"Hey, ain't it the boy that started all the trouble at the Green Dolphin?" the one called Chappy commented.
"One and the same." A face loomed over her, the foul stench of filth, fish, and body sweat made her stomach lurch.
She squirmed helplessly under the hand that prevented her from crying out. Beads of sweat broke out between her breasts and trickled down, molding the dampening shirt to her. If they hadn't already guessed, they'd soon see that she wasn't a boy at all.
She freed one arm and swung hard, hoping to throw her captor off balance, then tried to escape.
"No you don't!" the first man grunted as he grabbed for her and pulled off the cap on her head. The cap gone, her hair tumbled to her shoulders.
"What the hell!?" He exclaimed.
She lunged away a moment too late, crying out as his hand closed around her hair and he pulled her back.
"This ain't no boy at all!"
Elyse was spun around. Bile rose in her throat as she was drawn up against the man, her body forced against his.
"Get your filthy hands off me!" she screamed at him.
"Spirited, eh. El Barracuda will be interested to know why you're wearing those clothes. But I think he cares for young boys as much as he cares for them whores he visits in port. Yer thin. Maybe he won't like you at all."
His accent was thick, but she understood all of it and his meaning was obvious as he ran his hand down her back, then over the curve at her bottom. She lunged away from him, only to be brought up short when his hand twisted painfully in her hair.
"Eh, Chano, you may be right. But she may be able to tell him what the Raven is carryin' in the hold of that ship. Hurt her and she won't be able to tell him nothin'."
The man called Chano grunted as he seemed to consider what his companion had said. "We'll take her to the ship. He might let me have 'er when he's through."
When she tried to kick out at him, he slapped her. When she screamed, he stuffed a foul-smelling rag in her mouth.
"That’s so you don’t draw no attention before we get you to the ship.”
The air was slammed out of her lungs as she was thrown over his shoulder.
For two days Zach had the streets of Lisbon searched, and for two days his men returned with the same answer. There was no sign of Elyse. She had completely disappeared. He insisted on returning to theRevenge.
He was fighting off the effects of the wound and the herbal medicines Zamora had been giving him. He tried to stand, felt the floor shift beneath his feet, then heard his friend cursing explosively.
“What are you putting in that brew of yours, old man?”
“Somethin’ you’ve used a time or two yourself. Now, you’ve got to stay put or that wound will open up.” Tobias warned.
“Has there been any word?” Zach winced as he stood.
They both looked up as the second mate suddenly appeared in the doorway. Kimo was with him, pushing a man ahead of him. He was small and filthy with frightened eyes that grew larger when he saw the Raven.
“This one followed me. He was sent with a message.” Kimo threw the little man to the floor of the cabin. “Tell him,” he ordered the man, standing over him with crossed arms and a knife in his hand.
“Tell me!” Zach leaned heavily against the chart table. “What do you know? I just may let you live."
"El Barracuda knows about the cargo you carry. He will give you the woman for what is in yer hold," he blurted out. "But not here. He says to come to the island if you want the woman to live."
Tenerife. El Barracuda's home port.
Zach knew it well enough, as most who sailed these waters, to have avoided it in the past. Those who made the mistake of sailing those waters and reaching the island were rarely seen again. Or, if they managed to escape, there were stories of the bloody end for their crews.
He nodded to Kimo.
"Can you swim, little man?" He asked the man who squirmed as he held him aloft, then dragged him from the cabin.
