An Airship Named Desire (Take to the Skies Book 1) (24 page)

Chapter Twenty Three

I woke to cold steel pressed against my temple.

The slithering feeling of metal hit me the second I became conscious, so when I opened my eyes, I did so slowly and carefully. My sleep-crusted vision blurred before me, but upon inhale the odor of diesel oil coated the room like slime.

“Stand up, Bea. Don’t make any sudden moves. You know we’ll shoot.” The voice was familiar. Too familiar, one I’d heard countless times on so many different jobs. It rang with the same commanding tone as always.

Jensen.

For a moment, my world whirled around me in panic, and I lost gauge of my surroundings. I blinked several times, waiting for the blurriness to dissipate and my mind to settle. My surroundings were familiar—I still lay on the bed in the captain’s quarters where I’d fallen asleep last night.

Jensen stood beside me with his trusty old revolver pressed against my temple. His appearance proved Mordecai’s observations true. Just as I’d changed during the time after Morris’ death, he had too.

The hulk of a man appeared menacing like always with tree trunk arms and thick muscular legs, but his eyes changed. Once a soft hazel, they had lent him an air of gentleness despite his brusque demeanor. No longer, they were sunken and red veins crawled into the whites. His ripped sleeves made the Morlock tattoo on his right bicep visible, and his skin glowed tender from the fresh ink. He still dressed in the same ensemble of a bandolier with a bowler cap and suspenders, but a different man than the Jensen I had known wore them. Behind him, another Morlock stood with his semi-automatic pointed in my direction, wearing the navy blue sniper glasses that marked him as a ranked officer.

I took a shaky breath and kept my cool. My feet touched the ground, and with excruciating slowness, I leveled them onto the chilled floor. Jensen kept his revolver pressed against my head the entire time. Once I planted my feet, I stood and lifted my hands.

“I’m unarmed.” Just like the captain, the thought roiled through my turbulent mind, as fast and sudden as a storm. I fought to keep my tone even. “What brings you in for this visit, Jensen? I was telling Isabella, you never stop by any more. If I’d known you were coming, I might have put on a pot of tea, maybe polished up Matilda.” I took another deep breath to stay steady. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you manners? It’s polite to give some warning.”

Jensen bared his teeth at me, the way he always had when we bantered. Now though, his expression twisted into an ugly smirk. 

“Always a talker. I can’t say I’ve missed it. Working with the Morlocks, I finally have some peace and quiet.” He pressed the muzzle deeper into my skull. “Now, where’s the box?”

I shrugged. “You’ve put me off the mood to talk with all that weapon brandishing and threatening you’re doing. Maybe if you say pretty please.”

The Morlock behind him inched closer, but Jensen placed a hand out to keep him back.

“Don’t. We don’t know where it is, but they know the location.” He eyed me. “You wouldn’t throw it overboard. Not after Morris died over the thing.”

I gritted my teeth but didn’t say a word.

Jensen swung the pistol, aiming straight for my jaw. The metal smacked my face sudden and fast, causing searing, blinding pain to rip through my skull. My vision blanked to white for a moment under siege of the throbbing ache. Even still, Jensen had controlled his force, because the man wasn’t stupid. If he broke my jaw, I wouldn’t be able to tell him the location. He wouldn’t kill me outright until they found the box.

“Morlocks, Jensen?” I spat blood onto the floor. The distressed nerves wired knifing torment and panic to my brain, but I forced myself to stay calm, catching a quick glimpse of Matilda lying on the dresser, just out of reach. “I thought you had more class than that.” The men next to him growled, and Jensen’s lip curled with an ugly sneer. I stretched my hand out towards the dresser, hoping they wouldn’t notice. “I mean mercenary I could see, you’ve always had the aptitude for cold hearted killing, but ‘one of the cog’? Really? If they were any more pathetic, I’d laugh them off the ship.” My fingers inched near the pistol.

Jensen shifted in front of my hand and blocked me. “Having a force of men at your back isn’t that bad. Getting steady gigs doesn’t hurt either, especially with the new retrieval job we received from a certain employer. He’s willing to pay double the original price tag now. Something about a crew that wouldn’t keel over and die, so he could get his cargo. What a stubborn lot.”

My eyes widened. The Morlocks and our ex-employer had teamed up. No wonder the ex-employer’s men tracked us without a hitch. With Jensen on their side, two of our three enemies were armed with the insider knowledge that he could provide. Only the Brits remained on the outskirts.

I sneered. “Price tag or no, selling out to become a pet is pathetic.”

Jensen slung his pistol again. Lighter this time, but that didn’t matter. My jaw strained, close to breaking. The nerves along my face radiated with pain, sending shards of agony sp strong I almost crumpled. My legs held steady through willpower alone.

“Let’s bring her on deck with the others. There are easier ways of dealing with this than talking it out. Besides,” he said with a leer, “I can’t wait to see Beatrice without her swagger. Is it Captain now?” He flicked the cap on my head. “No matter. Deep down, you’re a scared little girl. You’ll be begging me to hand over the box.”

“That sounds right up your alley. Scared and unable to fight. They’ll hail you slayer of cripples and vulnerable women. Has an honorable ring to it, right?” I braced my jaw for impact, but instead he shoved me forward, keeping the gun pointed at my head. As I trudged down the corridor, my mind spun. Jensen and his men must have boarded us during the night while most of the crew slept. But how did they locate us so easily? My heart sank heavy in my chest. Claire and those mercs probably gave away our direction. After all, we hadn’t hunted them down and killed them, just sailed off fast.

Our footsteps echoed through the corridor, like the toll of a grandfather clock at midnight. We walked by my old first mate cabin, empty now, past Isabella’s cameo, and Geoff’s maps on the wall. My eyes stopped on the porthole hung near my old room, the one Jensen, the Captain, and I found. At the time, I hadn’t the heart to tear it down, but I should have. The relic scarred her walls now as a reminder of a naïve time when men were like Captain Morris, with honor, and if they weren’t, they were the bad guys we shot.

Jensen shoved me again to make sure I kept an even pace, and we started up the stairs towards the deck. A wave of shame swept over me, and my legs struggled to work. Under Captain Morris, no intruders boarded the Desire. He’d been smart and always stayed three steps ahead of his enemies. My fly by the seat of my pants approach may have worked under high stress jobs and gun fights where instinct was key, but running a ship took a different mindset. Some captain I made.

Jensen knew what steps he took, thrusting me to face my captive crew and writhe in disgrace. I hardened my gaze. What a pity he’d never get the satisfaction of seeing me crumble. The early rays of dawn peered through the horizon, and the bloodied sky stood out like an omen. ‘Red sky at morning, sailors take warning’ was the old adage from eons ago. Couldn’t be more true. I took a deep breath as we emerged from below, breaking onto the surface.

Not until I reached the top of the steps and witnessed my crew held at gunpoint by the dozens of Morlocks did terror shatter me like a broken vase. The horror in their eyes tore my heart apart and shredded my pride to pieces.

All across the deck, my crew filed out. Spade steadily steered the Desire with a gun pointed straight at his skull. His calm gaze faltered for a moment when he glanced at me. A bruise purpled on his cheek, and his left leg slumped with his weight supported by his right. They’d done a number on him when they snuck in during the night. While I might have thrown jabs at Jensen for joining up, the Morlocks were no laughing matter.

Men grabbed Isabella from either side. A scowl twisted her pretty mouth, and her tan curls formed a tangled mess along her shoulders. Her torn chemise exposed her shoulder while the short skirt she wore barely covered her thighs. One of the Morlock men leered at her, thrusting his face inches from hers. These people held no regard for lives. They’d rape the women and plunder the ship because when they made an exit, they left corpses aboard. Morlocks didn’t gain a feared reputation as a pirate band of mercenaries through honorable practices and flower picking.

Another Morlock pointed a gun at Edwin’s head. He trembled, absolutely terrified. Their muddied boots tracked trails all over our clean deck and blemished the Desire’s surface, but that’s the least we had to worry about with a Morlock takeover. Those bastards gutted ships like game and left the floating, decimated wrecks unmanned to crash and burn onto land.

Two of their men corralled the group of deckhands since many of them were too young and frightened to offer much resistance. Another Morlock stood behind Geoff brandishing a knife to his throat. He met my eyes for a brief moment, and I had to look away as the fear burned a brand inside me.  

Fury swelled in my chest at the thought of my crew facing such a fate. I’d never allow it. But even if we gave them the box, our outcome remained the same. If anything, the box kept us alive longer because it made us worth something. The second that value left, we’d be tossed overboard like an empty clip. 

Jensen shoved me forward in display of our full crew, all twenty of us. Dawn descended, and I choked on each heavy mouthful of the early morning mist. I’d rather he stripped me down than force me to stand under the gazes of my captive crew. Facing their helpless stares wrenched my pride like nothing I’d ever experienced. They expected me to do something and pull some scheme like Captain Morris would have done. Everyone relied on me, but I hadn’t a clue how to get us out of this one.

An airship a quarter the size of Desire hovered beside ours, above the ledge by the navigation bay. Her propellers rattled, and in the distance, one lone figure manned the helm. The rest of the crew already found a new ship. Ours. Their small vessel held minimal crew with no artillery or cannons. In an airship fight, she’d be blown from the skies with one hit of our lone cannon, but they built her for stealth, not battle. 

Jensen knew what he was doing, since he’d been trained by the best. We’d spent countless days up on the deck sparring with Morris. The better we grew, the more frequently he’d pull out an old military maneuver to win, but he kept us sharp. And Jensen knew every detail about us too—our disadvantages, the size of the crew, and the lay of the ship. He’d brought just enough men to handle our numbers. That sort of efficiency was deadly.

His proximity made me ill as he took his place beside me, and together we faced the crew. 

“Now that we have a change of scenery, let’s see if you’ll be more receptive to my questions. You talk a lot of useless jabber.” He gestured to Edwin. “Where’s the box?”              

Edwin’s hands shook, and he refused to peer up at Jensen. “I’ve never seen the thing that’s responsible for this trouble around here. I’ve no idea where it could be.” The Morlock fired the deck beside him, and Edwin leapt almost a foot off the ground.

Jensen frowned and waved a hand to dismiss him. “He’s too weak to lie to us. He wouldn’t know where it was being kept.”

Edwin drew himself up, and his eyebrows slanted with disapproval even though his voice trembled. “Even if I did know, I’d never tell you. A traitor, Jensen. You betrayed us all.” My heart swelled for the lanky, neurotic scientist. The Morlock’s punch cracked like thunder through the silence as his fist connected. Edwin crumpled.

“How dare you!” Isabella surged from the Morlock’s grip at that point with a cry of defiance. She crouched down and kneed the man to her right in the groin. He buckled over. The one gripping her other arm yanked her back by the hair, pressing his cheek to hers.

“We’ll be having a fun time later.” He spanked her with his other hand, and tears of humiliation burned in her eyes. That prideful, radiant woman should’ve never been reduced to this. Pain ached inside my chest, but the cold steel at my temple forbade me from any sudden movements. The other Morlock rose to his feet although shakily, and both resumed pinning Isabella back. 

A shout and the wet crack of a connected punch came from below.

Two Morlocks ascended the steps onto the deck, struggling to keep Seth hostage. One sported a fresh black eye. The sight broke my heart, like watching a wild horse tamed under bit and whip.

“Your crew may not be aware of the whereabouts, Bea.” Jensen turned his focus onto me. “But you know where it’s hidden. Why don’t you be a good girl and cooperate? Your death will be much cleaner that way, and I might even kill you straight out rather than pass you around. Morlock men don’t see ladies too often, and they’re not known for being gentle.” I forced down a shudder at the leers coming from the Morlocks on board. “If you don’t work with me, each bit of resistance will be taken out on your crew.”

“How could you, Jensen?” Isabella’s eyes glinted as she ground her teeth. His glance over her way lingered since their communication ran river deep.

“It’s called being practical, darling. I watch my own back over anyone else’s. Now, the box, Beatrice.” Geoff balled his hands into fists and lifted his chin. Seth shook his head to signal a vehement ‘no,’ because he knew how important those documents were. If they landed in the hands of someone like Jensen, we’d end up with a devastating war.