Bayou Pirates Read online

  Beck narrowed his eyes at me.

  “I thought I heard that Barrett was killed above that stupid bar,” he said.

  I had to laugh at this.

  “Killed?” I repeated, raising my eyebrows at him. “Oh, no, not a chance. He was shot, sure, but nothing that bad. Just a leg wound.”

  Beck looked like he just might curse and stomp his foot at this news. Apparently, Barrett was a well-known figure around here and had made a name for himself among the gang members for being a real thorn in their side. This lined up with some things that Nina had told me.

  “Alright, so here’s how this is going to go…” I began, but just then, the boat started to turn unexpectedly.

  The ship had been very level before, considering how calm the water was at the end of the river, so this was more than unexpected, and I lost my footing. Thankfully, so did Beck and Solomon, while Madame Rosaline gripped the couch to keep herself adrift, though it, too, slid a little.

  I holstered my gun to keep it from flying or going off unexpectedly.

  Just when things were starting to calm down some, the boat swerved again, though I couldn’t imagine where considering that it took up most of the very end of the river in the middle of the bayou. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Solomon go flying and hit his head.

  Beck seemed to be thinking something similar.

  “What the hell is going on up there?!” he cried from where he was clinging to the side of the doorway to keep himself from sliding across the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

  Solomon hadn’t been as lucky as Beck, not having anything to cling to when he went flying and bashing his head against the bedpost. A small pool of blood was forming above his brow.

  I stared up at the ceiling then, wondering, much the same as Beck, what was going on up there. I worried for Holm and Nina and cursed myself for leaving them behind, despite how important it had been for me to find Solomon as quickly as possible.

  “Did you come in through the main deck?” I asked Beck. “Or were you already down here somewhere?”

  I hadn’t seen anyone else when I made my way through the ship’s belly, and I’d stopped to check each room carefully. But I supposed that it was possible the gang leader had been hiding out somewhere down there.

  “I didn’t come through the main deck,” he said simply, without elaborating.

  “Where?” I asked, already knowing that he wasn’t likely to answer me, though I figured it was worth a shot.

  He just gave me a small smirk in response. He couldn’t have been in one of the rooms I checked, I decided. I was too thorough. He had to have come from elsewhere in the ship, though I wasn’t sure where. I thought I’d moved through most of it. Maybe there was a hidden room down there somewhere.

  The ship’s movement settled down a bit again. We were so far below the main deck that it was impossible to hear anything that was happening up above, but something must’ve been going on. It was almost as if one person up there was trying to steer the ship in one direction while someone else was trying to get it to stay put since there was only one direction it could go. But why?

  Once I regained my footing, I whirled my gun around to face Beck again, but he was nowhere to be found.

  I spun in a circle, casting my eyes on every inch of the room that I could see. Solomon was still crouched against the bed, cradling his wounded head, while Madame Rosaline was on the floor, still clutching the couch, which had moved considerably to the right, likely flinging her off it.

  I went back over the room again, not having found Beck yet, and when my gaze landed on Solomon, his eyes bugged out as if he was trying to tell me something.

  I furrowed my brow at him, trying to understand. Then, Beck was running out from under the bed, charging at me with his gun in hand.

  He made as if to bring the barrel of the gun down on my head, knocking me out and ending the scene without a firefight, but the ship swerved again right as he was about to reach me, and he stumbled.

  Having anticipated this happening again, I shifted my weight in time to stay on my feet and tackled Beck, reaching for my own gun as I did so. But it wasn’t there. Neither was my holster.

  I stared open-mouthed at it for a moment before I realized that I must’ve been jostled around more than I had thought.

  Barely missing a beat, I pinned Beck to the ground and wrestled his gun away from him, which wasn’t hard given how he’d stumbled. I pointed it to his head, but the boat swerved again as I did this, and this time I wasn’t as prepared.

  He managed to grab onto my wrist and try to wrestle the gun right back from me, but as I slipped down to my knees, I managed to hold on to it. As we engaged in a battle of brute force, each trying to get the gun for ourselves, I realized that the best thing was to just take it out of the equation. So I shifted my hand and emptied the gun, pocketing the magazine inside.

  To his surprise, Beck’s hand slipped, and the gun went flying across the room, landing in the corner under a desk, far away from where either of us could reach it.

  Beck blinked at it for a moment and then lunged at me, hands first. I was struck by how thick his fingers were, considering he looked to be a fit guy. He was short and stocky, though.

  He tried to wrap his hands around my neck, but I grabbed him by the wrists and kept him away from me. My arms shook from the effort, and I could feel him doing the same.

  Unfortunately for me, in the end, he was stronger. The guy looked like he could probably bench three times what I did, and I wasn’t exactly a wimp myself in that department. He finally managed to grip his hands around my neck and began to choke me.

  I gagged and tried to weasel away from him, but it wasn’t working, and I began to see spots. Finally, when I thought I couldn’t bear it any longer, I felt Beck’s weight lift off me and opened my eyes to see Madame Rosaline dragging him away.

  “You’re stronger than you look,” I managed, massaging my neck where I could almost still feel Beck’s hands around me, even though they were long gone.

  “Why, thank you,” she said in that deep, sultry tone of hers, but she screamed out after that. Beck had gotten away from her and pushed her to the ground, and he was now turning back to me with his hands in the air, ready to strike again.

  I jumped out of the way until I was standing next to the desk, under which Beck’s empty gun lay. I reached down and grabbed it, and just as the gang leader was coming back around to attack me with his bare hands again, I was ready for him.

  I brought the butt of the gun down squarely on the top of his head, and he cried out in pain as his knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. He was still semi-conscious as I loomed over him and held him up by the roots of his sandy hairs.

  “Where’d the ship come from?” I asked in a sharp tone.

  His head lolled, and his eyes rolled from side to side.

  “Off… off the coast…” he sputtered, trying hard to maintain consciousness. “Florida Keys…”

  “Florida Keys?” I repeated, more surprised than anything else. “You can’t be serious. Can you tell me where?”

  But he was out, his chin down against his chest and his shoulders slumped. I let him rest on the ground and turned back around to face Solomon and Madame Rosaline, only to come face to face with the barrel of my own gun right in Solomon’s hands.

  “Thanks for dealing with my little American problem, Agent,” he sneered, clearly enjoying having the upper hand at that moment. “I’m very appreciative. Unfortunately, our partnership has to end there.”

  I moved to pull the ammunition I’d pocketed when I emptied Beck’s gun out of my pocket, but Solomon pressed the gun right against my forehead as a warning.

  “Not so fast, Agent,” he said, tsk-tsking as if scolding a child. “You wouldn’t want to be killed with your own gun, now, would you?”

  He seemed to be enjoying this far too much as that sneer spread all across his face. That was probably the only reason he hadn’t shot me yet. He liked to pl
ay with his food before he ate it. Why was I not surprised?

  “Madame Rosaline,” I said, speaking now to the woman instead of Solomon, though I didn’t dare swivel my head to face her. “You helped me before. Thank you for that. Now, can I take that to mean that you’re on the right side now?”

  “Come, Madame Rosaline, think what we can accomplish together,” Solomon cried boisterously. “The world is our oyster. The only thing standing in our way is this agent.”

  “And my friends who are dealing with the rest of your friends upstairs,” I clarified, making an effort to keep my voice measured. “Not that I think they’ll be your friends for long after how you’ve thrown them all under the bus with your recklessness.”

  “You really would’ve been better off telling them the truth than giving them tainted product,” Madame Rosaline said, her usually strong and steady voice trembling now. “This will only hurt you in the long run, Solomon. You must realize that.”

  “Shut up!” Solomon snapped, his tone and demeanor suddenly shifting. “You’re ruining my victory!”

  Yeah, this guy really was unhinged. His ego kept him from playing a smart game, though that had kept me on my toes this whole time since he was so difficult to predict or understand. Blowing up his own ship with all his product on it was a good example. That one had come pretty far out of left field.

  “Okay, then,” I muttered. “How about we all just try to talk about this calmly… Think about it, Solomon, either you’re facing the American legal system, or you’re facing the wrath of those guys up there when they realize what you’ve done, which won’t be long if they haven’t already. Which would you prefer? Blind justice, or the wrath of just about every gangbanger in the bayou?”

  Solomon’s eyes widened, and he looked like he didn’t know how to answer this.

  “I’ll answer for you,” Madame Rosaline said coolly, her voice back to its normal measured self.

  I saw her step forward out of the corner of my eye, and then she came into my view. A gun was now pointed to Solomon’s left temple.

  “You’ve been holding out on me, Madame Rosaline,” I chuckled, still making sure not to move since Solomon still had my own gun trained on my forehead. “You should’ve said you were packing before.”

  “That would have kept me from getting this dramatic reveal now, wouldn’t it?” she asked, shooting me a wink and a half-smile. “Now Solomon, why don’t you lower that gun and return it to Ethan so we can have a little chat.”

  The Haitian man scowled but did as she asked.

  I let out a long, low sigh as the gun disappeared from my forehead. I quickly realized, however, that the ship was on the move again.

  Madame Rosaline lost her balance and lowered her gun, and Solomon was on the move again to take advantage of this, my gun in his hand.

  He ran at Madame Rosaline, preparing to shoot her, but I shifted my weight to regain my own balance and pulled out the magazine I’d pocketed, sliding it back into Beck’s gun. I shot two times at Solomon, right in the back as he was facing the Creole woman. Much like Beck, his knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, my gun still in his hand.

  “Thank you, Ethan,” Madame Rosaline said, staring down at Solomon’s crumpled form on the ground, blood pooling around him on the wooden floor.

  I cringed at the sight of that. I really hated to see a great old ship like this being stained in such a manner.

  “No problem,” I murmured, barely able to hear my own voice over the sound of those two shots still ringing in my ears. “I’m glad you were here.”

  “As am I,” she said quietly, still staring at Solomon. “I was hoping that I would run into you again. I hope that what I did tonight will play into the way this case of yours is handled in the next several days.”

  She gripped the gun still in her hand, and though she didn’t point it at me, she did shift it in my direction enough that I caught her meaning. I raised my eyebrows at her.

  “Now, Madame Rosaline,” I said in a tone of mock surprise, though it didn’t surprise me in the slightest. “I hope you’re not threatening a federal officer.”

  She gave a low laugh, the sound echoing through the small room and cutting straight through the ringing in my ears.

  “Now, Ethan, don’t insult my intelligence,” she chuckled. “Not after everything we’ve been through together today. I’m well aware that I’m implicated in far more than just that.”

  “I can’t promise you anything,” I told her. “And even if I did, it certainly wouldn’t be because you’re holding a gun. I’m holding one, too, remember? But I will say that how you helped me tonight in both instances will work only in your favor.”

  She gave me a long look, and I met her eyes in return as if challenging her. I had a strong feeling that despite what she said, she wouldn’t strike against me. She did like me, but it wasn’t that. She cared about protecting those girls more, the ones like Addison back in the hospital. The ones who hadn’t been hurt yet, but would be if Solomon and Beck got their ways. She’d already made her decision, and it was to protect them, no matter what that meant for her own future.

  Sure enough, she nodded and placed her gun on the ground between us. I crossed over and picked it up.

  “Thank you,” I said, meeting her eyes again and really meaning it this time. “You made the right decision.”

  “I know I did,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I just wish it didn’t feel so rotten.”

  I bent down and used the curtains draping around the bed to tie up Beck. He didn’t look like he would wake up any time soon, but if he did, I didn’t want him running off on me.

  “Don’t we all?” I chuckled when I finished, holding out an arm for Madame Rosaline to take. “Will you join me on my way up to the main deck?”

  “Of course I will, Ethan,” she said, crossing over and taking my arm as I led her across the fallen door and out into the hall. “Or is that even your real name?”

  “Real first name, different last name,” I said, smiling at her. “So, Ethan will do just fine.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Madame Rosaline and I made our way together back down the hallway and up to the main deck. No sounds greeted us as we climbed the stairs and, considering that I had still been able to hear the gunfight up above when I was going down them the first time, that either boded very well or very poorly for Holm and Nina. A sense of foreboding rose within me as I hoped beyond hope that it was the former instead of the latter.

  To my surprise, when we arrived on the main deck, slowly opening the door in front of us for fear of what we would find, nothing and no one was there to greet us. Except for the bodies of those men Holm, Nina, and I killed, that is, and I could’ve sworn there were quite a few more of the corpses now, though it was even darker than it had been before and therefore difficult to make them out.

  “Do you see anything?” Madame Rosaline whispered in my ear.

  I shook my head slowly.

  “No, I don’t,” I admitted.

  “Oi!” a man’s voice cried from above and to my left. “Marston! Come join us!”

  I realized with more than a little relief that it was Holm.

  I squinted up to make out two dark forms, one considerably smaller than the other, up higher on the main deck near the ship’s wheel. It was no doubt Holm and Nina.

  I helped Madame Rosaline up behind me as we went to meet them.

  When we drew closer, I was able to make out some of what was going on—or rather, that had gone on while we were downstairs. There were the bodies of two men on the ground next to the wheel at Holm and Nina’s feet, and there was blood staining the wheel.

  “Get in a pissing match with some of those gangbangers?” I asked them with a chuckle. “Was that what all the jerking around was about?”

  “You could say that,” Holm laughed, shaking his head and looking only a little surprised to see Madame Rosaline. “Once they realized they weren’t going to take us down, some of those goons ran o
ff into the bayou. A few of the braver ones stayed behind and tried to get the ship out of here, no doubt hoping to throw us overboard once we got further out. But they underestimated us again!”

  “It was kind of fun,” Nina grinned. “I’ve never had a mission like this one, that’s for sure. You find Solomon?”

  “And Clifton Beck,” I said. “Solomon’s dead, Beck’s knocked out and tied up.”

  I then told them everything that had happened downstairs.

  “Well, I’ll be,” Holm said when I finished, shaking his head in wonder. “This really is that old pirate ship. You sure do have a knack for attracting these sorts of things, don’t you, Marston?”

  “I suppose I do,” I chuckled. “Everything except the ship I really want to find, that is.”

  Indeed, the Dragon’s Rogue continued to be elusive to me, and I still wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that this journal was a fake. It was always two steps forward and one step back in my quest, it seemed. Or one step forward and two steps back. I wasn’t sure which.

  “So, where did Beck come from if he wasn’t up here and he wasn’t down there?” Nina asked.

  “That’s the real question, isn’t it?” I asked, furrowing my brow together in confusion. “I can’t quite figure that one out myself.”

  “Why don’t we go take a look?” Holm asked, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Can’t hurt.”

  “No, I suppose it can’t,” I agreed. “Let’s go, then. You two stay up here just in case any of those goons come back.”

  “Okay…” Nina said, her voice trailing off hesitantly as she cast a wary look in Madame Rosaline’s direction.

  “Oh, I won’t bite, girl,” Rosaline groaned, rolling her eyes. “And I’m unarmed. What could I possibly do in this situation?”

  “Fair enough,” Nina relented with a shrug.

  “Alright, come on,” I said, turning away from the ship’s wheel and beckoning for Holm to follow me.