The Pirate Bride. Shannon Drake
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turned. Both the massive Blackbeard and Red were gone. The room was empty of all but its rough wood table and chairs.
“How the hell did we miss a man such as Blackbeard?” Logan asked, unable to believe he had forgotten to pay strict attention.
“He would never harm Red,” Brendan said, but he sounded anxious, as well.
He might have been the prisoner, but Logan started for the door. To his surprise, Sonya was suddenly in front of him, setting her palm on his chest, splaying out her fingers.
“Lord Haggerty, don’t be in such a hurry,” she drawled.
He hesitated, looking at her. He’d never fooled with the whores in this place, though he’d tipped well enough for his drinks. But she knew he wasn’t interested in what she had to offer.
She was trying to keep him from leaving.
“Brendan, we need to go,” he said sharply.
“What?” Brendan asked.
“Sonya knows something. In fact, I’d say someone paid her to stop us,” he said softly, looking into the woman’s eyes.
She flushed, lowering her thick lashes.
“Nay, ’tis only that I live by the profits of this place,” she said, sounding a little desperate.
“I doubt if any man is brave enough to go after Blackbeard,” Logan said. “So who paid you to keep us here so that they could go after Captain Red Robert?”
She stepped away, but he caught her arms and dragged her back.
“Sonya?”
“I don’t know!” she snapped. “Some fellow…he gave me gold,” she said, as if that would explain everything.
He moved her firmly aside and looked at Brendan. “I haven’t figured out what Red Robert is so bent on achieving, nor do I know who or why, but someone is after Red.”
Brendan stared at him, then turned toward the door. Logan caught his arm. “We’re in this together,” he told him quietly. “And may I suggest you call your man Hagar, as well?”
Brendan, face taut, nodded stiffly. For a moment he’d had a reckless look in his eyes. He was a formidable man, tall and muscled, but agile, and his concern would have sent him off without heed, but Logan’s words reined in his impulse to rush out alone. He sized Logan up carefully while shouting, “Hagar, gather who you can. We’re going after the cap’n. Now!”
They moved out. There were narrow alleys to either side of the tavern, both now dark and menacing, filled with shadows and gloom. Each led into smaller, darker alleys, little craters of blackness that could hide many a sin. Ghostly laundry hung in the darkening mist of the day. A dog howled as the wind picked up, and the screeching cry of a cat sent shivers up Logan’s back. A scurrying sound warned them of rats.
The day was no longer what it had been.
The clear sky had gone dark. The breeze had gone chill and brisk, whispering with the coming rain. The clouds overhead billowed and rushed.
A storm was coming, and coming hard.
A perfect shield…
For a surprise attack.
A man stood leaning against one of the supports that held the bar upright, his head on his chest as if he had fallen asleep in a drunken stupor. “Which way?” Logan demanded.
The fellow didn’t move.
Logan shook him, and he opened one bleary eye. But Logan didn’t believe he was so far gone.
He shook the man harder.
“Which way?” he asked again.
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me, or I’ll slit you from the groin up,” Logan said evenly.
“The alley.”
“Which alley?” Logan demanded.
“The alley to the left. Cap’n Robert went that way not five minutes past. The…others came out a bit after.”
“How many?” Logan demanded.
The man shrugged.
“How many?” Logan repeated, his tone still low, but filled with a menacing promise.
“Eight…ten…”
Brendan was already running into the shadows.
Logan released his hold on the drunk and followed.
And the storm broke.
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