Sarafeena wasn't quite sure how Jack had talked her into taking him with her to Miami for a few days. Maybe it was his honeyed tongue and persuasive whispers; maybe it was the ancient rum that tasted like sour marshmallows; maybe it was because she wanted to jump his bones; maybe it was because he was Captain Jack Sparrow. That seemed to be his reason for everything, anyway.

He had jumped overboard after telling Anna Maria to take care of the ship while he was gone, then swam to the Flying Weasel and flipped himself onboard. Sarafeena had pointed out the ladder, whereupon Jack had given her a blank look. Sarafeena laughed and tossed him a towel.

Sarafeena docked the boat in a cove off Biscayne Bay and then snapped the device back to 2003. As the time switched back, there was a blinding rainbow flash. The water level fluctuated wildly as the years struggled to get out of the way.

Eventually the rainbow died down and the water settled. Jack was clinging to the side of the boat, looking as though he would like to get out now, please. Sarafeena had gone through the change many times before, but she remembered the effects of time-lag: the feeling that every single molecule in your body had been violently yanked in many directions at once and then squeezed back into place.

There were two large men in ill-fitting suits standing on the shore.

Sarafeena saluted them. "Rhino, Razor. How's tricks?"

Rhino and Razor did not reply, but stepped about a foot in opposite directions to reveal a short, pudgy, balding man in a tracksuit. He grinned greasily. "Sarafeena sweetie! Glad you could make it."

"I always can, Leo." Sarafeena didn't like Leo very much. He was an extremely scummy subcontractor who had been chosen as the official drug czar for the city of Miami by one of the mayor's friends. There was enough drug traffic in Miami already, but Leo felt the need to make it even more rampant by buying up several hundred pounds of the highest-grade cocaine that money could buy for his scuzzy circle of friends each week. Most of it he used for bribes.

Sarafeena dearly wished that she could do business with a nice, honest drug dealer instead of an elected official, but cash was cash and anyway, Daniel's labs were sponsored by this guy. Luckily, he only had a couple more years in office before he'd be replaced by someone else who was a little more serious about the job.

Leo grinned with obvious delight when he spotted the bales of coke in the back of the boat. "Have I ever told you how very much I like your style, Sara? You know, I could get you a nice cushy government job if you like."

Sarafeena hated anyone shortening her name. "No thank you, Leo. If you could pay up not, that'd be great, by the way."

Leo peeled twenty hundred-dollar bills off of a huge wad. "Here ya go, sweetheart."

Jack propped his head up on the side of the boat. "So this is what passes for money nowadays, hm?" He snatched the fold from Leo and riffled through it. "It's just pieces of paper. There's no heft to it."

Rhino and Razor moved forward menacingly. Sarafeena grabbed the bills from Jack and tossed them at Leo. "Sorry. Jack," she whispered, "you shouldn't do that. The authorities sort of frown on taking other people's money."

"Who's this guy?" Leo asked, jerking a thumb at Jack.

"This is Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl," said Sarafeena. "Jack, this guy is Leo Lansky. He's a government pirate."

Leo lit up. "Government pirate," he mused. "I kinda like the sound of that." He turned to his bodyguards. "Rhino, remind me to print up some new business cards when I get home."

"Yes, boss," Rhino rumbled.

Jack raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Government pirate? Bit of an oxymoron, that."

Sarafeena reminded herself that Jack came from a simpler time. "Nowadays, most real thieves work for the government," she explained. "Leo is one of the scummiest dogs they employ."

She left Jack to mull that over while she helped Rhino and Razor load the coke into Leo's SUV.

Jack was feeling a little under the weather. The trip through time hadn't agreed with him.

Sarafeena had celebrated the sale by treating Jack to lunch at Carlos Murphy's, a chain restaurant that tried to combine Mexican food with an Irish bar. Jack had been extremely confused by Sarafeena's description of franchises, then decided that it wasn't really any of his business. He did enjoy the margaritas and the oversized burger Sarafeena had ordered for him, though.

The serving wench—or waitress, as Sarafeena had called her—had been quite attractive, but had dissolved into nervous giggles and then called over the manager when he inquired politely as to her marital status. Sarafeena ended up leaving a huge tip and not waiting for the change as she pulled him out of the restaurant.

"You don't call them wenches and you don't proposition them," she explained. "Not unless you're really smooth about it, and you weren't." She was clearly regretting her decision to show him the wonders of the 21st century.

Jack shrugged. It was normal behavior where he came from, and he saw no reason to change it.

His composure was interrupted by a screeching, four-wheeled thing rushing past. He watched as it disappeared around a corner. "What was that?"

"A car," said Sarafeena. "Like carriages, only a hell of a lot faster, and no horses. There's a rental place a few blocks from here, and I'm going to get one so that we can get around."

Sarafeena kept Jack close to her as she scoured the rental lot for an appropriate vehicle. She was looking for one that was at the same time relatively inexpensive and didn't look like it was going to fall apart. She settled on a maroon Taurus.

Jack, with his unerring instinct for the flashy and expensive, was drooling over a bright red Ferrari.

Sarafeena smiled. "Yeah, it's nice. But we can't afford it."

"Who said anything about affording it?" Jack leaned over the side of the car and began prodding the steering wheel. "How do these things work, anyway?"

"You need keys to make it go, and we're not going to steal it. Stay there, I'm going to get the lease for this Taurus."

When Sarafeena came back out, keys in hand, Jack was gone. So was the Ferrari.

"How the fuck did he do that?" she wondered. "He doesn't know how to hotwire a car. He doesn't know anything about cars and he can't even drive."

"Well," she muttered to herself, "he's Captain Jack fucking Sparrow. He can do whatever the hell he wants, can't he?"