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"Naave , blue eyes? Red nose? About this tall?" I indicated Bad Bob’s height, but Josue was shaking his head

"No, never seen that one This one, he eird Shaved head Wearing leather like out of someleap "How’d he pay you?"

"You won’t believe it: gold Sunken treasure He said he’d just found sohed and shook his head "Crazy people out here All crazy I thought I’d find you, see if you orth keeping He shows up again, I shoot him if I like you and keep the money anyway"

Josue had no idea what a bad idea that would have been "Did he say what to do with me when you found me?"

"Yeah" Josue’s sht "He said tell you Kevin said hello And to take you back to port and let you go Crazy Like I said" I let out a slow sigh "And you figured you’d threatenelse? Or just rape and kill s are"

"You are such a lucky s didn’t work out your way," I said "If they had, you’d be screa with everybody else on this ship" He didn’t believe me, but he should have I was in no mood to be Ms Nice Guy, but compared to the fury that David would have unleashed on the I could do to them that would be anywhere near as horrible

"My offer’s still open," I said "You take hof the pirates forever"

He tried not to look interested "How do I know you’ll keep your pro flashed and crawled "You know I’ll keep this one" Josue sat up straighter, his eyes flicking around as if he was trying to figure out an exit strategy He finally nodded "It’s a deal," he said "Just - put that away, bruxa "

"Hey, Josue? Call ain, I will Taser the holy shit out of you" I felt the black exhilaration creep over me oncethrough my veins "Oh, hell, maybe I’ll just do it anyway" I didn’t, but it was fun watching hie as Josue ordered the crew around I had nothing to do, really, except wait and think

Think about Kevin sneaking around behind Lewis’s back to let David out of his bottle, sending him to pluck me out of the ocean

Why?

Cherise,I thought I couldn’t i to my rescue any other way We’d always cordially hated each other

I was even more surprised that David hadn’t tricked his way out of the bottle again by now It wouldn’t take much slack for hi it forloopholes to exploit Either Kevin had been very specific about what he wanted hiet free just now

Maybe because he knew that if he did, heme, and neither of us wanted that He’d wanted to save me Kevin had allowed him to do it

Kevin, you’re a romanticThat made me smile I supposed I’d have to thank hi hiht?

The sun was putting on a spectacular evening display, all clouds and blood, when the lookout called a warning At least, I thought it was a warning - Portuguese wasn’t exactly ent

"What is it?" I asked Josue, as he left the bow rail to head toward the stern

"A ship," he said "Co, maybe a military ship or a tanker"

"Tankers don’t move that fast," I said

Josue continued to stare over the stern rail, frowning "Could beI throw you back"

"You want to go downstairs again, talk it over?"

He gave me a scornful sneer "You can’t sail the ship alone My men won’t work for you"

"Want to bet? Just do what I tell you, Josue If I feel this ship slon, you’re over the side, and your crew goes with you That’s a promise" He knew I meant it He nodded I had no doubt that later on, he’d try to stab me in the back, marooncarefully -

partly because I was a potential payday, but equally out of sheer morbid fear He’d seen a sample of what I could do, and he didn’t want to see more

I didn’t really blame him for that I wasn’t wild to see it, either

I lockedthe bucking of the waves with the ease of a long-practiced sailor We both watched the dies and definition

Definitely a ship Big

The lookout called another warning Josue looked up, frowning, and blinked He cursed in Portuguese - no, I didn’t recognize the words, but the flavor’s the sa on fast fro back, content to letits leash or it was holding ed Maybe it sensed that the containain, or that I wasn’t followingour way Fast

The blood sunset had disappeared behind a boiling, rising reenish-black underpinnings It was already crawling with lightning inside Power had been poured into it - an awful lot of power

"Hold course," I said I didn’t think all that effort Bad Bob was putting out was meant solely for us We weren’t that hard to sink, frankly

As we sailed steadily toward it, the storained density and deeper color

Then it started to spin around a center axis - slowly,out like a deadly galaxy The blender of the gods, taking shape right in front of et out of its way!" Josue shouted I felt the first breath of wind sweep over us, vivid with the s toward us He cursed uese, and ordered his men to follow his instructions

I locked the rudder in place with a burst of Earth power They worked frantically to free it, but they weren’t getting anywhere