She couldn't believe what was happening. Buck Hogan and his cronies had practically dragged her to the market, demanding that she pay her dues by joining them in lifting whatever wallets and valuables that they could find among the middle- and high-class folks examining wares. One fumbling mistake on her part, trying to lift a watch with no experience, had the people shouting for the constable. A quick glance at Buck Hogan's face drove fear into her heart. He was going to kill her; she could see it in his eyes. Immediately, survival kicked in, and she ran blindly in the opposite direction. The last thing she knew was that Gus had been tied up in Abe Pike's hideout and she was wishing that she had never done such a stupid thing as run away and follow Gus to the mainland. Right now, her focus was on the heavy breathing of Buck behind her, and his pounding footsteps, growing nearer and nearer. If he reached her first –
She rounded a corner and collided with cloth. Strong hands grasped her arms, and she carefully raised her head, fearing that somehow Buck had managed to go around the other way and head her off.
Instead of the leering Buck, she looked up into the normally gentle face of Gus Pike. But there was a cold, calculating gaze in his eyes that she had never seen before.
"So," he drawled, tilting his head to one side. His hands tightened on her arms, and he gave her a little shake. "I finally got ya! Jo Pitts!"
She gazed at him in confusion, strongly aware of Buck Hogan running into the alleyway behind her. Surely to goodness Gus wasn't part of a pickpocket gang! His father was the leader, and he had come to the exact place where Abe was hiding…. then she thought of him in leg irons, bound in the hideout, and she shoved the thought aside. No. Not Gus. Gus couldn't be one of them.
Intently, she studied the face above her, for some vague understanding of his cryptic comment. Instead of an encouraging twinkle, or nod, or some sign that everything was okay, he simply shook her again. "I been meanin' to find you, Jo P'ehts. Right onery o' you, it were. Runnin' off liken you did. I had me plenty time t' get good 'n mad, and I'm gonna letcha have it."
Abe chuckled evilly behind Gus, and stepped forward. "Now then, lad, take it easy. I can tell you're plenty upset. But we gots us a boat to catch, don't we now? For Jamaica!"
Gus nodded boldly, reaching out to grasp Sarah's hair at the back of her neck, and began to walk away, following Abe through the dark alley, toward the sound of the sea and the men preparing the vessels to leave the harbor. "You comin w'me, Jo. Abe and I are going to Jamaica and you are comin too. I got a bone to pick and I ain't forgot what you done."
She looked up at him in confusion. "Gus? What is happen-" Immediately, Gus turned, the handful of hair his leverage as he yanked her head backwards and leaned in closely.
"You - shut up." He snarled quietly. "You shut up and walk."
Abe chuckled, glancing back to observe the scene, before stepping over to a schedule on the wall of the ships lifting anchor that night. "Your right my son after all, Gus. Backbone. Always liken to see a boy wi'sm backbone."
"Yes sir," Gus responded, moving to the man's side to get a better view of the ship schedule himself. To Abe it looked as if he was checking the departures to Jamaica.
"Just a lil'while, boy. Then we be on the bonnie boat bound f'r the paradise called Jamaica. Taking the schooner here, there, see her in the port?"
Gus leaned carefully to look around the man toward the darkness of the wharf. A three masted schooner heaved gently in the bay, her mast stark against the dim moonlight, barely visible behind the mist of the sea. "Yep, I see 'er."
"That's what we are getting on, boy. Will go all the way to Jamaica, she will. Now, you two gets over with what'er you gots to get over with, 'cause I don't be want'n 'nuh caterwauling once we get on board 'er, ya got it!"
Gus nodded, his top lip curling back into a slight sneer. Sarah's heart pounded in her throat, and in her ears. She was pretty sure that everyone else could hear it too. What on earth was Gus mixed up with Jo Petts and their group for? He had always been so trustworthy – and how did he suddenly believe she wasn't Sarah?
Her thoughts were derailed as she felt his hand, still firmly entrenched in the wad of hair he held at the back of her neck, tighten and haul her around, with his back to the crazed felon that watched to see what his son would do.
"You," he snarled through clenched teeth. "I oughta pitch ya over the dock, I should. Impersonating Sarah Stanley like that. I brung you with me tah keep ya outa tr'uble, and what do yas do, but go right back to stealing like nothing ever meant nothin to ya. I want my stuff you took, Jo, I want it back. You gots till we get back from Jamaica to return everything, or it's into the harbor with ya, ya got that?" He punctuated this final command with a shake of her shoulders in his hands and Sarah felt her insides crumbling. Disconcerted tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, and the face of the leering young man above her blurred.
"Gus-" she managed to stammer, her knowledge of the gentle sailor boy clashing with the angered look he was casting her direction. His hand relaxed at the back of her neck, and he moved it to her shoulder. The grasp did not strengthen again, but his voice was still hard.
"Don't go whining, now. You think about it, think hard."
He turned toward his father and spoke in low tones. For just a moment, she thought of running as far as she could. But she would never find her way back to the mainland without Gus. Not with people like Buck around. Then again, she wasn't likely to get back at all if Gus didn't somehow figure out that she really was just Sarah Stanley.
The next few hours were filled with packing and sorting as Abe organized the belongings he was going to take with. Sara simply stayed by Gus. even if he did think she was Jo Pitts, he was sure a lot safer than Buck. Every time she glanced toward Buck's direction he was leering at her with hungry, angry eyes. Yep, he would murder her if he got the chance and there sure wasn't going to be a chance to run away. He would be on her like a fox on a chicken.
"Al'right, boy, let's get aboard 'er! Jamaica is in the near f'ture, and all's well!"
Gus nodded once at the man, a slight shadow of anger behind his typically kind eyes. He said nothing else as he followed his father to the wharf, one steady hand on Sarah's shoulder the whole way. Once they made it over the gangplank, the man shoved them toward the stairs leading to below deck.
"I lived up to my end, Gus. Now, you live up to yours. And to make sure, this is where you'll both stay under lock and key. Until we're safe and sound in Jamaica!"
The moment the door shut above them, and the man's footsteps faded, Sarah turned pleadingly to the young man she now found herself locked up with.
"Gus?"
Immediately, Gus laid his hands on her shoulders, this time gently, comfortingly. "I'm sorry, Sara. Are you alright?"
She gazed up at him in complete confusion. "Yes! But I don't understand."
He sighed. "I had to get you away from them. But, it looks like I got us into bigger trouble. This has gone from bad to worse. Running away was a pretty silly thing to do. I should've never let ya."
Sara frowned, unhappy that she had caused trouble for Gus, and herself. "It wasn't your fault."
"Yeah." He studied the porthole behind them, and an idea popped into this head. "Sara. Do you think you could squeeze through here?"
"I don't know. Let me try."
"If you get out there. You keep going, you hear me?"
"But, what about you?
"Don't you worry about me, I'll be ok. Pa still needs me for a while. So, I'll be alright. Don't worry, the dock's right there. You be careful. Go! Don't worry about me!"
Sarah could not leave Gus behind, not after all he had done to ensure her safety. She climbed back onto the ship after escaping through the porthole and unlocked the door that Abe had secured. They fled into the night, knowing that Abe would discover their absence once the ship was underway, and they couldn't chance him finding them before there was water between him and them.