II. Max

She watched the approach of the fleet through the spyglass and saw that it was just as she had been told. The day was right, the number of the ships was right, meaning the rest of it must have been correct too.

"What do we do?" asked Idelle "Do we run?"

The reasons for which running was not an option were not that it was impractical or impossible, but because she knew that running meant throwing away all the other options. Running, not staying, was the true passive approach.

"No. We will assess the situation and then we decide if we run" she replied

"What if he arrests us before we get to assess the damn situation?" Featherstone asked in annoyance

"We have done no crime" she reassured them, hoping her calmness would also rub onto them "...or at least nothing that can be proven"

"You think he needs proof? He'll find some if he needs to!" the still governor protested

"If you wish to run away, then run away. I bet on the new governor's reason and the moral debts he has to me. If we run, we only prove ourselves guilty and will be hunted down."

She was betting on more than that, but explaining it would have drained her much needed mental energy. Max was not only confident that Woodes Rogers would not persecute her, she was not only confident that running from the law would make her look guilty, but she was perfectly confident in her own abilities.

Though they looked deeply concerned, Idelle and her husband followed her to the beach. By the time they arrived, a crowd had already formed, but they all let them pass through. They all watched together, some in terror, some with simple curiosity, as the eight English warships laid anchor and eight rowboats descended and advanced. When the men in them got closer, she recognised one of them, yet it was the only face she needed to know, the one with the grey eyes and the distinct scars, a face that seemed to have aged in the way that deeply troubled ones do. She watched him as he got out of the boat and stood in front of everyone, studying the crowd and then addressing it himself:

"You all know who I am and you all know why I am here!"

There was nothing left of the courtesy of last time's approach. No carefully written discourse, just a few words necessary to brief them all on what was happening, making her think that his actions to take back control of the Bahamas could only be in the same spirit.

"By order of the King" he continued "I am the new governor of the Bahama Islands. You are to empty the fort immediately and let these men take residence. All opposition will be met with force"

They all knew who he was and they all knew what he was there for. Nobody dared to speak any words against it, as most remembered exactly what came of Nassau when it had last dared to not come to heel. Max then watched him advanced towards her, as the other men who came with him unloaded from the boats. She was not bothered by finding herself, in theory, back into the same spot where she was some three and a half years ago when she had first dealt with him, because she refused to view it as such. Even if her unofficial rule proved to be short and the situation repeated itself, she was not in the same place she had been five years ago, not in the same place she had been ten years ago, and she was not the same person she was those three and a half years ago. She had developed new abilities, she had gained wisdom and she had developed systems and grown relationships that would not let her be five years in the future in the same place that she was now. As she looked at Woodes Rogers, who was only a few paces away from them, and saw how irritated he was, she did not need to wonder about how he must have felt about finding himself in the same place and in the same situation again. Perhaps it was the difference in how they had spent the last three years or perhaps it was the shock of coming back to such a place. Whatever it was, she was convinced it was not her.

"Mister Rogers" Featherstone began, in an attempt to sound official "As I previously-"

"-please shut up" Rogers bluntly interrupted him, in such an uncharacteristic way that Max felt her stomach tighten "You can see to it that my men are well camped. Now I want to speak with you" he continued, turning to Max

"Of course." she dutifully replied "I invite you to my residence and we can speak in privacy"

He simply nodded in agreement and followed her, under all the curious eyes.

"I see you expected my arrival"

"Of course. I also see that you are well informed and came straight to me"

"I am always prepared. You must be equally prepared to either fight back or to fully cooperate"

"I am"

"I want you to know that I have not forgotten how you were treated and I have not forgotten about those trials either" he said, with a sudden change of tone. "I will begin by apologising for it, before I even set foot as a guest in your house"

Whatever anger she had seen on his face seemed to have dissipated, further convincing Max that it truly had nothing to do with her. They entered and seated themselves as her servants brought them fresh water and wine, as she catched him study her luxurious new manor with a defiant smile.

"You seem mighty successful at running this place"

"I am"

"You have quite a lot to lose then"

"I do. But I also know that the greatest victory is that which requires no battle"

"Ah, I see we have read the same books" he said with a hint of surprise

It hurt her whenever somebody was amazed at her knowledge, since it only meant that for the people in question, she must have seemed stupid or incapable. Only moments earlier she had been so sure not only that Woodes Rogers was a reasonable man, but that he was an intelligent man, able to see how she had been right in the past about so many things. Now it seemed that he underestimated her, and his general state of being was less calm than she had expected. Regardless of the accuracy of her assumptions, the coin was already up in the air.

"So what do you demand of me, governor?"

"You are the primary leader of business here, therefore most of the taxes I will be collecting will come from you. As you can imagine, I have no interest in separating you from your assets, since you are, simply, a very good source of income. However, whatever you deal by way of sea must cease"

"I have to say, your proposition is than I expected"

"You must have a terrible opinion of me then, though I guess I have been giving you good reasons for it. Anyway, as most of the seamen here are suspected or downright wanted for piracy, you must immediately stop associating yourself with them"

"Sounds perfectly reasonable, yet I somehow feel there is more you wish from me"

"There is" he replied with a condescending glance "I expect to find some resistance from both my old enemies and the new ones I will make by banning them from selling their cargo to you. Seeing as you have loads of resources, friends and, most of all, information, if there is any attempt on my life or any English officers' life, I will consider it is either coming from you, or that you knew about it and decided to let it happen. There are men who have been instructed to find you and kill you, along with Featherstone and his wife, if something happens to me or said officers. To put it simply, if I die, you die."

"So, mister Rogers, I get to keep a good part of my business and I put my vast amounts of spies in your service. Is that the deal?"

"Yes. You will come to me with any information you have about any of the pirates acting in these waters and any informants they might have on the island. I suppose I am not giving you more than you can handle, given how poorly you have handled individuals such as Bartholomew Roberts, Thomas Cocklyn or Amaro Pargo, letting them get stronger than they should have."

That certain remark stung, yet she had known for quite some time that she had bitten more that she could chew. The fault lay with her trying to expand her influence over business that she did not know enough about, over men that she did not know well enough. She had found herself helpless in trying to manage such personalities as the ones Rogers had named, all of them men, all of them coming from places and situations so much different than her own. As soon as she had realized the mistake she had made, she knew there would be repercussions from one empire or another, so she had made sure to erase all paper trails that could have been used to tie her to any pirate captain, yet it seemed that the force that England has sent was lead by the only man in the whole empire who could put two and two together when it came to her and Nassau's business. What he asked of her seemed to be exactly what she could handle and control effortlessly, using men and women she knew best: prostitutes, merchantmen, spies, all of them being people who were raised and moulded by the same things and places as her. All of them people who it happened that she could trust. To ask what her alternatives were would be useless, as she assumed the worst.

"For the sake of the argument, I have to ask, my other alternative I assume is … the noose?"

"No" he replied with a sardonic smile "It would be foolish of me to threaten you with the same punishment for both refusal and failure. That would give you the chance to agree with the deal, have me murdered and then face the same noose you would face if you simply refuse from the start. Now I could list you all the ways in which I could make you and the ones closest to you suffer if you refuse or fail, or I could list all the ways in which you could thrive if you cooperate and succeed in aiding me, but that would be useless. You know what would happen in both options and I know what you will choose. I just want you to voice it"

"You are right, I accept." she concluded, as she couldn't help but admire his strategy "Congratulations on your new position, governor Rogers"

He did not thank her for the congratulations, but only gave a half of a nod of approval.

"The reason for which I do not find you an enemy and therefore I do not wish to antagonise you" he explained, sipping on the glass of water "is that you do not stand against anything that I believe. I also do not wish to make an enemy of anybody else in here that does not deserve to be antagonized, so I will allow you to give me a list of names. I want you to list the names of three people who are guilty of one crime or another, by the letter of the law, yet you consider them to be helpful for what I am trying to achieve here, people who would not stand against the things I believe in for this place."

"And what would the things you believe them be?"

"First of all, order. They need to be people who follow the hierarchy of things and who can operate within it, people who would not benefit out of chaos. Second of all," he continued, with an absent stare, as if he was visualising some disturbing memory " I want people whose business does not require the suffering of many, for the benefit of a few"