by Regina Riley
“Then let’s do it,” little Guppy said.
Rose narrowed her eyes at the young girl. This kind of outburst from the demure child was unusual. It pleased Rose to hear the girl speak her mind.
“I don’t see what all this distress is about,” Gabriella continued. “We needed a job. We we’re offered a job. So let’s just do it.”
“Honey,” Dot said, “it isn’t just the work that’s the problem. It’s the association with The Red House that we don’t want.”
Jayne snorted. “Yeah, it’s bad enough that everyone thinks we’re in the same line of work.”
She set to pacing across the deck in a nervous measure. “If we actually do a job for her, the gossip will never cease.”
“What line of work?” Gabriella asked.
Everyone fell silent, staring at one another rather than answering the question.
Magpie leaned close to Gabriella to say in a voice so low Rose almost didn’t hear her, “The Red House is a bordello.”
Gabriella covered her mouth as she gasped in surprise.
“Yes,” Jayne said. “You can see why we’re so reticent.”
Gabriella’s cheeks glowed cherry red, yet the glint in her eyes told Rose it was the scarlet hue of anger, not embarrassment.
“No, I don’t see,” Gabriella said. “I don’t see at all.”
“Guppy?” Rose asked. “Are you well?”
Gabriella clenched her fists, puffing out her chest as she stepped forward to address the rest of the crew. “I don’t understand you lot. All you ever do is talk of freedom and equality and how we should have the right to choose our own paths.”
Rose smirked, amused by the turn of events. Gabriella’s outburst was odd enough, but a speech of this nature was unheard of. What had gotten into the young thing? Rose cocked her head at the child before she asked, “I’ll take it our idea of freedom disturbs you?”
“No,” Gabriella snapped. “But who are you to pass judgment on what another woman does for her pleasure?”
The argument came to a grinding halt when every mouth fell open. The sudden silence was sliced by the hum of the props, punctuated by the occasional slap of a wave cresting against the ship’s hull. The women shifted their stances, doing their best to avoid each other while Rose tried to tame her own smirk. She lost. Her grin spread wide.
“I don’t understand,” Gabriella said, “how this Madame’s money is different from anyone else’s? Just because of how she earned it?”
Jax cleared her throat. “The little fishy has a point. Ruby’s money is just as good as anyone else’s. Better than any man’s for sure.”
Magpie chuckled. “Unless she offered trade?”
“No,” Rose said. “The offer was cash on delivery. I don’t like to talk so openly about finances, but there are quadruple digits involved here, ladies.”
Eyebrows raised. Lips curled.
Anyone will buckle for a great bottom line. It was the single good thing she learned from Bill.
“It sounds like a good offer to me,” Gabriella reasoned.
Rose was rather sure the young woman wouldn’t know a good offer if it landed in her lap and started to sing church hymns.
“What I want to know,” Jayne said, “is what a woman like Ruby wants with Loco’s legacy.”
“Does that mean you’re willing to find out?” Rose asked.
“You know me better than that, Captain,” Jayne said with a toothy grin. “I’d go for free if it means getting a look at the man’s lab. You just try to stop me.”
Rose thought her tinker would react favorably. Still, it was nice to be reassured. She turned her penetrating gaze on the rest of the crew. “What about the rest of you? Do you disagree with my decision?”
“No,” Jax said. “Guppy is right. You are right. We do the work that is needed. No questions asked.”
“I don’t like the idea of working for that woman,” Dot said, “but in for a penny.” She shrugged, letting the cliché trail off.
Rose looked to Magpie.
The communications officer shrugged as well. “I’m sure you know what you’re doing. I just hope you ain’t mad at me for asking.”
“I would’ve expected nothing less,” Rose said. “So, now that our little drama is over, shall we proceed?”
“Aye-aye, Captain!” the women shouted in unison.
Rose basked in their loyalty.
Chapter 3
Mysterious Island
In which we risk life and limb for the object of the Madame’s desire.
Gabriella thought the task sounded impossible.
An insane man’s laboratory hidden amongst the overgrown jungle of an untamed island? A laboratory, mind you, that he had no intention of ever showing to anyone when he was there. How were they supposed to find the thing now that the doctor had been missing for years? Surely the island had swallowed up its prize.
Fortune smiled on the crew in two useful ways.
In the first place, the crew had, among their number, an asset that proved to be invaluable on a wild island—a wild island native of their own. Click, and it really was just Click because as far as Gabriella knew the man had no surname, was Polynesian by birth. He was also handsome enough to border on beautiful. With a height a little taller than the captain, which put him at least a foot above Gabriella, his smooth skin glowed in a healthy shade of terracotta, with sprawling designs of dark ink covering his arms and chest, which he showed off every chance he got by going shamelessly topless about the ship. Wild, dark hair hung in thick bunches to his shoulders.
His hands were twice the span of Gabriella’s, while his feet were enormous. She only knew this because the man spent so much time barefoot, as if his position aboard the Widow couldn’t afford him a simple pair of shoes.
On the official duties roster, Click was supposed to be the ship’s cabin boy, or in his case cabin man. The reality of the matter was quite the stuff of torrid tales. What went on between Click and the all female crew was a scandalous notion in all of the port gossip circles. Gabriella didn’t believe it until she’d seen him sneaking out of Jayne’s quarters, up the ladder that led to Magpie’s loft, and even, on the rare occasion, slinking away from Dot’s berth. It was all an exciting, scandalous notion indeed. It was also one that not a soul had bothered to share with the new recruit.
Not that she would take him up on such an offer.
Well, not right away, but it would have been nice to at least have been asked.
Click was valuable, true, yet even he could only do so much for the crew without an idea of where they were headed. That idea came in the form of a map, courtesy of the Madame. Where the owner of a bordello had gotten a hold of a map to a hidden laboratory on a nameless island was a question the captain wouldn’t answer. Jayne, on the other hand, insinuated that the Madame was well known for using her bedroom based talents to get whatever she wanted. Gabriella ended up with a flushed face before she decided not to ask for details.
So, map in hand and native on their side, the women plunged into that heart of darkness in search of whatever it was they were in search of.
“We really have no idea what we are looking for?” Gabriella asked again, for what she knew had to be the fortieth time.
“No, Guppy,” the captain answered. “And if you make another sound, I’ll send you back to the ship with Dot.”
Gabriella went silent. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck guarding the ship when the rest of the crew was out adventuring.
What an adventure it was turning out to be.
The island was a tropical paradise with its white sandy beaches, beautiful waterfalls, and tranquil lagoons. Yet, at the same time, it was a veritable death trap. The jungle grew thick, almost impenetrable in places. The passable areas lay rife with hungry wildlife. To make matters worse, the parts of the island not dominated by overgrowth seemed to be composed of nothing but quicksand.
Gabriella quickly learned the key to survival in the stuff w
as not to struggle when sinking, despite the fact that all instincts screamed otherwise.
Even with her bloomers full of sand, she was having the time of her life.
“Captain!” Click shouted from a few feet ahead. “There’s something up here.”
The captain sighed with a glance to the heavens, as if seeking help. Gabriella couldn’t blame her. The native had repeated the same line for almost four hours. Every misshapen rock, twisted tree, or rotting animal carcass was something to him. A series of portends to his warped, heathen mind.
“I swear,” the captain said, “if that’s just another piece of indistinguishable jungle, I’m going to break him in two.”
“If the map is correct, this should be it, sir,” Magpie said, folding the worn parchment.
“Very well. Let’s see what he’s found this time.” The captain pushed past Magpie, tromping ahead to join Click with his latest discovery.
Gabriella obediently fell into line to follow her captain. Whistles and gasps echoed through the underbrush. When she slipped between the vines into the clearing beyond, she saw what all the commotion was about. A great stone wall rose from the jungle floor, reaching high into the canopy of banyan trees, running end to end as far as the eye could see. Gabriella stood in awe of the thing, amazed at the impossible size of it. Jayne, however, caressed the obstruction with pale, trembling hands. The woman pawed at the wall, occasionally pausing to put her ear to it, listening for heaven knew what.
“Wow,” Click said. His voice seemed a sudden intrusion on Jayne’s private moment. “What do you suppose is beyond?”
The captain waved her hand at the cabin boy, flashing him a dirty look, silencing him as she turned to Magpie, who already had the unfolded parchment in hand. “Is this thing on the map?”
Magpie held the parchment close to her face. “No. Must’ve been put up by someone since.
Unfortunately our goal is just on the other side. I guess somehow we either need to get around it or over it.”
“How do you suppose we get around it?” Jax asked.
Gabriella wondered the same thing.
“We’re not supposed to.” Jayne stepped back from the wall, turned to the crew with her hands parked on her hips. “Not around it. We’re supposed to get inside. It’s not just a barrier. It’s a building.”
“Oh, I see,” Magpie said. “This is the lab.” Poking at the map, she frowned. “I just assumed the little rectangle here would be, well, little.” She dipped her head in submission to the captain.
“Sorry, Cap.”
“No harm.” The captain smirked. “Jayne? How can you tell?”
“Because,” the tinker said, “barricades of this size don’t usually sport conveniently man sized doors.” Jayne hooked a thumb behind her toward the wall.
Gabriella stared at the spot the tinker pointed out. At first it looked like just another part of the impressive stonework. The more she stared, the more it changed. Soon, she saw what the tinker saw. Beyond the mossy age laid the faint outline of a large door set on wide hinges.
“Well done,” the captain commended. “Now, do me one better, Jayne. Get us inside.”
The tinker threw her hand up in salute. “Aye-aye, Captain.”
Gabriella got a sinking feeling that was easier said than done.
* * * *
Rose sat on a rotting trunk, moaning while Click worked her shoulders with his strong hands.
“So tight, my captain,” he said. “You should relax.”
“I wish I could,” Rose whispered.
“I know how to relax you.”
She shuddered when he feathered the back of her neck with soft kisses. “Not now. We need to find a way in before the sun sets, otherwise we’ll have to trek back to the Widow and the whole day will be a waste.”
Rose assumed Jayne would have the door opened in moments, but she’d been wrong. When they cleared away the wildlife, there was no handle. The hinges were not only bolted to the stone, they were welded in place. The door bore a strange carving—the open-mouthed face of some kind of demon with a square of marble mounted just below the beast. Although interesting, it was no help in getting the damnable thing open. For the last forty-five minutes, the crew poked, prodded, and pried at the door with no success. Rose was beginning to think they would return to Ruby empty handed. That wouldn’t do. Not at all.
“Relax, my captain,” Click cooed in his lilting accent. “We shall get in soon enough. You’ll see. You just have to believe we will.”
“I don’t know, Click.” Rose leaned against him, her shoulders sagging. Fear of failure left her stomach churning as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Click’s silence only enhanced her tension, forcing her to speak again to still her nerves. “I suspect it will take more than just optimism to get us past that door.” Rose glanced in the direction of the hindrance. At the door, a sweaty Jax with a large crowbar was trying her best to best the obstacle.
“She’s going to pull a muscle like that,” Click whispered.
“Jax!” Rose shouted. “Give it a rest!”
Her first mate ignored her, instead groaning while she bore down on the metal bar wedge into the doorframe. The door didn’t even have the decency to at least groan in return.
“Take a break, Jax!” Rose shouted. “That’s an order!”
“Yebat!” Jax yelled. She yanked the bar free, hurling it across the clearing.
Rose’s ears burned at the sound of the foreign curse.
“Stupid doctor and his stupid ideas!” Jax shouted. “Who makes door no one can use? I ask that!” She stomped away from the impossible task to slump against a boulder.
Rose looked to the skies.
“I told you force wouldn’t work,” Jayne said. With a smug smile on her freckled face, the tinker lay down. She stretched her legs across a patch of mossy vines.
“Then tell us what will,” Magpie said.
“I told you already—” Jayne started.
Magpie cut the tinker off in mid-sentence. “Yes, we know. It’s probably some secretive combination lock or puzzle.”
“Jayne,” Rose said. “I appreciate that you, out of all of us, understand how Doctor Loquacious’s mind worked. We have yet to see any signs of a puzzle.”
“Not true,” Jayne said. “That beast on the door is too obtrusive. It means something.”
While Rose assumed the carving was just a poor choice in décor, she trusted the clever mind of the tinker. “What does it mean?”
“I don’t know,” Jayne confessed.
Rose huffed in frustration.
“That’s the confusing part,” Jayne said. “I expected something fairly recognizable from him.
I mean the man was a genius, but so am I. Logic dictates we should think alike.”
Movement caught Rose’s eye. Gabriella stood before the huge door. The young woman craned her neck to the carving, shifting her weight from leg to leg, which she often did when she was deep in thought. Rose wondered if Gabriella could succeed where Jayne had failed. Yes, she could, because Gabriella was her clever father’s daughter.
Rose smiled at the pleasant memories of Daniel Upstairs. There was a man with class. Not much in the looks department, mind you. Still he was stable, secure, and sweet. Oh, so very sweet.
Rose could have married him. No. She should have married him. The lure of being a captain’s wife over the spouse of a brilliant mathematician was too great for the young Rose. She snuck away in the dead of night, married that bastard Bill only to live with the regret of it ever since. Now here she was, a lifetime later, where circumstances and incidents had left her in charge of Daniel’s daughter.
She hoped she could keep her promise to the first man she’d ever truly loved.
“Maybe we use explosives,” Jax said. “Boom. Door gone. Problem solved.”
Magpie snorted a small laugh. “Not everything can be solved by blowing it up.”
Jax shot the smaller woman a dark look. “Most prob
lems can be solved by going boom. As well as most people.”
Rose frowned at Jax’s threatening tone. Were Jax and Maggie arguing again? She thought she had settled their differences eons ago. Magpie’s cut-you-to-the-bone sneer said differently. Rose didn’t have time for this. Not now. Not ever. Click’s lips against her neck broke through her worry.
“Come with me,” he whispered.
When he ran his hands across her breasts for the briefest of moments before returning them to her shoulders, she smiled. “What are you on about?”
“Come with me,” he whispered. “I’ll show you.”
The obvious offer was tempting, but this was hardly the time or place for such frivolity. She pushed his hands away. “Not now, Click. I swear that’s all you ever think about.”
“That is where you’re wrong, my captain,” he whispered. “You are all I ever think about.”
With that, he stood and walked into the thick of the jungle. Before the wildlife swallowed him whole, he turned to face her with a flash of his seductive smile.
Rose clambered to her feet in excitement. “Jax, keep working on that door. Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I have something to discuss with our morale’s officer.”
“Oh, sure,” Magpie said. “You have a word, or two. Three if you like. No sense in limiting yourself to just oral explorations either. Might as well take on his full body of work while you’re at it.”
The women sniggered, except for Gabriella, who once again looked like a fish out of water.
Her cheeks puffed and huffed while a profound look of confusion crossed her face. Rose followed Click’s path into the jungle.
The vines closed behind her, forcing her deeper into the undergrowth. She wandered for a few minutes before she got the feeling she had lost him. “Click? Where are you? You stupid man.”
She reached a small clearing before she decided to head back, leaving Click to his ridiculous notions. The snap of a twig to her left snatched her attention. Stopping, she realized it must be him.