The moment he had freed her she knew her second vow on the cliff had been broken. She told him once, in a whisper, when he was still unconscious. After she had Travers she would tell him again.
She sighed and heard the sound he wanted to possess. After Travers. Everything is yours after Travers.
Chapter 9
On the other side of the ocean, thousands of miles from Alexis in distance, weeks from her in time, water lapped gently at the sides of the newly completed addition to the riverscape. The USS Concord seemed to wait restlessly in her temporary home as if she were eager to head for the open sea and attain the thirteen knots she was reputed to be capable of.
In a tavern just north of whereConcordwas anchored, some of her crewmen formerly of the USSHamiltonwere less than anxious to be breaking in their new ship on a mission that meant the capture of Alex Danty. They had come to the tavern in hopes of tipping a few ales to forget what Cloud had told them earlier. They had all warily eyed the orders in their captain’s pocket, but none of them dared refuse to assist. Each of them knew that no matter how hard their orders would be to carry out, their burden was enormously less than the one Captain Cloud carried.
As an evening of relaxation and forgetting, this one was not a success. Already Mike Garrison and Harry Young had shared an interesting conversation with another seaman. They knew they would have to report it to Cloud. They both wished Matt Jones had not been quite so talkative in his cups. Then they wouldn’t have learned anything from the young man who sailed on the Quinton Line. Now they were duty bound to tell their captain that Quinton Shipping was being run by a Mr. Grendon, although Matt was careful to point out that Grendon didn’t own the line. It seemed the owner had made two trips to Roadtown in the past eighteen months and kept in contact by sending messages through other ships on the line. Worst of all it appeared that one of the points where messages were picked up was Washington. Harry and Mike shuddered to think that Alexis could be right under their noses and therefore close to being captured. They were only slightly relieved to hear Matt mention that the owner had taken on some cargo and headed for London. He wouldn’t have thought much of it, except some of his mates thought it was dangerous. Harry and Mike didn’t explain that they understood the danger, that Alexis’s desperation to find Travers was driving her.
Shortly after Matt had wandered off, leaving Harry grinning sadly at his tankard and Mike clenching his jaw in frustration, they were joined by a brawny stranger who had listened interestedly to the information they’d gleaned from Matt.
He boldly invited himself to their table and told them bluntly, “My name’s Scott Hansom, and if you have any questions about Quinton Shipping or the owner, then I’m the one to ask.”
“Don’t want to know anything else,” Harry told him. “Take your information straight to Captain Cloud.”
Mike kicked his drinking companion under the table and muttered, “Your tongue’s a little loose there, Harry.”
Scott Hansom was glad his crewman wasn’t the only one who talked too much after a few drinks. “What was that name?” he asked Harry, his voice low to conceal his surprise.
“Captain Tanner Cloud,” Mike answered for his friend. “Harry and I served on his ship, theHamilton.We’ve been with him for three years.” Mike added the last, realizing if Hansom knew anything about Alexis then he would know they did too.
“That so?” he responded lightly. He was wary of the two men and their motives. He knew Alexis was skirting danger from all directions these days. Her status as a merchant vessel made her prey to French and English privateers when she tried to run blockades. And now the Americans were interested in her. He chose to take their interest as a threat to her safety. “And why are you so curious about Quinton Shipping? We haven’t broken any laws.”
“None that we’re aware,” Mike said. “Matt was just telling us about your mysterious owner. He’s never seen the man. It was interesting, that’s all.”
“That’s a lie and you know it,” Hansom replied. “You were the ones asking all the questions. What are you after?”
“Look,” Mike said, leaning forward across the table. “We know Alex Danty and you know we do. She must have told you it was our ship she got away from to return to Roadtown. We were trying to find out how she is and if there is anything you know about Travers.” It was true what he said, Mike thought later, but none of it went down well.
“So you know Captain Danty,” Hansom answered smugly. “Then you know why no man who has ever sailed for her will tell you one damn thing.”
Much later that evening Mike Garrison told his captain, “She’s got some good men. Hansom left right after that but Harry and I knew he’d be worried so we followed him, figuring he’d give something away. Sure enough he passed a message to the captain of another Quinton ship. Their destination is Roadtown. That means Hansom knows Alex is planning to return to the island.”
“That is a fairly big leap of imagination. How can you be sure she will go there just because that’s where the message is headed?” Cloud eyed their slow grins and knew what was coming before Harry reached into his pocket and extracted the folded paper.
“We managed to get it,” Harry said, handing it over. Cloud took the paper and unfolded it slowly. Not looking at his men but at the words on the paper he said, “And I don’t want to know how, although I suppose it explains the bruise on Mike’s face.”
Mike’s hand quickly went to his cheek and he grinned. “He didn’t miss the note while I was there.” Cloud nodded as he read:
April 3, 1812
Miss Quinton,
Men who say they are from theHamilton have asked about you in Washington. I know the man you want is patrolling the waters around New Orleans. You will know the source of that information. With any luck at all you will have found this out in London. Be wary of the Americans. I do not like their sudden interest in your activities after almost two years of silence.
Your servant,
Scott Hansom
“It explains a great deal,” Cloud sighed when he finished reading. “The least of which is how Quinton Shipping has been thriving in the Caribbean when no one else can get by Lafitte. Captain Danty has some powerful friends and as you said, Mike, some very good men.” He slipped the paper in beside his orders and tapped the pocket lightly. “Our course has been decided. If we are fortunate she may bypass Tortola completely in her anxiousness to get to Travers and never receive verbal confirmation of this message. We’ll have surprise working for us. Tomorrow we leave on theConcordand start scouting the same waters as Travers.”
“When we find her, Captain,” Harry said, frowning, “you’ll explain how it is, won’t you? That we have a job to do, too.”
“I’ll explain, Harry. And she’ll understand. But she is not going to cooperate.”
Cloud returned to his home later that evening and reread Hansom’s letter to Alexis. The message had been hastily scrawled but Cloud could see genuine concern in the haste. Her men obviously were committed to her and he dreaded the possibility of having to fight them in order to get to her. He had slowly come to the conclusion that many of her men were now Americans. According to the stories that had surfaced it seemed a number of them had been willing to join her. Where would their loyalties lie once war was declared? With their country, which had been so slow to act on their impressment, or with the woman, who by taking matters into her own hands, had given them their liberty?
