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Drew propped him up against his chest and helped him hobble out of the cell. The stairs were difficult. Drew and Corbyn pushed and pulled Rafe up the stairs and toward the railing.
Drew was about to lower Rafe over the railing into the waiting arms of Langley’s man in the rowboat when he saw a slash of scarlet on shore and heard a shot fired.Mina.
He turned back, desperate to know that she was safe.
“Bring up the hostage,” a voice shouted.
“I’m right here, Le Triton,” Rafe shouted.
“Rafe, what are you doing? Go over the railing. Get out of here.” The fool would get them all killed.
Men rushed at them. Drew stood his ground, thrusting Rafe behind him. He cracked the first one on the jaw and the man crashed to the deck.
Another shot exploded. Another man went down by Drew’s fists.
His blood ran cold and hot at the same time. All he saw was scarlet. All he could think of was protecting Mina.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Drew was supposed to quietly spirit Rafe off of the ship but instead a fistfight had broken out on the deck.
Mina had thought that they would be gone by now but they were still on board.
Drew plowed through men, fists huge and face a grim mask. Mina trained her pistol on Le Triton. She didn’t have a clear shot. Inspector Langley’s men were engaging the smugglers with fists and pistols.
One of the smugglers saw her and raised his pistol. Fear shot her full of holes as she watched him aim and fire. She unfroze just in time to move out of the way.
The bullet whistled past her, missing her by only a fraction of an inch.
Had she warned Drew about Le Triton’s knives? Some of them were tipped with poison.
One scratch from a knife and Drew could die.
A bullet whizzed past her left ear. She dropped to the ground instinctively, seeking cover.
Another bullet sprayed sand in her face.
In that moment she discovered three very important things: (1) she didn’t like being shot at, because she preferred to be alive; (2) she didn’t want to shoot anyone else, because she didn’t want blood on her hands; and (3) she loved Drew.
Of courseshe loved Drew.
Blindly. Explosively.
Like a bullet lodged in her chest in such a way that it would have to stay there forever because the extracting of it would kill her.
Perhaps that wasn’t the best metaphor, given their current perilous situation.
She loved Drew, and she wasn’t about to let him die at the hands of the same monster who had killed her parents.
“Cover me,” she shouted to Langley, rising fully, balling her skirts up into one fist, and exploding into a run.
Chapter30
Mina raced onto the deck of the ship. Everything was a blur. Men grunted in pain and the deck groaned beneath her feet. Inspector Langley fought bravely, knocking people over the head with the butt of his pistol and clearing a path for Mina.
“Mina, get back,” Drew shouted. He had blood dripping down his face. He was moving toward Le Triton, who was fighting with one of Langley’s men.
“Drew, I love you,” she shouted. “You can’t die.”
He startled. A knife whizzed past his ear.
