Stormy Seas: Part 21

    Vivian made no move to raise her hands from the keys. “You can't shoot me and get a good price,” she said to Stratt.
    Stratt turned and the gun was pointing at me. “Then I'll shoot him.”
    Vivian turned then and her hands lifted. “I thought you wanted him to join your crew,” she said accusingly.
    Of course she did, I thought. She had still been calculating if she could control me. Obviously she had decided she couldn't.
    “Even if she shoots me, Vivian, you won't have time to send anything before she stops you,” I said. I was already slipping the ropes off of my wrists and hiding it in my fist. Stratt didn't seem to have noticed but I still wouldn't be surprised if she knew somehow.
    “Fine,” Vivian sulked and raised her hands away from the machine.
    “Get over there with him,” Stratt said. The gun was still aimed at me.
    Vivian began to slide around the desk past her. I knew she was going to do something.
    As she turned sideways to get past Stratt she hit her from behind and reached for the gun. I dropped to the floor just before it went off.
    Vivian knocked the gun out of Stratt's hand and then kicked it away while trying to hold on to Stratt. They both lunged for control of it but a few seconds after the gun had skittered away, a well placed elbow in Vivian's ribs sent her reeling into the wooden desk. Stratt rolled and reached for the gun but I had scrambled forward, knocking it farther away. Stratt opened her mouth to call for her crew but I still had the rope and before she could get the words out I had twisted it around her throat.
    We sat there for a moment in something of a stalemate. The gunshot didn't seem to mean much to Stratt's crew. Possibly only that I was supposed to be dead. When Stratt tried again to make a noise I tightened my grip on the rope.
    “Send that message,” I ordered Vivian.
    She nodded and stood. I listened to her tapping away until she finally pulled the lever to send the message.
    “Get the gun,” I said.
    She had to carefully step over us to get to the armchair where I had tossed the pistol. I watched Stratt, ready for her to try and fight back. When Vivian was past us I loosened my grip a bit because Stratt had started to make little choking noises that I was sure she wasn't faking.
    “Now what?” Vivian asked.
    “Send another message,” I told her. “Give out our coordinates.”
    “What coordinates?” she asked.
    I glanced up at the desk where Stratt had her maps and charts. “Look for a log book,” I said. I wondered if Stratt ever bothered to keep one.
    “This?” Vivian held up a leather journal.
    “What's it say inside?”
    “Thirty knots, wind from the west,” Vivian read off the page. “Then some numbers.”
    “Go to the last entry and put in those numbers,” I said.
    Vivian went to do so and I stayed put, with Stratt's head on my thigh. I could see her wanting to make a comment about it, but ignored it.
    “What if no one gets the messages?” Vivian asked.
    “Someone always gets them,” I said. “Passing ships, other pirates, Voilitiers.”
    Stratt suddenly started struggling. She managed to cough out the word “No!” as I flipped her onto her stomach.
    “Pass me the gun.” I put my hand up and Vivian set the pistol against my palm. “The others don't seem to think their beloved Captain is in any danger,” I said to Vivian as I pressed the gun into Stratt's back, “but I don't know how much time that will buy us.”
    “What will we do when they try to come in?” she asked.
    “We'll find out how much they love their Captain,” I finished. “Won't we?”
    Stratt glared but stayed still.
    There was a sharp knock on the door then that made all of us startle. “Captain Stratt!” Abbot's voice said from outside.
    Vivian and I glanced at each other.
    “What!” Vivian shouted back, mimicking Stratt's tone rather well.
    “It's those Voilitiers! They're right on top of us!”
    “You're out of time,” Stratt coughed to us.
    “Your orders Captain?”
    I loosened my grip on the rope around her neck.
    “Get in here!” she shouted.
    The door burst apart at the hinges and Abbot and the bearded pirate hurried in.
    “Stay where you are!” I ordered. I pulled Stratt up by the neck so she was kneeling in front of Vivian and I, and I made sure that they could see the gun I was holding.
    “The Voilitiers only want her, if she dies we throw her over,” the bearded one said.
    They both drew pistols from their belts and opened fire into the room.