Clue and the Sea Dragon (The Clue Taylor Series Book 2)

by Wendie Nordgren

  “She’d have to catch me first,” Stinky said breathily as he left the room.

  I burst out in angry helpless tears. Realizing that Liam was my only hope of being rescued from the pirates, I cried harder. When I was done feeling sorry for myself, I moved off of the bunk and into the tiny bathroom. I blew my nose. Then, I closed the door. It didn’t lock. My eyes and nose were red from crying. I washed my face in the sink. Carefully, I pulled down my pants to pee. It hurt to sit. After I was done, I tried to get a look at the damage. From my thighs up, red welts from his hands covered me. Stinky hadn’t held back. I heard a sound in the cabin and then cussing. I had pulled my pants up just as Stinky flung open the bathroom door.

  “Oh, I thought you’d gotten out again.”

  Stinky had dirty-blonde hair that curled around the edges a little and blue eyes. In the small bathroom, I was cornered not that I could win against him in a fair fight anyway. Tadashi, Daddy, or Cosmo could kick his ass. It was a good thing that I had no intentions of ever attempting to fight him fair. I’d have hated him less if he had punched me. What he had done to me was demeaning. Without taking my eyes off of him so I could at least try to dodge an attack, I fastened the closure on my pants. A look of surprise widened his eyes, and he backed away from me with his hands up.

  “You’re afraid of me? I’m the one who saved you from the snake monster, Miss Priss. I even told you that you’re pretty at the bar. I’m the one who should be scared of you. What do I get for rescuing you? Threatened, kicked, pinched, punched at, and cursed is what I get. I brought you dinner. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll shower. I’ve been told I stink. Some of us work up a sweat. My crew and I busted our asses through the morning and had stopped in at the Two Moons for a drink.”

  I stepped out of the bathroom and over to the bunk. Stinky went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. A tray on the bunk held a sandwich and a sippy cup of juice. Remembering Liam’s coffee, I feared the drink, food, or both could be drugged. I moved the tray over to a small chest and carefully laid down on the bunk on my side with my face toward the hull. Poor Snappy was all alone with Cosmo.

  Stinky came out of his bathroom. “What? Not hungry?” I ignored him. “Your turn. Under the sink are towels.” He waited. “I’ll put your clothes through the cleaner.” I felt him lift a lock of my hair. “You know you’ve got blood splatters on you, right? That snake is a messy eater.”

  Stiffening, I took my hair from him and saw he was telling the truth. Without looking at him, I went in and scrubbed myself clean in the shower. Captain Stinky acted like he was the victim. It made me hate him even more. My mouth was dry, so I rinsed it out in the shower. I wasn’t drinking anything unless it came from a sealed bottle. He had the nerve to grin at me when I came out of the bathroom. He wore a pair of jogging pants cut off at the knee. He held out a frilly short pink robe to me. Taking it, I turned my back to him.

  “That’s a nice ring you’ve got there.”

  “If you try to take my engagement ring, I’ll find a way to kill you.” All I’d have to do is slip out with him into the icy waters.

  “Why so hateful, Miss Priss?”

  I made sure the flimsy robe was securely tied before letting the towel drop. Shivering, carefully I climbed into the bunk and under the covers. I wanted to be in my room holding Daisy, with Cosmo down the hall, and Winks in the basement. I concentrated on feeling safe and secure at the Wisteria Hotel, 888 Honjo Street, and on the Sea Harpy. Nothing worked. The door opened and closed. Then, the bunk shifted.

  “Will you drink this?” Captain Stinky asked as he held out a bottle of plum juice in front of me so I could see it.

  Wincing as I sat up, I took it and used the blanket to twist off the top. Cosmo and Gregory hadn’t trusted the pirates. I didn’t either. They’d been talking about my ransom when I’d interrupted them. I didn’t mind them knowing that I was connected to Kiyohime, but I wasn’t planning to give them any more information. Captain Stinky began pushing down the blanket while reaching down to my left thigh. I swung the empty bottle at his head, but he caught my elbow and squeezed hard until I let go of it.

  “That’s why I gave you a sippy cup,” he said as he pressed something to my thigh. “I understand why you’re upset. It’s a pain patch. I didn’t think a little spanking would hurt you. After it calms down in Dorado, I’ll drop you off. To make it up to you, I’m not even gonna ransom you.”

  Ignoring him, I pulled the covers up to my chin and tried to imagine being safe in Tadashi’s arms.

  My bladder woke me up, and thankfully I was alone. As I had slept, bruises had formed on my backside. At least my clean clothes were in a pile on the chest. The only article I couldn’t wear were my pants. Instead, I swiped a clean pair of Captain Stinky’s drawstring shorts. With nothing to do and no idea about what was going on outside of the cabin, I laid back down on my side, covered up, and started thinking.

  Stinky opened the door. “Come up to the kitchen. Get yourself something to eat.”

  Pushing back the covers, I extracted myself from the bunk and followed him down the little hall and up the stairs. Two of the pirates were busy carrying stowed dive gear up to the deck. Stinky motioned in the direction of cups and a beverage brewer. I made myself a cup of coffee and carried it over to the table and a floor mounted swivel chair. The hard seat of the chair made me flinch. I took my coffee back to the counter where I leaned with my back to the wall. Making a point of avoiding all eye contact, I sipped it.

  Captain Stinky went back down to the cabins. Moments later, he returned with a pillow and placed it on the chair. “Here. Sit down.”

  “Damn, Fergus. When you said you wanted to tap that ass, I thought you had something else in mind,” one of the pirates drawled. He hadn’t made the comment in a playful way, so I glanced up at him deciding I might attempt to persuade whoever came for me to spare his life.

  “No, I didn’t mean it like that. Yes, I feel like a piece of shit. The next time she riles me up, I’ll take it out on one of you instead.”

  The pirates laughed at that. One of them said, “Umibozu could get us all first.”

  “No, shit, Pony,” the other one said.

  “Yeah, with that in mind, I’m killing the engines. You know the drill. Disable anything that makes a sound. I’ll get our guest, Miss Priss, fed and situated with me in the wheelhouse where I can keep an eye on her. After I get the Black Bounty into position, we’ll lower the pallet with the wench. Then, you two can dive down. Got it?”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” the one who had mentioned Umibozu said. Was Umibozu another pirate captain?

  “Okay, so do you want this, this, or a sandwich?” Stinky asked while showing me a can of fruit preserves in one hand and a can of broccoli soup in the other. I pointed to the fruit. “Still not talking to me? Look. You’ve got a right to be mad. I was out of line. Seeing old Remy get eaten rattled me. If I ever raise a hand to hurt you again, you can either take my hand or my boat. I swear it with Pony and Declan as witnesses.”

  The pirate named Declan spoke up. “It was out of character for the Captain, Miss Priss.”

  I looked at Declan, took a sip of coffee, and stuck my fork inside of the opened can. The tines of the fork scraped against the can’s ridges making a tinkling sound as I speared a cherry. I reminded myself that these pirates didn’t give a shit about me and that their words and assurances meant nothing. The one who had been called Pony reached for my empty cup.

  “Careful. She’s got a fork,” Stinky cautioned him.

  “I’m just getting her a refill to be nice. You’ve scared her. Hell, she was so scared, she forgot how to breathe. Then, you had to go and hit her,” Pony said.

  “If it makes you feel any better, look what she did to me first. She’s got violent tendencies.” Stinky lifted his shirt and showed off the deep purple bruises I had given him at his waist. I smiled and clapped. “Be careful with her around bottles. Aww, good. Look at that. Something finally made you
happy. Now, listen. All of our lives depend on us being as quiet as possible on the waters we’re about to sail.”

  “Why?” I asked curiously before I could stop myself.

  “Something terrible from the deep wakes when the big ships pass through. We’ve seen it,” Stinky said.

  “One night, we had all of our power off so we could spy on the cargo ships and learn their routes. This one ship had music playing, men on deck drinking, playing stones, and laughing. When up out of nowhere, a monstrous creature blacker than a starless night surfaced. We could see its size because it hid the stars. Bigger than an apartment building it was,” Pony said as he placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of me.

  “Then, what happened?” I asked.

  “It disappeared. It dropped down and then surged back up really fast,” Stinky said.

  “Yeah, then there was this big wave. That cargo ship tipped over and went down so fast that we think that thing dragged it to the bottom. We shined a flood light until morning but didn’t find any survivors,” Pony said.

  “The Umibozu hates noise. That’s why we have to be quiet. As long as we don’t wake it up, it won’t kill us,” Stinky said with a grin.

  “So, let me get this straight. A giant sea monster is out here sinking ships, and you think it’s a good idea to visit? Did you report this to the authorities?”

  “No, we are sneaking in to salvage and turn a profit not visiting, and we never voluntarily speak to the authorities.” Stinky grinned at me.

  “By reporting what you saw, you could save lives. The shipping companies would know to steer clear of the area, and the men’s families would know what had become of them.”

  “They should have figured it out by now,” Stinky said.

  “Families are mourning for these men. How can you be so callous?”

  “I’ve had lots of practice. It’s not a good idea for any of us to make it known we were out here. You think anyone would believe our story? No, they’d say we made it up, stole what we wanted, killed the crews, and sank the ships.” His blue eyes held the look of someone who had grown accustomed to being blamed for everything that ever went wrong. A while back, I might have even called him a liar, but now I knew things.

  “Well, I believe you’re telling the truth.”

  Shocked by my declaration, Stinky and Pony exchanged looks. “You do?” Pony asked as though he thought I was joking.

  I said, “The unexplainable happens with regularity on Cassini.”

  “Yeah, regularity just as in taking a dump, and the dump usually lands on us,” Pony said.

  “Maybe that’s why Captain Stinky and the rest of you smell the way you do.”

  Two crewmen, Declan and Will, entered, heard me, and had a good laugh. “Captain Stinky! Hey, Newt! Listen to this one,” Will said as he returned to the deck.

  “Captain, Tips, or Fergus are names I answer to. You were fast to believe a wild story. Why is that?” Stinky asked with narrowed eyes.

  Shrugging and thinking that it couldn’t hurt for the pirates to know, I said, “Someone gave me that name, Umibozu. I thought it was a person. That’s why I was in the Two Moons hunting down information.”

  Pony said, “You’d have better luck finding Umibozu in a book of scary bedtime stories.”

  Smirking at myself, I said, “I usually do.”

  Stinky asked, “Why were you trying to find Umibozu?”

  “I’m trying to find a man.”

  Pony grinned at me. “Look no further, baby. The ladies started calling me pony for a reason.”

  “Why? Because you’re not fully grown?” I asked. Stinky doubled over with laughter. Pony looked hurt. “What? Ponies are baby horses, right? I grew up in space. What did I say?”

  When Pony explained to me what the old cliché being hung like a horse meant, my face turned red, Pony took on a smug expression, and Stinky ordered him to check the sails.

  “Come with me.” I followed Stinky to his cabin. “Make use of the bathroom. Then, take off your shoes. I’ll get you some thick socks and some blankets.” Also, he grabbed another pillow.

  Up in the wheel house, he put a pillow on the seat and another on the back and covered them with a blanket. Then, he helped me sit and made the chair recline. Next, he covered me with a blanket and even tucked it under my feet. “Are you warm enough? No, it’ll get colder when the heat goes off. Anyone got another blanket?” he called out to the pirates.

  Declan brought one, and then the pirate called Newt brought another. My heart began to pound when I saw Newt for the first time. Even with new beard growth and longer hair, I’d have known his face anywhere. After all, I’d searched his apartment, seen his picture a few times, and comforted his pregnant girlfriend. Ivan Drifus could tell from my eyes that he’d been made. The private look he gave me was clear. Keep your mouth shut or else. If I survived the pirates and the phantom Umibozu, I could celebrate solving my missing person case.

  “Is everything ready for the salvage?” Stinky, who was oblivious to our exchange, asked Newt.

  “Yes, sir,” Newt said as he returned to the deck.

  “What is your name?” Stinky asked me.

  “Miss Priss,” I answered sarcastically.

  “No, really. You’ve got my real name, Fergus.”

  “It’s Clue.”

  “Not your alias, your real name.”

  “That is my real name.”

  “Clue?” he said with disbelief.

  “Yes, Fergus,” I said with a heavy accent on the first syllable to make his name sound as condescending as possible.

  He laughed. “Look. It’s important that we make as little noise as possible. If you end up needing to take a piss, don’t let doors bang or anything. Each of us has to wear one of these,” he said as he held out an emergency vest to me.

  “What good will this do with the water being so cold?” In this water, we’d freeze to death.

  “Two of my men are in full deep diving gear with emergency rafts in their tool belts. If we go down, they’ll get to us in time. That’s why it’s best if you stay in the wheelhouse. Umibozu strikes so fast that you don’t want to be trapped below decks if the ship starts sinking.”

  All power was cut off. Without the stabilizers, the Black Bounty moved up, down, and from side to side on waves that made sloshing noises against the hull. Fergus loosely strapped me into the seat. I was up high enough to see out of the windows. The pirates had unfurled a black sail. The wind caught and filled it with a snap of sound making the black sail look like a huge pregnant stomach. The Black Bounty surged and bobbed forward. Fergus and the other pirates went silently about their tasks giving me time to ponder why Ivan had taken to a life of crime. Was he trying to make enough credits to support Cora?

  In an eerie expanse of sea, they tacked up the sail. Declan and Will slid soundlessly into the water in full diving gear. The Black Bounty was in an unrecognizable or even distinguishable part of the ocean. I started to ask him how he had even figured out how to find the site of the wreckage, but Fergus cautioned me with a finger to my lips. We continued to sit in silence. Pony and Newt worked to lower into the water with a wench a plasti-pallet that had a surface full of holes which gave it a polka-dot appearance. The holes decreased its resistance allowing it to sink down into the water. A tug on the rope had Pony and Newt drawing the pallet back up again. Rufus helped them unload crates. Hours later, the deck was covered with crates with Tavora Shipping stamped on their sides.

  As soon as Declan and Will were on board, the sails were unfurled. With the heavy load, it took the Black Bounty longer to reach what the pirates considered to be a safe distance. When Rufus turned on the ship’s power, I was given a cup of coffee and a sandwich, and locked inside of the cabin. Eventually, I heard the sounds of the ship docking. Excitement coursed through me. Now, I could escape, get home, and report to both Cora and Mr. Tavora.

  I tugged on my shoes, listened at the door to be sure it was safe, and slipped. I made it to the
galley. Cautiously listening for activity in the wheelhouse and finding it empty, I checked the deck. The pirates were off of the ship at the moment unloading their cargo. I snuck out onto the deck. The Black Bounty was secured to a huge rock of an island that had sheer impossible to climb sides. A ramp led from the deck up into a cave entrance. Without the ramp, I never would have spotted it due to the tangled vegetation obscuring it from view. Craning my neck, I saw a few trees on the top of the island. Venturing to the rail, I looked down and saw rocks, crashing waves, deep water, and no sign of a beach. It was the perfect pirate hideout.

  Curious, I concentrated on my need to be on the ramp and slipped. I’d be invisible from mortal eyes as long as I held onto both realities. Letting go had been a mistake the first time I had left the cabin. I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. The cave entrance was wide enough for two men to enter walking abreast. The ramp shifted slightly under my feet with the waves that tossed the boat as I entered the cave. I could see the pirates stacking crates, not all of which bore Tavora’s stamp. I maneuvered around crates searching for a tunnel. However, aside from a few turns and a sloping floor, it was just a storage space. During my exploration, the pirates had finished unloading their cargo. Will was in the process of removing the ramp while Pony concealed the cave entrance.

  I concentrated on being inside of the cabin and transported myself there. I stepped inside of the bathroom, closed the door, and released my hold on the spirit realm. Again, the ship began to move.

  Chapter Eight

  Sometime later, Fergus opened the cabin door. His face was red with anger. “Who the fuck are you? A Protect and Serve? Huh? How the fuck did they track you?” Fergus began going through my pockets. Then, he pulled out a battered old scanner and ran it over me.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Fergus threw the scanner onto his bunk and hauled me from the cabin by my elbow. From the wheelhouse, he pointed. A familiar ship was a spot of light out in the darkness of the night.