Releasing Henry. Sarah Hegger
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and that between the larger trading squares. It stank of stale beer and piss. Henry wanted out of here and back to the boat.
Newt set a brisk pace away from the tavern and turned into a darker, noisome alley.
“Hey!” a man shouted after them.
“Keep walking,” Newt whispered.
“It’s the men from the tavern.”
“Of course, it is.” Newt grinned. “Now keep walking and we’ll pick the place of meeting.”
They quickened their steps.
Behind them footsteps came faster.
Newt ducked into a darkened archway, and pulled Henry in after him.
They drew their knives.
Running footsteps grew louder, and then their pursuers passed their hiding place.
Newt slipped out first, grabbed the man closest to him and shoved his knife against the man’s pulse. “Looking for someone?”
The scarred man from the tavern lunged, but Henry pressed the tip of his sword to his chest. “Do nothing stupid and your friend will be fine.”
“What do you want?” Newt’s man’s gaze flicked between the dagger and Henry.
“Heard you were looking for someone.” Newt pressed the tip into his skin.
Blood snaked down the man’s neck.
“Heard that someone was a girl.”
“I do not know what you are speaking of.” Sweat glistened on his forehead.
“Really?” Newt said. His smile raised Henry’s hackles. “That’s not what I heard at all. Is it?”
Drawing the tip of his sword over Scar Man’s tunic, Henry shook his head. The fabric melted beneath the blade, leaving a thin red line on his chest.
Scar Man paled. “Jesu, Aldo, tell them.”
“Fine.” Aldo licked his lips. “But only if you vow to let us go.”
“Nah.” Newt pressed the dagger deeper into Aldo’s flesh. “I cannot do that until I hear what you have to say. If I find it useful, I might let you go.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, my big friend has a nasty temper. It’s going to take something special to appeal to his better nature.”
Henry slashed another line, dissecting his first cut and making a cross.
“Aldo!” Scar Man screamed. “He will cut me to ribbons. I am bleeding.”
“Harry.” Newt clicked his tongue. “Must you always be so impetuous?”
“There’s a rumor,” Scar Man yelled. “Good money to be made from getting the Genovese out of Cairo.”
“By out your friend means dead, does he not, Aldo?” Newt went a trifle deeper with his blade tip.
Sweat running in his eyes, Aldo blinked. “Aye.”
“Did you make one of these Genovese dead?”
“Nay.” Scar Man sobbed. “We did not touch them. By the time we got there, it was too late.”
“Tell me about Alif Al-Rasheed.”
“We didn’t do it.” The man’s chest labored, blood pouring down it. “We swear to God we did not do it. Rumor says some berserker bastard got to him first.”
“He is dead?”
“We do not know. This is only what we heard.”
Henry cut the sod again, just because he was the sort of whoreson seeking to make coin from killing an innocent girl. His girl on the wall.
The man screamed and dropped to his knees. “I will tell you what you want. Anything. Just don’t cut me again.”
Anger surged through him. The master had been a good man, and Alya had loved her father dearly. “And now you are after the daughter?”
“Everyone is.” Snot streamed from his nose as he bawled like a baby. “The price on her head is double.”
Chapter 6
Leaving the two men in the alley, Henry and Newt hurried back to the boat. These would not be the only two looking to make some gold from Alya’s blood.
Alert and watchful, two sentries stood guard at the gangplank. Around them the docks heaved with activity. Busier than when they had arrived earlier. A couple of passers glanced at the two sentries before hurrying on.
Arms crossed, watching the activity around them, Bahir stood on the deck.
“We have news.” Henry stepped onto the boat. “And none of it is good.”
Bahir raised his brow.
“There is a price on Alya’s head, and the hunters have found their way to Alexandria. We encountered two, but I am willing to wager there are more of them.”
Nodding, Bahir said, “It was as we suspected. What other news?”
Henry hesitated. He could merely pass the news of Alif’s possible death on to Bahir and have the man tell Alya. Everything within him, however, rebelled at the notion. It seemed cowardly and callous. “I need to speak to Alya.”
Stiffening, Bahir shook his head. “That is not possible. Tell me what you need to tell her.”
Any notion of giving the information to Bahir first disappeared at that. “This news is for her to hear first.”
“It is not possible.” Crossing his arms, Bahir planted his feet apart as if he would stand as a human barrier between Henry and Alya.
“What is it?” Alya slid from behind Bahir, her beautiful eyes intent on Henry.
“I must speak with you.”
She gave a soft laugh. “You are speaking with me.”
“Alone.” Knowing he would cause it to end, her laughter shook him. Telling her of her father with the entire crew staring on was also not a possibility.
“No.” Bahir stepped between them.
“Come if you must.” Done with Bahir’s ridiculous guarding of Alya’s modesty, Henry shoved past him. “But she needs to know this.”
Alya’s glance flickered from him to Bahir and then Newt. “What is it?”
Henry motioned her to precede him belowdecks.
The air down here clung stuffy and damp to his skin, carrying the smell of tar, sweat and the caskets of precious spices.
Immediately Bahir positioned himself beside Alya, huge fists clenched.
Dear God, give him patience. Did Bahir think he would fall on her in a lust frenzy? Not with the news he had to impart now. Instead he desired to hold her and stand as a barrier between her and the pain he was about to cause. As Henry knew of no other way over difficult ground but at a gallop, he spoke quickly. “It is your father.”
“What of him?” She clenched her small hands together in front of her. “Tell me.”
“We heard in the tavern that he could be…dead.”
Alya stood, so still he could not be certain she breathed. Her eyes above her niqab bored into him as if willing him to unsay his words. She shook her head. “Nay.”
“Where did you hear this?” Bahir stepped up to him, and twisted a hand in his tunic.
“The two men we found.” Henry fastened his hand about Bahir’s wrist. He did not care for the manhandling but Alya concerned him more. “They mentioned him by name.”
“Dear God.” Alya swayed.
Bahir