The Song Bird (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (12 page)

“And when she saw what it was, she brought it to Eli and me.”

“What was it?”

“It was a Committee of Vigilance coin, dated eighteen fifty-five.” He waited to see if she would connect it. “Three months before the year actually started.”

“But you said the committee happened four years ago.”

“He’s trying to start the committee up again, start the whole insanity again. And I have a feeling his first target is going to be Eli.”

“Revenge against a club’s bank seems petty compared to the ambition of unifying California’s treasury.”

“It’s a first step. Shut down gambling to bring the money into the banks.”

“But he was a member. That seems a little hypocritical of him.”

“The world is full of hypocrisy. But four people died last time, without a trail. And God knows we can’t rely on Scannell.”

“So what happened to my sister?”

“Eli and I decided to protect Louisie by hiding which girl it was that took the coin. In order to do that, we had to let all the girls go. We compensated them and found acceptable houses for them to go to.”

“Then where is she?”

He shook his head. “The thing is, Louisie disappeared that night.”

“What?”

“Eli and I figured she must have left San Francisco, because we looked for her everywhere.”

“She’s gone? What about questioning the other girls? If they’re around, we can talk to them.”

“There’s a reason why there aren’t any last names in that ledger. When Eli and I went back to find her, it was as if she—”

He broke off abruptly as his gaze settled over her shoulder. Avilon turned and saw two large, hulking men blocking the front of the alley. One man had a scar bisecting his eyebrow, and the other flashed a tooth of gold when he grinned. Jason didn’t waste another minute. He grabbed her hand and turned toward the back of the alley, only to come to a halt as two more men moved to block that exit.

“Stay behind me,” he told her quietly. He blocked Avilon with his body as he angled them both toward the wall.

“Who are they? What do they want?”

“I don’t know. Shanghaiing me, maybe.”

“What?”

“Kidnapping me to recruit as a sailor.”

The four men moved as one, walking in from the only two exits.

“When they get close enough, duck. Get out of the way. Run and get Eli.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“Avilon! You can’t help me. Please, just get Eli.”

And that was all the time he had to say anything. The four men reached them and grabbed for Jason. Jason fought, fists flying as he attacked back as hard as he could. He punched with jabs and drives, using every inch of his arms and legs. Elbows thrust upward while knees tried to cripple. Though he fought like a lion, he had a difficult time defending all parts of his anatomy at once. The assailants dove for him at once, causing each fist to connect with Jason’s jaw. He staggered back and hit the wall hard enough for him to fall to his knees. Forgetting his words, Avilon jumped on one man’s back, banging her fist against him. He swatted at her as if she were a fly and knocked his head backward, which connected with her forehead. Dazed, she went flying and crashed into a heap on the cold ground.

“Avilon!” she heard Jason cry.

She lay still for a moment, trying to gather her wits. When she finally opened her eyes, all she saw was Jason trapped between two large men, hanging limply, being taken toward the end of the alley. She pushed herself up to stand and rubbed her forehead before following. She kept a fair distance between them and herself, making sure to keep out of sight. She followed them through the backstreets, staying out of sight from the attackers. The sound of the bay grew louder as they moved closer to the water, and she realized that Jason’s prediction had been accurate. The brutes were going to sell him!

The docks were an ugly sight. Muscled hulks of men worked in various tasks of ship life, from hauling cargo to coiling thick rope. A blend of odious smells seemed to linger like a poisonous cloud. Horse manure sat in piles on the street, urine mixed with brackish water, and the stench of rotting fish never dissipated, even with the breeze off the bay. Avilon found herself breathing through her mouth to hold off her nausea.

From the dark corner of a warehouse, she watched an unconscious Jason being carried up the gangplank of a ship. She saw the captain meet the kidnappers. He pulled Jason’s limp head upward to study him before giving a nod of agreement.

Just then, a group of kids ran by her, startling her. She pulled back in fright, her heart hammering like crazy as she tried to figure out how to rescue Jason. He had been partially right. She couldn’t save him alone.

“Hey,” she called out to the last boy, and when he turned, she saw red hair sticking out of the cap. Recognition flooded through her as she remembered him from that day in the alley when Eli gave him some coin and a job tip.

He stopped and walked over to her. “Yeah?”

He was a dirty thing, matted hair, smudged cheeks. His clothes were somewhere between brown and gray. When he smiled at her, she noticed his front tooth was crooked. Avilon reached into her reticule and pulled out a gold coin. The boy’s eyes widened.

“You remember Eli Masters? You tried to find work at his club off Montgomery and Broadway.”

“Yeah.”

“Get him. Bring him here. Tell him Jason and Avilon need him. Do that as quickly as possible, before that ship sails, and this coin is yours. Honest truth.”

In a flash, the boy was gone, leaving her praying for a miracle.

Eli was ready to chew some nails and spit them out.

He had left Avilon and Jason sleeping peacefully, and as much as he would have loved to stay with them, he had to accept a shipment of produce. As he had walked as quietly as he could down the stairs, he managed to stub his toe on a chair. Then someone had put a cart in front of the door to the hallway, and he’d banged his shin as he stepped into the club.

Then the food had arrived, but upon inspection, he had discovered most of it rotten. He wasted half an hour arguing with the driver, half ready to tear off his head and send it back to the merchant he had bought the food from. Luckily, Ellis had stepped in to take over the arrangements for a new shipment.

And that’s when the street urchin had come barreling into him, babbling almost incoherently. He had been ready to toss him into the smelly gutter when one name came through: Jason. Then he had sat the boy down and listened in horror as he learned Avilon had sent the boy to prevent Jason from being sold onto an outgoing ship.

Eli had run to his office to grab his pistol before recruiting six men to help him. The boy led them back to the dock and pointed to a ship whose gangplank was still lowered.

“This way!” Eli ordered. He ran up the gangplank and felt it vibrate under his feet as the other men followed.

The deck of the ship was surprisingly empty, at least for the moment. Breathing hard, he stood poised for a fight as his men fanned out behind him.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” a man’s voice growled from above.

Eli looked up just as a sailor dropped from the rigging to land in front of him.

“I’m here for my friend, asshole,” Eli said and punched the man in the face.

That was all it took. Chaos ensued for a few moments as more sailors came at them. Anger and fear caused pure adrenaline to consume his body as he swung his fist this way and that. He didn’t even see who he was hitting but loved the satisfaction every time he felt another nose crunch.

“Stop! I said stop!”

A male voice finally broke through his red haze. Eli recognized the call of authority and immediately brought his pistol up to point straight into the captain’s face.

“My friend was brought here against his will,” Eli said through clenched teeth. “I want him back.”

“I bought him.”

“Be glad the only thing you’re losing today is your money,” Eli told him.

The captain glared at him as he gave a nod to one of his men. A minute later, Jason appeared. Eli couldn’t relax, though all he wanted to do was pull Jason to him and kiss him.

“Let’s go,” he ordered his men, and slowly they retraced their path down the gangplank, making sure to maintain eye contact with the captain until they were off the ship.

His men gathered around, and for the first time, he actually saw the remnants of the fight. Bloody noses, blackened eyes, busted lips, they were a sorry-looking lot.

“Get back to the club,” he told his men. “But be careful.”

The men nodded and disappeared into the crowd.

“Come on,” Eli said to Jason and grabbed his arm. He led him from the busy dock to an alley between two large buildings, far away from any prying eyes. There was a shadowed doorway that offered a bit of protection. Eli quickly pulled Jason into his arms and laid his forehead on Jason’s shoulder.

“Thanks for saving me,” Jason murmured as he stroked Eli’s hair.

Eli lifted his head and stared at him. “Don’t ever fucking do that to me again,” he said just before he lowered his head and captured Jason’s lips, sinking his tongue deep into his mouth and branding his ownership.

* * * *

A sense of relief shot through her as she saw Eli and several dealers from the club rush onto the dock, led by the boy, who pointed to the ship. In Eli’s hand was a pistol. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart hammered erratically as she waited.

When Eli and his men reached the ship’s deck, several sailors rushed at them. She winced as punches landed, and even from her hiding spot, she could hear fists hitting flesh. Soon the captain appeared, and Eli stuck the pistol in his face. The captain stared at him, eyes squinted, and a few seconds later, he shouted for his men to stand down. She saw Eli tell him something, and a moment later, Jason was brought topside and thrust forward. Eli gave a shout for his men to leave, and they all backed away, heading from the ship, down the gangplank. He kept his pistol trained on the ship’s captain, though, until they were all safely on the dock. The ship’s crew pulled the gangplank up while screaming obscenities. Eli didn’t relax until they had moved far enough away from a retaliation shooting.

And once they were safe, Avilon slumped against the building she stood next to, holding a trembling hand to her heart. The whole incident lasted only a few minutes, but it had felt like a lifetime.

Then suddenly, the boy popped up in front of her, and she gave a little shriek. He laughed as he held out his hand.

Avilon reached into her reticule and extracted two gold coins. “Thank you,” she told him as she placed both coins in his hand.

The boy’s eyes widened as he stared at the money. Then he gave her a snarled-tooth grin, turned, and ran away, disappearing back into the crowd. Avilon smoothed down her skirt and left her spot to make her way after where she saw Eli and Jason head.

As she entered the alley, however, she didn’t see them and walked a little farther. Movement caught her eye, and she looked into a doorway. She stopped abruptly as she saw Eli and Jason kissing, their arms wrapped around each other tightly. And it felt like a fist had punched her heart.

Despite the bruises, life continued that night as if nothing unusual had happened. The men made jokes about practicing some unusual sexual positions from the girls upstairs, and it all became a ribald joke. Avilon didn’t exactly approve, but she understood the need for discretion. She didn’t think it was a coincidence that Jason just happened to be targeted for being shanghaied. The accountant’s office was nowhere near the docks, and they had asked the hackney cab to wait. But even Eli and Jason had admitted they had enemies, and the list was long.

She sat next to Homer, warming up her voice, thoughts swirling through her head. It wasn’t so much the excitement of the day, the near miss of losing Jason, but the fact that they had lied to her. Just when her heart had started to warm toward them, to maybe begin trusting her instincts around them, she had to find out they were lying to her.

She couldn’t help but watch them. She found herself sneaking peeks around corners to look at them, to see if she could find more evidence of their deception. And every gesture between them developed a new meaning, a deeper significance.

“Everything okay?” Homer asked.

Startled, Avilon glanced from where she stared at the open doorway of the theater to Homer’s weathered face. “Perfectly fine,” she managed to say.

“You’ve been acting funny.”

“Too much excitement, I guess,” she replied vaguely and glanced back toward the door. Seeing no one, she gave a sigh and rubbed her temples.

“You looking for someone?”

“What? Oh, no. Just…I thought I knew things. I thought my eyes were open. You know?”

Homer shook his head.

Avilon flashed a wry smile. “I found my sister’s name. Do you remember Louisie?”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“You thought what?”

“You and she have the same eyes.”

Avilon felt her heart stutter in surprise. “You do remember her,” she whispered.

Homer nodded. “She sang occasionally when Millie was sick.”

“What was she…what
is
she like? I haven’t seen her in almost four years.”

“Louisie was sad, and that sadness dimmed some of her beauty. She’s not quite as vibrant as you.”

Tears welled in her eyes. It broke her heart that Homer, a stranger up until three weeks ago, was telling her who her sister had become.

“Do you know what made her sad?”

Homer shook his head.

Avilon swallowed the lump in her throat and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. Then she breathed deeply to hold back the tears.

“She’s alive,” Avilon told him firmly. “Somewhere she is alive.”

“Never thought otherwise,” Homer replied and started playing the piano again. “She talked a lot with a girl named Doll.”

Avilon crinkled her brow. “I know that name. Wait, she was one of the girls who also worked upstairs.”