Page 79 of A Princess, Stolen
“We can’t run from this. They’ll be here before we’ve weighed anchor. Besides, the cutter is too slow and the lifeboat isn’t seaworthy.”
“But Isaac…” Nathan grabbed my arms as if he had to hold me in the here and now. “We have no chance. We can’t get away from here fast enough, do you understand that?”
I nodded mechanically. Nathan watched the approaching boat, and I imagined I could hear the dark hum of the engine.
“Okay! Go.” He grabbed my hand. “I’ll lock you in the cell, at least then he can’t touch you.”
He towed me behind him while at the same time, hitting every porthole we passed with his other hand. “All hands on deck. We’re about to have visitors!” he yelled.
I heard voices rising up, passing on the order, and the thud of heavy footfalls. Nathan let go of me, leaped down the stairs to the corridor, and caught me as I jumped after him. “Hurry up!” I ran to his room holding his hand, but he left me standing there with a “Wait here!” and disappeared inside. I heard him curse while I desperately avoided Sparta’s gaze. He would be released and I would be locked up again. And he had betrayed me to Isaac. Probably immediately after Nathan jumped overboard to save me. I should be angry with him, but at the moment, I was merely terrified.
“Willa!” I whirled around in shock. Nathan was standing in front of me again, sweat glistening on his face. “It’s gone.”
“What?” I didn’t understand anything.
“The key to the cell. I had it here in my chamber, so someone took it.”
“Troy has it!” Sparta came close to the bars. “He said something about it being safer with him as long as you’re on deck with Willa. Because of Pan and…”
Without listening any further, Nathan rushed off and I followed. But as Nathan pulled me up the steps to the bow, the engine of the strange boat rattled so loudly that it must have been close. I heard angry male voices. Pan, Ilias, and a few others were standing at the railing. Taurus was holding an overly long staff in his hand and calling out to Nathan. “Isaac! Him and his men!”
Like a lemming, I wanted to run to the bulwark as if I could prevent the danger if I saw it, but Nathan held me back. “Stay behind me no matter what happens, understand?”
“Okay.” He had let go of me, calling for Troy while at the same time storming toward the railing while I followed. Now, the water was inky black in the darkness and the lights of the open speedboat revealed sinister shapes.
My nerves tingled as if I had touched an electric fence. There were at least five of them. And by the look of things, they were carrying weapons. One had a rifle at the ready, maybe a sniper rifle, in any case, it could certainly turn a brain into pudding. I recalled my dad’s pirate stories and how easy it was for a group of armed men to board a ship by force.
It was a nightmare. They would take control of the Agamemnon like heavily armed pirates take control of container ships off Somalia. If the crew got to safety below deck, they would board unhindered; if they stayed, they risk being injured or worse.
So, what was Isaac to these men here: a threat or hope?
Fearfully, I glanced at Nathan, who glanced at me briefly over his shoulder. His face was ashen. When he saw the weapons, he must have thought the same thing as I did. If his brother had come to kill me, the cell would offer me no protection anyway.
“Go back with her and stay with her!” he called to Pan, then took the wooden stick from Taurus and ran to the open part of the railing where the gangway was placed to get ashore.
Pan pulled me in front of the tower wall and placed a hand on my shoulder. He looked at me but didn’t say a word. Now, everyone was standing on the long bow between the tower and the waist-high anchor winches, bollards, nets, and ropes.
“Either you let us on board voluntarily or we’ll force our way on,” I heard someone shout over the roar of the motorboat. A shiver of fear made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It was unmistakably Isaac’s stoic, cold baritone—I would have recognized it anywhere in the world. I peeked around the corner of the tower.
Nathan pushed the stick down, probably to keep the boat at a distance. “You leave her alone. She has nothing to do with her father’s affairs!” he shouted down.
Diesel fumes rose and crept across the deck. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ilias, Delphi, and Icarus spreading out a net, which together they dragged to the railing.
Men shouted in confusion but I couldn’t understand a word. Suddenly, shots ripped through the night, the sound taking my breath away. I automatically ducked, faster than Pan could push me down as the men near the railing leaped backward.
“Throw the net at us and we’ll shoot you through the mesh.” For a few seconds, I only smelled sulfur and smoke as I watched Nathan with my arms wrapped around my head.
He had staggered back, fear and shock on his face. I realized that he hadn’t expected a gun attack.
“They have Glocks!” he shouted to Pan and the others, glancing around briefly to see if anyone was injured. “Semi-automatic, fifteen rounds in the magazine.”
One round for each of us and two duds.
Nathan looked down at the water. “Turn away, Isaac! My condition for this was that I choose the men myself and that you only come on board on the last day. When it’s all over.”
“Circumstances have changed! Don’t make me shoot one of our friends because of that girl,” Isaac shouted up. There were noises on the hull, a dull thud, like someone hooking a ladder or pushing off the ship’s hull with their feet. Ilias, Icarus, and Nathan rushed forward again, but another shot stopped them in their tracks. The bullet created a crater in the whitewashed tower, the fragments flying through the air. I could still hear the echo of the bang when the first two men jumped on board. One aimed the barrel of his matte black pistol at Nathan, who was closest to him.
My pulse twitched dully in my throat. More men climbed onto the Agamemnon. There were six in total, all wearing dark green overalls and each one had dark hair, which was surely due to the influence of the French settlers and natives that Nathan had mentioned. One of them was Isaac.
