Chapter 49

"H OW TIGHT ARE YOUR BONDS?" Drew asked James, who was sitting next to him, tied to the same tree.

"I've been bound with better knots," James replied.

"Then you can break them?"

"Yes," James said, raising Drew's hopes, only to dash those hopes when he added, "Eventually."

"We don't have all night! You heard that bastard. They'll be back here soon. God, if it's the last thing I ever do, I'm going to kill Lacross," Drew said as he strained at the ropes around his own wrists.

"You'll have to get in line," James replied.

Drew snarled, "For once, Malory, you'll have to get in line."

They'd left the ships armed to the teeth. It hadn't done them any good when they'd been ambushed. There must have been twenty pistols pointed at them when they were surrounded on the beach, halfway to the fortress. Someone had warned the pirates that they were coming. The pirates had even bragged about it.

Their wrists had been tied behind them, but they'd merely been held there on the beach until Pierre Lacross showed up. Bixley knew some of Pierre's men and had hurled a long string of curses at them until one of the pirates got annoyed enough to gag them all.

"So these are the men who tried to cheat me of my prize?" Lacross had said when he arrived with another large group of men.

"You want we should kill them?" someone had asked.

"There is little entertainment in that," Pierre replied in an amused tone of voice, and then he pointed at Ohr. "That one, he goes with us. We have two ships to capture, every man will be needed. These other three will not be going anywhere. Collect them when we are done."

Ohr had been taken with them to make it possible for the pirates to easily board the ships by trickery. The pirates even sat around and waited nearly an hour just so the crews on the two ships would think enough time had passed for the rescue to have been a success. Ohr's presence with them was to give that impression.

Not a single man had been left to guard them. None were needed, since the pirates had spent the time they had to kill making sure their prisoners were better secured. More ropes had been produced. One was even used to wrap them to a palm tree. There was no doubt that they'd be there when someone came back to collect them.

It had been easy enough to spit out the gags, but the ropes were a different matter. Those around Drew's wrists had gone beyond painful, they were so tight he had no feeling in his hands now. And too much time had passed, plenty of time for Pierre's trap to have been sprung. Had Gabrielle already been captured? It was killing him, thinking about what was happening to her.

"They'll be celebrating tonight," Bixley said, finally getting his own gag loose. "It's what they did after they captured Nathan. They jump on any excuse to break open another cask, and you heard them crowing 'bout getting the jump on us."

And they'd have a lot more to crow about now if their other trap was a success. Two more fine ships to sell or put to use, and the most beautiful woman…

"That might give us a little more time," James said.

"Time for what?" Drew snarled.

"To turn the tables, of course. You don't think I'm going to let George fret if we're not back by dawn, do you?"

"I'd like to know how the hell you think—"

"Quiet, someone's coming back this way," Bixley hissed.

Drew had never felt so much frustration. If he didn't break these bonds soon…He couldn't even feel if he was making progress, but he was straining for all he was worth.

He could make out six men coming down the beach toward them, laughing, taking their time. So the trap had been sprung successfully?

"Told you they'd still be here, that it didn't matter how big they were," one of the pirates said to his buddy as he bent over to cut the rope from the tree. "No one ties knots better'n I do."

"Let's go, mates," another man said, nudging Drew with his foot. "We've a nice dungeon waiting for you."

James had gotten to his feet the moment the rope fell away from his chest. Drew slid up the tree trunk to do the same. With his longer legs, both of which had fallen asleep, it was a bit slower going. He stamped some feeling back into them. Bixley got to his knees first and didn't move further, so someone yanked him the rest of the way.

James shook his head back to toss his hair out of his face. That was when he was recognized.

"Don't I know you?" one of the pirates said to James. The man was older than the others.

"Highly doubtful," James replied, and turned around, dismissing the fellow.

The man persisted, came around so he could see James's face again, and insisted, "You look damn familiar. I'm pretty good with faces. I never forget—"

"Senility changes that," James cut in dryly. "So let me put it in terms even a child can understand. You don't know me, you have never known me, and, most important, you don't want to know me."

That got some chuckles from the pirates' friends and a taunt from one of them. "Thinks 'e's too good for the likes o' ye, Mort."

Annoyed now, Mort stepped closer to peer up at James, and then his expression turned to one of surprise. "I'll be damned. I told you I never forget a face. You're Captain Hawke! I knew it! I sailed with you for a couple months, but you were too wild and dan…ger…" The word trailed off warily as Mort tried to step back, but he wasn't quick enough.

"Should have remembered that as well, old chap," James said as he slammed a fist into Mort's face.

Drew was as surprised as the pirates were that James was free of his bonds. Another of them went down with an amazingly fast right to his cheek, before any of them even had a chance to move. The last four pirates still standing then tried to converge on James. Drew managed to trip two of them with one long leg. Bixley fell on one of them to keep him down, while Drew kicked the other squarely in the face, knocking him out. James had already dropped another, sent him flying several feet, actually. The last man standing panicked and tried to run. Drew tackled him, but with his own arms still bound, he was having trouble keeping him down. And James wasn't coming immediately to give him a hand, as he had gone to dispatch the pirate that Bixley had a leg-lock on. But Drew was angry enough to head-butt the fellow. Not the preferred way to do it, but it worked.

Drew rolled over to see that all six pirates were no longer moving. The entire fight had taken less than a minute, but then James Malory always had been fast, and lethal, with his fists.

Getting to his feet, he told James, "Nice work, but you could have given me a little warning."

"Didn't I?" James replied. "Thought breaking Mort's jaw would give you a clue."

"The ropes?" Drew said impatiently. Now that the tables had been turned, so to speak, he didn't want to waste another minute getting to Gabrielle.

James took a dagger from one of the pirates and came over to slice through his ropes. And in a moment of compassion that he rarely revealed to anyone other than his wife, he said, "She's going to be all right, Drew."

"I know. She has to be. But I'd rather see that for myself sooner than later." He didn't add "before he hurts her," but it was there in his mind and added extra speed to his race to the fortress.