Nine
Jaime strolls across the roof-top patio and stops beside Brienne. He grasps the steel rail topping the glass bannister and leans into it.
Good, he thinks. Solid and chest high so if she tries to throw me over, it'll take some doing.
He glances at Brienne and ruefully acknowledges that her glower is doing nothing to mar the beauty of her eyes. He wonders what they would look like if she was ever pleased with him.
He blinks the unexpected thought away and says, "We are not a drug cartel."
"Right."
He sighs and turns his attention to the magnificent view and wonders where to even begin.
"You've met a member of our police force," he finally says.
He sees her nod from the corner of his eyes.
"They're mostly all like that: incompetent or corrupt or just too damn lazy to do their jobs. Our livelihood depends on the tourists, making sure they have a good time but also making sure they're safe."
"So?"
"So we're what you might call a civilian police force."
Brienne tilts her head to one side, her scowl deepening. "So you're what? A band of vigilantes?"
"Something like that." He turns towards her so he can watch her face. "Those of us who live here like it here. We like the beaches and the heat and the lifestyle and we even like the touries...to a certain definition of 'like'. Our cops are worse than useless and in the pockets of our equally useless politicians who only maintain their power because they've corrupted the system. Oh, the island is stable enough. No one wants a revolution! But there are gaps in what the authorities are willing to do, especially when it comes to the touries and crimes against island residents and the activities of…hm…'outside business interests' who have bought and paid for the privilege of establishing themselves on the island. So, we stepped in. Call us vigilantes if you want, but we patrol the jungle and the mountains and if we find something that needs to be fixed, a message goes out on the coconut telegraph and we take care of the problem."
"Take care of the problem. How?"
"However we need to." Her eyes widen with alarm and he gives her a reassuring smile even if his words are not. "We're not violent...most of the time. If we can, we capture, contain and deport."
"And if you can't?"
"Well, then we make things very difficult. And sometimes painful."
Brienne is silent and Jaime can almost see her brain whirling as she processes what he's told her.
"Sounds dangerous," she finally says.
Jaime shrugs. "Not really. Most of the time we're dealing with drunk college kids or people who believe a little too much in the hype that Piratas is a lawless paradise. They just need a little tuning in to what's acceptable and what isn't. Every once in a while we run into somebody trying to make a profit off shit we don't want on our island. Those can get a little touchy, especially if we interfere with the bribes going to the cops or our politicians. Still, we haven't let that stop us yet."
"And you have these problems a lot, do you?"
Jaime shrugs. "No more than most places in the Summer Isles. It helps when you have basically every permanent resident on the island keeping a close eye on things." He smiles. "We're not policing people to make sure they're living life the way we think they should. We just want to make sure any dangerous elements are contained. Our tourists are our life's blood here, after all, and the only thing worse than a book debunking our number one tourist attraction would be news that we've been invaded by drug cartels or a serial killer. Which is why anything we do is done as quickly and as quietly as possible."
Her eyes narrow as she searches his expression. "And where do you fit in with all this? You're more than just another coconut on the telegraph, aren't you?"
Jaime grins at that then says, "I used to run a private security firm back in my previous life. One of the best. I came here after...well."
In an instant he's back in that horrible and horrifying time: the brutality of it all, the horror of it, the press of the media, the flash of cameras, the contempt of those men who should have supported him and left him to face it all on his own. It took a long time but he doesn't think about it very often anymore. It helps that the people now in his life and he calls friends either don't know about it or, more likely, don't care. Still, the fact Brienne hasn't recognized him is a minor miracle in the shit show that's been the last few weeks.
He shakes off the memories and gives Brienne a grim half-smile. "Let's just say I needed a well-deserved, overdue binge and where better to do that than on Piratas, the land of pirates and tavern wenches and magic rubies. When I regained consciousness, I had an apartment and friends and a problem that needed solving. I've been here ever since."
She frowns and opens her mouth then closes it again before saying, "So those two men today...they're part of a drug cartel?"
"Not as far as I know. They appear to really be treasure hunters."
"Right."
"More dangerous than our usual group of treasure hunters, true, but treasure hunters nonetheless." He has a sudden image of Jos and Pia's laughing faces and the guilt is suddenly back, pressing in on him from all sides. "They also seem better funded than normal and they're definitely working for somebody else."
"And what 'treasure' are they hunting?"
He barks a short, harsh laugh, and he doesn't know if his sudden rage is fueled by grief or frustration or his memories or all of the above. "This is Piratas. What do you think?"
Brienne's jaw drops. "Rhaegar's Rubies? They're seriously hunting for Rhaegar's Rubies? They're a myth!"
"Their magic is a myth; their existence is not. You should know that better than anybody, Ms 'I-literally-wrote-the-book-on-it'!"
She rolls her eyes. "It doesn't matter if the rubies actually existed! The mine is both played out and not on this island!"
"If you believe the correct mine has never been found then how can you know that for sure?"
Brienne throws up her hands. "Because I've studied the official Royal archives! I've combed through document after document and followed every clue to its source. All of the evidence points to an island a thousand kilometres north of here! Even then, there is no such thing as magic!"
Jaime throws up his own hands as he abruptly turns away and stalks around the small rooftop space before stopping in front of her to glare into her admittedly amazing eyes.
"It isn't the rubies' magic that brings people here," he snaps, "willing to trek through the jungle for a few hours or even weeks on end! It's the magic of adventure! It's the thrill of the hunt, the lure of the unknown, the excitement of gambling on finding something that could literally change your life! It's the opportunity to do something more than just sit in a library and read about somebody else's life!"
"I don't see how wasting your time chasing a lie is somehow better than researching it before you go haring off!"
"Oh? And have you hared off to search for the mine on this other island?"
That makes her pause, blinking and scowling, and he laughs, harsh and mocking.
"I didn't think so," he growls.
There's a flash of hurt in her beautiful eyes and as suddenly as his rage came upon him, it's gone, leaving him feeling deflated and oddly guilty.
"I'm sorry," he mutters, taking a step back. "Nothing that's happened in the last few weeks is your fault and I have no business taking out my frustrations on you."
That makes her pause again, her scowl turning to a confused frown. She blinks almost uncertainly at him before giving him an awkward nod.
He turns away, raking his hand through his hair. "Look. Whether you're right or not about the mine, 'those guys' do believe the mine is on this island and they seem determined to murder anyone who may have seen them or—"
"Murder?"
Jaime stops in his tracks at Brienne's high-pitched screech and closes his eyes with a groan.
He had not wanted to tell her that.
*/*/*/*/*
He stands with his back to her, unmoving, his shoulders tense.
"Jaime?" Brienne demands, her voice sharp.
He slowly turns to face her, scrubbing a hand over his face. Finally he mutters, "Two of our people have gone missing after a run-in with those guys."
Brienne closes her eyes and prays for strength.
"Of all the irresponsible, boneheaded—what the fuck were you thinking? You knew about this group of murderous assholes and never bothered to tell anyone about it? You never bothered to tell me about it before dragging me into this godsforsaken jungle?"
"The right people knew about them," Jaime growls.
"But not the tourists?"
"Tourists are not the right people."
Brienne grits her teeth and calms herself with an effort. "Well, at least we've got the guys trapped in that pit, right?" Then she frowns. "Wait a minute. You told Sam and Gilly we'd only found two of them. How many more are out there?"
Jaime shrugs. "If those two haven't managed to claw their way out of Rhaegar's Slide? Five."
Brienne closes her eyes and groans. "And now we have two young women running around that jungle with them."
Jaime grimaces. "Lysa may be the only guide who either didn't know or, more likely, didn't remember the jungle is off limits to touries until we can neutralize the danger."
Now there's an edge of uncertainty in her anger. "Neutralize? Neutralize how?"
His smile is sharp and feral and causes a shiver to go down her spine. "They've hurt two of our own," he purrs, "so like I said before: we'll neutralize them however we need to."
"And you can do that armed only with a machete?"
Jaime raises an eyebrow. "I managed it quite well an hour or so ago. Besides, as far as I know, they only have machetes, too. They also just happen to be armed with murderous intent."
"Oh, well, that makes me feel ever so much better," she mutters. Now it's her turn to pace.
"Look," Jaime says, "Gilly will take you back to town. You can stay at my apartment and Melisandre and Arianne will look out for you."
That reminds her of how she got mixed up with this idiot in the first place. She spins round and blurts, "Muscles and Hot Dogger! Are they two more of those guys?"
Jaime shakes his head. "Not as far as I know. Too young, judging from their ability to leap off a third storey balcony and escape before we could do more than stare after them. Plus their body shapes don't match any of the seven men I led into the jungle."
"Wait! You led them into the jungle?"
Jaime quickly explains how he took Hoat and his men on a weeks long, meandering excursion through the jungle before finally depositing them at the mine and deserting them there.
"We didn't expect them to scatter so quickly and disappear so thoroughly," he says, his face and voice grim. "By the time Addam got there to gather them up, only Zollo was left guarding the camp and even then, Addam and the people with him barely escaped with their lives. Pia and Jos, well..."
For a moment, Brienne's heart clenches. "Not so lucky?"
Jaime bows his head, hiding his handsome face behind a curtain of golden hair and if that wasn't a line straight out of an Aurora del Moniko novel, she didn't know what was.
I'm losing my damn mind, she thinks as Jaime straightens his shoulders and lifts his head to meet her gaze.
His eyes are steady and determined as he says, "We haven't found them yet, but we will."
He strides back to the railing and leans on it, staring out into the darkness of a tropical night.
He says, "We're safe here for the night. Sam and Gilly have their own ways of protecting themselves."
She rolls her eyes. "Is everyone on this island paranoid or what?"
Jaime smirks. "We're all running from something, Brienne."
Brienne frowns then shakes her head. She'll delve deeper into that later. "I'm not going back to town to cower in your apartment."
"I can't really picture you cowering at anything."
She eyes him, suddenly suspicious because that sounded almost like a compliment. Like his earlier apology, it's not something she hears very often. She decides to ignore it and says, "Sansa and Arya are out there in that jungle, basically alone, with five murderous thugs on the loose."
"At least we know where one is."
"That's comforting."
"Better than none."
She sighs. "Fine. Better than none. It seems to me, though, we need a plan to find these men and, as you say, neutralize them."
"The plan is to find them first."
"Well, we know where they're going to end up: the mine."
"If they can find their way back. I spun them around pretty hard and they truly believe the island is much larger and more dangerous than it is. Although I'm sure Hoat is still screaming at every creepy crawly that catches his eye."
"Are there any venomous creepy crawlies on the island?"
"No, but the bites are still painful as all seven hells."
"Well, at least I don't have to worry about the girls in that respect, then."
Jaime laughs. "You're practical. I like that."
She frowns. That sounded like another compliment.
"Even if you are an academic," he says and winks.
She rolls her eyes.
*/*/*/*/*
Good gods, Jaime thinks, that was more seriously flirtatious than I planned.
Judging from Brienne's expression, though, he managed to save face.
"Well," he says, "we appear to be at an impasse."
She raises an eyebrow. "Only because you obviously don't have a search grid laid out to either help me find the girls or to find the last of the murderous thugs loose on your island."
"If I prove to you you're wrong, will you go back to town with Gilly?"
She snorts.
He sighs. "That's what I thought."
*/*/*/*/*
