I was hot in my robes but right now I was glad of the disguise.
We left, our expedition to the scaffold having given us the information we needed. The cargo was in the castillo. That, then, was where we needed to be.
26
The vast grey stone wall rose way above us. Did it really block out the sun or was it just an illusion? Either way we felt cold and lost in its shadow, like two abandoned children. I’ll say this for the Cubans, or the Spanish, or whoever you’d say was responsible for building the grand Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, they knew how to build an intimidating fortress. Around one hundred and fifty years old, it was built to last, too, and looked as though it would still be there in one hundred and fifty years’ time. I looked from its walls out to sea and pictured it bombarded by the broadsides of a man-of-war. What impression would the steel balls of mounted guns make? I wondered. Not much.
Either way, I didn’t have a man-of-war. I had a sugar merchant. So what I needed was a more covert way of gaining entry. The advantage I had was that nobody in their right mind actually wanted to be on the inside of those dark, brooding walls, for in there was where the Spanish soldiers tortured confessions from their prisoners and perhaps even performed summary executions. Only a fool would want to go in there, where the sun didn’t shine, where nobody could hear you scream. Even so, you couldn’t just walk right in. ‘Oi, mate, you couldn’t tell us where the loot room is, could you? I’ve lost a satchel full of important documents and a weird-looking crystal.’
Thank God, then, for prostitutes. Not because I was feeling randy, but because I’d seen a way to get inside – inside the fortress, I mean. Those ladies of the night, who sat on a fortune, well, they had good reason to be on the other side of those walls, so who better to get us in?
‘You need a friend, gringo? You need a woman?’ said one, sidling up with a flurry of tits, ruby-red lips and smoky eyes full of promise.
I ushered her away from the castle walls.
‘What’s your name?’ I asked.
‘Name, señor?’
‘Do you speak English?’
‘No, no English.’
I smiled. ‘But gold is a language we all speak, no?’
Yes, as it turned out, Ruth did speak gold. She was almost fluent in gold. And so was her friend, Jacqueline.
Bonnet had been hanging around, looking shifty. Introductions were made and a few minutes later we were walking, bold as brass, to the front gate of the castle.
At the top of the approach I looked back to where the hustle, bustle and heat of Havana seemed to recede, kept at bay by the forbidding stone and tall watchtowers of the castillo, which radiated a kind of malignancy, like the mythical monsters sailors said lived in the uncharted depths of the deepest oceans: fat and deadly. Stop it, I told myself. I was giving myself the heebie-jeebies. We had a plan. Now to see if it played out.
In the role of burly minder, I banged my fist on the wicket door and we waited for it to open. Two Spanish soldiers carrying bayoneted muskets stepped outside and gave us the long look up and down: me and Bonnet, with especially lascivious looks reserved for Ruth and Jacqueline.
I played my part. I looked tough. Ruth and Jacqueline played their parts. They looked sexy. Bonnet’s job was to speak the lingo, some of which I could understand, the rest he filled me in on later.
‘Hello,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid neither of my two lady friends speaks Spanish, thus I’ve been asked to speak for them, and my colleague here –’ he indicated me – ‘he is here to ensure the ladies’ safety.’
(Lie! I held my breath, feeling as though there was a sign above our heads advertising our dishonesty. Lie!)
The two soldiers looked at the girls who, fortified with gold, not to mention several glasses of rum, preened and pouted so professionally that anybody would think they did it for a living. It wasn’t enough to convince the guards, though, who were about to wave us away and let themselves be swallowed up once again by the squatting grey beast when Bonnet said the magic words: El Tiburón. The girls had been called for by El Tiburón, the executioner himself, he explained, and the guards paled, sharing a nervous look.
We’d seen him at work earlier, of course. It takes no skill whatsoever to pull a lever, but it does require a certain – how shall we say? – darkness of character to pull the lever that opens the trap and sends three men plummeting to their deaths. So it was that El Tiburón’s name alone was enough to inspire fear.
With a wink Bonnet added that El Tiburón liked the girls from Portugal. And Ruth and Jacqueline, continuing to play their parts well, giggled and blew mock kisses and adjusted their bosoms flirtatiously.
‘El Tiburón is the governor’s right-hand man, his enforcer,’ said one of the soldiers suspiciously. ‘What makes you think he will be in the castillo?’
I swallowed. My heart nudged up against my ribcage and I cast Bonnet a sideways look. So much for his information.
‘My dear man,’ he smiled, ‘do you really think this assignation would meet the approval of Governor Torres? El Tiburón would need new employment if the governor were to discover him consorting with prostitutes. And as for doing it on the governor’s own property …’
Now Bonnet looked from side to side and the two soldiers craned to hear more secrets.
Bonnet continued. ‘I need hardly say, gentlemen, that being in possession of this information puts you in a most delicate position. On the one hand, you now know things about El Tiburón – Havana’s most dangerous man, let’s not forget – which he would pay, or perhaps kill –’ here he paused just enough to let this information sink in – ‘in order to protect. Depending on how you want to conduct yourselves in possession of this information would no doubt dictate the level of El Tiburón’s gratitude. Do I make myself clear, gentlemen?’
To me it sounded as though he was spouting twaddle, but it seemed to have the desired effect on the two sentries, who at last stood aside and let us in.
And in we went.
‘The mess hall,’ said one of the guards, indicating walkways that looked down upon the courtyard in which we now stood. ‘Tell them you’re looking for El Tiburón; they’ll point you in the right direction. And tell these ladies to behave themselves lest you inadvertently reveal the true nature of your business here.’
Bonnet gave his best greasy smile, bowing as we moved past and giving me a sly nod at the same time. We left two thoroughly hoodwinked guards in our wake.
I left them to it as I climbed steps, hoping for all the world that I looked like I belonged in the fortress. At least it was quiet: apart from the sentries there were very few troops about. Most seemed to have congregated in the mess room.
Me, I headed straight for the loot room where I almost cheered to find the satchel with all the documents and the crystal present and correct. I pocketed it and glanced around. Bloody hell. For a loot room it was woefully empty of any actual loot. All there was, apart from a pouch containing a few gold coins (which went into my pocket), were crates of Bonnet’s sugar. I looked at them. It occurred to me we had no contingency for their rescue. Sorry, Bonnet, it will have to wait for another time.
A few minutes later and I’d rejoined them; they’d decided not to risk the mess room and instead had been loitering on the walkways nervously awaiting my return. Bonnet was too relieved to see me back to ask about the sugar – that particular pleasure would have to wait until later – and wiping nervous sweat from his brow he ushered us back along the passage and down the steps to the courtyard, where our friends the sentries shared a look as we approached.
‘I see. Back so soon …’
Bonnet shrugged. ‘We asked at the mess hall, but of El Tiburón there was no sign. Possibly there has been some mistake. Perhaps his desires have been satisfied elsewhere …’
‘We will tell El Tiburón that you were here, then,’ said one of the guards.
Bonnet nodded approvingly, ‘Yes, please do that, but remember, be discreet.’
Later we stood on the port with Bonnet’s ship nearby.
I handed him the bag I’d filched from the loot room at the castillo. Seemed the decent thing to do – to make up for his lost sugar. I wasn’t all bad, you know.
‘Oh, it’s no great loss,’ he said, but took it anyway.
‘Will you stay long?’ I asked him.
‘For a few weeks, yes. Then back to Barbados, to the tedium of domesticity.’
‘Don’t settle for tedium,’ I told him. ‘Sail to Nassau. Live life as you see fit.’
By now he was halfway up the gangplank, his newly acquired crew readying themselves to set sail.
‘Haven’t I heard that Nassau is crawling with pirates?’ he laughed. ‘Seems a very tawdry place.’
I thought of it. I thought of Nassau.
‘No, not tawdry,’ I told him. ‘Liberated.’
He smiled. ‘Oh, God, that would be an adventure. But no, no. I’m a husband and a father. I have responsibilities. Life can’t be all pleasure and distraction, Duncan.’
For a moment I’d forgotten my assumed identity and felt the tremor of guilt. Bonnet had done nothing but help me. Quite what had possessed me, I wasn’t sure. Guilt, I suppose. But I told him.
‘Hey, Bonnet. The name’s Edward in truth. Duncan is only a handle.’
‘Ah …’ He smiled. ‘A secret name for your secret meeting with the governor …’
‘Yes, the governor,’ I said. ‘Right. I think I’ve kept him waiting long enough.’
27
I went straight to Governor Torres’s residence, a vast mansion set behind steep walls and metal gates, well away from Havana’s hubbub. There I told the sentries, ‘Good afternoon. Mr Duncan Walpole of England to see the governor. I believe he is expecting me.’
‘Yes, Mr Walpole, please enter.’
That was easy.
The gates squeaked, a hot summer’s day sound, and I stepped through to be awarded with my first glance of how the other half lived. Everywhere were palm trees and short statues on plinths, and from somewhere the sound of running water – a marked contrast to the fortress: opulent where that had been grimy, gaudy where that had been forbidding.
As we walked the two sentries stayed a respectful but still watchful distance behind, and my limited Spanish picked up fragments of their gossip: apparently I was a couple of days late; apparently I was an asesino, an assassin, and there was something about the way they said the word that was odd. The way they stressed it.
I kept my shoulders back, chin held high, thinking only that I needed to continue the subterfuge for a short while longer. I’d enjoyed being Duncan Walpole – it had felt liberating to leave Edward Kenway behind, and there were times I’d considered saying goodbye for good. Certainly there were parts of Duncan I wanted to keep, souvenirs, keepsakes: his robes, for one, his fighting style. His bearing.
Right now, though, what I wanted most was his reward.
We came into a courtyard, which was vaguely reminiscent of the fortress, except while that was a stony drill square overlooked by shadowed walkways, this was an oasis of sculpture, lush-leaved plants and the ornate galleries of the palacio framing a sky of deep blue and a sun that smouldered in the distance.
There were two men already there. Both well dressed, men of class and distinction, I could tell. More difficult to fool. Close by them was a rack of weapons. One of them stood aiming a pistol at a target. The other cleaning another pistol.
At the sound of myself and the sentries entering the courtyard the shooter looked over, annoyed at the interruption, and then with a little shake of his shoulders composed himself, squinted along the line of the pistol and squeezed off a shot.
The sound rang around the courtyard. Applause came from startled birds. A tiny wisp of smoke rose from the dead centre of the target, which had rocked slightly on its tripod. The shooter looked to his companion with a wry smile, received an impressed eyebrow-raise in return, this the vocabulary of the well-to-do. And then they turned their attention to me.
You’re Duncan Walpole, I told myself and tried not to wilt beneath their scrutiny. You’re Duncan Walpole. A man of danger. An equal. Here at the invitation of the governor.
‘Good afternoon, sir!’ The man who had been cleaning the gun smiled broadly. He had long greying hair tied back, and a face that had spent many an hour in the sea breeze. ‘Would I be correct in thinking you are Duncan Walpole?’
Remembering how Walpole had spoken. Cultured tones.
‘I am indeed,’ I replied, and I sounded so phony to my own ears that I half expected the gun-cleaner to point his pistol straight at me and order the guards to arrest me on the spot.
Instead he said, ‘I thought as much,’ and still beaming strode across the courtyard to offer me a hand that was as hard as oak. ‘Woodes Rogers. A pleasure.’
Woodes Rogers. I’d heard of him, and the pirate in me paled, because Woodes Rogers was the scourge of my kind. A former privateer, he’d since declared a hatred of those who turned to piracy and pledged to lead expeditions aimed at rooting them out. A pirate such as Edward Kenway he’d like to see hanged.
But you’re Duncan Walpole, I told myself, and met his eye as I shook his hand firmly. Not a pirate, oh no. Perish the thought. An equal. Here at the invitation of the governor.
The thought, comforting as it had been, faded in my mind as I realized that he’d fixed me with a curious gaze. At the same time he wore a quizzical half-smile, as though he’d had a thought and wasn’t sure whether to let it go free.
‘I must say, my wife has a terrible eye for description,’ he said, evidently letting his curiosity get the better of him.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘My wife. You met her some years ago at the Percys’ masquerade ball.’
‘Ah, quite …’
‘She called you “devilishly handsome”. Obviously a lie to stoke my jealousy.’
I laughed as though in on the joke. Should I be offended he didn’t think me devilishly handsome? Or just pleased the conversation had moved on?
Eyes on his gun I plumped for the latter.
Now I was being introduced to the second man, a dark Frenchman with a guarded look called Julien DuCasse, who was calling me the ‘guest of honour’ and talking about some ‘order’ I was supposed to join. Again I was referred to as an ‘assassin’. Again it was with an odd emphasis I couldn’t quite decode.
Asesino – assassin – Assassin.
He was querying the honesty of my ‘conversion’ to the ‘order’, and my mind returned to the wording of Walpole’s letter: Your support for our secret and most noble cause is warming.
What secret and noble cause would that be, then? I wondered.
‘I have not come to disappoint,’ I said uncertainly. Tell the truth, I didn’t have the foggiest what he was on about. What I wanted was to give the satchel with one hand and receive a bulging bag of gold with the other.
Failing that, I wanted to move on, because right now I felt as though my deception was likely to crumble at any second. In the end it was a relief when Woodes Rogers’s face broke into a grin – the same grin he no doubt grinned at the thought of pirates’ heads in hangmen’s nooses – and he clapped me on the back and insisted I take part in the shooting.
Happy to oblige, anything to take their minds off me, I engaged them in conversation at the same time. ‘How is your wife these days, Captain Rogers? Is she here in Havana?’
I held my breath, steeling myself against his next words, ‘Yes! Here she is right now! Darling, you remember Duncan Walpole, don’t you?’
Instead he said, ‘Oh, no. No, we’ve been separated these two years past.’
‘Sorry to hear that,’ I said, thinking what excellent news it was.
‘I trust she is well,’ he went on, a touch of wistfulness in his voice that sparked a brief thought of my own lost love, ‘
but … I wouldn’t know. I have been in Madagascar some fourteen months, hunting pirates.’
So I had heard. ‘You mean Libertalia, the pirate town?’
That was Libertalia in Madagascar. According to legend, Captain William Kidd had stopped there in 1697 and ended up leaving with only half his crew, the rest of them seduced by the lifestyle of a pirate utopia where the motto was ‘for God and liberty’, with the emphasis on liberty. Where they spared the lives of prisoners, kept killing to a minimum, shared all the spoils fairly, no matter your rank or standing.
It sounded too good to be true, and there were plenty who thought it was a mythical place, but I’d been assured it existed.
Rogers was laughing. ‘What I saw in Madagascar was little more than the aftermath of a sad orgy. A ruffians’ squat. Even the feral dogs seemed ashamed of its condition. As for the twenty or thirty men living there, I cannot say they were ragged, since most wore no clothes at all. They had gone native, as the saying goes …’
I thought of Nassau, where such low standards wouldn’t be tolerated – not before nightfall at least.
‘And how did you deal with their kind?’ I asked, the picture of innocence.
‘Very simply. Most pirates are as ignorant as apes. I merely offered them a choice … Take a pardon and return to England penniless but free men, or be hanged by the neck until dead. It took some work to dislodge the criminals there, but we managed it. In future, I hope to use the same tactics throughout the West Indies.’
‘Ah,’ I said, ‘I imagine Nassau will be your next target.’
‘Very astute, Duncan. Indeed. Point of fact … the moment I return to England I intend to petition King George with the hope of becoming his emissary in the Bahamas. As governor, no less.’
So that was it. Nassau was the next step. A place I had come to think of as my spiritual home was under threat – from the carriage gun, the musket ball or maybe just the scratch of a quill. But under threat all the same.
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