by Hatch, Donna
Grant looked Jared over, as if noting every mark on him. In a quiet voice, he asked, “You all right?”
Speechless at the unlikely display of concern, Jared nodded. Grant locked the compassion behind his customary sardonic exterior, leaned back, and folded his arms. Jared fastened the buttons on the front of his clean shirt and tucked it into his breeches.
Grant removed his coat and threw it at him. “It’s freezing in here. Wouldn’t want you to sneeze on the Admiralty during your inquiry.”
“How soon will that take place?”
“In an hour.”
“Ah. Bath was well-timed.” Jared put on the wool coat, trying not to wince as he moved his arms, and again, Grant helped him.
“I would have paid for your garnishment and easement sooner if I’d known you were here,” Grant grumbled. “I came as soon as I heard.”
Jared sobered, startled by Grant’s confession. “I know.”
It surprised him to realize that he truly did know. Despite Grant’s gruffness, he was a brother who cared for his family. He just hid it beneath an impossibly hardened exterior. Grant had always been a cynic who preferred his own company to that of others, and he’d returned from the war positively hard-hearted. But not a complete cad, apparently. Who would have thought such a cold exterior would actually protect a beating heart?
Jared sat on the cot and pulled on the woolen socks. Grant helped him with his boots. “Do you know the members of the Admiralty who will try me?”
Grant nodded. “Admiral Ruggle. Hard but fair.”
“Will he be willing to negotiate?”
Grant uttered a sharp laugh. “With a known pirate? Hardly.”
Jared sat hunched over, trying to plan a strategy.
“I can arrange for some female companionship for you later, if you like,” Grant said.
Jared raised his brows.
Something akin to a dry smile touched Grant’s mouth. “Or I could bring you some really bad and overpriced gin made from Newgate’s own private still. Anything can be had for the right price here.”
“Anything?”
“Except your freedom, of course.”
“Are you sure that can’t be bought?”
“For the legendary pirate Black Jack? Difficult. If you were unknown, I could bribe the right person and slip you out. They could say gaol fever claimed yet another victim. Typhus kills more prisoners than the executioner.”
Jared nodded. “That’s how I got out the first time.”
He had the supreme satisfaction of actually surprising Grant. Probably an unprecedented event.
“The first time?”
Jared heaved a sigh. “Can you help me?”
Grant sat beside him. “Tell me the whole sordid tale.”
Jared took a moment to order his thoughts. Grant nodded and waved him on.
“At first I loved it on board the privateer. I worked up to first officer quickly, something I wouldn’t have been able to do in the navy. During one of our calls at port to re- supply, I stumbled upon a beautiful woman in peril. Her name was Rebecca. My aiding her turned into an adventure but I got her to safety. Then I returned to the sea and assumed I’d never see her again.”
“How did you end up in gaol the first time?”
“My captain lost patience with the government. They were slow giving us our fair share of the booty we took. For some, we never received compensation.”
“And?”
Jared paused as shame washed over him. “We decided to augment our pay. Sometimes we failed to report our takings and sold them directly to smugglers instead. Occasionally, we only reported a portion of the spoils and kept the rest.”
Grant watched him impassively, without any judgment or condemnation. Nor understanding. Who knew what Grant ever thought?
“We began straying further and further from our approved area. Then we started attacking ships from other countries, not just the French as we were sanctioned to do. Once, against my better judgment, we preyed on a British merchant ship. We were caught.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed, but said nothing.
“We were arrested for piracy. Rebecca came with an offer. She was a covert operative for the British Secret Service and told me she could arrange to have my death falsified, provided I pledge myself to the Service.”
He blew out his breath slowly and glanced at Grant, wondering if he’d made the right choice. “I can’t tell you how many times I wished I’d just let them hang me. But I was seventeen and didn’t know there were things worse than death.”
Grant nodded, looking haunted. “There are.” Jared waited, but Grant did not elaborate. “Go on,” Grant said.
“I agreed to their terms. Basically, they owned me. They sent me on all the most dangerous missions, but I always returned.” He stood and moved to the window as memory reopened old wounds. “Bonaparte discovered Rebecca was a spy and executed her.”
He stared out the window, afraid if he turned around, Grant would see telltale signs of emotion. Tendrils of London fog curled around the bars like a live octopus.
He drew a steadying breath. “After Boney was defeated, I remained in France to help with the mop-up effort, thinking my time with the Service would soon end. Then I received new orders.” He swallowed. “They wanted to utilize my experience on the sea. So I hung around seedy taverns and grumbled about the lack of work for a former privateer until I met up with some pirates. They signed me up.”
Jared glanced at his brother, but Grant never shifted, never made a sound, nothing but impassivity in his expression.
“The captain was a snake,” Jared continued. “More interested in blood and terror than in plunder. He loved to torture his victims. I convinced the crew I’d make a better captain and we voted him out. It’s all very democratic, you know. The captain didn’t take kindly to losing his position and I had to kill him. I left his first mate, and incidentally half-brother, Leandro, in Havana.”
Grant raised his brows. “You didn’t kill him, too? How compassionate of you.”
“I should have fed him to the sharks. He plagued me for years. My assignment was to expose a pirate ring and find the one feeding them information. I traced it to a nobleman outside of Port Johns. There I met a lady named Elise Berkley.”
He heard the softening of his own voice. It seemed an unavoidable reaction whenever he thought of the angel who came to him with soothing hands.
Grant’s face twisted in true disgust. “First Cole and now you. What a pathetic pair of lovesick fools you are. I thought you looked rather moony when you were home for Father’s funeral.”
Jared found it interesting Grant could listen to tales of betrayal, espionage, and piracy without comment and with no emotion other than mild sarcasm. Yet the mention of a lady brought a such strong reaction.
He moistened his lips. “Leandro found me, and learned about Elise. He nabbed her and used her as bait to draw me out.”
Grant barked a sharp laugh, his eyes dark with anger. “Of course. And you, being the gallant hero you are, waltzed right into his trap.”
“Of course I did. Haven’t you heard of Captain Leandro? He made Blackbeard look like a kitten. He actually committed many of the tales I’m credited for doing. Yes, I went after him.”
Jared relived his stark desperation when he learned Leandro had taken Elise. He took a moment to steady his breathing. “I killed him and took his ship. We were on our way back to England to take Elise home. This was my last assignment. If all went according to plan, I would receive my decommission and a full pardon for any of my crew I deemed fit to save.”
“But the navy found you first.”
“And the Secret Service made it clear all along they’d never help me if I got myself captured by either side.”
Grant rubbed his temples.
“It gets worse. My assignment was technically over once I exposed the leader of the ring. Leaving England on the ship and using my pirate guise to rescue Elise was an unauthorized act.�
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Grant stood and went to the window next to Jared. For a long time, he stood looking out. Finally, he spoke. “If you have no documentation, and no proof, this is merely your story. It isn’t much to go on.”
“I know. The Service is very careful to never leave any papers that can be traced to them. Get word to Charles Greymore in Brenniswick. I asked Elise to contact him, but I have no idea if she’s being held for questioning or if she’s free. Greymore may be able to do something. I doubt it, though.”
“I’ll find out about your woman.”
“Lady, Grant. She’s a lady.”
Grant blew out his breath in disgust.
Jared didn’t remember Grant always having such a dark opinion of women. Something must have happened. Jared had been home so little in the last fifteen years that he hardly knew anyone in his family. He’d missed much.
“You could try telling Admiral Ruggle the truth, but he probably won’t believe you,” Grant said.
“Except for my name, and then I’ll die publicly as Jared Amesbury. The entire family will be dishonored.” He shook his head. “I must continue being Black Jack.”
Grant snorted. “That’s a stupid name.”
Jared smiled but winced as the motion pulled at his cut lip. “Cole agrees. It was all I could think of on the moment.”
“Can this operative, Greymore, come through for you like the first time?”
“I’m not sure how far his connections reach. Besides, I was in a smaller gaol the first time, not Newgate, and I was unknown then. As you said, my notoriety complicates things.”
Grant paused, his voice quieting. “You didn’t really do everything they credit to Black Jack? Leandro did them?”
“He did some of them, but all the really good stories are rumors my men and I started so the ships we boarded would give up without a fight. Fewer people die that way. On both sides.” He waited a beat. “Grant.”
His brother looked him in the eye.
“I’ve committed acts which will haunt me all my life. But I did it all in the name of duty.”
Grant watched him in that piercing, assessing way he had and slowly nodded. “I know what you mean.”
Jared leaned against the cold stone wall, grateful for his brother’s coat.
Grant broke the silence. “I don’t know what I can do for you. I have an idea, but it will probably fail. Even if it succeeds, there’s considerable risk.” He paused, deep in thought.
Waiting, Jared lay back on the cot carefully so as not to reopen his wounds, and stared up at the ceiling.
Grant drew in a breath. “I agree you shouldn’t give the Admiralty your name. Cole and Christian and the girls shouldn’t bear the stain.”
Jared’s throat tightened as he thought of his brothers and sisters. They were all good people with untarnished names. “Will you tell them the truth about me?”
Grant frowned. “Don’t you want me to?”
Jared considered carefully. His first instinct was to ask Grant to keep his secrets. Then he decided against it. “Yes. Do tell them. Cole already knows; he was my first mate when I first took command. And Christian knows part of it. I’ve told the girls nothing other than that I was a privateer during the war. If Father had known the truth, he might have approved. I hope.”
“He approved more than you know.”
Jared shrugged, but hoped Grant was right. “I don’t want the rest of the family to think I was a disgrace.” He drew a breath and forced himself to say the next words. “But if all efforts fail and I do hang—”
“Stop.” Desperation touched Grant’s voice.
Startled by Grant’s show of emotion, Jared paused, but these were matters that had to be discussed. He pressed on. “As far as public knowledge…”
Grant drew in a breath, nodded, and gave a pained smile. “As far as public knowledge, I’ll make up something about you dying at sea. Want me to say you were protecting a lady when you single-handedly fought off twenty pirates before they overpowered and killed you?”
“That would be spectacular.” Jared thought it over, warming to the idea. “Actually, yes. That’s exactly what I want you to say. But leave Elise’s name out of it.”
Grant looked away and nodded. His voice husky, he said, “If I fail you, I just want you to know…” he cleared his throat.
The tightness in Jared’s chest grew more pronounced. “Don’t get sentimental on me, little brother. Just get me out of here.”
“Right. I’ll hire a small army and we’ll storm the prison.”
“Sounds like fun.”
Grant tapped on the door and waited for the turnkey.
“Grant, before you go, I need you to pay easement and garnishment for my crew. There are ten of them. Talk to Charles Grady at the bank.”
“I’m not taking your money, you fool. Yes, I’ll see to your men.” As the door opened, Grant turned back and gave Jared a long look.
Jared swallowed against a lump. “My thanks, Grant.”
Tight-lipped, Grant gripped Jared’s shoulder in one of the few places where he didn’t hurt, and left with the silence of a shadow.
Moments later, Jared was marched before the Admiralty Court. He was surprised they decided to try him so soon. Often, pirates remained in prison awaiting their trials for months on end. Many died from gaol fever before their case ever came before the Admiralty.
The captain involved in his capture and who’d ordered his flogging was present, along with his first and second lieutenants. They looked smug. Also in attendance were Admiral Ruggle, the governor, two merchant captains, and a clerk.
Jared vaguely remembered a few of the others who lined the walls, looking alternately angry and frightened; no doubt former victims called here as witnesses. Windows behind the admiral revealed grey, stormy skies. Though chained, temptation pulled at him to jump through a window and run, regardless of his abysmal chances at escaping alive.
Instead, Jared stood ramrod straight and looked Admiral Ruggle directly in the eye.
“Your name, sir?”
“My full name is John Black.”
The admiral blinked as if surprised by his answer, or perhaps by his accent. “Are you also called Black Jack?”
“Yes, my lord.”
The charges against him were read, beginning with ‘not having God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil,’ and continued in great detail too long and numerous to follow, but included theft, piracy, and murder. Many of the charges were false, but any one of the true ones would be enough to sentence him to death.
When the clerk ended with, “Feloniously, and et cetera, did kill and murder, against the peace of our sovereign Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity. How do you plead?”
Jared took a breath. “I plead guilty.”
Astonishment shone on all the faces present. A murmur rippled through the room.
The admiral leaned forward. “Then you admit to piracy?”
“Yes, Admiral. I have engaged in acts of piracy for the past three years.”
The admiral sat back and looked him over. “You are well-spoken for a pirate. Who were your parents?”
“I am the illegitimate son of a member of the gentry, whose name I do not wish to tarnish. My mother was his mistress. My father paid for my education.”
“I see.”
Disgust was written on the faces of the other navy officers. The merchant captains did not meet his gaze.
The admiral asked, “Do you have any final words in your defense before we pronounce the verdict and punishment?”
“Yes, my lord. I wish to bargain for the lives of my crew. Ten survived the navy’s attack. In exchange for their freedom, I will provide you the coordinates of Isla del Tuburon, where we store much of our plunder until buyers can be found. Our own personal hoard is there as well; the accumulation of over two hundred men.”
“Your freedom is not worth a bit of treasure,” snapped the navy captain who’d captured Jared.
Jared met his gaze calmly. “I understand, Captain. But surely the lives of my men are.”
The captain’s face darkened in anger. “You are not worthy of any mercy. Not you, nor your men.”
“That will do, Captain.” Admiral Ruggle glanced at the others.
Jared wondered if he were silencing them, or receiving their agreement.
The admiral steepled his fingers and stared unfocused at the wall behind Jared. “Very well, Mr. Black. In exchange for your information, we will pardon two of your men.”
“All ten,” Jared demanded.
A faint lifting of his brow was the only change in the admiral’s expression, no doubt in reaction to Jared’s cheekiness. “Three.”
“Eight.”
The Admiral’s eyes narrowed. “Three. And that’s my final offer. But they must swear to forsake piracy. They’ll receive full pardons, but if they’re caught again, there will be no leniency. And I want your full written and signed confession.”
“Agreed.”
“Their names?”
Jared took a steadying breath. “Jean-Claude Dubois. Kaleo Anakoni. Timothy O’Brian.”
The clerk recorded their names carefully.
“I’ll have their pardons drawn up,” Lord Ruggle said. “When our ship returns from the island with news of success, your men will be released.”
“You won’t be disappointed, sir.” Knowing his audacity was probably already causing a stir, Jared pushed on, voicing his fears. “My Lord?” He paused and Lord Ruggle waited. “I do have your word? I’ll be dead by the time a ship can get to and from Isla del Tuburon with news.”
The Admiral drew himself up. “You have my word these men you named will be pardoned and freed. It is duly recorded and witnessed by this jury.”
Jared nodded. “I have heard you are a fair and honorable man, my lord. I will trust you to save these men who will most certainly be glad to become law abiding citizens if given the opportunity.” Squelching the feeling he was somehow betraying his crew, he drew a breath and gave the coordinates to the island, warned about the offshore reef on the lee side, and described exactly how to find the cave where they’d hidden their hoard.
