Killers, Traitors, & Runaways: Outcasts of the Worlds, Book II by Paynter Lucas

Author:Paynter, Lucas [Paynter, Lucas]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Arm in the Wall Books
Published: 2017-10-23T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE: Captains of Destiny

While Shea had been forcibly integrated into Captain Longhart’s crew, Flynn had been escorted to one of the smaller cabins, where he was told he would remain for the nine or so days the voyage was expected to take.

It took him two to get free.

A rotation of guards had been placed outside Flynn’s door, and with little else to do, he conversed with them, piecemealing Trynan naval law along the way. When he requested an audience with Captain Longhart, the only question in his mind was whether he would be brought to the captain’s cabin or if she would deign to visit him.

“I was informed you wish to speak with me?” Longhart asked as she entered, her arms kept in a disciplined hold behind her back.

“Am I a prisoner of war?” he asked simply.

“A what?” She was genuinely surprised at the question.

“Trynan military charter dictates that prisoners of war must be classified as enemy combatants or traitors to the homeland. I have done nothing to define myself as either, yet I am being imprisoned against my will.” Longhart seemed surprised at this declaration. Perhaps she would take care in assigning less knowledgeable guards in the future. Flynn leaned forward in his seat. “You’ve passed judgment on me from the moment we first met.”

One of Longhart’s arms fell from behind her back, hanging limply by her cutlass. “Would you not strike vermin from your ship the moment you spied it?”

“You doubt me, but you can’t take the chance that I’m right and you ignored my mission. If the father of the brat down below has as much sway as we think, returning her might make him a little more sympathetic to Trynan interests. It wouldn’t stop the fighting—they betrayed us, after all—but it could make a day’s difference. And that could save a lot of lives.”

Flynn could sense her frustration. Were she less honorable, Longhart would have ignored his request for an audience and left him alone until they landed. Coming down to his cabin meant she was willing to meet him on his level, and that made her vulnerable.

“All true,” she conceded. “You have spoken plainly; therefore, so shall I. You are correct in your assessment: I do not trust you. I have met insipid con men as you before, Flynn, and I am not impressed. So I shall warn you thusly: if the spoiled brat and her companions are less than they claim to be, if your contact fails to materialize on the Red Coast, I shall execute the seven of you and leave the tide to wash your blood from the sands.”

Something in Flynn clicked at the number seven. “You’re counting Shea as one of us?”

“Unlike you, I know she is who she claims to be. I fought alongside her brother, Tevin Bagwell, and she is as described. Confess you’ve been leading her on and I will change course for Bheln now and forgive her of any transgressions. Who knows?” she added. “I may even leave you and those ‘spies’ in a lifeboat, a few days from the coast.

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