Chapter 55

JACK TOOK A deep breath and paced slowly away, moving over to the porthole so he could look out. He saw nothing but ocean—vast, inescapable abyss. He put his hands up on the wall and leaned in. Dropping his head, he hung there for a moment. Words could not describe what he had just experienced.

He hadn’t been lying when he’d told Nora he’d never had an experience like that before. He had never felt so connected to another human being in his entire life. When he was inside of her, everything seemed to click into place. There were no problems, no stress, only the overwhelming feeling of home—a feeling of finally belonging somewhere. And he knew that he never wanted the feeling to end. In Nora’s arms, everything made sense.

Outside of them, however, nothing made sense. He moved to his trunk and dug out a clean shirt. He was the first man Nora had ever made love to. Experience taught him that women tended to attach themselves to their first lover. That was why he stayed away from virgins. But what he respected the most about her was that she did not force her feelings on him. They were her feelings, and they did not ask anything of him.

Verbally anyway. He could see that she desperately wanted him to return her affection, and the silent pressure was enough. He knew he cared for her more than he had ever cared for anyone else. He knew that he could not bear to be parted from her. That was a definite start. He could not say if that equated to love, but it was more than he ever had before, and certainly much more than he had ever given anyone else in his memory.

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THE KNOCK ON the door signaled the return of Captain Hancock and Ben. Nora moved to stand near Jack, but he left her to open the door. Two sailors stood there with the requested man between them. He looked angry and belligerent, but he couldn’t possibly be more belligerent than Jack, in Nora’s estimation.

Jack stood back and admitted the men into the cabin. Captain Hancock and Ben followed. The sailors tied their prisoner to the chair and left the room.

Jack took another chair, turned it around, and straddled it. He stared at the man with a look of anger so great Nora thought she would burst into tears immediately if it were ever leveled upon her. Despite his outward appearance, the prisoner’s eyes showed his fear.

“Your name?” Jack asked simply.

The man kept his silence; however, Captain Hancock answered, “He goes by Stark.”

“And who is your employer, Mr. Stark?” Jack continued. The man remained silent. “Not interested in sharing about yourself, then? That’s fine. Perhaps if I shared a little about myself, you may be more inclined to be accommodating.” Jack swung his leg over the chair and rose to his full height. He moved to the desk in the cabin and picked up his knife. The blade looked like it went on forever as he slowly drew it out of its sheath.

Stark swallowed hard but still said nothing.

“I was raised by Indians,” Jack began. “Shawnee Indians to be exact. Have you heard of them? Well, perhaps not so much of my tribe specifically, but I’m sure you know of the savage reputation Indians have—especially regarding their captives. I’ve seen women get their noses clipped off for looking upon another man too long. I’ve seen men have their privates hacked off for bedding a woman that was not their wife, their tongues cut out for lying.” Jack swung the knife in an arc for emphasis. “I’ve seen men burned alive, scalped, flayed open like fish, all skills passed down from generation to generation. As I was adopted by the tribe, I, too, was taught these essential skills. I had a difficult time, myself, picking a favorite measure of torture. There was one time we sliced a man’s chest open several times, then tied him to stakes on the ground and left him in the blazing sun. It wasn’t always easy to check on him, what with all the wild animals coming to feast upon him, but that poor fellow took almost a full week to die.”

Nora moved to the porthole and opened it, trying to gain some fresh air. The things Jack was talking about left her squeamish, and she could feel the bile rising up in her throat. Ben and Hancock did not seem the slightest bit affected. Nora had a feeling if she were to vomit, it would only play into whatever strategy Jack was employing.

“Now,” Jack continued, as he slowly began to circle Stark. “I have plenty of time for the more drawn-out methods. I don’t imagine we’ll reach our destination any time soon, shall we, Captain Hancock?”

“Oh, we’ve but barely begun our voyage, sir. We have weeks upon weeks left,” Hancock assured jovially.

“Then I could stake you to the deck and let the birds have you. Eventually, when the agony is too great for you to bear another moment, I’ll throw you overboard to feed the sharks,” Jack said. “Yes, that one is quite appealing. However, there is a special place in Hell’s fires for those who attack my wife, so that is not all I will do. No, no, no, sir. First,” Jack said, applying pressure from the knife against one of the man’s fingers and drawing blood, “I will cut off a finger for every question I ask that you do not answer. When I’ve finished the fingers, I will move to the toes. So, let’s start over. Who is your employer?”

Again, Stark didn’t answer. But this time, Nora theorized that it might be because he was frozen in terror.

“Still not going to answer? You are either very brave or extremely stupid. Nora, my love, please leave the room. I don’t wish for you to see this.”

Frowning, Nora began to walk towards the door as Jack bent over Stark. “I apologize, sir. The blade’s a little dull, so this may take a bit longer than it normally does.”

“ROGAN!” Stark stuttered, and Jack straightened. “Lord Rogan hired us.”

“That much I already knew,” Jack said. “But I will allow you to keep that finger for now. What exactly were you hired to do?”

Now that Mr. Stark had begun talking, he was too cooperative. He informed them that Lord Rogan had hired himself and Collins to kill Jack and then take Nora and the stone.
They were supposed to make their move either before the ship left Boston or once it docked in England, but Collins had had the idea that they kill the girl as well and take the stone. He suspected it must be valuable for Rogan to go to such measures to obtain it, and perhaps would pay quite a handsome ransom for its return.

When Stark was finished, Jack nodded. “All right, Captain, you may have him tossed overboard now.”

“But —” Stark sputtered.

“It was never a question of whether you would live, merely a question of how you were to die. I’ve decided to be merciful.”

Hancock leaned down and untied the man’s feet from the chair and yanked him to standing.

“It won’t matter that you kill me!” Stark raved. “Rogan will not be defeated. He has hundreds of men!”

Hancock dragged the man to the door and thrust him into the waiting arms of the two sailors outside. They all followed them above deck and watched as Mr. Stark was thrown overboard with his hands still tied. They watched as he screamed and struggled to stay afloat.

Once he was merely a speck in the distance, Hancock turned to the group, clapped his hands once and said, “Well, now that that ugly business is dispatched of, what say we make a sailor out of you, Mr. Justice?”