Page 101 of Dangerous

His green eyes flickered to the door, to where Ramsay stood with the unresisting guard.

“Well met, Ramsay! I see you are still allowing my mother to push you about.”

Ramsay laughed. “I will remind you of those words later, you young rogue.”

Jibril rolled onto his knees and began to struggle to his feet. Adam put a hand under his shoulder and lifted. For his height the boy was dangerously thin.

“Will you be able to walk?”

He grinned. “I’ll bloody well be able to run, if it means leaving this cell.”

Adam left Jibril outside the door and dragged the other guard into the cell by the feet. He pulled off his sandals and tossed them to Jibril.

They’d just locked the cell door when the sound of boots on stone came from outside the squat building. A group of guards came skidding around the corner and Adam grabbed Jibril’s arm and dragged him back the way they’d come.

The guards yelled and the crack of a pistol deafened them in the stone hallway, chips of rock flying around them as they ran through the maze of corridors. Just as they turned into the hall that led to the big cell, voices came from the opposite end of the hall. There was a loud yell and the sound of feet running. Adam raised the pistol he’d taken from the guard and prepared to take aim.

Ramsay laid his hand on Adam’s arm. “Lower the gun, Exley. That was Delacroix yelling.”

Just then a torch flared to life in the gloom. It was Delacroix, with at least twenty-five men behind him. Adam raised his pistol again and then realized the men behind him were freed slaves rather than guards. Delacroix grinned when he saw Ramsay and motioned for the men behind him to halt.

The guards who’d been behind Adam, Jibril, and Ramsay fired blindly from behind a corner, clearly uninterested in coming out into the open.

“Only the east block of cells remains,” Delacroix said. “Assad’s men are returning double-time from town.” He jerked a thumb at the two men closest to him. “These men were heading toward the road when they saw them and came back to warn us.” The slaves were looking from man to man and following the English conversation with expressions of utter confusion.

“Was Assad with them?”

“Nobody has seen him.”

Another shot ricocheted around the corner, this one hitting the ceiling overhead and throwing chips of stone down like rain.

Ramsay turned to Adam. “I need to get to the last block of cells, and it’s obviously too hot in the harbor.” He gestured with his chin to the frightened guards. “Delacroix will handle them and cover us. Do you remember where the Scythe will be waiting?”

“I’ve memorized the map. We will meet you back there.”

“If we are not there in three hours, leave. Good luck, Exley.” He held out his arm in the traditional way of his men.

Adam returned the sailor’s greeting and turned to his stepson.

“Are you ready to leave?”

Jibril smiled, looking very like his mother. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Adam put him in front with the lantern. “I’ll keep an eye behind us.”

When they reached the cell that led to the caves, Jibril headed straight for the tunnel.

“You take only lefts to get back to the exit,” Adam told him, following close behind.

“I’ve been in these tunnels dozens of times in the last year. We used them to spy on my brother. You know where we are going?”

“Yes, we’ll leave through Quora’s Bluff and then I can lead us to a place where a boat should be waiting. Your mother is offshore, on Bouchard’s ship.”

Jibril stopped so suddenly, Adam ran into him. The boy turned and squinted at Adam.

“You brought my mother here?” he demanded in a menacing voice.

Adam gave the boy a withering look. “If you believe anyone could stop your mother from coming to get you, you are not as wise as I’d hoped.”