James Axler – Watersleep

“Take the hint.”

“Missed you at dinner,” she said.

“Wasn’t hungry.”

“Bullshit. You’re hurting and didn’t feel up to con­versation. I know the signs.”

Ryan turned and stared at her. To her credit, she stared right back.

“You would make a hell of a great pirate, Cawdor. You already have the look.”

“I don’t get you.”

Shauna pointed at his eye patch. “Required garb for any self-respecting pirate.”

“Right. As I recall, pirates were also supposed to have hooks for hands and wooden pegs for legs and a talking bird on their shoulder,” Ryan replied. “No wonder the poor gimps had to steal—they were crip­pled and half-blind.”

Shauna laughed heartily at that “Your friends said not to bother you.”

“My friends were right.”

“Well, I’m not having my key ally going to bed with his belly empty the night before a fight,” Shauna said mildly. “I can hold my anger close just as well on a full stomach.”

“I thought you said Poseidon may not show,” Ryan said.

“He may not. Still, why take chances? Your plan is workable, and I’ve been wanting to bring down that bastard for a long time.”

“Why do you stay here?’ Ryan asked.

“Why not? Climate’s good. Plenty to eat. People who care for me live here. I could do worse.”

“What, with this Admiral you have to bow down and pay tribute to? That kind of extortion shit gets triple old fast.”

“Sometimes…” Shauna’s voice trailed off. “Sometimes, Cawdor, it’s easier than trying to fight back. You have to remember, when the Admiral first approached us about trading, we were on a more equal footing. I had more men at the commune—good sec men. Couple of years pass, and then suddenly he’s got the advantage. Some of our people go missing, or have accidents, or worse yet, join his outfit.”

Ryan turned and looked at her profile in the moon­ligh.t He knew from the pain etched in her face that the woman was telling the truth when she had told him she knew the signs of hurting.

“What did Poseidon do to you? Besides bleeding off your commune, I mean,” Ryan asked.

“Not my commune. Our commune. Belongs to all of us, even you, if you want to stay.” She placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You know what I mean.”

Shauna sighed and sat down next to Ryan. “The good Admiral says he’s a businessman. Once he gained the advantage, he came in here and started telling us how things were now going to be. My husband didn’t agree. Poseidon invited him and a hand-picked squad to travel back to Kings Point for a sum­mit meeting.”

She turned and looked Ryan right in the eye, her icy blue pupils locking with his own. “I never saw my husband alive after that.”

“Fireblast,” Ryan whispered. The epithet seemed woefully insignificant.

“I was ready to go after Eric and see Poseidon’s head on a post, but I didn’t have enough fighting men to support an assault. Poseidon made a point of not coming back around here in person after that. He might have been frightened or cautious or both. I don’t know. I kept telling myself that Poseidon was a military sec type, not a fisherman or farmer. The folks here were more in tune with a band of under­water muties, peace and love and harmony with na­ture. Leave us alone, we leave you alone.”

“The pain never left, did it?” Ryan said quietly.

“I’m as ready for vengeance now as I ever was.”

She took Ryan’s hand in her own. “I lost my man three years ago, Cawdor. He was a lot like you— stubborn and pigheaded. I heard the Admiral beat him to death with a whip in a public flogging, as a lesson, as a good old-fashioned example. I’m constantly amazed at how reverting back to the old ways for most seems to entail brutality.”

“Human nature.”

Shauna leaned over and kissed the one-eyed man gently on the lips. Ryan didn’t refuse or encourage the gesture of intimacy.

“Been over three years for me, Ryan,” she said.

“Shauna, I can’t make love with you,” Ryan re­plied. “Timing’s all wrong, for now.”

“I figured as much.” Shauna pulled back and smiled. “I just thought you could use some company, that’s all. You’re a leader. I’m a leader. Leaders can’t let themselves show weakness in front of their follow­ers, no matter how close they are as friends or family. Part of the territory, right?”