Of course, the real pirates never were in port on the weekend. Aside from the docking issue, all the prices were jacked up, and the port authorities paid a bit more attention to identification, cargo and shipping manifests at that time.
Maggie walked around the town square to make sure no one was following her, and then headed down to the beach to watch dawn break over the water. She thought of Quick again, and squinted up to see if she could see his sails on the horizon. His boat was The Quicksilver.
Unlike Sweet’s ship, The Quicksilver was sleek. You didn’t need much cargo space when you were running smokes. He had twice as many cannons, though, and front and rear missile ports. Quick’s cargo, tobacco and other substances, were often contraband on other worlds.
She’d worry about Quick, but it would be a waste of time. He was good at what he did and had the instincts that even rivalled her mother’s. Maybe one of these days, she’d tell him about Black Belle. If they ever stopped fucking long enough to have a real conversation.
It had been three years and it hadn’t happened yet, though.
Sitting on the stone breakwater, she was careful to tuck her flouncy skirt underneath her. There was a vague feeling of disappointment, and the tiniest bit of doubt that maybe she was being used. Then again, wasn’t she using him as well?
She’d probably see Quick in a few weeks, maybe they’d have an adult conversation in between the wild sex. Then again, maybe not. Maggie had thought she liked their arrangement. No strings attached, no call backs or voicemail or—until today— hurt feelings when one of them was too busy.
Rubbing her head, she wondered what was wrong with her? It had been exciting at first, having a secret lover. But now, it seemed a little old shoe or maybe she was just tired.
“Read your fortune?” Alarna said, coming up silently behind her.
“You’re up early.” Maggie obligingly offered her palm.
Alarna nodded, her black matted dreads bobbing into her face as she grasped Maggie’s hands with her dry, raspy ones. Alarna was about fifteen going on eighty.
As far as Maggie could tell, she had grown up on the streets of Cozumel. She had the native’s bronzed skin, but her eyes were the same cerulean blue of the ocean. And when you looked in them, you forgot she was only a child.
Alarna made her way telling fortunes and prophecies for tips. The other children shunned her and every attempt at making her go to school or live with a foster family, ended up with her running away and disappearing for a few weeks. Eventually, everyone stopped trying and Alarna spent most of her days around adults. When she wasn’t wandering around selling fortunes, she worked with a local fisherman named Uncle Raul.
“You’re going on a journey.”
Maggie grinned. “Save me the tourist rap. Next, you’re going to tell me there’s a tall, dark man in my future.”
“Well,” Alarna said. “He’s tall, but not dark, unless you count his eyes.”
“Oh? Tell me more.”
“There will be narrow escapes and airship battles, but you will find true love.”
Maggie flushed. “I’m not looking for true love. And definitely not with an airship captain.”
“But maybe the airship captain is looking for you.” Alarna looked at the silver charm bracelet that Quick had given her. It had a mermaid charm and an airship charm dangling from it, representing The Midnight Lady and The Quicksilver.
Maybe they hadn’t been as discreet as they thought. If word got out she had been sleeping with an airship captain, more than her reputation would be ruined.
The airships were likened to pirates, even if completely legitimate. The captains didn’t go out of their way to help that image either. So, other businessmen tended to shy away from the exposure and the risk.
Maggie could lose her liquor shipper, and her relationship with the cruise line. She took a deep breath to ward off hyperventilating. Not to mention, every horny sailor in port would think she was easy pickings.
And the other airship captains...well she always thought that they hung around her bar over the others because she wasn’t just some port wench they could toss. Anyway you sliced it, it was bad for business. Maggie tried to take her hand away, but Alarna had her wrist in a death grip.
“You can’t go alone on this journey.”
Maggie sighed in exasperation. “Well, who am I going to take? Donna would need to run the bar in my absence, and there isn’t anyone else I’d want to go with.”
Certainly, not now with Quick flying off for adventure. Maybe one of these days, he’d offer her to come with him. Not that she’d go. Still, it would have been nice to have been asked.
Alarna raised her eyes to Maggie. “Look to your friends and family.” She released her wrist. “Maybe one day you’ll take me.”
“An airship is no place for a kid.” Maggie learned that hard lesson when she was about Alarna’s age. Fumbling for her belt pouch, Maggie handed her a crumpled, beer soaked five. “Here, get breakfast. Don’t blow it on books,” she called after her.
Alarna smiled and her face took on an impish grin, transforming her back into the child that she was. “A meal will feed you for a day, but a book a lifetime.”
Maggie rolled her eyes. “Go.” She made a shooing sound and watched Alarna scamper up the breakwater and down an alley.
Her friends and her family? That could be a challenge. She wasn’t on speaking terms with her father. His airship was in port right now, and even if they weren’t estranged he wouldn’t even think of coming to see her. Amos Flannery had better things to do than have a relationship with his only daughter.
And her mother? She wasn’t sure Black Belle had forgiven her for not going through with her arranged marriage to a foreign prince, and more importantly costing her to pay the bride price with her two fastest warships.
As for friends, Maggie probably relied on them more than she should. She’d be lost without Donna.
By now, the orange painted sky teamed into a pink wave, but the colors were being slowly sucked into a grey vortex. It looked like there were some export boats porting in from parallel dimensions. Maggie frowned because she couldn’t remember who was due in. She’d have to check the manifests when she got home.
Dusting herself off, Maggie took another circuitous route until she was back at the bar. It had been drilled into her that she always had to protect her home base. When you slept, you were vulnerable.
She approached from the back and after a quick look around, hit a secret switch. A ladder turned out from the back wall where it had been hidden. Climbing to the roof, she hit another button to hide the ladder. It rolled back into place where it seamlessly fit into the back wall.
The sky was darkening as if a large storm was going to plow through the island, but the electrical bolts were centered in the greatly enlarging vortex. It caused a whirlpool in the sky.
Normally, Maggie would stay and watch. It always made her gasp in awe when a ship popped out of that grey birth canal. But she had been on her feet all night, and was still feeling out of sorts about Quick’s rendezvous. So, she pulled up the trap door on the roof of The Midnight Lady and walked down into her attic apartment.
MAGGIE SLEPT LIKE THE dead until two in the afternoon. But when she awoke the skies were as dark as twilight. Getting dressed in her jeans and T-shirt, she poked her head up the trap door and cringed back down, almost letting the door hit her in the head.
The sky was swarming with Calgarian battleships. Grabbing the TV clicker, Maggie flicked the television set and automatically translated the panicked newscaster’s Spanish into English.
Apparently, the heir apparent of the Calgarian empire had slipped his guards and decided on a Caribbean vacation. Personally, Maggie thought the prince would be in a lot less danger if they hadn’t made that announcement. But she supposed it was better than wondering what five warships were doing hovering over the town. At least, the cruise lines weren’t due in until Friday. By that time, the warships should
be back on their own planet.
A ruckus from the bar underneath her, made her sigh. The commotion wasn’t really that unexpected. Maggie opened a chest under her bed and put a thick poniard into its sheath and clipped it to the back of her jeans, tugging the T-shirt over it to hide it somewhat. The pulse pistol, she carried openly. It shot energy beams in various settings of hurt. She had it set for heavy stun.
The bar was closed, so anyone making a ruckus was probably up to no good. If she was honest with herself, Maggie lived for things like this. It was the only excitement she ever got—unless you counted rousting drunks and stopping bar fights.
Pulling back the throw rug that covered the stairs leading down to the stock room, she winced at the creaking of the ladder as it extended down. Maggie wound up pinching her fingers as she tried to keep it from banging on the floor below. As quietly as she could, she climbed down it and left it sitting there to keep the noise to a minimum.
Easing the door that led into the kitchen open, she looked around, frowning at the glasses in the sink that still needed to be done. Donna had been slacking off. And when Maggie nearly tripped over a size fifteen boot, she knew why.
She heard arguing voices in the bar itself, but the thick wood muffled the actual words, so Maggie barreled her way inside. Behind the bar was Big Sweet. He had one hand holding his breeches up and the other hand trying to keep Donna behind him. Donna, naked and uncaring, held the pirate’s pulse pistol at the intruder.
“I said, we’re closed.”
The intruder was dressed in all white with the red Calgarian sun painted like a bullseye on his chest—which in fact, it was. Calgarian insides weren’t in the same place that humans had them. The uniform had won them more than a few fights when they first ported to Earth. Aside from that, the Calgarians looked human. This one had short, spiky blond hair and was openly ogling Donna.
“Are you even registering, she’s pointing a gun at you, Kreeger?” Maggie said, looking askance at the alarm system. “And you owe me a new door.”
The Calgarian’s eyes flicked off Donna briefly to rest on Maggie. “Where’s Ephraim?”
“I haven’t seen him. Have you tried Cancun? That’s
more his style.” Maggie moved out from behind the bar. She pushed Donna’s hands down so they were no longer pointing the pistol at Kreeger.
“Hi Sweet,” Maggie said, giving him a once over. “Why don’t the two of you get dressed? And do the dishes.” She gave Donna a significant look. “And I’ll handle the diplomatic relations.”
With a final glare at Kreeger, Donna kicked her wench outfit in front of her to the kitchen. Sweet followed, his neck beet red from embarrassment.
“Earth women are so lovely,” Kreeger smiled and turned his full attention on Maggie.
“It’s the boobs,” she said, rolling her eyes at him. Calgarian women didn’t have mammary glands and men all over the universe were exactly the same.
“Are you telling me the truth about Ephraim?” He twinkled his fingers until a gold bubble appeared before them. Maggie looked at the truth globe with distaste.
“Yes. I haven’t seen him since the last time you lost him. I can only imagine your queen is ready to replace his Captain of the Guard with someone less careless.”
Kreeger’s nostrils flared, but Maggie didn’t care if he was insulted. Pulling down a globe without prior consent was almost an act of war on his planet. And it hurt that he didn’t trust her. A long time ago, they had been friends.
“We’ve looked in all of Earth’s pleasure ports and have come up empty. He has to be here. And if he’s here, he’s eventually going to come and see you.”
Maggie shrugged. “That was over a long time ago. I broke the arranged marriage. The queen has threatened my life if I set foot in Calgaria. I caused a huge scandal, embarrassed the royal family, and probably hurt Ephraim terribly. Why would he come here?”
“For answers. Why did you do it? You could have been queen someday. That’s more than a daughter of a pirate could ever hope for.”
“That’s why I did it,” Maggie shot back. There were other reasons. Reasons that were secret between her and Ephraim. “If it makes you feel any better, my mother’s wrath made your queen’s look like a spring shower.”
Kreeger grimaced. “Black Belle is not a woman to be trifled with.”
The golden globe hovered between them, still bright yellow and solid. No one had lied.
“I would like you to leave. Should I see Ephraim...” Maggie looked at the globe. “I’ll tell him you were here.”
“But you won’t contact me?”
“No.”
“Then, I will remain here.”
Maggie shrugged. “Suit yourself. Once we open, you’re going to have to order something. I’ve got a business to run. Until then, stay and guard the bar. I will be sending your queen the bill for my new door.”
Kreeger tossed her a stone the size of a domino. “That should make us even.”
Maggie rubbed her fingers over the slab and nodded. “All you’re buying is the door and I’m not giving you any change.”
Kreeger bowed. “Maggie, he’s going to be married. We can’t have another scandal. We need the alliance with Zuna.”
“Is the Princess pretty?”
“Exquisite.” Kreeger nodded. “If a little naive in the way of the world.”
“She’s stupid?”
Kreeger looked embarrassed. “She won’t win any degrees of knowledge.”
“No wonder he ran,” Maggie said. “Try not to scare away any customers.” She left him there.
Going back to her room, she passed Donna and Big Sweet. They were doing the dishes and deliberately not looking at her.
“Well, well, well,” Maggie thought smugly, but then a nasty little voice inside her thought, “At least Sweet stayed the night.” And that wiped the smirk from her face.
Climbing up the ladder to her apartment, she frowned. Now that Sweet knew where she lived, it would become common knowledge to the rest of the airship captains. They were like gossipy old ladies. She would have to use the stone that Kreeger gave her to shore up her defenses. One never could be too careful.
“You sold me out.”
Maggie got her arm up just in time to block the kick that came her way.
“I did not, you idiot.” She closed in to jab at his face.
He ducked and wheeled away. “You have a blade stone. What did he buy?”
“Me not billing your mother for the door.”
Ephraim dropped his hands. “You’d do that? You don’t have the balls.”
“I might. Kreeger’s downstairs looking for you.”
“I know,” he said, and waved his hand as if it meant nothing to him.
“If you told your mother of your preferences, she’d arrange a man for you to marry,” Maggie said.
“I did,” Ephraim said glumly. “She wants a legitimate heir. She doesn’t care if I’m a faithful husband after that.”
Maggie grimaced. “That sucks.”
He nodded and flopped himself down on the couch. His legs and arms were gangly, despite how quickly he could fight. He had on mirrored shades to protect his sensitive eyes. But sprawled out on the couch, he looked like a college student on winter break. He even had the Hollister T-shirt and a UConn cap. Grinning up at her, he reminded Maggie of a Muppet with his ragged hair and goofy smile. “I brought you some licorice.”
“What do you want?” She practically tore the bag from his hand.
“To marry you?”
“Hell no,” Maggie said, knowing the stuff would turn her teeth black, but not caring.
“Then, I want to stay here and be a pirate.”
“I’m not a pirate, or an airship captain.” She finger quoted the last two words. She hadn’t even stepped foot on one in years.
“Your mother is. You’re sleeping with one. It’s practically the same thing.”
Ephraim was the only one she told about Quick. There had
never been anything romantically between her and Ephraim, but after the betrothment ceremony they found that they had the same sense of humor and had become close friends. It was his idea for her to break off the engagement when they found they liked each other too much to have sex. That and they had the same taste in men.
“What?” Ephraim asked when he saw the look on her face. “He didn’t break your heart, did he? I can kill him for you.”
“Let’s not have an international incident. Speaking of which, if you wanted to become a pirate why didn’t you go to my mother? Oh wait, let me guess, she would have started you out swabbing the decks and that would have been too much like work.”
“Well, there’s that,” he admitted. “But your mother hasn’t been seen for a long time.”
“And I thought she was just ignoring me.”
“Really, Maggie. It’s been almost a year. I think you should be worried.”
Maggie scowled. She didn’t keep dibs on her mother, and her mother was nice enough to return the favor.
Granted, Black Belle had been pissed when it cost her two of her fastest ships to soothe the Calgarians rage over the broken engagement. But she could hardly hold Maggie’s wandering spirit against her. Look who she got it from.
“She’s probably running a shipment to the Great Seas.”
“I checked. The Belladonna isn’t on planet.”
“Sygia’s tides are brutal this time of the year anyway,” Maggie sucked at the candy that had stuck in her teeth.
“Your stepfather wouldn’t tell me where she went.”
“He’s not my stepfather,” Maggie said automatically. “He’s the latest guy who’s boffing my mother.”
“Not for almost a year.”
Maggie threw the bag of licorice back at him. “You keep saying that. When was the last time you talked to her?”
The Calgarians still used Black Belle for shipping in luxury items from around the worlds. She had the best prices, and as long as you weren’t too particular about documentation, Black Belle could get you anything.
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