Suddenly she paused beside him. Their bodies did not touch. She hugged herself. “Do not escape without me. Please.”
He looked into her shimmering eyes. “If and when there is an escape, I shall give you the opportunity to leave with us.”
She nodded. Then, “Xavier, we must escape, soon. The sooner the better.”
“Do you know something that you’re not telling me?”
She did not answer.
It was answer enough. He held open the cane door. “Goodbye …” he hesitated. He had been about to call her Vera.
She brushed by him, hurrying across the terrace. Murad appearing beside her. Again Xavier watched her as she crossed the compound, but this time, just before she entered the vaulted tunnel, she paused and turned.
Across the bagnio, their gazes locked. And then she was gone.
He rejoined Tubbs on the terrace. His first mate was asleep. Xavier squatted beside him, grasping his shoulder, gently waking him up. Tubbs groaned, his eyes opening. When he saw Xavier, he was immediately awake. “What is it, Captain? Is something amiss?”
Xavier nodded. “Morris has been relieved of his command. Our escape must be postponed. The good news is that Preble succeeds Morris. In time, I have every hope that he will aid us in a successful escape.”
Tubbs sat up. “Two more slaves died today in the god-awful quarries. How much time do we have. Captain, before our own crew begins to drop like flies?”
Xavier was grim. “I don’t know.”
They were silent, staring at one another, thinking about death.
Xavier’s jaw tightened. “The guards have already been bribed to allow us out the night of the fifteenth. We have acquired two pistols and five daggers. That is enough to proceed and do what still has to be done.”
Tubbs’s eyes were wide. “But surely you do not think to escape anyway!” he exclaimed.
“No. I am not talking about escape.”
Tubbs sat tensely on his heels. “If you are not talking about another escape, then what are you talking about. Captain?”
Xavier slowly stood. At six foot four inches, he towered over Tubbs, who also rose. “I am talking about the destruction of thePearl,”he said.
Tubbs stared.
“But not the night of the fifteenth.” His gaze darkened. “Tomorrow. Tomorrow we shall destroy her.”
26
The next night
“WHERE, HAVE YOUbeen?” Alex demanded.
Murad closed the door to her chamber. “It’s late. Why are you still awake, Alex?”
Alex was sitting up in bed in the dark. The room was only illuminated by the moon and the stars shining outside. “I can’t sleep.”
Murad stared at her.
“Not just because of what happened last night.” Even if she and Blackwell were never together again, Alex was not ever going to forget the glory of being made love to by him. Their union had been inevitable. And it had been far more than a physical joining—it had been a union of their hearts and souls.
But Alex was disturbed, uneasy. The hairs on her nape prickled. “Something has happened,” she said slowly, absolutely certain of it. “Or is about to happen.”
Murad hesitated.
Alex slipped from the bed. “What is it? It’s about Blackwell, isn’t it?”
