“What ye thinkin‘ to do with Black Corbin?” Tar called out. “There’s a handsome price on his head. We’d all be rich if we was to hand him over to Captain Bart.”
“I’ve already told you no,andpaid you for your silence,” I answered, swearing silently to myself. I had to get Corbin out of there, and fast, before Tar had the opportunity to turn traitor and hand him over to Bart. “But don’t worry, Corbin will be gone by nightfall.”
“Oh, aye?” Tar asked, rubbing the prosthetic metal nose he wore when sailing.
“Yup. He’ll be gone as soon as the moon comes up,” I lied, just in case the plan my brain was busily hatching went awry, and Tar escaped to rat on Corbin.
“Right now, I have more important things to take care of.”
“What would that be?” he asked, almost trotting to keep up with me.
“We’re going to rejoin the blockade.”
“But we don’t have no ship,” Prudence complained. We crested the hill that led down to the town and harbor. I didn’t stop to admire the view.
“No, we don’t. So we’ll steal one.”
“Steal one?” Impulsive asked, his eyes big.
“Sure, why not? We’re pirates, right? Stealing is our raison d’être.”
All the way down to the harbor I fielded questions— everything from what a
“raisen detter” was to what we were going to do in the blockade. There was one question that wasn’t asked… something that interested me greatly.
By the time we brazenly stole a pretty green sloop from the end of the dock and got her headed toward the blockade, Tar and the boys had stopped peppering me with questions and were instead actually doing their jobs.
I felt so much like a real pirate captain I burst into song.
Prudence gave his brother a quizzical look. “Is the cap’n insultin‘ us by sayin’
we’re pirates who don’t do anythin‘?”
Impulsive frowned. I smiled and ordered someone to stand by with a black flag.
As we skirted the edge of the blockade, the noise of guns booming, wood splintering, and men screaming filled the air almost as much as the scent of gunpowder and death.
It was sobering to see firsthand how people died in sea battle, but I didn’t let the likelihood that we would again become the target of Pangloss stop me from ordering us right into the thick of the fray, heading straight for the flagship.
Although Corbin’s men must have seen me coming from the harbor, the black flag we ran up seemed to act as a passport of sorts. Pangloss and the other officers evidently weren’t watching their rears, because they didn’t see us until we had sailed quickly past them. I toyed with the idea of shooting Pangloss’s ship while we had them broadside to us but opted for a more prudent plan.
“Bring us alongside her, lads,” I told my crew, pointing to the flagship. “I need to talk to the officer on board.”
Tar gave me a look that didn’t take much to read. “They’re in battle.”
“I know, but only on that side. Not this one. Just bring us in close so I can talk to the people on board.”
Tar shook his head and muttered something that I thought it best to pretend not to hear.
“Is Holder aboard ship?” I yelled through cupped hands as we approached the big red and black ship whose starboard guns were in the process of sinking one of Bart’s ships. “I’m looking for Holder McReady.”
A line of men suddenly appeared on the port side of the ship, directly across from us, all of whom were pointing flintlock muskets and pistols at me.
“Amy?” There was a disturbance in the men and suddenly Holder was at the railing, a bloody rag wrapped around his head, his face shiny and black with gunpowder and sweat. “What in God’s name are you doing here? You could have been shot!”
“Grapple them,” I told my guys, yelling back at Holder, “I need to talk to you.”
“Right now?” he bellowed back. “It may have escaped your notice, but we’re a little on the busy side at the moment avenging my best friend’s death.”
