As she was riffling their pockets for keys, their radios squawked on, and she jumped.
“We have a breach. All units report in.”
It wasn’t going to be long now. She found the keys while the other guards signaled they received the message. With shaking fingers, she opened the door and dragged the guards inside by their boots.
It wasn’t going to buy her much time. She took the flashlight off one of the men’s belt and kept the beam low. She was in a storage shed, and it looked like she found the mini submarine.
It was an ugly thing, built to withstand the pressures of the deep and an ornery predator of the sea or two. The paint was scraped off in places and she could see teeth mark patterns that showed a gigantic shark had tried for a taste.
As Maggie was climbing up the mini-sub for a better look, an airship cannon struck somewhere close.
“Shit.”
Whether that was Quick or Black Belle, she wasn’t sure. But she’d have a better chance inside the submarine than outside if they were going to shell the area.
Maggie was grateful for the distraction, though, and she was able to wrench open the top hatch and climb down. Pulling it closed behind her, she shone the flashlight beam over the insides of the ship.
Inside was a completely different story. Pristine, it was rigged up with the latest equipment that would put an airship to shame. Benicio had a sugar daddy or at least a partner with deep pockets.
There was a deafening crash of noise. Maggie just caught her balance as the submarine jarred to the left. It would be just her luck if the airship was on a mission to destroy it. But she heard the clamor of feet on top of the sub and voices shouting orders. She tried to look out the windshield to see what was going on, but no luck. Maggie took up a position behind the pilot’s chair and held her pulse pistol steady on the stairs.
It looked like she was blasting her way out of here after all. Except no one boarded the submarine. With another jarring motion, the sub slipped to the left and Maggie was flung across the cabin. Peeking out of the porthole, she was horrified to realize it was being towed away by an airship that was taking a lot of machine gun fire.
The bullets clanged uselessly off the submarine’s sides, but Maggie had to hold her hands over her ears because of the racket. The airship turned and the submarine slipped to the right. A loud crash made her wonder if they hit a building.
Maggie hung on for dear life and prayed it was Quick who had taken the submarine. Or at least Black Belle. Eventually the shots stopped pinging off the submarine and she felt it being hoisted up into the airship.
Not Quick’s ship then. It wasn’t big enough.
Please don’t go into vortex, Maggie begged. She had had enough of her brains scrambled to last her a lifetime. When the submarine stopped its upward motion, she heard the loud clank of the airship’s cargo doors closing.
If there were other airships in pursuit, Maggie couldn’t hear them. She would only have a few precious moments to try and escape the submarine and find out what ship she was on before they realized she was on board. Climbing up the ladder, she pushed the hatch open and waited a moment. When nothing shot at it, she carefully peeked her head up.
“What have we here? A stowaway?”
Maggie saw an airman with a huge wrench standing on the sub.
“Thought we’d need a can opener to get this thing open.”
“What ship am I on?” she asked.
“The Midnight Lady, at your service.” The airman bowed.
“The Midnight Lady?” Maggie asked, appalled that if the Mexican government pulled the name of the boat, they could connect it to her bar.
“And who might you be?” He leered at her.
“I demand to see the captain,” she said.
“She’ll be here momentarily.” The airman spoke into a comm unit. “Oy, Cap. We gots a passenger. She was in the sub.” The airman listened for a minute and then nodded. “The Cap wants to know why we shouldn’t throw you overboard.”
Maggie shot him with the pulse pistol. “That’s why.”
Sliding down from the submarine, she landed on her feet. It took her a few moments to locate the door out of the cargo area, and she sprinted to it. Pulling it open, however, she saw two engineers who looked surprised to see a woman holding two pistols on them.
“Hands where I can see them. Move up the stairs. Hurry now. Tell me the name of the captain of this ship.”
Although she had a pretty good idea who it was.
“M-Margaret Flannery,” the airman said.
What the actual fuck?
Someone was setting her up.
“Open the door,” she said when they got to the top of the stairs. “Go through, but no funny business.” Maggie pressed the pistol into the small of one of the engineer’s back. “Take me to the bridge.”
“You better shoot me then. The Capn will kill us.”
Maggie shot them both.
She’d stunned more men tonight than she had all year. And that even took in account Cinco de Mayo. Stepping out into the deck, Maggie could see that she was on the lower deck just above the props. It was a nice-looking ship. It reminded her of The Candyman.
Peering over the side, she could barely make out where they were. It looked like they were hugging the Mexican coast, flying up towards Cancun. Holstering her pistols, she climbed the rigging cables to the next deck. By this time, there was a commotion below her. She avoided the stairs and jumped to reach the cannon’s gun port and was able to pull herself through.
Safe for the moment, Maggie caught her breath and realized she was having the time of her life. She missed this being cooped up in the bar. And without her mother criticizing every thing she did, she stopped worrying about failure. So what if she was a shit airman? She lived for this type of adventure.
Now, it was time for her to confront her mother and have it out with her once and for all. Belle would not get away with dragging her name through the mud. Keeping her head down, Maggie faded into the shadows. She pretended to be crew when she couldn’t. No one looked twice at her as they ran about doing their chores, as long as she looked like she was doing ship’s work. It was still dark enough that she could get away with it. It gave her a good idea of the floor plan of the ship.
Maggie would have to sprint about fifty yards to get to the wheelhouse, and then she’d have to face down the bridge crew until her mother arrived.
Except just as she was going to make a run for it, a familiar voice rooted her in place.
“I don’t care how you do it. Find me that little bitch and then rough her up before bringing her to me.”
Nicholette strode across the deck shouting orders.
Without another thought, Maggie stood up and blasted her with both pulse pistols. Nicholette flew ahead a few feet and landed on her face.
The crew whirled to see what had just happened.
“I’m Margaret Flannery. Daughter of Amos Flannery and Black Belle. This woman is an imposter and I’ve come to collect my due.”
“Well, it’s about time,” another familiar voice said from the wheelhouse.
Out stepped Black Belle and five of her bully boys.
She clapped her gloved hands together in mock applause.
“The ship is my daughter’s since she claimed it before I could. You can either accept that or go to the dungeons like your former captain.” Black Belle walked over to Nicholette and kicked her over on her back. “Take her to the brig,” she said to two of her men.
Each of them lifted Nicholette up by an arm and dragged her below decks.
“You,” Belle said, pointing at Maggie. “Get on the comm and tell Quick Donner to get off our ass. If we stop short, he’s going to go straight up our props.”
Maggie leapt onto the deck, grateful that her legs supported her. She was shaking as she passed by the airman, but in reaction rather than fear.
“Captain.” Black Belle bowed mockingly as she gestured her to the bridge.
/> Maggie turned to her mother. “Are you going to tell Amos, or am I?”
“Why should you get to have all the fun?”
Chapter Fourteen
They agreed to rendezvous in Cuba after Quick guaranteed them that he could cloak them from the Federales. Maggie smiled. It seemed he got his way after all, as he welcomed her into his home in Vinales.
It was an old-world plantation, but Maggie felt out of place in the casual luxury. Even though she had grown up in a Castle, the walls leaked water and it resembled more of a medieval torture chamber than this bright, sunny place.
Black Belle had Nicholette dragged inside wearing wrist and ankle cuffs joined by a heavy chain. Her ship The Bella Noche sailed in shortly after. While Belle and Ephraim discussed the terms of his employment and they waited for The Nicholette to arrive, Quick offered Maggie his arm.
“Shall I give you a tour around my estate?”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you arranged all this.” She took his arm and rested her head on his shoulder.
“I’d like to take credit for it, but when I saw an unfamiliar airship come through the vortex and head directly to the Federale complex, I figured I’d go investigate. When she was broadcasting as The Midnight Lady, I assumed we had found Black Belle. But even Black Belle isn’t crazy enough to attack a government complex.”
Quick took her on horseback by the tobacco fields first. They held hands as he showed her the leaves drying in the rafters. It was apparent that he was very proud of his plantation. And with good reason.
“You’d make a good gentlemen farmer, you know,” she said.
“Maybe when I retire.” He took her in his arms. “Or if I had a wife who would be content to stay on the farm with me.”
She couldn’t tell by the sparkle in his eye if he was serious or not, so she kissed him. Ephraim would gush that it was romantic. They were surrounded by lush greenery and the mid-morning sun was just warm enough to be comfortable. His mouth was soft and addicting. Maggie pulled away before they gave the workers a show.
“Tell me what else happened in the sky while I was stuck on the submarine.”
“As I was pursuing The Midnight Lady, The Bella Noche zipped by and a boarding team jumped aboard. I was confused as hell. It darted away just as quickly and if it wasn’t for my instruments recording, I would have believed I imagined it. What was happening on your end?”
Maggie explained it while they rode over to the coffee fields. Quick’s plantation was beautiful, and he had another one like it in Honduras as well.
“I’d like to take a look at the submarine,” he said. “Maybe we could go for a test run?”
“Can you pilot it?” she asked.
He shrugged. “How hard can it be.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure I want to be trapped sixty feet underwater in an iron tube while you wing it.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Quick chucked her under the chin.
“Hiding behind my common sense for a change.”
A vortex opened up, marring the sunny sky and The Nicholette ported into view.
“I guess that’s our cue to go back,” Maggie said, realizing she didn’t want to return so quickly.
“It’s not such a bad trip, is it? You could close up the bar at night and come home with me.”
“It’s a waste of crystals,” she said, as they rode back.
“They’re my crystals to waste.”
By the time they got back to the main house, Maggie was yawning. She hadn’t been to bed yet. But the smell of Cuban coffee and breakfast perked her up. Quick’s mansion was fully staffed and it was a little surreal to sit down to breakfast with her parents, Quick, and Ephraim at a royally decorated table.
“What were you two up to?” Ephraim said. “Is that hay in your hair?”
“Nice try.” She smirked. “How about you?”
“Airman First Class Ephraim at your service.”
Maggie hugged him. “You’re free. Your parents will never find you, now. Are you going to tell them you’re safe so they stop worrying about you?”
“As soon as we leave Earth, I’ll send the message. I don’t want them harassing you.”
The wait staff were impeccably dressed in pristine white. They wore gloves when pouring orange juice and serving heuvo rancheros, crispy bacon, and juicy sausages.
“I’ve heard of dinner theater, but breakfast theater?’ Ephraim whispered in her ear, while nudging her to look at Amos and Black Belle glaring at each other.
Maggie was glad that Quick insisted on no weapons at the table. For her parents anyway, Maggie still had her weapons on her.
“I think this plantation rivals the one on the Calgarian diamond mines. You might be marrying up,” he whispered in her ear.
Quick frowned at Ephraim.
“Do you think he heard me?”
Maggie turned to whisper in his ear. “I think he doesn’t like you this close to me.”
Ephraim draped an arm over her shoulder and tried to feed her a strawberry.
She grabbed his nipple and twisted it.
“Ah,” he said, dropping the berry into his coffee.
“Is that a Calgarian delicacy?” Quick asked, eyebrow raised. “Strawberry coffee?”
Ephraim rolled his eyes, but kept his distance. Quick winked at her. He probably had heard Ephraim’s whispered nonsense.
Amos waited until breakfast was over before he started in on his demands. “I want my wife back.”
“She’s my prisoner,” Belle said, refilling her coffee. “She’s been a naughty girl and I need to figure out if you’ve been encouraging her in her evil deeds or not.”
Quick and Maggie exchanged looks, and she gave him a little shake of her head. Stay out of this one, she tried to warn him with her eyes. She snitched a slice of bacon off Ephraim’s plate when he wasn’t looking.
“What are you accusing her of?”
“Impersonating me and my daughter.” Black Belle tossed him a hologram. “I pulled the registry of The Midnight Lady and it shows it’s been tampered with a few times. The ship was originally called The Dutchman.”
Quick choked on the cigar he had just lit up. “That was Jovan Dragonsblood’s ship.” The mellow smoke was nothing like the nasty stogies that got passed off on the cruise ship tourists. The aroma was light and soothing. Maggie wondered if he lit it on purpose to ease the tension in the room.
“She modified it so it was renamed The Belladonna and most recently The Midnight Lady.”
Amos verified the information on his hologram reader. “It’s not a crime to rename a ship.” But he sounded shaken.
“Where was The Nicholette on these dates?” Belle demanded sliding another chip at him.
“Jaysus woman, you know my schedule better than I do. That’s how this bastard found us in Cantos.” Amos jerked his thumb at Quick.
Quick saluted him with his coffee cup.
Black Belle leaned back in her chair. “Was Nicholette with you on these dates?”
Yes.”
Ephraim kicked her and she frowned at him, but he held a truth globe in his hand. Instead of the glowing gold, it was black. A verified lie.
“Where did she tell you she was last night?” Maggie asked, cutting off her mother before she could continue with her investigation.
“She said she was going to visit her mother.”
The globe faded back to the glowing gold.
“Is her mother in Cozumel?” Maggie poured herself another coffee, even though the strong Cuban blend was making her jittery. She needed to be fresh for this conversation.
“No.”
“Was she visiting her mother on those other dates too?” Maggie asked.
Amos’ jaw clenched, and he didn’t answer.
“We can do this two ways, Amos,” Black Belle said, regaining control of the conversation. “You can tell us the truth or I’ll hang the bitch from my mast until she’s dead.”
Amos thumped hi
s fist on the table so hard the silverware jumped. “Over my dead body.”
“You can hang there too for all I care,” Black Belle said menacingly.
“Before we commence with the hangings, however,” Quick put in smoothly, “I’d like to point out that Nicholette did break into a government facility, steal a mini submarine that was successfully used at the ruins, and tried to blame your daughter for it. I don’t take kindly to that.”
“Does he speak for you, Maggie?” Amos asked.
“You heard him,” she said. “I don’t take kindly to it either. But you have a history of not giving a shit about things that affect me.”
“Did you know Nicholette was impersonating ships and stealing Mayan artifacts from the ruins?” Black Belle asked.
Maggie watched her father’s eyes and saw shock register there for a moment. He hadn’t known.
“Because on those dates that you say she was with you, she was using Jovan’s ship with a fake registry to transport the treasure she brought up from the depths. Normally, I wouldn’t care what you or that whore does, but the registry she used was The Belladonna’s. So, it looked like I was the one plundering the ruins.”
“That first date you mentioned. She said there was an auction for Cozumel treasure and that you were selling a statue and a gold pot to the highest bidder,” Amos said. “I told her I wanted no part of it, but she went to the auction anyway. She came back with the pot. It was an ugly thing and I didn’t like it on my ship. I threw it back into the Caribbean.”
“She must have been livid,” Maggie said when the truth globe remained yellow.
“I’m a superstitious man and she knows that. It wasn’t worth the risk of the curse to have it on my ship.”
“Did you honestly believe I would sell anything to her?” Black Belle said.
“She said she used a proxy.”
“Where did she say she was going on the other date?” Maggie asked.
“Nowhere. She was aboard the ship. I had taken ill and was in bed barely conscious.”
“She went to Castle Crag,” Belle said. “She ported in, almost got vaporized and left immediately.”
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