Zach chuckled. "So now you're willing to go with me."
"I hardly think this is the time to discuss it," she said sarcastically, still scared out of her wits. "Come on!" she prodded.
"Not until you say it."
"Say what? For heaven's sake, Zach, they'll find us. Do you want to have to fight Vimeiro again?"
"Say that you want to go with me."
He spoke with a lazy drawl. What was wrong with him?
"All right. I want to go with you."
He smiled faintly in the lamplight and reached out to stroke her cheek. "I don't think I'm going to make it." He braced himself against the side of a shop.
Elyse's head came up, her alarm sharpening. "What are you talking about? We have to get back to theRevenge!"His arm was around her shoulders, holding her against him. When she pulled away to look up at him, she gasped. A wet, stickiness soaked his shirt.
"You're hurt!" She stared at the stain spreading across at his shirt.
"We have to get you back to the ship." She pulled his arm around her.
"No," Zach groaned.
Elyse cried out softly, turning into him. "You can't die! Not here!" Nothing she'd said made sense, and she knew it.
"There's a place near here."
"Where?" She wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Zamora's," Zach whispered. "An old friend."
Zamora. The name conjured up visions of another friend of his, the one she'd met in London at Jerrold's club—Fatima. She wondered if Zamora was the same type of friend, then quickly pushed the thought from her mind. It was none of her business; they needed help.
"How do we get there?"
"It's not far." He winced, inhaling sharply as she took his weight against her. "Two blocks down, then to the right, at the sign of the half-moon over the door."
"Oh, so you're familiar with this neighborhood. You really should pick your friends more carefully." That got a rise out of him.
"I suggest you be quiet and start walking. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay on my feet."
She wasn't certain how they accomplished it. They stopped and started many times, night sounds sending them into darkened doorways. But Zach seemed to know where they were going.
Now she was frantic. They'd follow his directions, she'd searched every door, the few numbered signs, name plates.
He kept insisting this was the street and finally she found the half-moon carved at a doorway. She pounded at the door. Whoever this woman was, Elyse desperately hoped she was home.
"She's always home. This is her place of business."
Elyse gritted her teeth and knocked again. After what seemed an eternity, a bolt was released inside, the door opened a crack, and a boy appeared.
"I don't understand what he's asking!"
Beside her, leaning against the doorframe, Zach inhaled sharply against a new wave of pain.
"He wants to know who it is," he explained and then groaned to the small voice.
Zach suddenly grabbed for the doorframe as he felt himself going down. The last thing he heard was Elyse crying out as he fell through the open doorway.
