Doc breathed hard, his lungs laboring to keep up with the physical demands he’d placed on his body. He paused at the railing. Spotting a man hobbling along on a wooden leg that looked handcarved and splintered from rough use, Doc yelled over to him. “Sailor.”
The man glared in his direction.
“I have a question, my good man, and I think you should be able to help me.”
“Got no reason to,” the sailor said gruffly, resuming his stride and moving away from the old man.
Doc slipped a silver coin from his purse. He flipped it toward the sailor with his thumb and offered an encouraging smile. “I did not mean to imply that I was going to take liberties with your time. I shall gladly pay.”
The sailor bit the coin experimentally and seemed satisfied. He made the coin disappear. “If I can.”
“Long Johnson’s vessel,” Doc said. “Where is she?”
The sailor turned around and pointed out to sea. “There. Call her the Tail Twister . Bastard’s got a dark sense of humor about him. Course, you’d have to know about his appetites to understand the nature of the joke.”
“I just saw him at the Globe,” Doc said. “However, I did not get the chance to speak with him. The audience became somewhat unruly.”
The sailor grinned knowingly. “Never been there myself. I don’t cotton to that sort of business. But I’ve heard tell there’s a lot can go on.” He shaded his eyes against the setting sun. “If you’re wanting to talk to Long Johnson, though, mate, you’re shit out of luck. The ship’s pulling out of port now.”
Doc turned and scanned for the ship.
“There,” Jak said, pointing.
Following the albino’s pointing finger, Doc spotted the ship moving out under full sail, heading north around the outer horns of the port area. “Long Johnson’s aboard her?”
“That ship,” the sailor said, “never goes anywhere without her captain.”
Gripping the railing, Doc watched the Tail Twister pull away, disappearing into the glare of the sunset. So many unanswered questions danced around inside his head, sucking at his consciousness. What ties bound him to the pirate captain, and what were they to inspire such vehemence? He had no answers.
“Doc,” Jak said, gently, “staying here’s no good. Better we get back with Ryan.”
“You are right, lad.” Doc made himself move away. Already he felt the hot gazes of the cutthroats and robbers who would fill the walks along the port with the hookers once true dark drained the light from the dregs of the day. “There is safety in numbers.”
But he didn’t see how he was going to leave New London without learning more about the pirate captain. And whatever descendants he himself could have had that might have made it through the destruction of this country.
SERGEANT GEORGE CONTE crept out of the shadows near the ville and grabbed the sec man by the face from behind. He administered a cool crimson kiss with his Kabar fighting knife across the man’s throat, and held the bucking man while he died.
Once the body was totally limp, he dragged the corpse into the brush and laid it out of sight. Squatting next to it, he took time to wipe the blood from his hands.
Fifteen yards away Abner Whittaker licked his own blade clean. The little rat man had already accounted for the sentry he’d been assigned to. His grin was thin and frigid.
Conte held up a hand, briefly stepped out into the moonlight so he could be seen by the rest of his team, then closed it into a fist and pumped it twice. At a count of three, the six men burst from cover and raced for the ville’s wall.
Turley, broad and muscular, took the anchor. Henderson, the tallest of the group, scrambled up on top of the private and stood with his boots on the other man’s shoulders. When he reached up, he could manage the top of the wall with relative ease.
Squatting in the shadows pooled at the bottom of the wall, Conte covered his team with the silenced Hamp;K MP-5 submachine pistol.
Whittaker was the next man up, running along the backs of the first two men easily. He vanished over the top of the wall, a shadow ghosting along on an invisible wind. Cruse followed as quickly, but running a slightly larger profile.