own. A ship that was his to command. That would give him a place that was his. The right ship. A seaworthy ship.
He could almost see it as he wended his way through the drunken crowd, with Ferret following along behind him. But a ship cost a good deal of money.
He and Ferret stepped out into the night. The thick fog had rolled into the city. The gray mist swirled at their feet as they wandered farther away from the tavern, working their way along the narrow streets. Lanterns hung here and there created a
n eeriness in the fog-shrouded night.
It was nearly midnight and few people were out. Most remained in the taverns. Ferret was leading the way now.
“This way, mate.”
He turned into a dark passage, buildings on either side of it. No lanterns provided light here, but farther down a glow fought the mist. It was exactly the type of place that James would use if he wanted to rob a man.
“Yo, ho, ho and a bottle —” Ferret began singing.
“Be quiet!” James commanded in a harsh whisper.
Ferret obeyed with a muttered, “Just ’avin’ a bit of fun.”
James crept cautiously behind Ferret. He’d never been afraid of the dark, but there was always the danger of tripping over something he couldn’t see. Perhaps it was because he was concentrating so hard on his surroundings that he heard it.
A whisper of a sound.
Something that didn’t belong.
The air filled with the rasp of his sword as he drew it from its sheath.
Ferret stopped. “Here now, mate. No need for that.”
James could see Ferret’s silhouette, the light beyond him. “Something’s not right.”
He felt it in his bones. The hairs along the nape of his neck prickled and rose.
“Mate, you can’t —”
Ferret released a little screech and disappeared into the blackness. James heard metal scraping against metal. Light flared to the side.
He swung around. A half-dozen men stood behind him. One held a lantern aloft. Obviously, he’d had it encased in some sort of metal container to prevent it from being seen earlier.
James heard another sound and glanced over his shoulder. More light. More men.
He drew his knife from its scabbard, so he held a weapon in each hand.
A man stepped forward. “Drop your weapons, Sterling, and you’ll not be harmed.”
James laughed as though he were on the deck of a ship, being taunted by a bully. “If you want them, come and take them.”
He arced the sword through the air, slicing nothing except fog, but it made a whistling sound that echoed between the buildings. A warning. A dare. A challenge.
He heard the rush of footsteps behind him. He swung around. His sword hit another, the ringing of steel vibrating around him. He thrust with his knife and his opponent jumped back.
James was at a disadvantage. He knew it. There were too many. There was no escape. But he wasn’t going down without a fight.
“You can’t win against us,” the man who’d spoken before said. “Surrender to the captain of The Dangerous Lady.”
James spun around. “Never. I’ll never surrender to you.”
“I’m not the captain,” the man said.
“Is he too much of a coward to do his own work?” James asked with a sneer.
A pain shot through James’s head, and he dropped to his knees. Someone had sneaked up behind him and clobbered his skull. His weapons were torn from his grasp. He felt weak and the world was spinning. He tried to get up, but the ground was so much more inviting. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep.
Someone jerked him roughly to his feet and wrenched his arms behind his back. He felt the sharp bite of rope as his hands were bound.
He heard the enticing clinking of coins. He watched, stunned, while the man who’d spoken earlier tossed a small bag into Ferret’s waiting hands.
Ferret walked up to James. “Sorry, mate, but ye owed me fer takin’ me arm.”
Ferret took a swing, his fist clipping James on the chin and dropping him back to the ground.
“That’s enough!” a feminine voice shouted.
As awkward as it was with his hands tied behind his back, James lifted his head and watched the girl walking out of the mist.
With brown hair flowing past her shoulders.
She stopped only a few inches from him.
“So we meet again, James Sterling.”
It was the girl from the hold.
And from the look on her face, she had every intention of sending him to hell.
Annalisa Townsend sat at the desk in her cabin. She could hardly believe that she had finally captured James Sterling.
It had been almost too easy. That thought nagged at her. She’d ordered The Dangerous Lady to set sail as soon as she and her men had boarded the ship — with their captive in tow.
She’d learned a lot in the year since the attack on the Horizon. If pirates sought to seize her ship today, she wouldn’t seek refuge in the cargo hold. She’d draw her cutlass and fight the pirates. She was no longer weak and helpless. She was skilled with the parry and the thrust. She’d spent countless hours practicing, learning the techniques required to fight in close quarters aboard a ship. There was little room to maneuver, but her slender figure worked to her advantage. She was generally more nimble than her opponent, who was usually Nathaniel Northrup.
During most of the past year, she’d been under his tutelage. The young officer who’d helped her disembark from the Horizon had left the king’s service shortly after the attack. Like her, he felt he could better serve his country as a free agent, untethered by the rules that applied to the Royal Navy. Together, they plotted and planned how best to regain what they had lost.
With money her father had set aside to be used as a dowry when she married, Annalisa had purchased an aging ship and renamed it The Dangerous Lady.
She wanted nothing more than to capture Crimson Kelly and regain the treasure stolen from her father. When the pirate had burned their ship and left them adrift, it had taken them some time to make it to a port where they could report the thievery. There, they’d boarded a ship that took them to New Providence. The royal governor there, Rogers, suspected her father of being in league with Crimson Kelly. Why else had the pirate not killed them all? He arrested her father and charged him with piracy!
Annalisa had pleaded with Rogers to grant her a letter of marque, to give her the chance to sail on a ship and prove her father’s innocence. Rogers had merely laughed at the notion of a woman serving as a privateer. So she’d forged a marque. She needed it to declare her legitimacy at ports and to secure her crew. Otherwise, she would appear to be no more than a pirate herself — and at the mercy of other privateers.
Nathaniel had agreed to serve on Annalisa’s ship as quartermaster. As such, he was the second in command. When the treasure was returned, the ship would be his, his payment for his services. He’d helped her obtain a crew. And he’d instructed her in the art of fighting with the cutlass. He’d taught her how to fire a pistol with fair accuracy. She had two loaded pistols nestled in the belt at her waist. Her sword was at the ready, at her side, along with her dagger. She’d tucked a more slender dagger into her boot.
All along the Caribbean and the coast of colonial America, Annalisa had sent her men into various taverns and pubs to gather information and post reward notices. Pirates sometimes left one ship, hoping to find work on another. With enough grog in them, they’d sell their mothers, wives, and children.
She’d managed to learn that Crimson Kelly was in the habit of burying his treasure shortly after he gained it. He favored an island in the Caribbean for his purposes, which included hiding himself between voyages. But no one knew exactly where the island was located. He shared his maps, his coordinates, with no man.
But what cabin boy didn’t have a healthy dose of curiosity?
And James Sterling, if the rumors were true, had begun his pirating ways by serving as Crimson Kelly’s cabin boy.
“You caught him. Shouldn’t you be smiling?”
Annalisa looked up and met Nathaniel’s brown-eyed gaze. With his fingers, he brushed his blond hair off his brow. He was only twenty-five, fairly young to be the quartermaster of a ship. But he had an overall sense of justice that rivaled hers. When he spoke, the crew listened. With him standing by her side, they listened when she spoke as well.
“I fear capturing him was the easy part,” Annalisa said. “Getting him to coop
erate is another matter.”
“Are you so certain he has the answers?”
Annalisa nodded. Since she began her quest to recover the treasure stolen from her father’s ship, she’d learned a great deal about Crimson Kelly and James Sterling.
“They say he was closer to Crimson Kelly than any man. That Crimson treated him almost like a son.”
“Odd, then, that he would maroon him.”
“He obviously fell into disfavor.” She waited a heartbeat before continuing. “And that might work to our favor.”
“You think he’ll want his own revenge?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“Absolutely. But would I trust others to help me acquire it? I’m not sure I would.”
“We’ll give him no choice.”
“I’m not certain why you were so determined to catch James Sterling when capturing Crimson Kelly would give us what we need.”
“My reasons are personal, but I assure you they’re justified. And in the end, our present course will give us much more satisfactory results.”
Her comment was met with silence. As much as he questioned her, he also respected her opinion. Her plan involved finding Crimson Kelly and capturing his ship in order to reclaim the treasure. She knew — they all knew — Crimson Kelly wouldn’t surrender without a ferocious fight. But it wasn’t the treasure she really wanted. She wanted to free her father from suspicion, give him back his life. To achieve that end, she needed not only to recover the treasure but to deliver Crimson Kelly — alive — to Governor Rogers.
She shoved back her chair and stood. “I need to talk to our captive.”
Nathaniel came to his feet. “I’ll go with you.”
“No, I think it best if I talk to him alone.”
“That’s hardly a wise plan. It puts your life at risk.”
