The Pirate Hunter
She paused and closed her eyes.
‘I didn’t tell them at the time because I didn’t want to die, but I’ve got no idea where he is.’
Will leaned forward in his chair and smiled gently at her.
‘Of course you don’t.’
‘I don’t,’ Mia said quickly, ‘I’m not lying.’
‘I know.’
‘I’m not lying,’ she repeated.
‘I believe you.’
She frowned and studied his face.
‘Why?’ she asked.
‘Why do I believe you?’
She nodded.
‘Because why would you know where your brother is?’
She looked perplexed.
‘When was the last time you saw him?’
‘Four or five years ago.’
‘And when was the last time you heard from him?’
‘I got a letter with some money about eighteen months ago.’
‘So why would I think you’d know where he was?’
‘But...’ Mia started.
Will leaned back in the chair and allowed her a moment of confusion. She looked beautiful in the glow of the candle and he imagined taking her into his arms and laying her down on the bed beneath him. Hurriedly Will pushed the thought from his mind and tried to focus on his mission.
‘Why am I here, then?’ she asked.
‘You might not know where your brother is, but you do know him. I can obtain information easily enough about his whereabouts, but I can’t capture him, outthink him, if I don’t know how his mind works.’
Mia sat digesting this piece of information for a while. She looked so innocent, sitting on his bed with her legs crossed underneath her. Her hand was moving backwards and forwards across the covers, an unconscious movement whilst she thought about what he was saying. By candlelight she looked young, too young to be embroiled in such dangerous affairs.
Will felt a protectiveness towards her he hadn’t felt for anyone in a long time. She was vulnerable and alone and out of her depth. He wanted to shield her from what was to come and guard her from the evils of the world.
His other feelings for her weren’t quite so noble. The kiss they’d shared on the beach might have stemmed from delirium on his part, but he couldn’t forget the softness of her lips, the sweet taste of her mouth or the way her body had moulded to his. He was trying to keep professional and businesslike, but every time he saw her he found it difficult not to take her in his arms and relive that moment when they had collapsed on the sand.
Each time he tried to force his mind back to the business of hunting Del Torres his thoughts seemed to wander instead to Mia. He wondered what it was about her that piqued his interest so much. He’d known beautiful women before, often resisted their advances. Will had always prided himself on being able to control his passions. It was in his nature to be on his own—indeed, as his friends had started to settle down and marry he had always assumed he would not have that domesticated life. Despite all that, he very much wanted to reach out and touch Mia, draw her to him and do wicked things to her.
Suddenly he needed to get out of the cabin. It was far too small and Mia sitting on his bed was far too tempting.
‘Shall we get some air?’ Will asked. ‘It’s a little hot in here.’
Mia shrugged, slipped off the bed and followed him to the door.
The sea was so calm it was almost flat. The wind had dropped and the ship was barely moving. It was a complete contrast to two nights previous when the storm had struck The White Rose. Had it only been two days? It felt so much longer. No wonder he was so weary, his muscles still protesting every time he moved.
‘Tell me about your childhood, Mia,’ Will said, trying to distract himself from his inappropriate desires by getting back to work.
‘What do you want to know?’
‘Everything.’
Mia took a few seconds before she started speaking, looking out to the horizon as if remembering better times. He saw her hesitate and for a moment wondered if she was going to refuse.
‘My father was a sailor, or so my mother said. I never knew him. It was always just Jorge and Mama and me.’
Mia pushed a stray strand of hair back behind her ear before continuing.
‘Mama was born a slave—her parents were brought here from Africa many years ago. She worked on a sugar plantation on Martinique, but when she was about my age she escaped with my father’s help. They came to live in Barbados together to start a new life.’
‘So what happened to your father?’ Will asked.
‘Rum,’ she said sadly. ‘He was found lying face up on the docks when I was five hours old, choked on his own vomit. Probably died at the same time I came into the world.’
‘So your mother raised you and your brother alone?’
It was a very different childhood to Will’s. He’d been privileged and pampered and treated to every little luxury. Some elements resonated with him, however; he’d grown up never knowing his mother, the child of a kindly but lonely man. And he’d had his older brother, Richard, to guide him through his early years just like Mia must have had her brother.
‘She did what she could. There were always a lot of men around, but what else could a runaway slave do to make money?’
Will couldn’t imagine such a childhood.
‘Jorge was five years older, so by the time I was walking he was bringing in most of the money.’
‘Stealing?’
Mia nodded, ‘Pickpocketing mainly, especially when he was young. Jorge was a fantastic thief. He taught me to pick my first pocket when I was five. He was so proud when I got all the way to the end of the street without anyone noticing.’
‘So how did he go from picking a few pockets to piracy?’
Again Mia hesitated and Will wondered if he’d asked one question too many. ‘When Jorge was twelve he fell in with the wrong crowd. He’d never hurt anyone before. Sure, he’d stolen things, taken things that hadn’t belonged to him, but he’d never harmed anyone in the process.’ She stopped and took a deep breath. ‘He beat this boy up. The kid was a member of the gang and had been caught taking more than his share. Jorge was the new boy so it was his job to punish him.’
‘An initiation?’
‘Of sorts. Anyway, he went too far. It was as though he was possessed—a bloodlust came over him and he just wouldn’t stop. The boy died.’
Will looked at her carefully. ‘You saw it, didn’t you? You saw your brother beat this boy to death.’
Mia nodded, the tears coming to her eyes. ‘I still remember his pleas and his screams. They were only kids.’
Will moved closer. His instinct was to comfort her, but it would be inappropriate. No matter how much he didn’t like it, he was still her captor and she his prisoner. He might want to hold her and stroke her hair and murmur in her ear, but he couldn’t.
Mia turned towards him, her face wet with tears. For a long moment their eyes were locked together and Will felt some invisible force pulling him towards her. A few seconds longer and he wouldn’t have been able to resist, he would have taken her in his arms and devoured her with his lips, but Mia turned away and broke the spell.
She looked out into the distance and continued. ‘The soldiers came looking for him. Normally they wouldn’t bother when one pickpocket kills another, but it was an excuse to rid the area of the whole gang.’
The wind whipped another strand of hair loose and this time Mia let it dance in the wind.
‘Jorge talked his way aboard a ship and started his career as a pirate.’
‘It must have been hard for you to lose your brother.’
‘I hated him for a while,’ Mia said quietly. ‘I hated him for killing that boy and I hated him for leaving us.’
‘And now?’
‘I don’t hate him,’ Mia said, ‘but I don’t think he’s the same boy I once knew.’
She shivered a little. Will suspected it was an emotional response as the night was hot and the air humid.
‘I hear the stories of the atrocious things he’s meant to have done and I remember the cheeky little boy who would entertain me for hours with his antics.’
‘So what happened to you after your brother left?’ Will asked, wondering how she’d survived.
‘My mother cried for a week when she realised Jorge was gone for good, but then she pulled herself together. She met a carpenter and they fell in love. He was always kind to me. He died six years ago and Mama followed him a few days later.’
‘So you’ve been on your own since?’
Will wondered just how old she was. She only looked twenty-two at the most, but that would mean she’d been on her own since she was sixteen. He didn’t want to think of what she’d had to do to survive.
‘Not entirely. Until six months ago I worked for Mr Partridge, one of the shipbuilders, in his kitchen. The other girls there were my family.’
‘What happened six months ago?’
‘They found out who my brother was.’
Will could just imagine Mia’s torment of once again having her life ripped out from under her feet.
‘I went into hiding. My stepfather had kept a small cabin on the east coast, not far from where I found you. No one knew about it. It was lonely, but at least I was alive.’
‘So have you actually committed any crime?’
He knew the answer before she said it.
‘No. But what does that matter?’
‘It matters,’ he said firmly. ‘It matters to me.’
Chapter Four
‘Surely you don’t mean to take her ashore?’ Lieutenant Glass asked disapprovingly.
Will smiled serenely at the Lieutenant and nodded.
‘She has invaluable local knowledge.’
Mia suppressed a smile. She’d never been to Jamaica in her life and Will knew it.
‘Shall I at least retrieve the shackles for you?’ Glass said hopefully. ‘Stop her from running away?’
‘Are you going to run away, Miss Del Torres?’ Will asked.
‘No.’
‘You believe her?’ Glass looked as if he were about to explode.
‘I believe her.’
The Lieutenant mumbled a few incomprehensible words under his breath. As Will turned away Mia had to suppress the childish urge to stick her tongue out at the military man. That certainly wouldn’t endear her to him.
‘We shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours,’ Will informed the Captain.
‘We need to take on fresh supplies but we should be ready to leave as soon as you return, if necessary.’
Will offered Mia his arm and she placed a hand on the fabric of his jacket.
‘Where are we going?’ Glass asked as he followed them off the ship.
‘Miss Del Torres and I are off to meet a contact of mine in the less salubrious part of Port Royal. You are staying on board the ship.’
Glass actually choked with indignation.
Will let Mia’s hand drop and spun to face him.
‘I am meeting a secret contact who does not want it to be known he is helping the authorities catch pirates. I can hardly walk in with a Naval Officer at my side.’
Glass looked down at his unmistakable uniform.
‘I could change.’
‘Even in civilian clothes you have Navy written all over you. So if you don’t want to jeopardise our mission I suggest you stay out of sight.’
The man looked as though he was about to protest, then turned without another word and disappeared below decks.
‘I think you’ve just made an enemy,’ Mia said.
Will shrugged.
‘You need to be careful. The Lieutenant is a powerful man.’
‘He’s also rude and so far up his own...’ Will trailed off.
Mia giggled, ‘You forget I grew up with prostitutes and sailors and gutter rats. A little bit of bad language isn’t going to offend me.’
Despite what she said, Mia was quite pleased Will had stopped himself. She might be used to foul language, but she wanted his respect. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if he treated her like a lady rather than the commoner she was.
‘So where are we going?’ Mia asked cheerfully. She was pleased to be back on dry land. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the sea, but like many who lived in the Caribbean she was wary of the sudden changes in temperament. One minute the sky could be blue and the sea calm, the next the clouds would roll in and the sea would swallow anything and everything.
‘I have a source, an acquaintance of a friend of a friend of a friend, who might have some information.’
‘What kind of information?’ Mia asked.
‘He was once a member of your brother’s crew, got thrown out a few years ago for some transgression or another.’
‘How do you know he’ll tell you the truth?’
‘I don’t. But apparently when they threw him out they were actually trying to kill him, so he has little reason to stay loyal.’
They walked in silence for a minute or two. Mia enjoyed the lively sights and sounds of the port. Women in brightly coloured dresses flirted with the sailors. Voices shouting instructions for the unloading of the ships merged with the shrieks of young children as they ran excitedly from berth to berth. The exotic aroma of spices masked the underlying stench of filth which rose from beneath their feet.
They ambled slowly through the maze of streets that made up Port Royal. Although Mia had never been to Jamaica before, she knew it by reputation. Not long ago Port Royal had been a hotbed of crime and prostitution and pirate activity. The new Governor sent from England had taken a tough stance on piracy and it was rumoured twenty people were hanged a day for piracy-related activities. However, no amount of policy from the Governor could change the people of Port Royal, so the prostitutes and the crime remained and the pirates were just driven a little deeper underground.
A young girl of no more than four sidled up to them as they walked further into the town.
‘Spare a coin to feed a hungry child,’ she said angelically.
Mia grinned. She had played the same scam numerous times with her brother. Identify the victims, send the sweet girl to entice them to remove their purse from their clothing and distract them whilst the older sibling snatches the purse and runs.
‘I wonder who you’re working with?’ Will said, looking around.
Mia was impressed. There weren’t many people who saw the scam for what it was the first time round.
‘That little ragamuffin over there,’ Mia said with a grin.
The girl froze for a second, then ran off through the crowd.
‘So how does a toff from England know how to keep hold of his wallet in the mean streets of Port Royal?’ Mia asked, genuinely interested.
Will fascinated her. He was a mass of contradictions. Posh but street smart, a hunter of pirates but compassionate to their sisters. She wondered what had brought him to the Caribbean and what drove him to risk his life hunting some of the most dangerous men on earth.
‘Now, that is a long story,’ Will said.
They walked on in silence. Mia occasionally glanced at Will, wondering what she could do to make him open up to her. Not that he was obliged to, but she so desperately wanted to know more about him. She knew he found her attractive and not just because of the kiss on the beach. He’d been exhausted and just short of delirious then. But yesterday, outside her cabin, he’d looked into her eyes and edged just so slightly forward. He’d wanted to kiss her, she was sure of it, and she would have let him. She would have felt guilty kissing the man who was hunting her brother, but she wouldn’t have wanted to stop him. But something had held him back and this morning he had returned to being friendly but distant, not revealing any more than he had to.
She wondered if she’d gone too far the night before, opening up to him. She had surprised herself in how freely she’d told him of her childhood and her family. Normally she was a private person. When she had worked for Mr Partridge she’d managed to keep her whole life up to the point when he’d employed her a secret. She supposed perversely she felt at ease with Will, the man who was meant to be her captor. He looked at her as though he didn’t judge her on the transgressions of her brother as so many others did. When he’d asked her about her childhood it had felt right to open up to him. Mia wondered if a large part of it was also loneliness. For months she’d lived alone, with no one to talk to from one day to the next. When a sympathetic listener came along and seemed genuinely interested in her life she was bound to start talking.
They stopped outside a grubby-looking inn and Mia was forced to put her ruminations aside.
‘I won’t let anyone harm you,’ Will said after seeing the look on her face.
Mia laughed. She’d grown up in places like this, spent hours scuttling under the tables lifting purses and grabbing chunks of bread whilst the patrons rolled about in a drunken stupor.
They entered and found a table in the corner, away from the raucous crowd near the bar.
Will leaned back against the wall and exhaled loudly.
‘Tired?’ Mia asked.
‘I didn’t sleep well.’
‘The sea has tried to kill you once and you’ve survived. I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you.’
‘I wasn’t worrying about the sea. I’d have to be very unlucky to get shipwrecked twice in one week.’
Mia refused to let his cheeky grin derail her. She was going to find something out about Will Greenacre if it killed her. He knew so much about her and she so little about him.
‘So what did keep you awake?’
Will paused for a long few seconds and Mia wondered if he might just ignore the question completely.
‘I was thinking about my brother,’ he said eventually.
‘Mr Greenacre,’ a man said in a low voice.
Mia nearly punched him. Will was just about to tell her something about himself.
‘Mr Weston. Please, sit down.’
Will motioned to the barmaid, holding up three fingers.
‘I can’t stay long,’ the mysterious Mr Weston growled, ‘might be recognised.’
He glanced at Mia suspiciously.
Will took a cloth purse from the recesses of his jacket and slid it across the table. Mr Weston picked it up, felt the weight with his hand and smiled, treating Mia to a waft of stale breath and the sight of his horrible blackened teeth.
‘Who’s she?’ Mr Weston asked, nodding at Mia.
‘A friend.’
He looked her up and down. ‘Do I know you?’ he asked eventually.
‘I don’t think we’ve ever had the pleasure,’ Mia replied sweetly.
Mr Weston grunted suspiciously, then turned back to Will.
‘So what do you want to know?’
Will leaned forward and lowered his voice, ‘I want to know where I can find Captain Del Torres.’
Mr Weston snorted. ‘That man’s a ghost. The Navy have been after him for years and haven’t even got close.’
‘You’ve sailed with him. You must have some idea where he takes his ship in a storm. Where he goes to take on water and food.’
‘He’s a very clever man. Difficult to catch.’
A serving boy appeared with three flagons of ale and plonked them down on the table, causing half the liquid to spill out. Weston took a long draught and shamelessly eyed up Mia again.
‘Are you sure I don’t know you?’ he asked. ‘You look very familiar.’
Mia hadn’t seen her brother for years, but she expected there was still quite a strong family resemblance between them. She didn’t think that bit of information would be terribly helpful in this situation.
‘Let’s get back to Captain Del Torres,’ Will prompted. ‘Tell me about the ship.’
Weston smiled his blackened grin again. ‘The Flaming Dragon is a beauty. Armed with more cannons than any other ship in these waters and still nimble enough to outrun any Navy ship. She’s invincible.’
‘No ship is invincible. They all sink eventually.’
Weston took another gulp of ale, nearly finishing the tankard. Will motioned for another to be brought forward. Mia noticed he hadn’t touched his own.
‘How about the crew? And the Captain himself?’
‘The crew are all very loyal,’ Weston said, raising a hand to his throat unconsciously.
Mia leaned in closer and realised he had two jagged scars zigzagging across the skin of his neck. They were partially obscured by grime, but they were visible for all to see if you knew to look.
‘The Captain only has to give the word and they’ll rush to do his bidding.’
‘How has he earned their loyalty?’
‘Fair division of spoils and fear.’ Weston touched his throat again. ‘Del Torres isn’t afraid to slaughter someone if he disagrees with him.’
Will glanced at Mia. She smiled weakly. She still remembered the little boy who held her hand whilst they sat watching the boats come into port. It was difficult to listen to what a monster he had become.
‘And what does Del Torres target?’ Will asked.
Mia took a sip of ale to try to fortify herself for the answer that was to come.
‘Mainly merchant ships. He has contacts in most of the ports who feed him information about which ships to target. That’s one of the differences between The Dragon and other pirate ships—when The Dragon engages with a merchant ship you know it is going to be a big payload at the end.’
‘How about raiding towns?’ Mia asked. She didn’t want to know the answer, but felt she had to.
Weston shifted his attention back to her. ‘Land raids are high risk—you get little return for what can sometimes be a big loss of life or capture of men. Del Torres will raid towns, but not often. He normally focuses on the merchant ships.’
‘And on these land raids, does he...?’ Mia paused, trying to find the right words without her voice cracking. ‘Does he kill civilians? Does he rape innocent women?’
Weston looked at her strangely as if she was asking an obvious question.
‘He’s a pirate,’ he said simply.
Mia felt the blood drain from her head and clutched at the table to steady herself. She had known her brother had been branded a pirate and deep down she knew he must do all the atrocious things pirates did, but a part of her had clung to the hope that he’d been nobler than the rest.
She felt Will move closer and he took her hand in his own under the table. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Mia wanted to allow her body to sink into his, to feel his protective arms around her, shielding her from the world.
‘If you want to see what Del Torres can do, why don’t you take a trip to Savanna-la-Mar?’ Weston suggested. ‘Then you can see first-hand what destruction a pirate raid wreaks.’
Mia swallowed convulsively.
‘Del Torres and his crew raided the town four days ago,’ Weston explained. ‘Think they killed about twenty people, but there’re plenty of survivors to give you the gory details.’
‘Tell me about where the ship anchors,’ Will asked quickly, diverting Weston’s attention from Mia and her ashen face.
‘Del Torres avoids highly populated areas, especially after an attack. There are some quiet bays on Tortola and Dominica. When the ship needs more provisions or repairs he normally takes it to one of the small harbours on St Vincent or St Lucia.’
‘Surely the authorities are on the lookout for The Flaming Dragon even in the small harbours.’
Weston shook his head and smiled ruefully. ‘Del Torres is a clever man. He pays the right people to look the other way and he never misses a payment.’
He paused and took another gulp of ale, once again eyeing Mia.
‘You look very familiar,’ he repeated again.
‘Can you tell me anything more about these bays?’ Will asked, determined to get more information from the former pirate.
Weston shrugged, ‘I was only a lowly seaman, not privy to any of the plans. They were sheltered, we rode out a few storms in some of the coves. Apart from that I don’t know what else I can tell you. I was only on the ship for a couple of months.’
‘Why?’ Mia asked, trying not to glance at the scars on his neck, ‘What happened?’
Weston grimaced, ‘I got greedy and I got caught.’
‘And they let you live?’
‘That was a mistake. Del Torres had one of the crew slit my throat, but they did an awful job. Threw me into the sea bleeding like hell, but in no way dead. I managed to make it back to land and someone patched me up. I was at death’s door for a good few weeks.’