Within the Water
Kelly Fallows
Copyright © 2018 Kelly Fallows
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
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ISBN 9781789010916
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
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Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
To Tracy, Dave and Chris, without whose support and belief in me, this book could not have been written.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter One
‘Run!’
Duncan was pulled sharply out of his musings as his captain threw himself out of the building and into the passageway.
‘Err, Captain?’ Duncan questioned uncertainly as they ran through the eastern quarter of Eckarna, dodging the people and passage-stalls as they went.
‘You were right, Duncan; she wasn’t happy about it,’ his captain replied, grinning. However, his grin quickly faded as the pair rounded the corner to see twenty Guild crew scouring the passageways for them.
‘Damn.’ He looked around for an escape route. ‘Here!’ he whispered urgently to Duncan as he pulled him behind a barrow filled with none-too-appetising food.
‘Ay! What’re you doing down there?’ the woman minding the barrow began screeching at them.
Duncan turned to his captain, giving him a look that plainly said that this was such a bad idea.
‘Now, darling, just calm down…’ his captain replied quietly, raising both hands in front of him, ‘we aren’t going to hurt you.’
‘Hmph, like you mean that. Go on, get out of here; scram before I call the law down on you!’ she threatened.
‘Now darling…’ he paused giving his best smile, ‘such a lovely lass as yourself wouldn’t do that to us now, would you?’
‘Well, I…’ He smiled at her as she struggled to decide which way she was going to go.
Leaving his captain to his flirting, Duncan scanned the area for a way out of their predicament. Seeing an opening appear, he signalled to his captain, who glanced over his shoulder, checking it out before nodding to Duncan. ‘Get ready… go!’ Dunc gave the command as the two raced out from behind the barrow and across the passageway down into a narrow alley, noting that his captain still managed to send a wink back to the floundering woman.
Duncan turned just in time to see the Guild crew moving in on their former position, ‘well that was interesting, Captain. Where do we go from here?’ he asked with only a trace of sarcasm in his voice.
‘Now, we go back to the Coelacanth and let Rose calm down a little,’ he replied quickly, as they ran down the alley.
‘Rose? Calm down? You’d better not show your face around here for a millennium or so then.’ Rose was notorious within the Guild for her fiery temper and the captain of the Coelacanth was equally notorious for getting the worst of it. ‘Unless you want your head blown off,’ he added for good measure.
‘Nah, and resist this smile? Impossible.’
‘That’s why you had to jump out of that building back there and why we’re running away,’ Duncan pointed out.
‘One, we are not running away, merely avoiding certain people, and, two…’ he turned to face him, ‘she obviously couldn’t have seen my face properly.’
‘Obviously,’ the first mate replied dryly.
***
‘Sophie! Where is that blasted woman?’ the captain hollered once they had reached the Coelacanth.
‘Probably helping Blue – I’ll get her,’ Duncan told him, climbing down the shaft to the engine room.
‘Never mind that. Just tell her to get us out of here… preferably now,’ he added as Duncan disappeared from sight.
Grumbling to himself, he walked along to the mess, only to be met with an unmoving wall of six Guild crew.
‘Ah, Captain,’ the largest man greeted him with no warmth, yet he still smiled. ‘How good of you to join us and save us chasing you through the seas.’
‘Well, I like to be as helpful as possible, especially to Rose,’ he replied with forced pleasure, glancing around the room to see all his crew sitting there with murderous looks on their faces. He swallowed; he hoped those looks were for their present captors and not him.
‘Shall we?’ he said pleasantly, indicating towards the door.
‘After you, Captain…’ Gore replied, laying special emphasis on the “captain”, ‘we wouldn’t want your first mate to get any clever ideas and try to stop us,’ he told him, still grinning.
‘Of course not,’ came the reply, full of his distaste.
***
‘Benjamin Daniels!’
‘Hello Rose.’ Ben cringed at the woman’s shrieking voice. Although she was hardly the banshee that this suggested, Rose had a presence that could not be ignored. She was her own unique brand of beautiful: a dark beauty with an underlying quality of power and danger. ‘And how are you?’
‘Don’t you “how are you?” me, Captain,’ she replied contemptuously.
‘Apologies.’
‘Hmph.’ She regarded him with a piercing glare, daring him to say something.
‘You know, Rose, it really wasn’t my fault—’ he began.
‘Not your fault, Ben? I find that hard to believe. For all your so-called cunning and ability, you seem to have the inability to get yourself out of simple situations.’
‘I promise I’ll make it up to you.’ Ben tried a
different tack, treading warily.
‘To me? This isn’t about me, Ben. This is about the Guild,’ she told him. ‘The Guild is the heart of this world, without it all those “whiter than white” idiots wouldn’t be able to survive. “The Republic stands” because we bloody well hold it up! We regulate all the crime and keep pirates like you in order. If you start disobeying the Guild, your easy life disappears: no protection, no jobs and a huge price on your head. And what about your crew? Do you want to see their necks stretched at the next Jigs Day spectacle? Or have you stopped caring about them since we last met?’
‘I know, I know, darl— Rose, which is why I’ll make it up to yo— the Guild.’ Ben was getting desperate; his life wasn’t easy by any means, but he knew he'd never be able to protect his crew with the Guild on his tail as well as the Republic.
‘Mmm,’ was the only reply he received. Rose, unbeknownst to most, had a soft spot for the crazy captain, which is why he generally annoyed her more than most. His cavalier attitude and complete disrespect for authority meant he frequently found himself on the wrong end of a pistol or sword. Despite this, her glare was unwavering. Ben, feeling as though his livelihood, not to mention his life and those of his crew, were slowly slipping away, made the mistake she was waiting for.
‘Please Rose, I’ll do anything…’ As soon as the words had left his lips he cringed, berating himself for the ease with which he fell into her trap. He watched as Rose's face slowly began to light up with a triumphant smile.
‘I’m glad you feel that way, Ben…’ she said sweetly, ‘because, as it happens, I have a particular job that would suit you just right.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
***
‘Ah, our illustrious captain has returned! And with his head still intact, I see.’
‘Miraculous!’
Ash and Duncan greeted their captain as he entered the cargo bay.
‘But, what’s this, no smile or glib remark?’ Ash continued his teasing.
‘Well, that solves the mystery then,’ Duncan replied, and on enquiring looks elaborated: ‘She must have taken his tongue as payment this time!’
‘Well, there’s obviously no brain to take,’ Sophie added sourly, being more than just a little annoyed at her captain’s ability to infuriate one of the highest-ranking members of the Guild almost every other week.
‘Have you all quite finished?’ Daniels finally asked his assembled crew.
After they had looked around at each other, Duncan spoke up, ‘I think that just about covers it.’
‘Good. We need to get moving.’
‘Moving? We’ve only just docked… Simon’s already left to see his wife… we need supplies…’ Sophie pointed out.
‘Well, go find him then. And Blue? Where’s he got to?’ Daniels sighed. Why were things always complicated? he demanded of himself.
‘He went to see about getting some more parts for the engine; we apparently blew out something on that last run,’ Ash stated, ‘and he was more than a little upset about it, actually.’
‘Wonderful.’
‘I don’t quite think that’s how Blue put it, but then you know him – very colourful when it comes to descriptions,’ Ash said with a completely straight face, but with a glint in his eye.
‘We leave as soon as they get back; have Blue fix whatever the problem is on the way,’ Daniels ordered as he strode off to his cabin.
Silence followed his departure for several minutes as everyone considered that exchange.
‘Apparently Rose wasn’t so forgiving this time,’ Duncan murmured thoughtfully. Their captain was usually the life and soul of the party, and gave as good as he got. His dullness and lack of humour set the crew on edge – something had to be wrong.
‘Hardly surprising though, he’s had it coming for a while,’ Ash commented soberly.
‘Wonder what she did to him?’ Sophie thought aloud.
‘Whatever it was it spells trouble for the rest of us; if the captain’s down, so are we,’ Duncan prophesised ominously.
***
‘Come.’ The reply to Duncan’s rap upon the hatch of the captain’s cabin was short and harsh.
Daniels did not turn around as his first mate entered, but stayed facing the porthole. Should one look out of this particular porthole, they would not see much to keep them occupied longer than a few seconds. The cold, hard, blank wall of the dock was all that there was to be seen. It, therefore, should be assumed, as Duncan did, that something else occupied the captain’s thoughts.
‘Rose didn’t take your apology well, did she?’ Duncan stated more than asked.
‘No.’
‘What happened?’ he asked bluntly. He and the captain had known each other for a long time and had witnessed a great deal together. There existed a trust and a depth of understanding between these two friends, deeper than most would or could understand – various trials had proven that.
‘Rose got what she wanted… as she always does.’
He stood there a moment longer before turning to face his friend and first mate. ‘I went too far,’ he said simply. ‘I got careless and am now in danger of dragging us all down, deeper than either of us would care to go.’ He paused. ‘Politics is a dirty business.’
‘Politics?’ Duncan echoed sharply, looking directly at his captain.
Daniels sighed, ‘Aye, politics. I’m afraid we’re going in again.’
‘Rose put you up to this?’
Daniels nodded, ‘There’s no way we can avoid it.’
‘Then let’s just trust that we don’t meet any old friends on our way.’
‘We shouldn’t – if all goes well that is. But I’ve a feeling there’s more to this than Rose is letting on. She knows that, whatever it is, I won’t like it.’
‘What have we got to do?’
Daniels looked at him, ‘What we do best…’ giving him a half-smile before finishing, ‘piracy.’
***
‘Just got back?’ Duncan asked Blue and Simon as he entered the mess.
‘Yeah, heard we’re in a hurry?’ Simon asked.
‘Yeah, we’ve got a job.’
‘Really, that’s all? Never known the captain to get jittery over a job… Well, not until it starts going wrong and even then he’s usually all right. From what I’ve been hearing, something’s got him spooked,’ Blue stated.
Duncan leaned on the table giving the group a flat stare, ‘the job’s not routine, all right – Rose has… put us in a tight spot all right,’ he explained. ‘Now let’s get moving.’
‘Right you are, Dunc. I take it I’ll be fixing this on the way then.’ Blue walked off grumbling to himself about the Coelacanth and the captain – not being very flattering by all accounts.
‘Sarah all right?’ Duncan asked Simon as they began to get the Coelacanth prepped.
Simon smiled, in the way only newlyweds can. ‘Yeah, she’s doing great. Due in about August – so they tell me.’ He straightened up and grinned, ‘little Kathleen Cronin.’
‘A girl then? Thought you didn’t want to know?’
‘Sarah insisted; she wants everything ready for our daughter when she comes. Big plans my wife has,’ Simon joked.
‘Hands are well and truly full then.’
‘Wouldn’t have it any other way.’
Duncan grinned and slapped him on the back before heading to the bridge; Simon’s good mood was definitely infectious.
‘By the way…’ Duncan called, as he poked his head back around the corner as an idea just occurred to him.
‘Yeah?’ Simon turned back to answer him.
‘You’re not going to name her Kathleen Crippen then?’ Duncan grinned.
‘Oi!’ Simon shouted, hurling a handy bowl in the direction of Duncan’s grinning face, ‘You may well cal
l me after some butchering quack of the nineteenth century, but, by God, you’re not calling my daughter that!’
‘Now, now, take it easy; don’t lose your head, Crippen,’ Duncan told him gleefully before disappearing quickly out of Simon’s line of sight, but more importantly out of his firing range, leaving Simon to splutter in his indignation.
‘Ah, Captain!’ Simon jogged down the passage towards Daniels, after he had calmed down from Duncan’s little jibe.
‘Simon,’ Daniels said as he turned to greet the sub’s doctor, ‘sorry your trip was cut short.’
‘A job’s a job.’ Simon waved off the issue.
Daniels just nodded, ‘What did you need?’
‘Ah, yeah, Duncan said you went through the grinder back there…’
‘Hell no, Crippen!’ Daniels exclaimed cutting Simon off mid-sentence and backing up a few steps, ‘You’re not getting me in that chop shop of yours!’
‘But, Captain, you can never be too careful – what seems a minor injury could turn into something serious.’
‘It usually does when you’re involved.’
‘Cap—’
‘Crippen, you’re not cutting me up. Go find someone else to sharpen your knives on,’ Daniels told him, walking away swiftly before the good doctor could find any more excuses to detain him.
‘You managed to put off Dr Crippen then?’ Duncan asked as Daniels made his way onto the bridge.
‘No thanks to you! He gets enough ideas in his head without you helping him. I swear his eyes light up when there’s even a glimmer of hope that he’ll get to operate.’
‘Well, he needs to put all that book learning to use,’ Duncan commented.
Sophie listened in to their conversation shaking her head. They’re just as bad as Simon when it comes to “cutting into” other subs; pot calling the kettle black springs to mind, she thought wryly.
‘So, what’s the plan?’ Duncan asked, in an attempt to move the topic to something slightly more relevant than Simon’s surgical abilities.
Daniels turned to look at him, cocking his head slightly. ‘Plan?’
‘Aye Captain – a plan would be good,’ Duncan continued patiently, as though talking to a child.
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