Page 96 of Debtor’s Daughter

“A sloop?” he demanded as he adjusted the glass.

“Aye,” Mousy said, his expression grim. “She’ll catch us.”

“You’re sure she’s in pursuit?”

Mousy snorted. “There’s a chance we’re followin’ the same course, aye.”

Lars shook his head, laughing. “No, I don’t believe it either. All right, do what you can to keep her at bay for now and we’ll decide when to engage her.”

“Aye, Cap’n.”

Lars watched as the big man strode away from him. He wasn’t surprised they were being followed. He’d expected as much. The price on his head was significant enough now for him to be a target worth pursuing. But the amount of militia men that had come for him meant they’d known not only that he was coming ashore but where to look.

They’d been waiting for him.

An icy finger of doubt trailed down his back. They’d known because someone had told them. The only question was who? The only man there ahead of him, the one who had written the letter, was one of his most trusted men, sent on ahead to get the information he required before he came ashore.

He knew instinctively that he was not the source of this mischief. Which meant the information had to have been sent on before they landed. The last time they made port, perhaps, when he had made his intentions known to the crew.

Which meant someone on his ship intended to profit from betraying him, and he no longer knew who he could trust.