Page 64 of Storm over the Caribbean (Storm and Silence Saga #8)
I had to admit, I had completely underestimated Karim’s effectiveness. When we stepped out of the warehouse, we came to a halt, our path blocked by moaning mountains of prone pirates.
“C-Captain!” One of the men on the ground forced himself up onto his knees with one hand, using the other to stem the flow of blood from his nose. “Captain Rockface, get out of here! There’s a maniac running around attacking everyone! He—”
That was when Mr Ambrose stepped aside, revealing the towering form of Karim behind him.
“Gaaah! HelpNoMercyPleaseDon’tKillMe!”
Mr Ambrose shook his head. “You truly disappoint me.”
The man blinked. “D-disappoint you?”
“Indeed. You can’t even pass a simple test like this.”
“T-test?”
“Naturally,” he said with a shamelessness I truly had to admire. And learn from. “I hired Mr Karim here—” He clapped the massive bodyguard on the shoulder. “—to test out your response to sudden attacks and emergency situations.” His eyes frosted over. “Needless to say you failed miserably.”
“I—I’m s-sorry, Captain!” The man clambered to his feet, bowing in apology. “I’m so sorry! Any punishment you’ll decide on, we’ll—”
“Oh, you aren’t going to be punished,” Mr Ambrose cut him off.
The pirate blinked. “I’m not?”
“No. You’re going to be improved .” He pointed at Karim. “Say hello to your new first mate.”
Then he strode away, ignoring the pirate who let out an agonised wail.
“Well, well.” Grinning, I clapped Karim on the back. “Seems like you’ve found the pirates you were looking for after all.”
“Indeed, Sahiba .” Eyes glittering darkly, Karim gave the whimpering pirate an intense look and cracked his knuckles. “How fortunate. I’m quite looking forward to spending time with them over the next few days.”
“Go ahead. Have fun.” And, patting him on the back, I strolled off after my dear husband.
“Aaaah! No! Don’t leave me alone with him. Please, don’t—grk!”
Did I just hear someone scream?
I cocked my head.
Nah. Must have been my imagination.
Quickening my pace, I did my best to catch up to Mr Ambrose—my best unfortunately not being good enough, currently. Dratted oversized, ballooning belly!
When I finally reached him, he was standing on top of a cliff at the rocky shore, gazing down at a ship anchored nearby that was clearly not a pirate vessel.
It wasn’t really hard to tell, considering the Union Jack fluttering atop the mast and the letters on the prow that proudly proclaimed Croesus . 39
“Let me guess…” Stepping up beside him, I leaned my head against his shoulder. “One of yours?”
“What gave it away?”
“The luxurious design, of course.”
“Indeed?”
“Indeed.”
There was a moment of silence. Then…
“Um…Mr Ambrose?”
“Yes?”
“Now that we’ll be returning home…” I hesitated as something occurred to me. “Just checking, we will be returning home, right?”
I swear, if he was going to tell me he wanted to continue on with his merry band of sea-brigands and let me give birth to a gaggle of little pirate babies, I was going to brain him with a frying pan.
“Naturally.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Ah. Good.” No frying pan required, then. “Well, now that we’ll be returning home—what are we going to do with your personal pirate posse?”
For a moment, I saw a mental image of Captain Rockface sailing up the Thames at the head of his pirate fleet, ready to plunder the heart of the British Empire.
Yeah, that probably won’t go over well with the Queen.
“Hm…” Mr Ambrose stood there for a long moment, stroking his chin. “Do you think the trade routes to India are safe?”
I blinked. “Um…yes? I think? I don’t really know. I’m not an expert on the subject of Imperial sea trade.”
“Let me rephrase. Don’t you think the trade routes to India are a little too safe? Especially the ones under the control of the East India Company?”
My eyes widened ever so slightly. “Oh.”
“ Most especially the routes used by the East India Company to transport its opium from India to China in order to try and addict the entire country, as well as transport back the profits derived from said opium’s sale.”
I couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across my face as my eyes wandered back to the pirates who were currently arrayed in a line in front of Karim. “Now that I think about it…I believe we forgot to send Lord Dalgliesh a birthday present this year.”
“Indeed.”
“Like all the years before that. Considering that, as the main shareholder of the East India Company, he’s such an important personage, that’s really unforgivable.”
“Indeed.”
“I think we should remedy that, don’t you?”
“Speedily.”
“Let’s send him a…surprise. In fact, several ships full of surprises.”
“Agreed.”
Our eyes met, and then, as one, we turned to the pirate fleet anchored a little farther away. The pirate fleet that would soon be sailing off for a nice, long, plundering holiday in the east. Giving birthday presents was such fun!
Suddenly, something occurred to me.
“Mr Ambrose?” I asked in the sweetest tone I could manage. Batting my eyelashes up at my darling husband, I leaned towards him.
“Yes?” he enquired suspiciously.
“Before we send them off, could you do me one teensy-weensy harmless little favour…?”
***
We met up with the rest of the pirate fleet a few dozen nautical miles from the island.
They happily cheered and welcomed back their captain—that is, until they were introduced to their new first mate.
Over the next few days, Karim took great pleasure in “instructing” his new subordinates.
It was almost enough to make me feel pity for the bunch of murderous bastards.
Or, to be precise, for what was left of them.
“Are you sure we can’t drag them back to Britain and publicly hang them from the yardarm, Sahiba ?” he enquired, his piercing gaze sweeping over the three dozen or so pirates who were frantically scrubbing a squeaky-clean deck.
“Quite sure.” I nodded. “But Mr Ambrose and I had this rather interesting idea…”
Leaning closer, I started to whisper. All that anyone else could hear were a few words like “Dalgliesh” and “rob him blind” and “Mwahahahaha!”
Karim’s eyes glinted.
“True, Sahiba. That does sound… intriguing .”
I gave him a beaming smile. “So glad you agree. Do you think you could properly motivate our friends over there?”
Karim’s deadly gaze returned towards the pirate crew, who instinctively doubled their scrubbing speed.
“You can count on me, Sahiba .”
Matters proceeded swiftly after that. Karim gave a little “motivational speech” and, roughly three seconds later, a fleet of thoroughly terrified pirates was racing off eastwards.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but somehow they seemed to be moving faster than the wind that was supposedly pushing the ships along.
Looking after them, I smiled. At the command of their new first mate, Karim, our friendly little fleet of freebooters was destined to achieve great things.
And I did mean at the command of Karim, not under .
Judging from the way he stuck to our side, hell would freeze over and Mr Rikkard Ambrose would become philanthropist of the year before the big, bearded bodyguard would let us out of his sight again.
And to be honest, after our little adventure with the pirates, I could hardly blame him.
Besides… One corner of my mouth quirked up. It isn’t necessary for him to go, is it? All it took was one stern glance from him, and the entire pirate fleet was sailing off, having sworn up and down they would make the lives of the East India Company traders hell on earth.
Well… almost the entire pirate fleet.
Remember the favour I asked from Mr Ambrose earlier?
I guess it’s time for now.
Mr Ambrose and I were standing at the railing of the Croesus , looking after the departing fleet.
I was only barely paying attention to it, though.
I was far more focused on something else, instead.
Out of the corner of my eye, I was watching the galley of Mr Ambrose’s ship, where I’d sent a certain cabin boy to sort through the supplies for our journey.
A journey that would take him a lot farther than back to the pirate camp he had previously lived in.
“Do you think Lord Dalgliesh is going to appreciate our surprise present?” I enquired, looking back at the pirate fleet.
“I am certain he is going to be surprised.”
In the distance, the fleet fired off their cannons as a last goodbye, followed by a raucous cheer.
“Yep…probably.” I smirked.
Just then, I heard a door creak open behind me. I glanced around just in time to see the familiar face of a scruffy little boy peeking out of the galley.
“Wait here a minute, will you?” Throwing my husband a meaningful look, I placed a hand on his arm. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
His eyes flickered between me and the boy. Instinctively, he seemed to understand. He took my hand, squeezed it gently, and then spoke three little words.
“Take your time.”
I swallowed.
He really does love me, doesn’t he?
Fighting to keep the smile off my face, I moved towards Liam. There would be enough time later to show my appreciation to my husband. Right now, I had to give a little boy some happy news.
“Um…hello there, Liam!” Waving, I approached. “I’ve got good news!”
“What’s going on?” Liam demanded. He didn’t really look very happy. Rather, for some reason, he was looking at me suspiciously. “Where are the other pirates? Why did you bring me onto this bloody ship? The galley is already full to the brim!”
I sighed, giving him a small smile. “Isn’t it obvious?”
It certainly was for me. The moment I’d laid eyes on the little twerp in the midst of a gaggle of bloodthirsty pirates, I knew what I would end up doing.
He was so alone. So young. So vulnerable.
A year or two ago, I might not even have noticed.
Cabin boys being that young was just how things were done in navies all over the world.
But now? Now that I was about to become a mother? To have a child of my own?