They nodded. One of them talked about her aunt.
“And she is to meet you here?”
They nodded.
“But she is not here, so you need to make your way to her. Do you know where she lives?”
One of them pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Forrest. He read the address. It was in one of the more notorious slum areas in London, but it would still be better than what the Merchant had planned for them.
He caught a movement out the corner of his eye, and watched Nix appear.
“Nix, come here,” Forrest said as the sound of running feet reached his ears. Men were approaching; his cousins needed him.
The informant approached.
“Mr. Howarth,” he nodded. “What do you need?”
“I must stay with my cousins and help. Please get these women to a hackney.” He handed over the address and some money. “Hurry, Nix, get them away from here!”
The man didn’t hesitate, just took what Forrest held out to him.
“Go with this man, he will keep you safe,” Forrest urged the women. “You have no reason to trust me, but those men mean you harm.”
They went, thankfully. Terrified and confused, but they ran after Nix. Forrest rejoined his cousins. The two Indian men were behind them.
“Where are they?”
The one who spoke stopped a distance back from them. He had addressed the two men who stood beside the Deville brothers.
“They are gone,” Gabe said, “and safe from you and where you would send them.”
“No!”
“Yes, and now we would like some information, if you please,” Nathan said calmly. “About your employer.”
“Don’t know anything about him only that he gives me orders and pays well.” He grinned at them showing two missing front teeth. “Get them!”
The men ran at them, and he had no time to think, only act.
Forrest’s head snapped back as he took a fist to the jaw, and he staggered a few steps. The sting of pain made him angry, so he lashed out with his foot, and the man dropped to the ground.
The fight was fast and dirty; he used every move he’d been taught. Fists, feet, he even headbutted a man who was too close to do anything else to. It felt like it took forever but was over in minutes.
“Damn,” Gabe swore as the men picked each other up off the ground and ran away. “The two Indian men have fled also. We wanted to question them.”
“We need to leave here in case they return with more men,” Michael said.
“We should go on board and question the crew.”
“The crew won’t be on board, they’ll be drinking and whoring,” Nathan said. “We must leave and regroup. For now, we have saved those women. We will save more, but not tonight.”
“Someone must be on board that ship to question,” Forrest protested. Anger and the thirst for revenge coursed through his veins.
“We will come back in the daylight. Right now, we need to go,” Gabe said.
Michael grabbed his arm and started moving. Reluctantly, Forrest followed. They ran the way Nix had taken the women.
“Psst!”
