Author's note: STOP! Before reading this story visit this forum: .net/forum/Pirates_A_Tale_from_an_AU/91713/
This story is a follow up on two characters from this forum: Nathaniel Wellington and Maurissa Sparrow (he is my character, she is not, but she is being used with permission). Their character profiles are probably the best place to start. They're under the similarly titled topic and should be fairly easy to find. As for the story that leads up to this one, it most plays out in the "Port Royal" topic, then moves to the "White Cap Bay2" topic. This isn't going to be much crossover between the forum and this story, outside of these two characters, but some context would no doubt be helpful, so go now. I'll wait.
Got it? Ok. Now you may continue.
Antonio Carlos Silvio Gonzalez was a rich merchant in his late forties who operated out of Barcelona, Spain. He had everything money could buy including a wife who was all he wanted: Someone who was there when he needed her, but didn't nag him to do things. She was much like his many mistresses, except for the marriage thing.
It had been an arranged marriage, more a political maneuver than anything else. She came from a moderately wealthy family without a father. Maurissa Sanchez' dowry was a small percentage of the family's wealth, which he had used to buy up the majority of the remaining wealth. He now more or less had complete control of the entire family, which he took full advantage of.
He had made a few small concessions over the years, like giving Maurissa six months on her own every five years. He always knew she would come back, because he threatened to ruin her family if she didn't. And he fully intended to. He had demonstrated his willingness to destroy people, both financially and politically, on numerous occasions.
Maurissa was due back the day after tomorrow and Antonio was putting the final touches on his plan to ruin her family should she fail to return. The sun was setting and he was ready to turn in. He had a young woman he met in town that morning waiting for him. He smiled as he thought about the beautiful flower girl, appropriately named Florencia. He had to admit he was looking forward to this. He stood and made his way to his bed chamber as a smile crept over his face.
When he entered the bed chamber Florencia was waiting on him, sitting in his bed, the covers pulled up to her shoulders, clearly covering herself. Antonito's grin quickly faded as he saw the look of fear on the young woman's face. He turned around and saw a man standing behind the door pointing a pistol at him.
"Please," the man said in an English accent. "Don't stop on my account."
"Who are you?" Antonio asked.
"Oh good, you speak English," the man said. "That will make things go much smoother."
"Who are you?" Antonio repeated. "What do you want?"
"Who I am is of no consequence," the man said as he stepped forward into the light. He had brown hair, a goatee and was wearing a sword on his back, along with an extra pistol in his belt. "As for what I want," he continued, a disturbingly light-hearted tone to his voice, "we'll get to that. And if you're thinking about calling your guards, don't bother. They're…indisposed.
"First things first though," the man said, looking toward Florencia. "Vestirse, salir, y no mirar hacia atrás. Me lo agradecerás más tárde," he said to the flower girl. She nodded, pulled her dress off the floor, put it on, and walked out of the room, but not before turning to the man and saying, "Te quemarás en el infierno por esto, bastardo."
"Charming girl," the man said dryly as she walked away. "Where did you find her?"
"What do you want?" Antonio asked, growing impatient.
"Simple," the man said as he sat down in a chair near the window. "I'm here deliver a message from your wife: She wants a divorce. And I'm here to take it out of your hide."
"What?" Antonio said, incredulous.
The man chuckled, but kept the pistol pointed at Antonio's heart. "I met Maurissa a little over two months ago. She's a remarkable woman, far more than you deserve really."
"How dare you!"
"You see," the man continued, ignoring Antonio, "Your mistake was letting her out on her own. She put together a crew of pirates and has been leading them very well. So well, in fact, that she's decided she doesn't need you anymore."
"And what's that got to do with you?"
"I'm her partner. She's agreed to help me find someone if I help her ruin you. And I have, in my own way."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if my calculations are right, our people should nearly be finished destroying the ships you have in dock."
At that moment a large explosion shook the house. Antonio ran to the window just in time to see a huge fireball coming from the docks. Swearing under his breath, he turned back to the man. "She's made a huge mistake!" he shouted. "I'll make her pay for this!"
"If you're referring to the threats you've made against her family," the man said with a smirk, "then you are much stupider than I gave you credit for. Do you really think that we'd make a move like this without removing your leverage first?"
Antonio turned toward the man in a rage. "YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!" he screamed.
The man stood and raised his pistol so that it was right between the Spaniard's eyes. "I am under orders from Maurissa not to kill you," he said, his voice now deadly serious. "But I will if I have to. Remember that only one other person knows I'm here, and I think I can handle one woman."
Antonio stopped shouting, but continued to glare at the Englishman. "You tell that punta from me," he said, "that there is nowhere in the world she can hide. I will find her and I will kill her."
The man smiled again. "She told me you'd say that. She also told me to tell you that if you try, her crew will tear your miserable hide apart before you can get a shot off. Think about that before you try anything stupid."
Antonio lunged at the man, who brought his pistol up and hit the merchant on the side of the head, knocking him out cold.
"Good night, sweet prince," Nathaniel Wellington said with a smirk before turning and walking out of the room, returning the pistol to his belt as he did so.
As he walked out of the house, he saw a shadow move next to him. He moved quickly, drawing a dagger from his belt and blocking the cutlass that swinging toward his head. Then he reached out, grabbed the arm holding the sword and pulled the person out of the shadows, taking the blade as he did so. Upon seeing who it was, he let out a sigh of frustration.
"Damn it, Florencia," he said to the woman in front of him. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I thought he would kill you," Florencia said with a shrug. "I was just trying to complete the job."
"Your confidence in me is overwhelming," Nathaniel said as he handed the cutlass back to her. "You were supposed to go back to the ship and leave Antonio to me."
"You English can't do anything right," the woman said with a smirk.
"We defeated your armada didn't we?" Nathaniel smirked back.
Florencia shrugged. "Even the British can get lucky sometimes," she said as she turned to walk away.
Nathaniel shook his head and followed Florencia. She was one of the many crew members aboard Maurissa's ship, The Fantasma Asesino, or The Murderous Ghost. Florencia was one of the newer members of the crew, but she had more than proven herself as a competent sailor and fighter. She had volunteered to help get Nathaniel into Antonio's house at the request of Maurissa and had apparently performed her part very well.
"You were good back there," he said as he caught up to her at the longboat they had used to get ashore from the hidden cove where the ship was anchored.
"I was doing my job," she said. "There is no need to make more of it." She climbed in the boat and began to prepare it, telling Nathaniel that he should let it go. He decided to do so as he would need the help of everyone on the Ghost to find his sister, Rachel, and began to help the young woman. Rachel had married a rich business man in the Carolina colony. What had seemed on the surface to be a happy marriage had been anything but, as Nathaniel found out when Rachel had written him for the first time since the wedding. He tried to rescue her, but Rachel had been sent away by her husband before he could reach her. In an impulsive act that he would later regret, Nathaniel had killed the bastard before he could give him any hints as to Rachel's whereabouts. Now, with Maurissa's help, he hoped to pick up the trail.
Twenty minutes later, Nathaniel and Florencia climbed aboard the Ghost and were greeted by Maurissa. "I take it everything went well," she said. "The demolition crew got back ten minutes ago."
"Went off like clockwork," Nathaniel said. "It couldn't have worked better if we'd planned it. Antonio was out cold when I left, but he'll be furious when he wakes up."
"I'm sure he will," Maurissa said with a grin. "But he'll have bigger problems when his competitors get wind of his blowing up their ships."
"You are a devious woman, Maurissa Sparrow," Nathaniel said. "I'm glad you're not my enemy."
"Never assume," she said with a grin. "Shall we start our search for your sister now?"
Nathaniel nodded. Maurissa turned and began to shout orders to the crew. Hold on, Rachel, he thought. I'm coming.