"You're not seeing things," Juliet assured him. When she saw Varian, she gave a little cry and ran across the room, meeting him halfway as he dashed toward her.
He wrapped her in his arms as tightly as he dared and buried his lips in her hair. "Thank God, thank God, thank God," he whispered, not giving a damn who saw the tears streaking down his cheeks.
Young Pitt entered the tavern, an arm around Eva to support her. Molly, Bella and Jonas came through the doorway next.
Grundy shook his head. "I'll be double-futtocked! We never thought ye'd make it through the gates, let alone bring our family home. A miracle, this is. A bloody miracle."
"One you have Bella to thank for achieving," Jonas said. He quickly recounted the events of the evening, starting with Bella getting them a private audience with the governor, to picking the lock of the bed chamber and assaulting three women in the resting-room to gain their clothing. In the end, Grundy snatched the cap off his head and went up to Bella. He pulled her into a wordless hug and when he let her go, his eyes were shiny.
"I been hard on ye, lass, an' for that, I'll beg yer pardon now. What ye done here tonight makes ye part o' this crew right an' proper an' any man who says otherwise won't have a tooth left to chew with."
"Thank you Master Grundy."
"Ye can call me Hobbs, like as my wives do."
Jonas brought the discussion back to business. "Were you able to find out where the Avenger is anchored?"
Grundy mashed the cap back on his head. "Aye. She's close to a big bitch, the San Jacinta, moored smack dab clear in the middle o' the harbor with about a hundred ships around 'er. Like workin' through a maze to get close enough to even put an eyeball on 'er."
"If our information is correct, Captain Simon and my brother are being held on the Avenger."
"She's in bad shape but she ain't ready to sink yet, so far as I can see."
"Sentries?"
"Saw two havin' a pipe on the foredeck, but mostly quiet thinkin' there was naught to guard in the middle o' port but a piss pot."
Jonas blew out a breath. "I may have left out a few details. Details that, come morning, will likely cause every soldier in the city to be put on high alert and every ship to put full crews on board."
"What did ye do, burn the bloody fort?"
Juliet lifted her head off Varian's shoulder. "The governor was killed. Spur of the moment thing. It just happened."
"Two guards as well," Jonas added.
"Don't forget the three naked women locked up in a cupboard," Bella said.
"Ye've not been gone more'n two, three hours," Grundy exclaimed.
"And inside three more I plan to be on board the Avenger with her full crew restored and ready to sail out of the harbor." Jonas started unfastening the row of fancy braided buttons down the front of his silk tunic. "With the fleet set to leave within the week, most of the Spanish crews are lying drunk in the taverns and whorehouses getting their fill of ale and women before they make the long crossing home. If, as you say, there are only a handful of guards to deal with, we should be able to board her with ease and release the prisoners."
"Avenger's not a jolly boat," Grundy pointed out. "Someone even half asleep is bound to notice her movin'."
Isabeau said, "Hobson is right, we cannot expect to simply sail her out of the harbor without someone taking notice. We need a distraction."
"Set the harbor on fire an' burn the bastards," Grundy suggested.
"That would be an excellent parting gift," Isabeau agreed. "But we would still need to move the Avenger out of harms way first."
"We could blow up the pinnace. We'd be best off approachin' the Avenger in jolly boats anyroad. Set a few charges to blow on the pinnace an' that would give 'em somethin' to gawp at."
"Not the worst idea I've heard tonight." Jonas nodded. "The bay is over-crowded and most of the ships have valuable cargo in their holds. They will want to move them out of the way, take them out to open water. That could work to our advantage."
"What about the guns in the forts?" Varian asked.
"If enough ships scatter, they won't fire in case they hit their own vessels."
"The Avenger is damaged. We have no idea how she will handle."
"She has stayed afloat this long; she can make it out of the harbor," Juliet insisted.
"We are a little shy on manpower if you're planning an assault on the Avenger," Varian said. "There is Jonas, Hobson, me, and a handful of crewmen."
"Ten," Grundy said. "Ten mates chompin' to repay them scurvy weevils for what they done on Pigeon Cay."
"And me," said Young Pitt. "I may not be the best shot with a pistol, Master Grundy, but I can shoot an arrow into the eye of a gull from a hundred paces."
"I still have one good hand and I know how to use a gun and a sword," Isabeau said, standing alongside Young Pitt.
"As do I," Eva said, pushing to her feet.
"That makes seventeen of us," Juliet declared.
Varian sighed. "You, most certainly, are in no condition to go on a raid."
"Your son is in my belly, Varian St. Clare, and if he has proven to be stubborn enough not to give up his grip through everything that has gone before, then he will not do so now."
The duke looked at Jonas for help.
Jonas held up his hands. "If I have learned anything over the past three decades it is that once the women in this family have set their minds to something, it is futile to argue."
Clearly unhappy, Varian turned to Bella, but if he was hoping for a word of common sense, he was sorely disappointed.
"I am a fair hand with a musket and a pistol, as Captain Dante will attest, and while we do not have much experience as pirates, you are certainly not leaving Molly or me behind. That makes twenty altogether, if I have tallied my toes and fingers correctly."
Hobson snatched the cap off his head. "Now hang on a groggified minute there, lass. Ye expect us to tow five women along, with one o' them sportin' a belly as big as a barrel—no offence meant Capt'n Juliet."
"None taken," Juliet said dryly.
Bella thought for a moment then turned to Molly. "What do you suppose would brighten the evening for a few bored sentries stuck on board a ship while their compatriots are whoring and drinking their way through the streets of Havana?"
"Female companionship?" Molly suggested innocently.
"Escorted by a generous pimpreneau ," Bella added. "I should think offering up our considerable talents for a penny a flop would be difficult to resist. I wager they would line up in an eager little row along the rail to bid for our services, and while they did so, a stealthy handful of men could board from the other side."
"Ye suggesting ye row out there bold as a bevy o' whores?"
"That is exactly what I am suggesting, Mr. Grundy," Bella said. "And a more comely bevy they have likely never laid eyes on."
"After all you have done tonight," Jonas said with a frown, "I am not about to let you risk anything more."
Bella reached into her pockets, withdrawing the two pistols and holding them in expertly steady hands. "I am quite serious about shooting the next person who tries to tell me what I can and cannot risk."
Jonas stared for a long moment, then chuckled and gently prised the guns out of her hands. "Point taken. Although you look a tad elegant for a waterfront trollop."
Bella reached down and lifted the voluminous silk skirting. "Cut me out of this damned farthingale and give Molly five minutes with a blade. She'll have this dress looking like it belongs to a Cheapside whore."
~
Despite Molly's skill with a knife, the innkeeper's wife was summoned and a few moments later, most of her tawdry wardrobe was distributed, even to the low-cut cotton blouse she was wearing. She returned to her husband happily clutching her own fistful of silver coins. Bella decided to keep the blue silk skirt with its deep, useful pockets, but discarded the bodice and sleeves and chose to simply wear a corset over her linen chemise.
While the women we
re adjusting garments and dressing to fit their part, Varian was donning the tunic and turban Jonas had worn as a blackamoor servant. With black breeches and kneeboots, he soon resembled a dockside pimp.
Jonas and Grundy returned to the pinnace with some men and removed what guns and cutlasses they could carry off, then loaded them onto two fishing boats. Dante reeled out a long length of fuse to the stack of powder kegs that were left on board and dragged ashore the heavy chest of treasure that had been intended for use as bribes. When the innkeeper saw the contents, he nearly fainted, but he listened, wide-eyed and crossing himself continually, while Jonas gave him instructions on how and when to light the fuse.
Bella was nervous, but oddly enough, there were no butterflies battling about in her belly. She had no idea where the audacity had come from, suggesting the women should play a major part in the raid, but the energy was still running through her veins, filling her with a new kind of confidence gained, no doubt, from being in the company of Isabeau and Juliet Dante, both of whom calmly loaded weapons and tucked half a dozen knives into their clothing.
Molly, herself transformed from a shy, quiet maid to a bold ally, helped Eva bandage her injured ankle tightly enough she could almost walk without limping. The two, aside from Bella and Dante, were the last to leave the inn and make their way down to the boats.
"You do realize this plan is dangerous and reckless and our chances of success are frighteningly low," Dante said.
"As I recall you said much the same thing about our chances of getting into the fortress to see the governor."
Dante brushed a finger across her cheek and tucked a stray wave of hair behind her ear. "I have revised my list of what frightens me to include women with big blue eyes and vast amounts of misguided courage."
"It isn't misguided, Captain, and it certainly isn't courage. It is faith. If I have learned anything during these past two months, it is that I should have faith in you and your determination to do exactly what you set out to do."
He chuckled softly. "You are ever a surprise to me, Lady Nimblefingers. I fear, in fact, you may have shocked me into breaking a lifelong rule."
Bella was about to ask what rule, but Grundy's harsh whisper came out of the shadows. "Boats are ready. Everyone's aboard, Capt'n. Anyone left inside?"
"Only me and my woman," Jonas said.
Bella's eyes widened. "Your woman?"
"Consider it. Unless, of course, you think the prospect too horrible to contemplate."
Without waiting for a response, he donned his tricorn and strode out of the inn, his boots crunching on the dirt and gravel.
Bella stood rooted to the floorboards for a long, witless moment before shaking herself and hurrying after him toward the boats.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The two wooden fishing boats moved stealthily through the darkness, the oars bound in rags to deaden any sound. Now and then when they passed a galleon, they heard voices on board, but for the most part, the ships were dark and quiet, rocking lazily at anchor. Some had deck lanterns mounted in the forecastle and stern but the air was hazy and the light they cast was occupied by clouds of moths and mosquitoes.
Varian and another burly crewman worked the oars in the first boat. Isabeau sat forward in the bow, her keen eyes scanning left and right for any sign of a patrol boat. Juliet, who refused to acknowledge any discomfort, constantly adjusted, pulled, and swore at the lice-filled blouse and ill-fitting skirt that rode necessarily high over her pregnant belly. She had a pistol and two daggers strapped to her thighs, a third knife sheathed at the small of her back. She sat in the middle beside Eva while Bella and Molly were in the stern with two oarsman behind them.
The plan, once they located the Avenger, was to send the boat with the girls ahead to attract the attention of the sentries. While they were offering their wares, the second fishing boat, filled with armed crewmen under Jonas's command would climb on board and deal with any sentries who stood in their way.
There were flaws in the plan, of course. Enormous flaws. If the innkeeper lit the fuse too early and the pinnace exploded too soon, the entire harbor would be on alert. If it exploded too late, or if the fuse was smothered before it reached the powder kegs, they would have to blast their way out of the bay.
Not one of the men or Dante women deemed those flaws worthy of cancelling or delaying the attempt to recapture the Avenger. And while Bella had initially been excited and eager to be an accepted participant in the raid, the confidence she had been feeling earlier in Jonas's ability to do exactly what he set out to do seemed to get left further and further behind with each stroke of the oars. The excitement had given way to a tight pounding in her chest. Her pulse was racing, her thoughts were scrambled, and each time she felt one of the muskets hidden at her feet shift, her heart leaped up into her throat.
In all her years as a thief, she had left very little, if anything, to chance. When her instincts sensed danger, she had simply aborted her plans and moved on. She had always had the comfort of those fluttering butterflies to warn her away but on this night, those fluttering wings had been crushed, stomped on, and obliterated.
Images flashed through her mind of the past weeks, giving her glimpses of three tall men standing on a deck in the sunlight peering through spyglasses. She and Molly had been awed by the sight and yes, she had envied the freedom of a lifestyle that allowed those men and their crew to follow the winds to the far edge of the horizon.
There were other images, however. The surgery with its blood-stained table and Digger laying there having his gangrenous leg sawed off. The horror of the destruction on Pigeon Cay. The shock of holding Jonas Dante as he wept over the loss of his home and family.
My woman, he had said. A prospect too horrible to contemplate?
Sharing his bed for the past two months had introduced her to the highest peaks of ecstasy. Sharing his way of life could well mean sharing all the fears, terrors, and horrors that went with it. There was no denying they had both grown comfortable with each other's company, but he had made his aversion to marriage quite clear, as had she. He had never professed any feelings of love, never said the word, not even as an endearment. And if this pounding, helpless confusion was what love felt like, then Bella wanted no part of it either.
"Mistress? Bella? Are you all right?"
Bella blinked and Molly's concerned face came into focus. "Of course I am not all right," she whispered. "My heart is in my throat, I cannot catch my breath. My hands… look at my hands!" She held them up, but knew it was too dark to see, and so she added softly, "They're shaking. They never shake, not even when I'm plucking jewels off the breast of the king's mistress!"
Evangeline Dante heard the exchange and turned to whisper over her shoulder. "If it is any consolation, my knees are knocking together so violently it is a wonder no one can hear them."
Juliet made a sharp sound. It was interpreted as a caution to stay silent, but it was entirely involuntary and even through the darkness, Bella could see her hands slide down to cradle the bulge of her belly.
~~
The Spanish flagship was an enormous beast with fore and aftercastles that rose high above the main deck. She was riding heavy in the water, her holds filled with gold and silver bullion. She carried eighty guns and seven hundred soldiers and crew; every sail on her three masts bore the mighty red catholic cross. Every mast was festooned with flags and pennons. A multitude of lanterns hung off her rigging lines which had made the glow from the San Jacinta relatively easy to spot once the fishing boats had maneuvered their way through the maze of ships in the harbor. Thus far the lack of moonlight and the thickness of the shadows had helped to cloak the two small boats but in the glow emanating from the flagship, that safety cloak was no longer there. Moreover, the light stretched a hundred yards or more to illuminate the hulls of the ships anchored close by, including the Avenger and the Iron Rose.
For the first time, the occupants of the fishing boats were able to view the full extent
of battle damage. Seeing the condition of her beautiful ship, Juliet's gasp of pain had little to do with any physical discomfort. The Rose's quarterdeck was smashed to rubble, her rails and gunwales were razed flat to the decking. Only one mast stood above ten feet, the other two had been shot away. Great gaping holes in her hull were charred black by the fires that had swept through her and what few gun ports remained were smashed or missing altogether. She rode so low in the water it was obvious there was too much flooding to make her seaworthy again. The Spanish victors must have towed her to Havana for purely avaricious reasons, and to collect the hundred thousand ducats for her capture.
There were winches set up on deck, most likely to salvage what they could of the valuable guns before the wreckage would be hauled out of port and sunk.
Fifty yards off her stern, the Avenger stood high and proud. She was battered and damn near broken but the Spaniards had undertaken extensive repairs, seating three strong new masts and replacing timber on her decking and hull. The sloping windows in the stern gallery twinkled with new glass panes and a fresh coat of paint had blocked out her name. As if sensing something on the air, she swayed and tugged fitfully on the anchor cable that kept her imprisoned in the shadow of the massive flagship.
~~
While they were still hundred yards away and shielded by the shadow of a nearby galleon, Isabeau signalled Jonas to come abreast. As the fishing boats bumped gently together, the men grabbed hold of the bulwarks to steady them.
"Hell'v a lot o' open water 'tween us an' the Avenger," Grundy whispered, awed by the size of the fleet around them.
"Hell of a lot of firepower too," Isabeau said, nodding at the San Jacinta's three gun decks.
"Aye," Jonas said, his expression grim. "We will all have to circle around and approach the Avenger from the far side where the shadows are thicker. Try to hold their attention forward in the bow. We'll come at them from the stern."
He gave new orders and was about to put oars to water again when Isabeau reached out and touched her son's arm. "I know your brother and father are alive. I know they are, but—"
The Far Horizon Page 28
