Page 60 of The Pirate's Daughter

Mia took the paper with a smile, then frowned at him as she turned it upside down, or right side up and looked it over. He saw her brow crease and she changed the grip on the paper to read it again. “Devin, have you spoken to the crew of that ship wecaptured?”

“They don’t seem to speak English, or French,” Devin said and rising from his chair moved to stand behind hers. “Why?”

“I need to speak to them.” She made to stand but Devin was in theway.

“Mia,” he didn’t miss that urgency in her voice. She wasn’t yelling this time, but it was the same as when she was giving orders to get out of the water. “You can’t get over to that ship. It’s notsafe.”

“Get me over to that ship, Captain, or I swear I’ll swim to it,” Mia threatened as she moved to her trunks and started to pull out the shirt and pants she’d worn the day they wereintroduced.

“Tell me why and I’ll considerit.”

“I don’t care what you consider, I’ll speak with thosemen.”

Her belligerent pirate was showing and Devin knew a battle was going to ensue if he didn’t quash it now. “Mia,” he said sharply, snatching the clothes from her hands and tossing them aside before grabbing her arms and forcing her to stand still. “You’ll tell me why you need to speak to them before I decide if I’llletyou or I’ll put you over my knee and we can waste time until your ass is red enough I’m satisfied with thecolor.”

He watched her eyes narrow on him and her lips press into a firm line. For some reason she didn’t want to tell him what she was trying to learn, but she was weighing that with his refusal to just give her want she wanted. “The letter you gave me mentions a crew and captain who have a mark on them,” shestarted.

“Amark?”

“Ink,” she elaborated, but notmuch.

“You mean a tattoo?” Devin frowned. He’d considered one once when he was a boy, but his captain advised him against it. He was perhaps the only one on that ship who didn’t have one, but he was also the only one not regretting thedeed.

Mia nodded, “It’s a mark, a red wheel with a black and yellow skull centered onit.”

“And?” Devin pushed. She wanted to hold as much back as possible. He wasn’t going to lether.

“It marks them as part of the crews who sailed into Hermosa Alma and blew it off the map.” Mia said, then spun around and paced back to the table where they’d been going through some papers taken off the pirateship.

“Wasn’t that ten yearsago?”

“Twelve years, two months,” Mia corrected, startling Devin with the venom in hervoice.

He wasn’t in the area at the time, but he remembered hearing of the event. Four galleons loaded full with cannon sailed into the quiet harbor and opened fire. At first it seemed the target was the sixty or so ships docked there, but then they turned their guns landward and for a full day they rained hell down on the seaside village. Then they sailed out. They didn’t try and pillage the town nor did they first raid the ships they sank. It was blamed on pirates, of course, but nothing in the act made enough sense and with the battle with Bonaparte in its waning days, few resources were expended in chasing down those responsible for the attack. Even with several of the ships being owned by British merchants, the crown didn’t respond. No one was ever held to account and life went on. “Mia, how do you know that? No one was ever captured or tried. That isn’t information I’ve ever heardbefore.”

“What, so it isn’t true? Because the greatRoyal Navydoesn’t know of it, it’s a lie, a talltale?”

“I didn’t say that,” Devin said, trying to refrain from taking her remarks personally. Something about this was deeply personal to her. “I only asked how youknew.”

“How I know? Do you really think secrets can be kept among sailors?” She gave him such a look he felt his face heat. “Men talk and when their exploits are enough they can gain some credibility with a boast or two theywill.”

“So someone saidit.”

“Not someone, some many. The crews who sailed those ships dispersed. They took up working at different ports and sailing on different ships. They bragged and boasted and gave themselvesaway.”

“And you think maybe one or more of those men are aboard the ship?” He still couldn’t see why Mia would need to speak with them. All of them would be tried for this act of piracy and hanged. It was justice all the same. “Mia, why do you need to speak withthem?”

“Because one of them may know who ordered the attack. They didn’t do it on their own. All those captured have said they were gathered together and paid to strike the port. They were given the ships and the arms and sent to Hermosa Alma for the sole purpose of destroying everything there. Someone was in command, and I want to knowwho.”

“All of them toldwho?” She wasn’t going to answer that and Devin knew it had been the commodore who’d gained that information somehow. He’d like to know more as well and perhaps she, like him, would like to know why. Hermosa Alma wasn’t a military port, only merchant vessels used it. The city had only very minimal defenses. The attack was nothing short of a slaughter and capturing those responsible for it… He looked up to see her staring at him with such a strange combination of pleading and rage in her eyes. A crime more than a decade old wasn’t going to garner much attention from any official source, but for Mia it was important she have the chance to learn something, even if she couldn’t do anything. “I’ll arrange to get us to the ship, but Mia,” he said holding up his hand when she tried to make for the clothes he’d taken. “You’ll go over as a lady, and you’ll do as I say. Those men are dangerous and it would take nothing for them to use your presence as an opportunity to rise up.” He watched her considering his words. It took a moment but she gave him a nod in agreement. “I’ll arrange something then. We are nearing Port Royal. I can bring the ship up closer in preparation to escort it in. You’ll have but one chance to learn what you need to, because after that they’ll be handed over to the authorities. I’m not going to delay inthat.”

Again, Mia gave one sharp nod, then she turned and left the room. Devin didn’t see her the rest of the day and he ended up forcibly removing her from the deck as she stood there until late in the night watching the captured pirate shipapproach.

They took a long boat to the ship the following morning and for the first time in a while Mia made sure that Grim and Mr. Hong were close at hand. Devin arranged to have the captured crew on deck in chains before he allowed Mia to board. And as he watched her first determine basic things like the language they spoke and then which among them was considered the leader, he rather thought it a shame the navy didn’t welcome women in its ranks. Because if there were any others even half as good as his wife, the navy was missingout.

* * *

Mia stoodbefore the group of men for a while just listening. Their crude remarks and suggestions about what they would do to her person given the chance didn’t bother her. They were all well bound and Grim would snap them in half if they tried anything. Devin’s order to have rifles trained on them was an unnecessaryprecaution.

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