Authors: Rebecca Hart
“I’ll make the necessary arrangements with my crew, and we can deliver the shipment first thing in the morning. I agree. There’s no sense delaying things further.”
Jashir inclined his head. “Good. I will tell my men to be ready for your visit. My ship is anchored in the bay just beyond the docks. I will expect you after sunrise.” His black eyes locked with Daniel’s. “Do not disappoint me, Captain O’Roarke. You already know the penalty for deceit.”
“I do.”
“Good.” Jashir’s gaze drifted back to Ellie. “Make sure your crew does as well.”
Daniel could feel the anger emanating from his left. “My crew will not pose a problem. You have my word.”
“See that you keep it better than you predecessor.” In a swirl of robes, Jashir spun about and stalked away from the table.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ellie woke to the sounds of scuffling coming from the darkness near the bunk where Daniel slept.
“Daniel?”
Oppressive silence answered her.
She strained to hear his breathing.
Nothing.
A warning prickle shivered down her spine. Ellie sat up in the chair and squinted into the pitch blackness, praying her eyesight would adjust so she could see her hand in front of her face. “Daniel? Are you there?”
“Not anymore,” said an unfamiliar, deep voice.
Terror gripped her. She started to scream, but before the sound was able to escape, a damp sponge pushed against her nose and mouth, swallowing it up.
She tried to jerk away from the sweet-smelling cloth pressed to her face as she scrambled to untangle herself from the blankets wrapped around her legs. Her mind raced as she struggled for air.
A large hand clamped down on her arm, held her in place while the toxic sponge did its work.
Her knees quivered, the world spun and blurred. In a desperate bid for freedom, she swung a wild elbow, connecting with her assailant’s soft belly.
A satisfying grunt of pain reached her ears as Ellie drowned in a sea of inky blackness.
***
Daniel heard a voice calling to him from a great distance, the sound little more than a buzzing in his ears. His head throbbed in time with his heartbeat and his mouth tasted like blood. His lip was swollen and cracked. The slight tilt of his head earned a groan of pain.
“Captain, wake up. Ellie’s gone.”
Was that Nelson? Memory rushed in. Daniel gasped as his eyes flew open. He bolted upright in the bunk. “Ellie!”
Nelson stood over him, hands on hips and creases of worry etched across his brow. “She’s gone, Captain, and Jacobs is dead.”
Nausea rolled through Daniel’s stomach. Gritting his teeth, he forced his muscles into action. His vision blurred and refocused as he rose from the bed. “They must have drugged me.” He cast a quick glance at the porthole. “How long has he had her? Did they take the guns, too?”
“The arms are safe. When I could not wake you, I checked the hold. Jacobs is the only casualty and Ellie is the only thing missing.” Nelson kneaded the muscles at the back of his neck. “I don’t understand. Why would Jashir take her? Do you think he means to kill her for what she did at the tavern?”
Jaykers, I hope not.
Daniel shook his head. “He took her to ensure I don’t back out on him like Winters did.” He ran troubled fingers through his hair. “We need a plan, and fast. Ellie will never sit still for this. She’ll get herself killed trying to escape, or worse, trying to slay Jashir herself.”
Nelson paced to the desk and back, hands behind his back. “We won’t be able to get close to Jashir’s ship without him seeing us approach, so we are at a disadvantage. We won’t know where he’s keeping her until we show up to make the exchange.”
The more Daniel thought about Ellie in Jashir’s hands, the tighter his chest got. Anger boiled in his stomach. His fingers curled to fists. “A pox on the guns! He’s got my wife.”
Nelson emitted a wounded groan.
“What is it?” Daniel asked. “Are you all right?”
“I had promised Ellie not to tell you something, but I feel now that I must.”
The blood in Daniel’s veins turned cold. “Not tell me what, Nelson?”
He pulled his gaze from the floor and leveled it at Daniel. “She’s with child, Captain.”
While he’d heard the words well enough, it took a few moments before they registered in his brain. When they finally did, Daniel staggered backward. His calves hit the edge of the bed and he dropped onto it, mouth agape.
How could she be
…?
You know how, taffard.
Their one blissful night together flashed through his mind. The way her eyes darkened to sapphires when she was in the midst of bliss, the smell of fiery red tresses like fresh autumn leaves. Daniel drew cooling air into his chest, tried to focus.
Ellie’s having my baby!
His body flushed with joyous heat at the thought.
Focus! You need to save Ellie first.
They needed a distraction, something to draw Jashir’s men away from wherever they held Ellie. Daniel rubbed his temples. Where would he keep her? Jashir would want her near so he could keep a close eye on her, especially after her display at the tavern.
Daniel’s gaze sought Nelson. “Get the guns ready for transfer to Jashir’s ship. I think I might have a plan.”
***
Daniel and Nelson trod along the winding road leading away from the wharf. Each man carried a fat oilskin sack on his back.
When he found a spot where the brush and tall grass came closest to the shoreline, Daniel stepped from the path and worked his way into the thicket. He shrugged off his pack and set it down beside him.
Nelson followed suit, ducking down to keep from being seen.
“I need to change. Unfasten the bags for me. I won’t be able to do it afterward. And keep an eye on the road.”
Nelson nodded and began untying the leather strap holding the first sack closed.
Daniel crept further back into the brush and sat down beneath a thickly leafed bush. He closed his eyes and centered his thoughts on the feeling of the ocean rushing past his body as he sliced through the endless blue depths. He imagined his hands were flippers.
The warm familiar tingle tickled his toes and quickly spread up his calves. Tingles grew to a burn as the heat spiraled up his thighs into the base of his spine. Daniel sucked his breath through his teeth when the pain came, squeezing his eyes closed.
A spasm of clenching muscles seized him. His legs began their awkward contortions, folding into his body. Popping noises echoed in Daniel’s ears, followed by a round of shuddering cracks as his body contorted and changed into that of a seal. His skin darkened and thickened and it shifted to make room for a more streamlined shape.
Spots floated in the black expanse stretched across Daniel’s closed lids, and the urge to spill the contents of his stomach made itself known. He took long deep breaths and waited for the nausea to pass.
Nelson poked his head through the veil of leaves surrounding Daniel. “Ready?”
The seal in the bushes bobbed his head and bounded through the tall grass toward the surf, Nelson following closely behind with a sack in each hand.
When the incoming tide kissed his flippers, Daniel stopped and faced Nelson.
His new confidant set the first sack down in front of him. “You sure this will work?”
Daniel waved a front fin at Nelson and clamped his jaw around the bag.
It has to work.
He lumbered into the water between two curls, praying the contents of the water resistant pack would stay dry on the journey to Jashir’s hull. Safely past the breakers, Daniel rolled onto his back, and using his strong tail flipper swam out to the ship bobbing on the waves a short distance away.
Reaching the ship unseen, Daniel released a grunt of relief. Floating on his back, he balanced the sack on his stomach and worked the packet of explosives free. The strong scent of pine tar made his nose twitch.
Daniel affixed the sticky surprise to the hull just above the water line. After a moment to make sure it didn’t slip off, he did an about face and dove beneath the water’s surface, heading back for the second package.
A repeat trip to the vessel and the other bundle was nestled against Jashir’s hull on the opposite side of the bow. He prayed he was right and Jashir held Ellie in his quarters, at the opposite end of the ship.
Daniel hurried back to the shore, where Nelson left a torch poking up from the sand. When the time was right, he’d use it to light his little gifts for the corsair captain.
The rest would be up to Nelson.
***
Ellie paced the length of Jashir’s cabin allowed by the chain affixed to her ankle. Another chain connected her wrists to each other. Like the captain’s quarters on
The Call
, Jashir’s room held a desk in the far corner and a bunk opposite it. Jashir’s bed, however, was like nothing she’d seen before. It consisted of a pile of brightly colored pillows and silken sheets spread across the floor.
The other marked difference between the two rooms was the presence of the sturdy wooden pole her ankle chain was attached to. It ran from floor to ceiling near the center of the space. Ellie shuddered as she considered what purpose it might have served prior to her arrival.
She’d been awake for more than an hour, and still no one had come to check on her. If she could free herself from her chains, she could escape out the porthole and swim the short distance back to the wharf, assuming Jashir hadn’t moved the ship somewhere else while she’d been unconscious. They weren’t moving now, but whatever her abductor used to drug her had incapacitated Ellie for hours.
A quick turn about, and she stalked back across the room, bare feet padding softly on the wide wooden planks. She grumbled. They’d left her in her nightgown. The thin fabric left nothing of her shape to the imagination and only covered her to the knees.
Despite exhaustive thought, Ellie still couldn’t figure out why Jashir had bothered to take her captive. Daniel had every intention of meeting with him to trade the guns. Of course, Ellie had every intention of killing the man during the transaction, but Jashir couldn’t know that.
Could he?
Jashir had been the only one to ever see through her male disguise. The first time they’d crossed paths, over five years ago, he’d instantly seen her for what she was, as if she’d not even bothered to hide herself.
Ellie sighed and eyed the closed door.
I wish he would get it over with already.
She hated waiting to learn her fate almost as much as she hated needing someone to rescue her from it. A few more trips down the length of her chain had her thoroughly frustrated.
Finally, the portal swung open. Jashir’s tall form filled the entranceway, bright sunlight streaming in behind him, making it hard for Ellie to discern his shadowed features.
“We will not have to wait much longer. Your captain’s ship is coming this way.”
Ellie kicked her foot out, yanking at the kinked chain pulling on her ankle. Her hatred for Jashir warmed her stomach. Her hands curled and flexed at her sides, releasing some of her pent-up rage. She donned a mask of calm defiance.
There was no sense in riling him at this point. She had no weapon. Her father’s dagger was still in her boot back on
The Siren’s Call
. With Daniel already coming, Jashir had no real reason to keep her alive. Soon he’d have the guns he so desperately wanted. What would happen to her then?
Ellie notched her chin upward. “Daniel will make you pay for what you’ve done, Jashir. And if he doesn’t I swear to you, I will.”
“Brave words for such a tiny dove.” He stepped further into the room and closed the door behind him.
Her heart rate jumped.
When he faced her again, a dark gleam lit his coal orbs. He came closer, stopping just out of her reach.
Smart man.
Her fingers ached to claw at his smug face.
“You are an intriguing creature, Ellie Winters. So much like your father.”
Ellie spat at him, disappointed when the glob of saliva missed his face and landed on the shoulder of his drab robe. “Don’t you dare talk about my father, you murdering bastard. If it weren’t for you, he’d still be here.”
Jashir’s shoulders lifted in a nonchalant shrug. “A regretful necessity, I assure you. I had always respected your father. He was a fierce leader, and a good pirate. He should not have betrayed me.”
“Pirate? My father wasn’t a dirty pirate like you.”
Or like me.
“Perhaps you did not know him as well as you proclaim. Go back to the tavern you were in last night and ask anyone you happen upon about the great Captain Winters. He was almost as famous as I.” A smile curled his thin lips. “Ask your Captain O’Roarke. He is well aware of what business your father was in.”
Ellie refused to entertain the idea. He was only trying to get to her. She’d not take the bait. “It doesn’t matter what my father was. He’s dead because of you.”
“No, he is dead because of you, my dove. Your father abandoned our deal to chase after his missing child.” He pointed a bony finger at her chest. “You. If he had not done so, we would have completed our trade and I would have left your father alone. And alive.”
Ellie put her hands over her ears. “Shut up! You’re a liar!” She turned away, heart crumbling in her chest.
Please, God, let him be lying.
Tears burned her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat, desperate to hide her weakness. Ellie whirled back around, prepared to sling a string of insults at her captor. Her mouth fell slack and her shoulders deflated.
Jashir had left the cabin.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Daniel waited for
The Siren’s Call
to pull away from the Gibraltar dock before grabbing the burning torch in his whiskered jaw and heading into the bay. Head tilted to keep the flame from the water, he propelled himself toward his ship. He’d need to keep himself in its shadow if he had any hope of reaching Jashir’s xebec undetected. A seal was easy to ignore, but one with a flaming torch in its mouth was sure to garner unwanted attention.