Day of the Shadow by Rob Kidd Read Free Book Online Page B

cannonballs. It will sink within the hour.”
    The Pirate Lord shrugged. “Precisely my goal. Why should this concern me? It saves me the trouble of killing you all myself. I can just leave you to drown.”
    “Or,” Captain Hawk said, “you can fill your hold with the treasure we are carrying.”
    Ammand’s eyes glittered at the word. “What treasure?”
    “We are carrying a great reward,” Captain Hawk said softly. “The Spanish government has tasked us with bringing it to an East India Trading Company agent named Benedict Huntington, in exchange for the information he sent them about the whereabouts of a pirate named Captain Jack Sparrow.”
    Carolina’s eyes widened. So it was Benedict who had told her father to wait for the Pearl in Marseille! But how had he known where they would go? And how did he know who she was? Since when did he work with the Spanish?
    “All that treasure could be yours,” said Captain Hawk. “I don’t particularly feel the need to enrich one of those East India scoundrels.”
    “I will take the treasure anyway,” said Ammand. “Leaving you alive serves no additional purpose.”
    Now it was Captain Hawk’s turn to shrug. “Oh, you can try,” he said. “Your pirates can board this ship, and my men will fight you tooth and nail. Yes, you’ll defeat us, no doubt, and probably most of us will die horribly, but by the time you get past us, you’ll have a few dead pirates and, more importantly, not enough time to bring up all the treasure. This ship will be at the bottom of the sea before you can transport all that gold over to yours.”
    Ammand let out a puff of air that lifted his mustache. “And you propose?”
    “Simple,” said Hawk. “Instead of fighting, my men help carry the treasure over to your ship before ours sinks. Then you drop us all off, alive, at the nearest port and sail away with the gold. Everyone wins.”
    “Hmmm.” Ammand tapped his teeth with one long, yellow fingernail. “Tell me…why would the Spanish government be so interested in the whereabouts of this Captain Sparrow? I know he’s a pirate, but don’t they have plenty of those to hunt?” He let out a bark of laughter. “Myself, for instance?”
    “As I understand it,” said Hawk, “there was a girl aboard his ship that they were particularly interested in finding.”
    “Oh, ah!” Ammand said. “I see now! That must be the Spanish princess everyone is looking for. And Jack had her all this time? How very funny.”
    Carolina ducked her head, hoping no one would notice her. If only she had her cloak! How could she hide among Hawk’s crew without being spotted? Perhaps if she acted cowed and quiet, they wouldn’t be able to tell she was a princess.
    “Carolina!”
    She jumped. Diego was awake. He was clutching her arm and staring past her—straight at Ammand.
    “Look!” he whispered hoarsely. “Look at his sash!”
    Carolina turned to look at the Pirate Lord and saw what Diego was staring at. Tucked into the red sash, right next to Ammand’s pistol, was another tiny lump…and from the way it was glowing, she could tell that it was a vial of Shadow Gold.
    Her eyes traveled slowly up the pirate’s vest, and her heart sank as she realized he was staring right back at her.
    “And who might this be?” Ammand asked, stepping toward her. She stood up and hunched her shoulders, avoiding his eyes. She tried to look as nervous and scruffy as she could, not like a princess at all.
    “Nobody,” Captain Hawk interjected. From the way he started talking faster, Carolina wondered if it had just occurred to him who she was. “Just a couple of stowaways. You can toss them out with us. I think the nearest port is in Italy, by the way….”
    Ammand put one finger under Carolina’s chin and tipped her head up so he could examine her face by the lamplight. She blinked vacantly, hoping he couldn’t see any spark of defiance in her eyes. “Pretty,” he said. He waved one hand over his shoulder.