Where to hide? Jack said to stay hidden no matter what.

I glanced wildly about as The Black Otter pitched on the sea. A moment later, the anchor splashed down outside Jack’s porthole window. My heart thundered in my chest.

What is going on? If it is bad enough to cause such a reaction from Jack then it must be—

My gaze fell upon our bed.

There!

Though I failed to notice before, mine and Jack’s bed was laid out atop a flat, wooden chest. I pushed up the mattress and, sure enough, there was a handle. I gave it a pull. It creaked open just enough for me to get one leg in. Then the other. As I let the top ease down and seal me into what may prove to be my tomb, someone or something hit the locked bedroom door.

Chatter in another language, syllabic and short, echoed in the stairway.

Please God, let the mattress fall back over the top of this trunk. Let me stay hidden. Let—

Something sharp hit the locked door with such force, the wood splintered with a sickening crack. Hidden by darkness, an anonymous thing with many legs whisked across my hand.

Jack. Oh Jacky, where are you?

The incessant chatter grew louder.

Is that Chinese?

“You saw her come down here?”

“Ahhh—”

The tell-tale creak screeched as the mysterious invaders discovered my hiding place. Candlelight flooded into my tucked-away space. I glanced up. There, staring down at me, were the faces of men I’d never seen the likes of before. Slanted eyes, long mustaches, sharp swords. They certainly were Chinese. Chinese pirates.

“Take her to Jack,” one ordered in twangy, broken syllables. “Let he watch us all take her before we kill her.”

One of their swords poked into the flesh of my back as they forced me up the stairs.

“Behold,” one of my captors hissed. “Your husband.”

The doors flung open and I stumbled out onto the deck.

My throat tightened at the sight laid out before me. Russian Jack was there. On his knees, with a rope around his neck like a dog. Haggard and dirty Chinamen ringed him. All wore a look of murder in their eyes. Jack’s icy eyes, however, were swollen almost shut. Scarlet smears streaked his cheeks. His chest rose and fell as though he’d just fought for his life, and was on the verge of giving up. When our eyes met, however, he bristled anew.

“Let her go, China Joe.” Jack made no move, but the hatred for the rival pirate transformed his voice from one of a man to one of a bloodthirsty beast.

China Joe’s crew laughed a twangy, inhuman laugh.

“Let who go?” China Joe’s eyes glinted flinty black in the moonlight. “You mean her?”

The dirty Chinaman, presumably Joe, jabbed the steel point of a sword into my back. “You mean her? My new whore?”

He didn’t let Russian Jack answer before continuing. “I wonder who will has her first—” His words mixed with the thick laughter of his men, until the sick sound blanketed all of us on deck. “I believe I will.”

Jack sprang to his feet with a roar. He charged China Joe so quickly that the rope around his neck tightened like a noose, but the pirate holding the other end was taken off guard. He flew off his barrel and landed face first on the deck.

In that instant, Jack had the upper hand. Had the pirate with the sword in my back not jabbed it in further and grabbed my hair, I would have rushed to my husband’s aid. Before I could figure a way out of my predicament, something crashed over Jack’s head and he fell motionless to the deck.

I sat on the side of The Black Otter. Utter fear enveloped me as Russian Jack fastened the second and final cannonball to my legs. I was powerless to quell the tremble that knocked my knees together as I swallowed back the nausea that swelled in my throat. The stoic look on his face as he carried out the task forced upon him by the Chinese crew brought a tremble to my lip, as well as my legs.

He’s really going to do it. My husband is really going to bury me at sea—alive.

“No Jacky, don’t. Please.” I tried to keep the fear out of my whisper. Still, the words hissed out of my throat with a terrifying finality. “Just tell me what to do and we can fight our way out of this mess. Together.”

His face registered no emotion and he didn’t answer.

“Go ahead Jack,” one Chinese bucko chided. “Kiss your child bride goodbye.”

Monica Joan’s screams resonated in my ears as the Chinese took turns at her.

Will they kill her when they finish? Will they kill her as they finish?

She was terrified when we took her ship. I had personally assured her she was safe aboard The Black Otter—that nobody aboard would dare harm a woman with Russian Jack in charge. She was simply hitching a ride to the mainland under the guise of friendship and protection. And we’d let her down. We’d all let her down. But none had let her down more than me.

Jack leaned forward. “Let the cannonballs fall first. Don’t jump with them.” His lips, lips I was sucking and biting just hours before, brushed my cheek in a dry kiss. “Then swim. We passed a sloop yesterday, remember? The Molly Maiden? Swim to it. Swim in the direction of the setting sun.”

“Jacky—”

His lips silenced my unasked question. My mouth worked against his, hoping against hope that, somehow, we would still come out on top. Tears wet my eyes and dangled from my lashes.

He pulled back. “I’ll find you. I promise.”

His callused hand brushed the side of my face and my eyes closed on their own. I bit my lip. The Chinese crew cat-called in their twangy syllabic way.

The grimy, grinning, gap-toothed face belonging to China Joe appeared over Russian Jack’s shoulder. “Now push her,” he instructed. “You do as China Joe say. I am your mah-stah now.”

A whip cracked and Jack grimaced as the leather split the skin on his back. “Now!”

Jack hefted the cannonballs into his arms, one after the other, and placed them on the side of The Black Otter.

Will the weight break my legs? Will the fall alone kill me? Will I drown?

Another snap from China Joe’s whip elicited a groan from Jack. Monica Joan’s screams pinnacled, then silenced. Bedraggled pirates emerged, pulling up their pants and elbowing each other.

“Push her, fool, or I give her to my crew.”

I stared at my husband and watched helplessly as his eyes clouded to stormy black. With a roar, he turned and dove again at China Joe. A tear rolled down my cheek as he wrested the cat-o-nine tails from his bony hand.

“Get his woman,” China Joe commanded.

Time ground to a halt as the pirates, so freshly finished with Monica Joan, hunched and started toward me, their long-fingered hands outstretched. Hands that, should they touch me, meant death.

In the midst of the rushing pirates, there was Jack, my Jack, battling for my life and my honor, against a cruel nemesis that clearly had the upper hand. We were overpowered before Jack and I even knew we’d been overrun.