Chapter 15 – What Next?
My stomach rumbled loudly, breaking the silence and reminding me that it was close to dinner time. All three men turned to stare at me. "What? I skipped breakfast and lunch."
"I am afraid," Norrington told me, "that you should send your regrets to Mrs. Turner regarding her kind dinner invitation earlier. We would not want to see your enemy harm the Turners, would we, Stephanie?"
"I'll gladly pass on your regrets," Will Turner said, looking relieved.
I sighed loudly. If I were home and had a day like this one, I would either be at my parents' house or holed up in my apartment with a sub from Giovichinni's and a couple of cold beers. Unfortunately, I wasn't home and probably subs hadn't even been invented yet. Beer, I'd learned, was served at room temperature. Yuck.
"Poor lass," Sparrow purred in my ear, as his hand cupped the back of my neck and he started to knead lightly. "I'll bet ye could do with a hot bath, a hot meal and a soft bed."
"All that can be had at the fort," Norrington said. "It is, I believe, the safest place for both of you."
"It would be, I suppose, for today, but seeing as it's nearly sundown and today is almost gone, your promise not to hang me is also almost gone." Sparrow's tone was still light, but his grip on my neck tightened just a drop. "Given the circumstances, I'm afraid we're going to have to take our leave."
"Oh, for heaven's sake..." Norrington sighed dramatically. "I will grant you clemency until we catch this Ring person."
Sparrow cocked his head to the side and flashed those teeth again. "No day's head start, Commodore?"
Another sigh. "Very well. You may have a day's head start."
"Thank you, Commodore Norrington." Sparrow bowed with a flourish.
"Jack..." Turner looked at Sparrow with a raised eyebrow. "Are you certain?"
"Why, young Mister Turner," Sparrow scolded him gently. "The Commodore's a man of his word. If he promises not to hang me and to give me a day's head start, he'll do it. He is a most fair and upstanding gentleman, you know."
"I certainly hope so," Turner said, softly. "For your sake."
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"This is most unfair and underhanded of you, Commodore."
Norrington smiled almost smugly as his red-coated soldiers slammed the cell door shut on a flabbergasted Sparrow. "I said I wouldn't hang you and I promised a day's head start. I did not promise not to put you where I do not have to worry about you."
"But he hasn't done anything," I protested.
Norrington clucked at me. "Hasn't done anything? Why, Jack Sparrow is a most notorious pirate who has committed unspeakable crimes. It would be rather imprudent of me to allow him to wander about the fort."
I rolled my eyes. "What did he do that was so awful?"
"Sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, pillaging, depravity, deprivation, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England, impersonating an officer of the Royal Navy, among other things," Norrington recited, looking almost bored. "He was sentenced to hang, you know."
I turned to Sparrow. "You did all that?"
He grinned at me and lounged back on the filthy pile of straw that lined the cell. "Pirate."
Norrington took my arm and guided me towards the door. "He'll be quite safe in here while you enjoy a hot bath and a hot meal. I'll put you in the adjoining cell afterwards. And you know, Stephanie, the Crown has offered a five hundred pound bounty for Sparrow."
I was more stunned by the 'adjoining cell' remark than the money, but Norrington thought my dazed expression was because I thought five hundred pounds was like winning the lottery.
"Five hundred pounds is a very large sum," he explained, with a small smile. "It would keep you in clothing for nearly a year, given your current rate of wardrobe destruction."
"Hey!" Sparrow jumped back to his feet and pounded on the bars. "Love? Stephanie? Are you just going to leave me here?"
I turned to Norrington and gave him my most innocent, wide-eyed look. "Could you maybe give us a couple of minutes? He's been awfully nice to me and all, even if he did do all that stuff."
"Of course. I'll instruct my staff to prepare your bath. That should give you sufficient time to discuss Sparrow's extremely colorful past." He let go of my arm and turned to go up the stairs. "Consider the bounty. You could be a very rich woman."
I watched him disappear up the stairs before turning to Sparrow. The first thing I did was make the sign of the cross. "You impersonated a priest?!"
"Can you get me out of here before ye start convicting me of all that codswallop," Sparrow demanded. He blinked and then smiled. "You're Catholic?"
I rested my forehead against the bars. "How am I supposed to get you out of here? I'm not exactly Wonder Woman."
"Leverage," Sparrow told me. "The whelp showed me how, the last time I was here. I can show you and you can pop me out of here in two shakes of a lamb's tail."
Great. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter and leader of a jailbreak in the colonial Caribbean. "Even if I get you out, we're kind of outnumbered. How far would we get before he throws us back in the hoosegow?"
Sparrow winked at me. "Who says ol' Rigid Britches'll catch us? Besides, this could be yer golden opportunity to impersonate an officer of the Royal Navy, love."
He was rattling my cage. I hoped. I decided to rattle his right back. "Is five hundred pounds a really lot of money?"
He gaped at me. "After all I've done for you?"
"Relax. I'm not turning you over." I checked the stairs to make sure we were still alone. My first jail break. Morelli would kill me. Ranger probably would have had the door open by now and made a rope ladder out of Sparrow's dreadlocks. Me? I had no clue about what to do. Whistling the theme from 'The Great Escape' was all that came to mind. "What do I need to do?"
"Pick up that bench over there and prop it under here," Sparrow indicated a spot on the door. "All ye need to do then is give it a good hard shove."
I looked at the worn wooden bench doubtfully. "It looks heavy."
"Will ye just try it?!" Desperation was starting to creep into his voice, making me wonder how long it took the Royal Navy to run a hot bath.
I walked over to the bench and grabbed it. Lift with your knees, not your back, I reminded myself. I heaved. The bench didn't budge. I tried again and got it an inch off the floor.
"Miss Plum!" Norrington. And he was all business, barking my name like it was an order to fire on the enemy.
It startled me so badly that I dropped the bench on my foot. "Yowwww!"
With an exasperated sigh, Norrington walked over and lifted the bench off of my foot. "I will refrain from asking whether you were about to attempt some sort of jail break. We will simply agree that you would not have been successful, yes?"
I nodded.
"Good." He handed me the keys. "You may let Sparrow out."
I looked down at the keys. It sounded good, but I'd seen too many movies- of-the-week. "Why? You're not going to shoot him in the back and claim it was an escape attempt, are you?"
"No, we're going to leave. All three of us. Immediately." Norrington snatched the keys from my hand. "It seems your friend, Mister Ring Junior, paid a visit to the fort while we were otherwise occupied and eliminated Mister Comstock in a most horrible manner. Apparently, Comstock may have had valuable information after all."
"Comstock's dead?" I nearly forgot about the Bob Cratchit wanna-be that Norrington was holding for questioning. Now it looked like those questions weren't going to be answered any time soon. I shuddered, thinking what a lightning bolt could do to a person.
"Yes." Norrington unlocked Sparrow's cell. "You are not safe here and I am beginning to have my concerns about anyone else you may have encountered during your stay in Port Royal. I doubt Will Turner will enjoy being whisked from his home, but we need to move all of you to a safer place until Diesel returns and we can formulate a plan. All the weapons at my disposal are no match for a man who controls lightning."
I had a feeling that admission cost Norrington a lot.
If Sparrow agreed with my feeling, he didn't show it. He just stepped out of the cell and eyed Norrington suspiciously. "Ye're sure you're not going to do what she said?"
"You will meet your end, Sparrow, mark my words, but not by such cowardly means," Norrington told him. "I do not shoot my enemies in the back."
"I'm an enemy, am I," Sparrrow chuckled. "And here I was thinking we were on our way to becoming great friends."
"Wait a second." I glared at both of them. "I thought the fort was the safest place on the island. Where else is there?"
"Isla de Muerta?" Sparrow asked.
"Isla de Muerta," Norrington agreed. "The journey itself is risky, but there are no innocent civilians on the island."
My high school Spanish wasn't great and it took me a few more seconds to translate. "No way. Not a chance. There's no way a place called Death Island could possibly be safe."
"I am asking the assistance of a pirate, Miss Plum," Norrington said, cutting his eyes to me. "That alone should clear up any doubts you may have about the breadth of our options."
"Oh."
"Oh indeed." His hard expression softened a little. "I'm having my men pack some provisions. I have not forgotten that you've not eaten all day. You can eat and rest in the carriage on our way to retrieve the Turners. Sparrow, you are anchored on the far side of Port Royal, are you not?"
"Why, Commodore, ye've known where the Pearl was all this time? Excellent work, man." Sparrow beamed at him. "Here I was thinking we were well concealed."
"You are. Please proceed to your ship and make preparations. Miss Plum and I will be there are soon as possible with the Turners." Norrington took my arm as he told Sparrow, "I am taking her with me so that I may keep a watchful eye over her. You will be less of a target to this Ring person without her."
"What about you, Commodore? Aren't ye afraid of being incinerated?"
The two men looked at me.
"What?" I asked. "You think I'm not scared?"
"I'm wondering what scares me more," Sparrow said, with a grin. "You or your enemies."
My stomach rumbled loudly, breaking the silence and reminding me that it was close to dinner time. All three men turned to stare at me. "What? I skipped breakfast and lunch."
"I am afraid," Norrington told me, "that you should send your regrets to Mrs. Turner regarding her kind dinner invitation earlier. We would not want to see your enemy harm the Turners, would we, Stephanie?"
"I'll gladly pass on your regrets," Will Turner said, looking relieved.
I sighed loudly. If I were home and had a day like this one, I would either be at my parents' house or holed up in my apartment with a sub from Giovichinni's and a couple of cold beers. Unfortunately, I wasn't home and probably subs hadn't even been invented yet. Beer, I'd learned, was served at room temperature. Yuck.
"Poor lass," Sparrow purred in my ear, as his hand cupped the back of my neck and he started to knead lightly. "I'll bet ye could do with a hot bath, a hot meal and a soft bed."
"All that can be had at the fort," Norrington said. "It is, I believe, the safest place for both of you."
"It would be, I suppose, for today, but seeing as it's nearly sundown and today is almost gone, your promise not to hang me is also almost gone." Sparrow's tone was still light, but his grip on my neck tightened just a drop. "Given the circumstances, I'm afraid we're going to have to take our leave."
"Oh, for heaven's sake..." Norrington sighed dramatically. "I will grant you clemency until we catch this Ring person."
Sparrow cocked his head to the side and flashed those teeth again. "No day's head start, Commodore?"
Another sigh. "Very well. You may have a day's head start."
"Thank you, Commodore Norrington." Sparrow bowed with a flourish.
"Jack..." Turner looked at Sparrow with a raised eyebrow. "Are you certain?"
"Why, young Mister Turner," Sparrow scolded him gently. "The Commodore's a man of his word. If he promises not to hang me and to give me a day's head start, he'll do it. He is a most fair and upstanding gentleman, you know."
"I certainly hope so," Turner said, softly. "For your sake."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"This is most unfair and underhanded of you, Commodore."
Norrington smiled almost smugly as his red-coated soldiers slammed the cell door shut on a flabbergasted Sparrow. "I said I wouldn't hang you and I promised a day's head start. I did not promise not to put you where I do not have to worry about you."
"But he hasn't done anything," I protested.
Norrington clucked at me. "Hasn't done anything? Why, Jack Sparrow is a most notorious pirate who has committed unspeakable crimes. It would be rather imprudent of me to allow him to wander about the fort."
I rolled my eyes. "What did he do that was so awful?"
"Sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, pillaging, depravity, deprivation, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England, impersonating an officer of the Royal Navy, among other things," Norrington recited, looking almost bored. "He was sentenced to hang, you know."
I turned to Sparrow. "You did all that?"
He grinned at me and lounged back on the filthy pile of straw that lined the cell. "Pirate."
Norrington took my arm and guided me towards the door. "He'll be quite safe in here while you enjoy a hot bath and a hot meal. I'll put you in the adjoining cell afterwards. And you know, Stephanie, the Crown has offered a five hundred pound bounty for Sparrow."
I was more stunned by the 'adjoining cell' remark than the money, but Norrington thought my dazed expression was because I thought five hundred pounds was like winning the lottery.
"Five hundred pounds is a very large sum," he explained, with a small smile. "It would keep you in clothing for nearly a year, given your current rate of wardrobe destruction."
"Hey!" Sparrow jumped back to his feet and pounded on the bars. "Love? Stephanie? Are you just going to leave me here?"
I turned to Norrington and gave him my most innocent, wide-eyed look. "Could you maybe give us a couple of minutes? He's been awfully nice to me and all, even if he did do all that stuff."
"Of course. I'll instruct my staff to prepare your bath. That should give you sufficient time to discuss Sparrow's extremely colorful past." He let go of my arm and turned to go up the stairs. "Consider the bounty. You could be a very rich woman."
I watched him disappear up the stairs before turning to Sparrow. The first thing I did was make the sign of the cross. "You impersonated a priest?!"
"Can you get me out of here before ye start convicting me of all that codswallop," Sparrow demanded. He blinked and then smiled. "You're Catholic?"
I rested my forehead against the bars. "How am I supposed to get you out of here? I'm not exactly Wonder Woman."
"Leverage," Sparrow told me. "The whelp showed me how, the last time I was here. I can show you and you can pop me out of here in two shakes of a lamb's tail."
Great. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter and leader of a jailbreak in the colonial Caribbean. "Even if I get you out, we're kind of outnumbered. How far would we get before he throws us back in the hoosegow?"
Sparrow winked at me. "Who says ol' Rigid Britches'll catch us? Besides, this could be yer golden opportunity to impersonate an officer of the Royal Navy, love."
He was rattling my cage. I hoped. I decided to rattle his right back. "Is five hundred pounds a really lot of money?"
He gaped at me. "After all I've done for you?"
"Relax. I'm not turning you over." I checked the stairs to make sure we were still alone. My first jail break. Morelli would kill me. Ranger probably would have had the door open by now and made a rope ladder out of Sparrow's dreadlocks. Me? I had no clue about what to do. Whistling the theme from 'The Great Escape' was all that came to mind. "What do I need to do?"
"Pick up that bench over there and prop it under here," Sparrow indicated a spot on the door. "All ye need to do then is give it a good hard shove."
I looked at the worn wooden bench doubtfully. "It looks heavy."
"Will ye just try it?!" Desperation was starting to creep into his voice, making me wonder how long it took the Royal Navy to run a hot bath.
I walked over to the bench and grabbed it. Lift with your knees, not your back, I reminded myself. I heaved. The bench didn't budge. I tried again and got it an inch off the floor.
"Miss Plum!" Norrington. And he was all business, barking my name like it was an order to fire on the enemy.
It startled me so badly that I dropped the bench on my foot. "Yowwww!"
With an exasperated sigh, Norrington walked over and lifted the bench off of my foot. "I will refrain from asking whether you were about to attempt some sort of jail break. We will simply agree that you would not have been successful, yes?"
I nodded.
"Good." He handed me the keys. "You may let Sparrow out."
I looked down at the keys. It sounded good, but I'd seen too many movies- of-the-week. "Why? You're not going to shoot him in the back and claim it was an escape attempt, are you?"
"No, we're going to leave. All three of us. Immediately." Norrington snatched the keys from my hand. "It seems your friend, Mister Ring Junior, paid a visit to the fort while we were otherwise occupied and eliminated Mister Comstock in a most horrible manner. Apparently, Comstock may have had valuable information after all."
"Comstock's dead?" I nearly forgot about the Bob Cratchit wanna-be that Norrington was holding for questioning. Now it looked like those questions weren't going to be answered any time soon. I shuddered, thinking what a lightning bolt could do to a person.
"Yes." Norrington unlocked Sparrow's cell. "You are not safe here and I am beginning to have my concerns about anyone else you may have encountered during your stay in Port Royal. I doubt Will Turner will enjoy being whisked from his home, but we need to move all of you to a safer place until Diesel returns and we can formulate a plan. All the weapons at my disposal are no match for a man who controls lightning."
I had a feeling that admission cost Norrington a lot.
If Sparrow agreed with my feeling, he didn't show it. He just stepped out of the cell and eyed Norrington suspiciously. "Ye're sure you're not going to do what she said?"
"You will meet your end, Sparrow, mark my words, but not by such cowardly means," Norrington told him. "I do not shoot my enemies in the back."
"I'm an enemy, am I," Sparrrow chuckled. "And here I was thinking we were on our way to becoming great friends."
"Wait a second." I glared at both of them. "I thought the fort was the safest place on the island. Where else is there?"
"Isla de Muerta?" Sparrow asked.
"Isla de Muerta," Norrington agreed. "The journey itself is risky, but there are no innocent civilians on the island."
My high school Spanish wasn't great and it took me a few more seconds to translate. "No way. Not a chance. There's no way a place called Death Island could possibly be safe."
"I am asking the assistance of a pirate, Miss Plum," Norrington said, cutting his eyes to me. "That alone should clear up any doubts you may have about the breadth of our options."
"Oh."
"Oh indeed." His hard expression softened a little. "I'm having my men pack some provisions. I have not forgotten that you've not eaten all day. You can eat and rest in the carriage on our way to retrieve the Turners. Sparrow, you are anchored on the far side of Port Royal, are you not?"
"Why, Commodore, ye've known where the Pearl was all this time? Excellent work, man." Sparrow beamed at him. "Here I was thinking we were well concealed."
"You are. Please proceed to your ship and make preparations. Miss Plum and I will be there are soon as possible with the Turners." Norrington took my arm as he told Sparrow, "I am taking her with me so that I may keep a watchful eye over her. You will be less of a target to this Ring person without her."
"What about you, Commodore? Aren't ye afraid of being incinerated?"
The two men looked at me.
"What?" I asked. "You think I'm not scared?"
"I'm wondering what scares me more," Sparrow said, with a grin. "You or your enemies."