“But you never made it back to the ship,” Luc said.
Eddie nodded. “But I never made it back to the ship.”
“And then you escaped,” Luc said.
“Yes, now I have escaped. And unless I want everything I and my brother have worked for to blow up in our faces, I need to find Guerrant and put an end to his vendetta by killing him before he kills my brother and my niece and nephew.”
A calmness settled over Luc. Eddie was right. The only way to protect Peggy was to find this Guerrant before he got to her.
A loud commotion erupted in the camp. Luc could hear the sounds of horses racing into the camp and the yelling of men in Arabic. Eddie jumped to his feet and Luc followed suit. Then just as they were headed toward the front of the tent one of the Bedouin tribesmen burst through the flap.
He excitedly fired off a number of things in his native tongue. And with each word, Eddie’s shoulders seem to slump. When the man was through, he bowed his way out of the tent, and Eddie turned to Luc with a troubled look.
“The Pasha attacked the Coral Sea yesterday. According to the men I sent to the city, there was a great sea battle within sight of the city, and the Coral Sea was sunk, killing everyone on board.”
It couldn’t be! Everything in Luc screamed that it couldn’t be true. Peggy couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t have just lost everything he loved. Not again.
Chapter 37
“Don’t go believing everything you hear,” Eddie quickly said.
Luc was trying to slow his heartbeat. But the thought that Peggy was dead was worse than when he had learned that his older sister had been murdered. Back then he had been too young to understand what it meant to lose someone you loved. He wasn’t now, and it hurt worse than he could imagine.
“Especially, in this part of the world,” Eddie continued as if Luc’s life wasn’t hanging in the balance. “I once slapped a man in the market place in Tunis, and by the time I got back to my ship, the locals had me attacking an unarmed man and gutting him right there in the middle of the street.”
“What?” Luc asked.
Eddie laid a reassuring hand on Luc’s shoulder. “What I am saying, young man, is don’t take what that man said as gospel. They tend to exaggerate a little bit here to give flavor to every story. It’s something you have to become used to. Everything gets blown out of proportion.”
“So you don’t believe the Coral Sea was sunk?” Luc asked.
Eddie shook his head. “Not with my niece at the helm and my . . . first mate at her side. Peggy is the best damn pirate I’ve ever seen. She would not have been taken by surprise, I can guarantee you that.”
Luc’s chest tightened. He wanted to tell this windbag that his wife wasn’t a pirate. But the truth was, Peggy was.
Eddie took a breath and then continued in a very calculating way as if he was remembering stratagems that he and his niece had worked out in the past. “We’ve faced bigger threats than either the Pasha has to offer or this Guerrant can mount.” Eddie nodded. “Take my word for it, the Coral Sea is not at the bottom of the Mediterranean. But if there was a battle, then it means that Peggy and Joc had to make a quick departure for some reason. More than likely either the Pasha or Guerrant was trying to board her. And knowing my niece and Joc as I do, they would have had a contingency plan in place in case anybody was left behind.”
Luc nodded. “A place called Zanzur. If the ship had to leave suddenly, they were going to circle around to a small town east of Tripoli and wait for stragglers.”
Eddie chortled like an old woman. “I taught her that. I surely did.” Eddie walked back over to the dais and sat. Luc wanted to scream they needed to go. He needed to make sure Peggy was alright.
“What are you doing? We need to get to this Zanzur,” Luc said.
Eddie shook his head. “I wouldn’t advise it, Captain Stoughton. It’s way too dangerous to travel in this country at night. In fact, it is too bloody dangerous to travel in the country during the day without a guide.”
“But your friends. . .” Luc started.
Eddie began shaking his head. He waved toward the tent’s flap. “Those men aren’t my friends, young man. They’re Bedouin tribesmen. Nomads that wander the desert in search of their next victim. Some call them land pirates. And I wouldn’t argue with them. Fact is, they don’t like anybody. They sure as bloody hell are not going to help us find my niece and my ship in the middle of the night.”
“But they helped you rescue me,” Luc said.
Eddie laughed. “They weren’t helping me rescue you, young man. The only thing they hate worse than foreigners right now is the Pashas that control this part of the world. They’re waging a war with our friends out there. Trying to put a stop to their thieving ways. So they weren’t so much helping me rescue you, as taking a swipe at some of the Pasha’s men. You just benefited from their animosity towards the Pasha is all. And the only reason you and I are not dead right now, is I’ve done business with them in the past. But make no mistake, they are not our friends.”
Luc absorbed that as he stared at the man on the dais. “Then what are we going to do? I need to get back to the Coral Sea.”
Eddie shook his head. “That, young man, is not going to happen. I’m fairly familiar with this part of the world, Captain Stoughton. But even I’m not crazy enough to travel through this desert in the middle of the night. There is no telling where we would end up if we tried. So I suggest we both get a couple hours of shut-eye and then strike out for Zanzur in the morning. And if I am right, we’ll meet up with my niece and Joc long before we get half way there.”
It wasn’t what Luc wanted to hear, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had no idea where he was in the first place. And he would have no idea in what direction he needed to go to get to Zanzur or Tripoli. But it infuriated him that this man could be so cavalier about the safety of his niece. With him and Joc Malveaux as a role model, it was no wonder she thought nothing about killing her own father for murdering his brother. That thought reminded Luc of what Peggy believed and what she intended to do.
“Are you aware that your niece thinks your brother murdered you?” Luc asked.
The man scrunched up his face as he considered Luc. “No. How’d she come to the conclusion that Marcus was the one that done me in? We were very careful to conceal his identity and hiding place when he took the shot at me.”
Luc glared back. “Well, it wasn’t that good of a hiding place, because somebody recognized your brother as he took the shot at you.”
“Bloody hell,” Eddie said.
“Yes, bloody hell is right. And there were two members of the Coral Sea crew that saw your brother running away from the docks with a sniper rifle. It’s enough circumstantial evidence that in an English court of law, your brother could be found guilty of murdering you if those men decided to testify against him.”
Luc took a step towards the dais but decided not to join the man on it. “But they wouldn’t have had to testify against your brother because your niece and first mate decided to take matters into their own hand. They hatched a plot to rescue your brother from his kidnappers, and then they were going to kill him in cold blood as vengeance for killing you.”
Eddie grimaced and looked sheepish. “No, Captain Stoughton, I was not aware of those facts. I have been isolated for the last six months and have heard nothing of the outside world until a few days ago when I escaped from the Pasha’s prison. Up until now I had assumed that mine and my brother’s plan went off without a hitch. Consequently, I knew that my niece and Joc would be upset by my murder. But I did not know that they held Marcus accountable for it.”
“Upset!” Luc exclaimed. “Devastated is a better word for what those two have been going through. If Peggy finds your brother, she is determined to murder her own father to avenge him murdering you. Do you know what that would do to her? No. I’ve seen what it does to somebody when they kill their own parent for a crime they committed. And I can tell
you it is not something a person can live with easily. So we have got to find your niece as quickly as possible to keep her from destroying the rest of her life by doing something she will regret. Especially, as the crime she is blaming your brother for did not happen in the first place.”
For the first time since meeting Edward Hennessey, the man looked ill and uncomfortable. “There is no danger of Peggy finding my brother right now. He and his family are safely on a small island off the coast of Sicily.”
“Sicily?” Luc asked.
“Yes,” Eddie said. “Part of the plan that Marcus and I came up with was for me and Joc to track down Guerrant and put an end to his threats against him and his family.”
Part of Luc wanted to pummel him to a bloodied pulp. But he couldn’t. Peggy would never forgive him if he did. “Then I suggest we get an early start in the morning,” Luc said instead.
The man eyed him cautiously. “Yes. At the crack of dawn.”
It was treacherous and unadvisable for foreigners to travel alone in Libya. Especially Europeans since the Americans had attacked Tripoli in 1801 over the piratical practices of Tripoli’s Pasha. But Peggy was too worried about Luc to be concerned over such petty things. She and Joc and the men with them were well-armed. So as long as they did not run into one of the large patrols the Pasha sent out to guard the area, they should be safe enough.
“Joe is comin’ back,” Joc said, holding up his hand to stop them.
From the way the seaman was moving, Peggy knew something was wrong. They all drew their weapons and waited.
“There’s a bunch of riders about a league up the road, Captain,” Joe said when he reached them. “They gots a man pinned down by a ‘ill. E’s fighen back, but they’s got ‘em out manned ten to one. I don’t figure he’ll last much longer.”
“Could you see the man?” Peggy asked already starting to run in the direction.
“No, milady, I couldn’t see nothin’ but the top of ‘em. He weren’t no Arab. Not wearing one of them turbans. And he gots brown ‘air, not black like most of these folks do.”
“Luc,” Peggy said and picked up the pace.
“Peggy,” Joc called after her. “Don’t go a rushin’ in, afore we see what is a goin’ on.”
“I’m not,” She hollered.
But it wasn’t Joc’s warning that kept her from charging over the hill to see if it was Luc who was pinned down. It was the league she had just run, weighted down with her cutlass, two pistols, and a rifle.
They topped a hill a hundred yards away from the riders. She knew they were palace guards by their uniforms. And Joe was right, another fifty yards down the road was a small stone hut backed up against a small hill with a man popping up every so often to take a shot at the soldiers. They didn’t appear to be too concerned about the man’s shots. And why should they; they were too far for the man to hit with his pistols.
They, however, were taking shots at him with the long rifles that many of the Bedouins carried. And they were extremely accurate, so they kept the man from doing little more than keeping them away from the front of the hut.
Suddenly the firing stopped. Peggy pulled out her spyglass and focused it on the open doorway. From her angle, she couldn’t see inside, but she did have a clear view of the door.
Then just as suddenly as the firing had stopped, she saw Luc step into the open doorway. His hands were down. And he had an angry look on his face.
“Captain Malveaux, there’s the man I saw shoot Captain Peri,” Joe snapped.
“Where?” Peggy and Joc said at the same time.
Joe pointed toward a man standing ten yards away from the riders. He was looking back at the hut and Luc. And as she watched, the man raised a rifle and pointed it at Luc.
Peggy didn’t think. Every instinct Eddie and Joc had ever drilled into her sprang to life. She jumped up, screamed Luc’s name at the top of her lungs, and fired down at the man aiming at her husband.
But she was too late. The man fired at Luc a second before she could pull the trigger. She saw Luc jerk backward, just as her bullet slammed into the shoulder of the man below her.
All chaos and hell broke loose in that moment. The riders that had been below them turned towards her just as a dozen or more mounted Bedouin nomads charged around the corner. The clashing of swords and the explosions of gunfire rent the air as Peggy dropped her rifle and began running headlong towards the hut and her husband.
Some part of her brain registered the fact that Joc and the crewmen were engaged in the mortal battle taking place around her. But Peggy never saw the battle, all she saw was the doorway to the hut that Luc had been shot in. At one point in her frantic race to get to Luc a bullet whizzed by her ear. She pulled up short and looked around, then resumed her race towards the hut.
When she got there, she saw a man lying face down in the dirt. His head was away from her, but even from the doorway, she knew it wasn’t her husband.
Then suddenly out of the darkness a huge figure emerged. Her heart stopped and then pounded against her breasts. It was Luc. And he was alive.
Peggy flung herself into his arms and hugged him with all her might. “I thought you were dead. I thought he killed you like he killed my uncle.”
At some level Peggy was aware that the man she was hugging was not hugging her back. His body was stiff and unbending as the mainmast on her ship. Then, hesitantly, he hugged her back. She felt him touch the top of her head with his lips. But then he grasped her upper arms and pushed her away.
“You just had to have your revenge, didn’t you?” he said sadly.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, even though she knew what he was accusing her of. She had just killed her father, and after what she had told him, she could understand why he might think what he was. “I didn’t have a choice. He was about to shoot you.”
“Shoot me?” he demanded. Luc’s eyes narrowed on her. “He wasn’t shooting at me,” he flung his arm back toward the man on the floor, “he was shooting at Guerrant.”
“Guerrant?” Peggy parroted, becoming more panicked by the second.
“Yes, Dacey Guerrant. The man who has been out to destroy your family for the last twenty-one years. The man who murdered your mother and tried to murder you as an infant.”
Peggy pulled away and stared up at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Your father didn’t abandon you for his job. He sent you to your uncle to keep you safe from him,” Luc said and pointed down at the dead man.
Peggy’s head was screaming. Nothing Luc was saying made any sense. “How could you possibly know that?” she demanded.
The look in his eyes was terrifying. “Because your uncle Eddie told me about it. How your father met your mother and how Guerrant was enraged over them getting married. And how he then killed your mother in retaliation and tried to kill you. Something you should know all about, with your vendetta to avenge your uncle’s murder.”
Peggy’s world was starting to turn grey. Her head was spinning, and she was having trouble breathing. “That’s impossible. Eddie is dead.”
Luc glared at her, his eyes red and filled with anger and disappointment. “He wasn’t dead.” Luc looked past her toward the spot her father had been standing. “Until you shot him a few minutes ago.”
The hut began to spin and Luc’s face became unfocused. “What are you saying?” she demanded.
He took a deep breath and shook his head. “You didn’t just kill your father, Peggy. You just killed your uncle Eddie.”
“Noooo!”
The scream didn’t come from Peggy, it came from the doorway. She whirled around and saw Joc standing there, his face white as a new sail. Her papa took off running back up the hill, screaming Eddie’s name. Peggy cried out and stumbled out the door. She looked up and saw the body of the man she had shot, lying face down on the ground.
Taking a step toward them, she stumbled and fell to her knees. When she tried to get up, Luc grasped her arm and
held her in place. “Nooo,” she screamed. “Let me go. Let me go.”
Peggy jerked with all her might and tore free of his hold. Stumbling and falling, she raced back up the hill as fast as she could. In the distance she could see Joc falling to his knees beside the body. He gently rolled the body of her uncle over and then cradled him in his arms. Even before she reached them, Peggy could hear Joc crying. Begging Eddie to not die.
When she reached the two of them, she too fell to her knees. She could now clearly see the face of her uncle. The man who had raised her and cared for her and loved her when her own father hadn’t.
“Oh my God, what have I done?” she cried out. “Please Eddie, please don’t die. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to shoot you. I thought you were my father . . . and . . . and that you were about to kill my husband.”
“Then I supposed that shooting a rifle is about the only thing I could never teach you to do properly,” the man in Joc’s arm said.
“Eddie!” Peggy cried. “You’re alive!”
“I am. Thanks to your bad aim,” Eddie said and opened his eyes to look at Joc. His hand coming up to gently caress Joc’s face in a loving manner. “I’m sorry I scared you, sweetheart.” Eddie then turned to her and smiled at her. “And I figure I’ll stay that way if this big oaf of a papa of yours doesn’t crush me to death.”
“Oh, Eddie,” she cried and threw herself into his arms. “You’re alive. You’re alive.”
By that night all of them were back on the Coral Sea and headed to Comino, a small Maltese Island off the coast of Sicily, to pick up her stepmother and stepbrother. But that was not what was on her mind. Luc had not spoken to her since the shooting. He had not abandoned her. Not physically. But he had withdrawn from her emotionally. And she couldn’t blame him.
“Are ye goin’ to hide out here all the way back to England?” Joc asked as he joined her at the prow.
“Maybe,” she said without looking at him.
“How long ye goin’ to stay mad at Eddie?” he asked as he settled against the railing.
To Save a Fallen Angel (The Fallen Angels series Book 2) Page 27