Page 35 of Escaping Pirates (Legends of Neverland #4)

I staggered back. Target? Miss Jillian? What was he talking about?

I stared at Gil, who gave a light punch to the man’s shoulder as a way of greeting.

“Shut it, Tobias. I’m Gil now, remember?

You don’t know who else is listening. And no need to worry about this one.

She follows orders. Any update on the bid for Harsh or Tyrone? ”

“They’re offering two hundred gold shillings for Harsh. No additional offers on Tyrone. He isn’t a priority. His partner Roderick, however, has a bounty of two thousand, but must be delivered alive and unharmed, so none of your poisons.”

Gil let out a low whistle. “Not much I can do about Harsh without knowing his habits or weaknesses. Roderick is tempting but will require a lot of planning. I have an idea, but I need more time.”

I watched their exchange volley back and forth, disbelieving. Was I trapped in some bizarre dream? I pinched myself, hard, and the sharp pain was enough to convince me that I was awake, but still not enough to convince me that what I was seeing was real .

“You can still get a hundred gold shillings for Tyrone, same offer as before,” the man reminded her. “Better than nothing.”

“I’d rather burn Tyrone’s ship than take such a paltry amount.

He’s too well-connected to give up for that price.

I’ll make more with him leading me to his business partners.

” Gil looked at my dumbfounded expression and smirked.

“Don’t judge me. I’m just a bounty hunter trying to make a dishonest living. ”

The man’s beard twitched. “And a hard woman to bargain with at that.”

“You’re lucky you aren’t on my target list, Tobias. If you want to keep it that way, then stop running your big mouth. I’m Gil . Go make yourself useful and see if the bidders want to up the offers.”

Tobias inclined his head. “I’ll see what I can do, and you might want to get that target up to the palace before midnight. That’s when her bounty expires.”

“Right,” Gil said in a crisp, business-like tone. “We don’t have much time.” He turned—no, she turned and waved me along to follow her, but I didn’t move.

“Where’s Harlan?” I kept expecting him to emerge from a side room to join us.

“Still on the Kraken’s Revenge ,” Gil told me.

I paled. “You told me he was safe!”

She shrugged. “I lied. I knew you wouldn’t come along otherwise. Now hurry up.”

“But Harlan isn’t safe! He’s in more danger now!” Once Tyrone woke up and discovered that I was missing, he would set off the flare. Harlan would be killed. My gaze raked the dark sky, terrified that a burst of red would light up the heavens.

“Look, it’s too bad about your friend. But I don’t have enough information to extract him.” She slapped my shoulder. “You’re still young and the world is full of other men. Don’t worry about it. You’ll find someone else.”

The world tilted. “I just…what?!”

Gil strode purposefully along the corridor, dragging me along with her.

“I said hurry up. You have a bounty out for immediate collection, and I intend to have it in hand before the night’s out.

That’s easy money. You’re fortunate that it was Prince Korth’s fiancée who put a bounty out for you rather than less reputable characters. ”

It was impossible to close my mouth. Questions churned like the sea during a hurricane. “You’re a girl? Does Tyrone know?”

“Oh, shoals, no.” She pivoted to march out a door and along a winding alleyway, lit with dim torches that gave the whole town a spooky, eerie look.

“So…you pretend to be a boy? And you’re a bounty hunter? But why—” My mind couldn’t settle on any one question. Finally, I managed to stammer, “W-w-why join up with pirates?”

Gil smirked. “The most effective way to take down any crime ring is from the inside. And every group is always happy to have a small, weak boy join who is eager to please and do the dirty grunt work. You hear things working for pirates and criminals you wouldn’t otherwise, which is highly profitable for me.

I told you before: I plan to be rich. So anytime the captain needed his desk organized or wanted someone to carry things, I always volunteered with a great attitude and he never realized I was memorizing all his records so I could sell that information.

He wasn’t worried about me. After all, Gil can’t read. ”

“How…how old are you?” My brain was still jammed.

She tugged at the strings dangling from her tunic so the slight gap in the fabric was cinched up.

“Let’s just say older than fourteen.” Gil’s sailor shirt may once have been white but had turned a faded grey color and was streaked with the same brown grime that covered her neck and was smudged onto her face.

She shot me a wicked grin. “Don’t act so surprised.

It’s not like I’m some magical fairy godmother or anything.

Just a girl who happens to be good at passing herself off as a boy. ”

“For months at a time?” I spluttered.

She shrugged. “It took practice.” Then she shot me a playful expression that unsettled me just as much as any Harsh had given me. “And if you tell anyone, I’ll cut out your tongue.” The smile looked friendly, but her eyes told a different story. “That’s a promise.”

I could see her lips moving to form the words, but they sounded all wrong. This was Gil, the boy I’d grown fond of and cared for like a younger brother, but at the same time, I didn’t doubt her for a minute. Was she my savior or a madwoman?

“Let’s get going. That bounty expires soon, and I don’t deliver packages late.”

“No!” The word burst from me. “I have no idea who you are or what your game is, but I’m not your…your package. You said you were going to help me, and I’m so…” Confused would be the understatement of the century.

She chuckled slightly. “Elena, let me tell you something. Between you and me in a fight, you will lose. In a footrace, you will lose. Based on your track record up to this point, I am confident in saying that you won’t be able to escape by yourself, from me or from anyone else.

All you need to know is that you’ll be safe if you do exactly as I say. ”

“What if I don’t?”

Gil laughed. “I was asked to bring you in alive, but there’s no rule about whether you need to be conscious or not.

” She tilted her head to the side. “You’re spunky.

I like that, and I’d rather not see you harmed, but that doesn’t extend as far as not collecting my paycheck so you can sulk in peace. ”

Was there anyone left in the world who didn’t see me as simply someone to control? Harsh and his daughters had never hesitated to abuse me, Tyrone lusted after me, and now Gil—or Jillian or whatever I was supposed to call her—saw me as a paycheck.

Yes, I answered myself. Harlan cared. But who knew where he was right now?

Was he safe? As far as I could tell, the only way to protect him was to go along with the plan.

How I wished I was like Peter Pan, able to fight, or like Gil, who could outwit others.

The knowledge of my own powerlessness was crushing.

I continued walking beside Gil. Was she telling the truth that it was Dahlia who’d put the bounty out for me, or was that yet another lie?

Was I supposed to talk to Gil? Or would me talking to her give her more information?

I thought back to all the conversations I’d had with Gil, believing her to be a chatty, upbeat young boy.

Had I let anything slip? No wonder her disguise was so successful; she had everyone fooled.

Who would think of a young, eager-to-please boy as any kind of threat?

“You don’t have to look at me like that,” Gil chuckled. “I haven’t once injured you, and I don’t intend to as long as you cooperate.”

“You’re using me.”

“It’s not personal. I use everyone.”

“Why?” I asked. How could she be so casual about it all?

“That’s no concern of yours.”

“When was a bounty put out for me? ”

“A few hours after that ball you went to with the captain.”

This cool, indifferent Gil was at complete odds with the bubbly, talkative boy that I could barely peel away from my side while on the ship.

We had reached the steps of the palace. Dahlia was waiting at the door, Korth right behind her.

“Just the package I was waiting for,” Dahlia said with a smile, handing a coin purse over to Gil. “You’re quite the courier, young man.” She flashed a knowing wink. “You have my thanks.”

Gil grinned, the boyish charm solidly back in place, complete with bouncing on the balls of his feet and bright-eyed interest. “My pleasure, miss, it was all my pleasure!”

“The additional bounty I put out for the man aboard the other ship, is there any update?”

“No, ma’am. The Kraken’s Revenge isn’t in Ebora right now. Last I heard they were somewhere between Berkway and Haven Harbor. I can’t do nuffin’ for someone who’s on a ship that isn’t here.”

Dahlia ran her tongue over her teeth. “But you could if you wanted to, I presume?”

Gil’s face twitched. “With the right motivation I might be persuaded.”

“We can pay triple.”

Korth made a noise of protest but was forestalled by a look from Dahlia.

“Ain’t worth my time, even at triple,” Gil said with a shrug. “But if I was given part up front, though…”

“And we’d never see hide nor hair of you again,” Korth grumbled.

Gil shot him an expression through narrowed eyes. “I’m an honest bounty hunter, I am. ”

Just as honest as much as you are a boy , I thought privately.

“How about twenty-five percent up front and I don’t tell your little secret to the world?

” Dahlia shot back. “You aren’t the only one who grew up in the rebellion.

” She then copied the same series of motions I’d seen Tyrone do, first touching her earlobe, then lips, then forehead. “I never forget a face, Jill .”

Gil’s eyes widened and the boyish guise flickered.

Dahlia nodded to Korth. “Go get the extra.”

Korth looked at her as if she were insane. “I’m not leaving you alone with a bounty hunter. I’ll stay and you go get it.”

“That works too.” Dahlia disappeared back into the palace and Korth crossed his arms, watching us closely.

“What happened to the letter I gave you?” I asked Gil.

“I sold it to Dahlia.”

I wondered if I was going to pass out. Harlan wasn’t safe. He’d never been safe, and now, my own safety made it worse than ever for him.

My shaking hands pressed against my face. A bitter laugh slipped through my lips. “Fool,” I whispered to myself. I had been a gullible, na?ve fool all this time.

Heat built behind my eyes, but I was done crying. Tears accomplished nothing. Fury filled my chest so quickly that my blood could have boiled. Not just fury at Gil or Tyrone or Harsh, but at myself.

No more waiting and wondering.

No more letting anyone else steer the course of my life.

“I’ll help you,” I told Gil. “Take me with you to get Harlan.”

Gil shot me a withering look. “Look, I’m sure you want to think of yourself as a hero, but I’ve been watching you for weeks. You aren’t any sort of knight in shining armor. I had my orders, and I delivered you safely to your purchaser. Nothing more.”

“I can offer you information about Harsh,” I told her in a rush. “His habits, routes, priorities, weaknesses… You may not know much about him, but I do. I lived on his ship for months. I can tell you which of his men are loyal and which ones flinch when he walks by. I know how he thinks.”

“If you’re after the reward?—”

“You can have all of it. I’ll sign a contract promising that I won’t ask for any if you need me to. I just want Harlan to be safe.”

Korth watched our exchange volley back and forth, his face unreadable.

“I’m not agreeing to anything unless there is a benefit for me,” Gil said, looking at both me and Korth before glancing around to see if Dahlia was back yet.

“Instead of just my bounty, you can have three. Mine, Harsh’s, and Harlan’s. You can have it all if coin is what you’re after.”

Gil tilted her head to the side, considering. “I can’t promise your safety. You’d be a liability on a mission like this.”

“But I can also be an asset.” If Gil dropped me and left, I didn’t have anyone else to turn to. “I have valuable information. I’d wager that there is even information about Tyrone and Roderick that I know and you don’t.”

“I doubt it,” Gil told me, but curiosity gleamed in her eyes. “I’m fairly astute.”

“But I know things about Harsh and the Kraken’s Revenge that you don’t. You need me.”

Gil shook her head. “I would need a lot more than just you for a mission like this. ”

Dahlia came trotting back as I looked at Korth. “I can help you get two pirate ships off the sea if you help us.”

Korth considered me. I stared back, resolute and praying that I guessed his motivations correctly. “Just think,” I went on, “There would be far less crime with them off the seas. I can provide testimony at their trials.”

“Five hundred?” Dahlia asked Gil as she drew level. “Fifty now and the rest upon delivery.”

“Twenty-five percent now and I can take Elena with me to get the other man.”

“Twenty-five percent now and Elena can speak for herself,” Dahlia countered. “I won’t have her forced into another situation where she isn’t allowed to make her own choices.” Dahlia shot me an all-too-knowing look.

“I want to go,” I told her, my voice firm and confident.

“You are aware this”—Dahlia shot a calculating look at Gil—“person is a bounty hunter whose loyalty can be bought with enough coin, don’t you?”

“I’m aware of it,” Korth piped up. “That’s why I was against it in the first place. We should’ve sent the navy.”

“And the pirates would have slit their prisoners’ throats and dumped the bodies overboard before you got there,” Gil interjected. “You have to fight crime with crime.”

“Well, we shouldn’t,” Korth grumbled. “It’s wrong.”

Dahlia beamed at him. “You’re cute when you’re all indignant about anyone breaking rules.”

“What if Gil and I go first and when we send up a flare, you bring the navy? It would have to be immediate. Gold will mean that Harlan’s safe, and you can do what you want with the pirates.”

Korth looked between us and nodded decisively. “Done. I’ll watch for a flare.”