“Good.” She reached for a lock of Lianna’s hair. “How ’bout letting Mae, here, introduce you real nice like to our lovely town.”
“Nuh-uh.” A younger black woman shouldered the redhead aside. Her pale eyes, flawless skin and silky hair suggested her parents were of attractively mixed race. Colorful beads and feathers hung low down the open bodice of her flamboyant dress. Under the thin material, her breasts freely swayed with her glide to stand in front of Lianna. “Let Annie take you on a wild ride. I’m the best there is.”
Having heard stories of rejected marauding prostitutes, Lianna hoped she didn’t appear as unnerved as she felt. She remained polite. “I don’t think –”
Mae gave Annie a hard shove with her hip. “Move it, bitch. I saw ’er first.”
“She don’ wan’ no used up piece o’ trash,” Annie spat back.
Lianna sidestepped the women once they began pushing each other, thankful for their distraction, moving on down the lane. Two men came crashing out of a gaming room onto the sidewalk before her. To avoid becoming entangled in their affray, she hustled ahead. She zigzagged through the sweaty men jostling in and out of cracked and crumbling brick buildings. A man of the cloth stood in the street and prayed for the damned. Another begged for forgiveness as he took a flight of stairs to a second story brothel. A gunshot followed by screaming filled the noisy streets. If she were a proper lady, she would simply seize up and die of fright in this wicked devil’s den. But as it were, she was all too closely associated with the environment.
She quickened her steps with pointed determination. The further from the docks she got, the better chance she had of finding tolerably decent bars or boarding rooms. Then she could start her search for a place to call home, in servitude of course. She promised herself it would only be temporary.
The road intersected and she paused, deciding which direction she would follow. ’Twas more of the same in all directions. At the end of one alley stood a small inn. It didn’t look half bad. As good a place as any to begin her search. The facade was well lit but the few street lamps along the way had been smashed, leaving the road draped in shadows. She took a breath of courage, stepped over a sleeping sot, and headed for what she crossed her fingers would be a bit of sanctuary.
Lianna heard footsteps behind her. She tilted her head to the side. Yes, there was definitely someone following her. She became rigid, holding her breath, as she continued forward, suppressing the urge to break into a run for the lighted porch ahead. The footfalls marched heavy and loud. Whoever followed came closer, closer, until they were right on her heels. Spinning around, she faced her pursuer.
A scream caught in her throat. Bull slammed her against the brick wall beside them. She dropped her case, clawing desperately at his hand around her neck. Her toes just grazed the cobblestones beneath her. His sour breath and bulky chest squashed her.
“I reckon I be gittin’ me justice now.” Bull’s cracked lips sneered in her ear.
This time there was not even an inch between them. No chance she could inflict him injury enough to make an escape. Nefarious darkness blanketed the alleyway; no one would ever see Bull attacking her. Fear had her in a chokehold, squeezing out waves of sheer panic. She couldn’t even call for help, couldn’t take a breath, as he tightened his grip to her neck.
Vaguely aware her dress had been pulled up, she felt his rough hand ripping away her stockings and shift, heard him grunting from the effort. Her skin pinched from the fabric chafing across her waist and her thighs. She abandoned her neck, struggling to keep her skirt down. Bull pressed his torso into her body, preventing her from succeeding.
Deep down, Lianna knew no matter what happened next, Bull would not let her just walk away when he was done. He was mad. He was brutal. On the crest of her panic, instinct kicked in. Time to go down fighting. With any luck, she’d be dead before he got the chance to rape her.
Deliberately, if not hysterically, she mauled at his face with her fingernails, scratching at his eyes.
“You bitch!” He hissed at her stinging slashes. Squeezing her neck harder, he pounded her back with violent force against the wall again and again.
Lianna’s head hit the brick, the pain momentarily causing her vision to flash white. She was stricken, losing consciousness, seconds from having her throat crushed. It would be all over soon. She made one last swipe at his face before her strength failed her. She fell limp just as she was dropped to the hard, damp ground. The lumbering side of beef landed next to her with a heavy clunk.
Ha! Must’ve shredded him with my razor-like nails. That’ll teach him to hurt with me, the lummox.
Voices. Were those voices? She tried to focus on a flash of blue. “Zane?” Her throat scalded on a rasping cough just before she succumbed to the blackness.
*****
Blade caught up with Zane just outside a particularly familiar brothel.
“You’re breakin’ my heart, Zane.” Mae pouted and cuddled up to his right. “Don’cha have time to be social?” She reached around to cup his backside.
Annie shook her head, moving in on his left, playfully wagging her finger. “We wouldn’t hear of ye goin’ wit out me an’ Mae, here, givin’ ye the special.” She coyly tilted her head. “On us.” She looked to Mae for approval, who emphatically nodded, repeating, “On us.”
Zane smirked as he remembered ‘the special’. And by the near invisible curve at the corner of his mouth, Blade undoubtedly remembered, too.
“Come now, ladies. Focus. This is very important,” Zane stressed. “Did you or did you not see a young lady in a blue dress pass this way?”
“Oh, yes,” Mae said. “She be very juicy.”
“Aye. A real sweet thing. An’ Mae here scared her off.”
“Cross yer self, Annie, ’cause I’ma gonna smack ye.”
“Jus’ try it.”
“Ladies, ladies.” Zane pumped his hands between them. “Please, which way did she go?”
“That way.” Both women pointed down the long bustling street.
Zane bowed slightly. “Thank you.”
“Mae. Annie.” Blade tipped his hat and followed after his captain.
Catching up to Zane, Blade gave his account. “Sadie wasn’t in the brig.”
Zane stopped short. Staring forward without sight, he pursed his mouth, biting at his lower lip.
“One of the crewmen said he saw Bull break open the lock to her cell,” Blade continued. “Willie said he saw them leave the ship.”
Zane resumed walking, his pace a little faster. “This night just gets better and better,” he grumbled. He realized that his search for The Serpent would likely end with either Sadie or Lianna. He wasn’t sure with whom he would rather find it. Sadie, whom he would probably kill, or Lianna, who, if the pendant’s disappearance with her was intentional, would kill him.
Damn if this mission hadn’t been a thorn in his arse.
Threads of anxiety laced his every nerve with each pump of his heart. The longer Lianna was out there alone, the more desperate the need to find her.
Blade and Zane went from one seedy establishment to the next asking about Lianna, with no luck.
“Brimstone and gall, what was she thinking?” He snarled through clenched teeth after leaving the last bar on the block. He had worked himself into a frothy lather. He was furious.
Blade flatly offered his unsolicited opinion. “Seems to me she didn’t want to go home. That maybe she didn’t have a home to go to.”
Tormented by the realization, Zane had to agree. “Aye. She probably felt this was her one chance to start a fresh new life.” Why hadn’t he seen it sooner? He thought back to standing on the dock with her. He had noticed her back was straighter, a quiet resolve in her. The flickering fire in the lamps along the pier had cast a radiance around her that reminded him of a hallowed prize. And he let her go. He knew then something had changed in her. The veil she wore had been easy to see through if only he would have looked. Zane suppressed his
growing bitterness with himself. Damned he was. Another bloody burden.
“We’ll find her, brother,” Blade said. “We’ll find her.”
The two men reached a junction in the road.
“Now what?” Blade looked around.
Zane squinted to see through the darkness. “I think I see something.” He drew his pistol and together they moved in a furtive slink down the alley. Zane’s heart stopped as it became clear that there was a shadowy figure slumped against the brick wall. Though it appeared too large to be a woman’s, a wave of dread consumed him. He started trotting, and then broke into a full run toward the body. Please God, no! Falling to his knees, he rolled the lump over. A wave of relief washed over him as he exhaled the breath he had been holding.
“Bull.” He may have been a smidgen too mirthful.
Blade’s face distorted. “Looks like a feral cat got a hold of him.”
“Probably Lianna,” Zane said, with a hint of pride.
“You sure? Maybe you should take off your shirt and I’ll verify it with the claw marks on your back,” Blade teased.
Zane gave him a droll look.
“Just a suggestion.” Blade shrugged, his attention returned to Bull. “He took a beating, all right. Someone clubbed him in the back of the head.”
Zane examined the gash bleeding from his oily, lumpy dome. “She didn’t do that.” He stood and surveyed the area.
“Aye. Looks like he was hit with the stock of a gun.”
Terror induced anger welled inside him as he picked up a ripped piece of white fabric. “Well, whoever did that to him has Lianna.”
He couldn’t help but feel this was all his fault. If anything happened to Lianna, he would never forgive himself. How could he vow to protect her only to lose her mere hours later? He was most pathetic, not worthy of the love from a woman he’d been so careless with. If he saved her—no—when he saved her, he would never let her go again.
“Want me to patch the big gorilla up?” Blade kicked at the lump of dead weight. “He’s bleeding an awful lot.”
“Leave him. If he’s fortunate, he’ll bleed to death. Otherwise, I’ll have to deal with him. Either way, he’s a dead man to me.”
CHAPTER 14
Commodore Grant Bennington stood just outside the iron jail door behind which stood Lianna. Smartly dressed in his starched uniform and white powdered wig, he remained stiff, eyeing her austerely down his pointed nose. Two soldiers had their muskets trained on her.
“Miss Lianna Whitney, did you say?” Bennington handed his tricorn hat to his lieutenant standing just to his right.
In the middle of the cell, her hands shackled in front of her, Lianna swayed precariously from the dizzying ache fissuring at the back of her head. Her raw throat burned with every swallow.
“Why am I arrested? What are the charges?”
Bennington raised his eyebrows. “Why, carrying on with a pirate, of course. A crime punishable by death.” He motioned for a guard to remove her manacles. “It is a shame that a twist of fate surrounds you as an accidental pawn in a parlor game among men.”
“And you as well, no?” Lianna rebutted, rubbing her wrists. “The only difference between you and I is you are a deliberate cat’s-paw.”
Bennington narrowed his eyes. “Since you seem to be more than aware of what I am after, there is no need to trifle with each other. I’ll get to the point.” He paced in front of her, hands behind his back, looking down at his spotless, shiny boots.
“A search through your bag came up empty. However, I cannot take for granted that you do not have the medallion on your person. So, I am offering you a chance to hand it over before I have you searched.” Bennington stopped, slowly lifting his stare to her for effect.
“Do you think Captain Fox would entrust The Serpent to me? What a ludicrous idea.”
“Stakes are high, Miss Whitney. I can’t be too careful. It is not far fetched to think he wouldn’t send a petticoat to finish the job while he himself was being pursued.”
“Captain Fox is more noble than that. ’Twould be a foolish and cowardly act. And you well know it.”
Bennington smiled. “Intelligent wench.”
“He wouldn’t endanger me to save his own neck.”
“A bit smitten to the rogue, too.” His smile widened.
Lianna balled her fists. “Your arrogance, mediocre naval performance and obvious lack of judgment will lead to your failure. Zane and his crew will annihilate you.”
His laughter bellowed loudly within the stone gaol walls. “Ah yes, his scurvy crew on his precious Rissa. I have had that floating menace boarded and seized as we speak.” Bennington’s laugh quickly faded into a menacing scowl. “But alas, Captain Fox nor his vexing first mate was on board.”
“Then you are too late,” she simpered.
“No. The governor’s palace has been under vigilance since this morning. It seems the Captain is dawdling. No matter. I have this entire port crawling with my men. There’s no way for him to escape. He’ll be captured soon enough. Once I have The Serpent, he’ll be executed on the spot.”
Her face chilled with the drain of color as she thought of Zane being ambushed, cut down. She wanted to find him, run to him, and warn him. She was scared, truly scared for him. Warm tears welled up in her eyes and she swiped away the droplet that spilled down her icy cheek. She hated feeling helpless and weak.
“Aw. Weeping for your beloved. Touching.”
He rocked back on his heels. “Well Miss Whitney? Do you have the medallion on you?”
“You know I don’t.”
“Do I?” He pretended to be insulted. “Well, as I said, can’t be too careful.” He turned to leave her cell. “Strip her,” he ordered the guard.
“Commodore?” The lieutenant stammered, handing Bennington’s tricorn to his outstretched waiting hand. He leaned in to whisper yet his question carried throughout the stone room. “Do you really find it necessary to put the lady through that?” He glanced over his shoulder at her as she slapped away the guard’s grabby hands, disrobing herself. “Humiliating her, I mean?”
“Do I find it necessary? No, Trent. I find it amusing. Quite amusing. You know.” He paused, casual in his thoughts. “I believe she will give me The Serpent, one way or another.”
*****
Zane and Blade sat at the wooden table in a small room in the back of The Blue Peacock tavern. ’Twas a secret place used to hold clandestine meetings, hatch out collusive plans, or hide the occasional wanted man. Laughable, Zane thought, how absurdly appropriate it was for their present circumstance. A sparse room, it was hidden under the stairway that led to living quarters above. With just the table, a group of chairs and a couple of lanterns, the room served its purpose.
A short plump woman placed a tray with two mugs, a vessel of ale, bread, and roasted meat between them.
Zane inclined his head. “Thank you, Molly.”
The bar’s owner hovered by the door. His expression was as strained as the shoulder straps keeping his breeches pulled up over his rotund belly. “I can’t be havin’ trouble here. They’ll take me head on the block if’n they find ye here.”
“Oh hush up, Ben,” Molly scolded. “These boys mean no harm. An’ how many times have they saved your sorry hide? I remember a time or two you let the spirit get the better of ya and the boys had to tend the bar. When that group of Black Bart’s men refused to pay their account, didn’t they get what was owed to ya, plus five guinea more fer ya troubles?”
Ben puffed out his round jowls. “Git tendin’ to the payin’ customers, woman, ’fore I give ye the what for.”
Molly patted her husband’s cheek as she left the room. “Yes, dear.” She gave him an affectionate wink.
Ben indeed risked everything by hiding Zane and Blade in his tavern. The port swarmed with British soldiers. He and Blade had barely made it inside The Blue Peacock without being noticed. A few hired snitches lurked about out there, as well. The danger of Ben getti
ng caught was paramount.
“You will be well rewarded for your refuge, Ben. I bet you would like to buy Molly a pretty new gown. And perhaps a new hat, eh?”
The paunchy man perked up. “Aye.”
Although rough around the edges, Ben always wanted to please his Molly. He loved his wife deeply and went to great lengths to make her happy. Zane admired that about the barkeeper. Perchance one day he could know of that kind of devotion.
“Good man. A bit of privacy, then. Keep an ear marked,” Zane added before the man left.
“Seems we’re in quite a bind.” Blade poured his cup with the ale. “The Serpent is missing, Lianna is missing, the Rissa is captured and Bennington is on our tail.”
“Got myself something of a challenge, mate.” ’Twould all be manageable if only he knew Lianna was safe. Zane knocked back his ale, and then filled his cup again.
“I’m still surprised the enterprising commodore made it here before us. I have sorely underestimated him,” Zane said. “He must have unloaded here and then sent his ship across the harbor to Kingston.”
“Not wise if he plans to make a quick get away.”
Zane leaned back in his chair. “Nay, it’s clever, really. All he would need to do is have a scout send a ferry with the news that we’ve arrived and have his frigate immediately sent back. With Rissa immobilized, he could bombard her easily enough and be on his way back to Governor Wilcox’s waiting clutches once he had the medallion.”
Zane ran his hand through his hair that had fallen free from the white ribbon. Yanking the ribbon out, he threw it on the table. He was so close to losing everything. Not just the medallion and the insanely rich commission, but more important, his crew would surely be hanged and his ship destroyed. Above all, Lianna was compromised. What would become of her? He groaned.
“The bastard’s gotten creative.” Blade sliced himself a piece of bread.
“Well, we’ll just have to be more creative.”
He didn’t have much of an appetite, but Zane forced himself to eat for the energy.
They ate, silently contemplating. An abrupt rap just as the door swung open had the men drawing their pistols.
Romancing the Pirate 01 - Blood and Treasure Page 19