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“We have to send back the weapons,” I said. “If we don’t give Cael what he wants, he’ll capture you again. That’s what he always intended.”
“What?” asked Keane. “He’s all the bloody way over there—with no boat! We could sail away now and they’d never catch up.”
“You have to fulfill your end of the deal, I’m telling you,” I said.
“We’re only halfway free.” Keane raised his cuffed wrists. “So Cael didn’t fulfill his end of the deal either, did he?”
I tried to take the enormous gun down to the rowboat, but Keane continued to block my path to the ladder.
“Let me go,” I said.
“Blondie, don’t act like we’re doing something to hurt you. You know we wouldn’t.”
“It’s not about me,” I said. “Cael won’t let you leave with the weapons, I promise you.”
The radio buzzed and Cael’s voice spoke again. “Send back the weapons. This is my final warning!”
“Do it!” I yelled.
“Don’t,” Vaughn dropped the radio into my hand, done listening to Cael’s orders. “It’s decided. We’re sailing.”
Keane knelt on the deck and started to pull up the rope ladder.
I wanted to scream and shake sense into them, but none of them would listen. I set down the gun I held, losing hope.
Cael’s shouts came through the radio in my hand once more, barking the same orders he’d been saying to no avail.
I pressed the button and spoke. “They won’t comply until we take their shackles off.”
“Mara.” It was Graham, his voice strained as if he struggled to speak. “Get off the boat!”
I picked up the spyglass again and looked toward the shore. Graham and Cael appeared to be in a brawl on the sand. Graham held the radio in one hand, shoving Cael away with the other.
A white boat suddenly passed in front of the spyglass, slicing across the water. It had no sails, no oars, and I’d never seen anything travel so fast. Someone appeared to driving it.
The spyglass fell from my hands and clattered to the deck.
The boat looked much farther away now, but it traveled toward us at lightning speed.
“Jump!” Graham said through the radio.
I dashed to the gunwale, pausing to look back at the men on board. They readied the sails, Vaughn stood at the helm, and the men in shackles loudly worked on setting themselves free with the variety of tools strewn across the boat.
Keane sat on the deck working on his own chain with a hammer.
I ran to him. “Keane, you have to get off this boat. All of you. Look!” I pointed out at the boat headed our way.
“What the hell?” said Keane.
The boat came closer, leaving a deep trough in its wake.
All the men stopped to look.
“Everyone off the boat!” I yelled.
A low rumble radiated over the water as the white vessel approached, its trail so smooth that it didn’t even seem to be affected by the waves. I couldn’t tell who drove it. As it came closer, something that looked like a black mast rose from the roof, then tilted, angling toward us.
“Abandon ship!” I warned them one more time, backing toward the stern.
