They both noticed him at the same time. Will’s attention honed in on the tiniest detail of Jun’s posture. Her easy smile faded as quickly as it came, seconds before he was ambushed from behind by several men. They leapt on his back and dragged him to the floor.
He fought off one and reached for his pistol, only to have his arm caught and hauled behind his back. Rolling, he rammed his head against another’s face and felt the man’s nose snap. Will kicked off another while the two on his right side tried to wrench his arm from his shoulder, pulling it behind him. His weapons seized.
A fist hit him from the left, knocking him down again. Lights exploded in his head. When the cold circle of a gun barrel jammed into his temple, he stopped fighting. One of the men planted his knee in the center of Will’s back pinning him to the floor, threatening to snap him in half before his left arm suffered the same fate as his right.
God, they were tying his hands! A familiar panic iced through his veins, but the pistol pointed at his head forced him to choke down his fear. Will twisted his head. He could see Jun. Peng stood between them, keeping her from him. Seemingly protecting her from Will. He needed his hands to speak. What the hell were they doing? He wouldn’t hurt her; he needed to speak to her. Jun!
Will bucked at his restraints until something heavy and solid cracked the back of his skull.
* * * *
“What the hell are you doing? Let him go!” Jun watched in horror as Peng’s men seized Will and brought him to the floor.
Peng stepped in front of her and held her by her shoulders. “The man is a spy.”
“That’s impossible, let me pass.” Jun attempted to side step him, but he continued to block her way. “Release him.”
“He is a serious threat to you, Jun. Trust me in this. I’ve ordered him removed at once.”
“You’ve ordered?” Peng continued blocking her from going to Will. “Get your hands off me or lose them. I know nothing of any threat, from Captain Quinn. What are you talking about? What proof do you have?”
“You remember, I sent a query through the fleet. Information arrived at first light. The last known reports of a ship known as the Scarlet Night came from one of our very own men. The Scarlet Night was captured more than two years ago by the British Navy and all hands were arrested and charged with treason. They were sentenced to hang.” Peng looked back at his men. “I believe the British sent this man to spy on us. He’s lied to us both. Our man also reported that he sailed on the Night for several years. He knew Captain Quinn. Two of them. Neither one of them were named William. There is no such man. The British sent him to spy on us. He’s part of a clever plot to infiltrate our empire.”
“That’s ridiculous. If you’ll get out of my way...” Jun gasped as she watched Will knocked unconscious. “Damn it, Peng. I read his journal. What you’re saying is wrong.”
“Have you been so blinded by your obvious feelings for the man that you believe something he’s scribbled on a page? In a book he just so happened to leave out for you to find? You’re too clever to fall for such a simple hoax.”
Jun shook him off. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think I do.” He stared her down. Behind him, his men dragged Will from the hall. “Forget your pride and consider for one moment that our information is right. His presence is a severe threat to you and all you’ve fought so hard to achieve. The British have launched a dozen campaigns to end our command of these waters together with the Chinese. They would stop at nothing to cut off the head of the Dragon, dismantle the fleet, and extinguish our fire.”
A sharp claw of poisonous doubt scratched a bitter path down her spine. “You’re wrong about Will. If there is such a plot against us, I can’t believe he’s a part of it.”
Peng gave her a pitying look. “You’re letting your feelings cloud what you know to be true.”
Damn him. Jun couldn’t think past the fact that she may have lost her heart to a man who was plotting to kill her. No! What was she thinking? She wasn’t an idiot. She hadn’t gotten to where she was by being weak and foolish.
Jun crossed her arms over her chest. She trusted Will, and more importantly, she trusted her judgment. Peng was mistaken. She would get to the truth. “Who is the man who brings this information? I want to speak to him myself.”
“I don’t have his name. I’m not even sure which crew the information came from. It was passed from commander to commander. All I know is he, too, is a westerner. He has no reason to lie about his connection to the Scarlet Night. He signed an oath to you when he joined with us. What reason would he have to lie?” Peng looked over his shoulder with a pompous grin. “Opposed to the host of reasons for our unwanted guest to deceive us.”
Jun narrowed her eyes and glared at Peng. “Track him down. I don’t care how long it takes. I want to know who he is and if his information is first-hand or hearsay.”
“Track him down?” Peng threw wide his hands and gaped at her as if she had lost her mind. “We have over nine hundred ships.”
Hurt and anger flared in Jun, but at her core, it was fear nibbling its way through her belly. She needed answers and she needed them now. “I don’t care if there are nine thousand. I want facts. Proof. Bring everything you can find to me at once.”
Peng shook his head sadly. “I will do my best, but…”
“No excuses.” Jun left the dais and moved to the place where the men had taken Will. His logbook had been trampled in the struggle. When she bent to pick it up, she noticed the smear of blood on the tiled floor. She straightened and turned back to Peng.
The muscle in Jun’s jaw pulsed as the edges of her heart began to frost. “If your information is right, I will take Captain Quinn’s head myself.” Peng’s pompous grin returned. “However, if you are wrong… it will be your blood that stains the blade of my sword.”
Chapter 19
Jun rushed back to her private quarters and into the gardens before falling to her knees and losing the contents of her stomach. Ting rushed to her side and held her while she continued to wretch. Tears blurred her vision. This wasn’t happening. Will couldn’t have deceived her. The way he held her last night… They had made love for hours. He’d done everything she asked…and ‘more.’
She covered her eyes with a trembling hand. There had been a certain coolness to him when they stood in the garden, however. Jun’s stomach recoiled as she remembered the restraint on his part. She believed he was letting her be the seductress. What if he… The whores of the Painted Palace had once lectured her on the dangers of getting emotionally attached. They taught her how to be cool…distant.
She heaved again. Ting wrestled the baldrics from her and loosened the hold of her armor. Jun moaned. Had she fallen in love with a man who’d been sent to snake his way into her bed? A ruse to penetrate her private space searching for any weakness in her empire? Give her enemies some vulnerability they could exploit? Had she been so desperate to be touched, so hungry for love that she ran blindly into Will’s arms? It wasn’t as if he forced himself upon her. She had been the aggressor. Jun gripped at her twisting stomach. She had reveled in her power to seduce him. Had she played into his hands? How could she have been so reckless?
Pain sliced through her as she curled her body into itself. No! She wouldn’t let Peng’s poisonous accusations taint what she believed in her heart. She loved Will. Yes, she’d only known him a short time, but he was everything she hadn’t believed she wanted. Handsome, strong, rugged. And at the same time, he was good and kind and…and…a pirate. A man, by definition, a thief. A cunning, determined, self-serving, profit-driven thief.
Jun held her head. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Ting brought a cool cloth to bath her face. Jun shivered as its chill joined the cold pit growing inside her. The chill of Will’s deception would encase her heart in ice for the rest of her days.
She groaned. “Ting, how could I have been so wrong?”
Ting crouched next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You are never wrong, Mistress. Please, tell me what has happened.”
Jun realized she still held Will’s logbook clenched tight to her stomach. She held it out to Ting. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Has Mister Will gone?”
The image of Peng’s men dragging a bleeding Will from the hall flashed through her mind. “Yes, he’s gone.”
Ting gave her a small squeeze. “He will be back. You shouldn’t worry. He loves you.”
Jun lifted her eyes to Ting’s. “How do you know?”
“I know. I see.”
Jun pulled out of Ting’s embrace and sat back. She opened the log to the back pages she’d read the night before, running her fingers over his words. “I thought I saw, too, but what if we were deceived?”
“No. I see when you look away. He still has love in his eyes for you.”
“Maybe he’s fooled us both.” Jun flipped the book to the front. It all looked official enough. If he were lying about the Scarlet Night, why would he be so protective of this log? He’d hardly let it leave his sight. Running her thumb along the edges of the pages, she noticed gaps in the pages. There were sheets missing. Why would Will remove pages, unless the log was nothing more than a plant?
Jun quickly scanned the surrounding entries. “This is only dated months ago. By this, the Scarlet Night was traveling and raiding ships traveling south down the west side of Africa, then the pages for the next week are missing. But our information said the British held the ship…privateering has been repealed. Unless the whole log is a trick. But then why remove a week’s worth of entries?” Jun flipped to another gap. “And more removed here.” She stood, moved into a patch of sunlight, and lifted the book to look closer. “The dates don’t appear altered. I don’t understand.” Jun mumbled to herself as she tried to make sense out of what she was looking at. “Why carry an incomplete log unless he was trying to hide something? Or confuse us?”
Ting turned to look at her. “Did you say, Scarlet Night, Mistress?”
Jun continued to examine the precise nature in which the missing pages were painstakingly cut away from the book. “Yes. That’s what he told me.” She tapped the book. “This confirms the name at least, but was that the ship that wrecked on the reef?” She pulled at the bit of red sail. “Scarlet…red sails…” All of that made sense. “The wreckage on the beach…”
“That was my Dowd’s ship.”
Jun’s mind churned with different scenarios. What if Will had been planted here as well? There had been no sign of any other survivors. Not even a single body. And the odd bits of wreckage... For a ship that size… Ting’s words finally connected somewhere in her brain. “Wait. Did you say Dowd? Your Mister Dowd? Qi’s father?”
“Aye. From a long time ago. He told me the stories.”
“Are you sure he said the Scarlet Night?”
“I believe so, yes. He said he was on the crew of a grand ship with masts so tall they caught the bottoms of the clouds. So high, he said, he would sit with crows. The ship could sail quick as the wind, and when she battled, its cannons fired red smoke like the devil was rising from the water. They were famous and feared.”
Jun shook her head. It sounded like a fanciful tale told to woo a young girl. Besides, it couldn’t be the same ship. “But he’s been with our fleet for more than five years.”
“Yes. He’s happy to fight for you, Mistress. Proud to be here. Loves Qi and me. Grateful you have been so kind to us.”
Could the Scarlet Night have sailed these waters before? Jun struggled to remember. Her head pounded. If the Scarlet had pirated anywhere in the South China Seas or the Indian Ocean, she would have known of them before this. “Did Mister Dowd ever tell you how he came here?”
Ting smiled and nodded. “Oh, yes, mistress. He walked.”
“Walked? Not sailed?”
“No. He told me he lost his fortune and nearly his life when he made a mistake to leave the big sea. Never would tell me how. But said he followed his heart east before being hired by a spice merchant. Took him a long time to travel. Says he walked a silk road straight to me.”
“That would have taken years. How could he know what happened to the Scarlet Night since he left their crew?”
Ting lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know, Mistress.”
“What ship is he on now?”
“He sails with Commander—”
A great pounding came from within Jun’s chamber seconds before Peng and six of his men barged through.
Jun slammed the book closed. “What do you think—”
“We are under attack.” Peng grabbed her arm and tugged at her. “Three hundred ships. British, sailing from India. Heading down the strait to attack this island and deliver your head to the Chinese.”
Will’s log book fell to the ground. “Are you certain?”
Peng looked at her in exasperated disbelief. “Yes. You must leave at once. My men will escort you to your junk. I’ve alerted your crew. They stand at the ready. Every last man is prepared to protect you with their lives.” He nodded to his men. “I do not want to start a panic until I know you are safely away. As soon as you sail, I’ll send word into the village. We’ll fill the ships that now lie in the harbor and get the others away. They will be safe. I give you my promise.”
Jun looked back at a horrified Ting. “Ting….Qi.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll see to them, as well, and all those in the palace. You must leave now. Go.”
“It’s not right for me to leave like a thief in the night. I cannot leave my people to face this battle without me. If I’ve brought this threat down upon us—”
“How will you help them with your head on a spike and your entrails fed to the sharks?” Peng grabbed her upper arms. “Without you we are all lost. If you truly want to save your people, you will leave, and be alive tomorrow to lead us back from this devastating attack.” He lowered his head and implored. “I will not watch while our enemy kills you. Please. Go.”
Jun gave one final glance back at a tearful Ting. “Please, Mistress…we will join you soon…save yourself.”
The six men surrounded Jun as she snatched her twin baldrics on the way out. Peng was right, inciting panic would be the worst thing to do right now, so she held her head high, and with a false determination strode through those gathering in the great hall and marched the short distance to board her ship.
With each step, she tried in vain to explain away Will’s hand in this. She failed her people with her own selfish desires. The crushing pain in her heart was her reward for succumbing to her weakness. Her knuckles whitened as she tightened the grip on the wide straps of her baldrics. She’d never be so fooled again.
The proud junk waiting for her at its private dock had been Fu’s pride. He had spared no expense when it came to the strength and beauty of his ship. Four masts rose straight into the blue of the brilliant afternoon. The shell-shaped, battened sails still sat folded like a woman’s fan waiting for the order to be away. At her arrival, the crew scrambled into action. Ropes were untethered, the helmsmen took to the rudder. The lead sail was lowered and swung into place waiting to catch the wind.
Sunshine gleamed off the black-glossed rails with the pressed golden embellishments along the ship’s sleek-lined bow. Fu always wanted to appear like a glimmering sun god rising out of the cold dark seas. Cinnabar fret work graced the upper doorframes while red silk flags fluttered their good luck along the masts to bring blessings from the great dragon.
Peng’s men didn’t allow her time to dally above deck, however. They moved her quickly below to the opulent quarters she once shared with her husband. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the sudden darkness after the brilliance of the day. The thick hull and intricate
series of bulkheads below muffled the sounds of the harbor. She heard the creak of the door ahead, but where was the light? Her quarters had windows running along three sides.
Had they turned her around somehow? It hadn’t been that long since she sailed on this ship. She practically lived aboard for years. How had she gotten lost?
“It’s so dark, we’ve headed aft by mistake. This isn’t my quarters.” She reached out to touch the door. If she was mistaken, the door would boast a magnificent carving of a dragon. Jun couldn’t see a damn thing—the men surrounding her moved in one lightning-fast, fluid movement. Strong hands wrenched the baldrics from her grip, while others issued a mighty shove propelling her forward. Jun grasped out in the darkness for something to keep her from falling flat on her face. “Fools! What do you think you’re doing?” She screamed at them.
Before she could turn back on her assailants, Jun heard the door slam shut followed by the rusty scrape of a metal hasp. Anger, fear, and the sick cloying grip of realization wrapped around her.
Peng! It was him. He was the one. He was the betrayer…not Will.
Jun slammed her fists on the floor and roared into the darkness. It was that razor-faced, purple-assed bastard who was the traitor. And she had walked, head high, right into his trap.
Chapter 20
Jun pounded at the thick oak door as she felt the ship begin its move away from the dock, picking up speed as the sails caught the wind. The inner latch and door handle had been removed. It was pointless, to beat her hands raw, but as shock turned to white-hot anger, Jun screamed, reared back, and hurled herself against the door only to fall to the floor in pained frustration.
She groped along the edges of the room as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. This was her quarters, but like the door handle, it had been thoroughly stripped of everything familiar.
Tables, Fu’s desk, the rich lacquered chair where he used to sit. The bed had been removed. Wooden slates remained where she and Fu once slept. Gone were the rich wool rugs and the other spoils of their years of plunder. Even the oil lanterns had been wrenched from the walls. Brass strapping that once held them reached out like twisted, dead fingers. The wide panoramic sweep of beautiful leaded windows was now covered with thick wood panels. Jun clawed at them with all her strength, but they had been nailed into place and held firm.
Within A Captain's Soul Page 14
