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  Aunt Elena’s hands rested on Angelina’s shoulders. “What did he say?” she asked in Spanish.

  Angelina wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want the pirate Etienne to know that she could understand him when he spoke English. She answered her aunt in Spanish, the only language the older woman understood. “He says he won’t make us walk the plank. He has plans for me.” Elena’s fingers dug into Angelina’s shoulder, but the pain they caused was minor compared to the emotions of abject terror and unbelief boiling within her.

  “I have heard about what pirates do to women,” Aunt Elena said. “Such things are not spoken about around young, innocent girls.” The pointed look Aunt Elena gave Angelina spoke volumes. “Death would be preferable!”

  Angelina wondered if she should jump into the ocean when they got out on deck. But something deep inside gave her a sense of peace. Could it be God? After all, they had cried out to Him before the pirate broke down the door.

  ❧

  Brian had raced toward the cabin where Angelina and her aunt had fled. But when the pirates started bombarding the ship with cannon shots, the captain ordered him to help the other sailors control the sails, trying to gain speed.

  Too soon, the pirate ship had come alongside the merchant ship and lowered wide gangplanks to connect the two vessels. Brian hid under the makeshift canvas tent that had been constructed for the women. He didn’t want to be seen by the men from the pirate ship who swarmed the merchant vessel. Brian didn’t carry a weapon, and even if he did, he couldn’t protect Angelina. Not that he was in any position to help her during the fray that continued to rage. While he kept out of the way of the swords and cutlasses that sliced through the air, he prayed for Angelina and her aunt. He knew the only way the women could be saved would be by the hand of God.

  The pirate captain boarded and ordered his men to drop the anchor to stabilize the ship. The burly man perused the fittings and studied all the items on deck. Then he had his men cross the walkways back to the pirate ship, carrying everything that wasn’t nailed to the floor.

  The captain of the pirate ship worked his way through the maze and headed for the cabins, almost as if he knew there were extra passengers on board. Brian redoubled his prayers and slipped as close to the stairway as he could get. He knew he couldn’t follow without being seen, so he prayed even more fervently.

  When he heard the pirates returning, he huddled against the wall and peered around a corner. Angelina and her aunt came through the doorway of their cabin, clutching each other’s hands so tightly their knuckles were white. A young pirate followed the women, and the pirate captain strode behind the procession as if he owned this ship. Of course, now he did.

  Brian’s heart broke when he saw the fear etched on the faces of Angelina and her aunt. He knew he would carry the sight in his heart until the day he died, even if he lived to be a hundred years old. But right now there wasn’t much hope for that. These men wouldn’t leave anyone alive when they abandoned the Estrella Angelina. More than likely, the ship would be scuttled after her merchandise had been plundered.

  Oh, God, please show me some way to help Angelina. Don’t let the pirates take her away without taking me, too.

  ❧

  Angelina had heard the assault on the Angelina Star from inside her cabin, but she wasn’t prepared for the sight that met her eyes when she stepped out on deck. Slashed sails flapped loudly in the wind, and ropes dangled against the blood-spattered deck. Bodies of injured and dead men, who looked like unwanted dolls thrown across the wooden deck in strange positions, lay in growing pools of blood. Clouds of smoke swirled in the air. The acrid odor of spent gunpowder burned Angelina’s eyes and nose. She tried not to cough, but she couldn’t hold back. She hacked away, doubled over with the effort.

  Angelina had never been so frightened in her life. The only thing keeping her from rushing to the side and plunging into the cold water of the Atlantic Ocean was her duenna. She couldn’t leave Aunt Elena to the mercy of these men. She would do whatever it took to protect her companion.

  A shout of French words spewed from the pirate captain. His men scurried to do his bidding. Why didn’t I learn that language? The longer she and her aunt shuffled across the deck, trying to avoid slipping on the large spots of blood, the more frightened she became. In her heart, she cried out to God. Bridgett, her father’s cook and housekeeper, had talked about the Spirit communicating with God with groanings that cannot be understood. It was the only thing she could do. She didn’t know what to say, so her spirit cried out in anguish within her.

  Then she spied Brian O’Doule crouched behind a wooden barrel. When their gazes met, she knew he felt the same anguish she did. Some deep communication she didn’t understand passed between them, and her fear diminished somewhat.

  Once more, French words filled the air, coming from behind her. Angelina turned to look at the captain. He waited for her to obey his order. She might have if she knew what he said. Aunt Elena cowered beside her, holding on to Angelina’s arm as if her life depended on it. And it just might. At least the breeze was blowing away much of the smoke so she could breathe easier.

  “Captain.” Brian stepped from his hiding place and spoke English to the pirate. “The women do not speak French.” He looked at Angelina intently, as if trying to communicate something to her. “They speak only Spanish, so they don’t know what you want them to do.”

  The pirate sauntered toward Brian, his boots sounding a drumbeat against the wooden deck. Angelina prayed silently for Brian’s safety.

  “What’s your name, sailor?” The captain towered over the young man.

  “Brian O’Doule at your service, sir.”

  Angelina almost giggled at the courtly bow Brian gave the captain. She took a deep breath to stop it. Hysterics wouldn’t help anything right now.

  “I do not want to frighten the women, Mr. O’Doule,” the captain said. “Would you tell them that?”

  Brian nodded and repeated the captain’s words in Spanish.

  Hoping Brian had a plan to save them all, Angelina glanced at the captain and gave a slight nod. Speaking in Spanish, she told Brian to ask the pirate what he planned to do with them.

  Standing straight and proud in front of the invading captain, Brian repeated Angelina’s question in French.

  “Tell her I am taking them to my plantation. So we can get to know each other.” The pirate smiled at Angelina, again revealing his golden tooth.

  It was all Angelina could do to keep from quaking before Brian translated the words for the women. Aunt Elena gasped when she heard what the pirate said. Angelina’s stomach heaved, and bile filled her throat.

  “I would rather be dead than a pirate’s prisoner,” Angelina told Brian in Spanish.

  “I can’t tell him that.” Brian spoke her native tongue as well as if he had been born in Spain. “He might kill you.”

  “And would that be so bad?” After her question, Angelina read the torment in Brian’s eyes.

  “What is she saying?” The pirate’s voice boomed across the deck, interrupting the private conversation.

  “She’s worried about her aunt.” Brian’s words contained the truth that Angelina had left unspoken.

  “Do you speak French, Mr. O’Doule?”

  Brian answered in words Angelina couldn’t understand. The rest of the conversation between him and the pirate captain was in French. Angelina wished she knew what they were talking about.

  ❧

  “Yes, I speak French,” Brian answered in that language.

  “That’s good. It’s easier for me to understand.” The pirate studied Brian’s face for a long moment. “Can I trust you, Irishman?”

  Brian stared back at the man. “Why would you need to trust me?”

  “I must have someone translate for me.” The pirate’s gaze returned to Angelina. He leered at her like a famished man would look at a banquet table full of food. “My name is Etienne Badeau. I plan to leave the pirating life. I have
a plantation where I want to retire, get married, and have a family. This woman would make me a good wife. Do you know her name?”

  Brian’s heart dropped into the pit of his stomach. Should he go along as a translator and hope for the chance to rescue Angelina before this man could hurt her? Or should he help her try to kill herself? It was a decision no man could make alone. He closed his eyes and cried out to God in his heart. Very quickly, he knew that Angelina wasn’t going to die. Oh, God, if You help me now, I’ll make up for my mistake in the crow’s nest by rescuing her from her captor.

  “Are you going to help me, Irishman?” The pirate’s words brought Brian away from his silent prayers.

  “Oui.” Brian nodded.

  “What’s her name?”

  Brian didn’t want to answer the pirate’s question, but he didn’t want to make the man angry, either. He would never be able to rescue the women if he didn’t play along. “It’s Angelina.”

  The pirate’s face lit up at her name. It made Brian’s stomach roll. The captain told one of his men to tie Brian’s hands behind his back and put him with the two women.

  God, help me protect Angelina and her aunt. Please keep me from doing anything that would antagonize Etienne Badeau.

  ❧

  Angelina’s heart sank when a pirate tied Brian up. She had hoped he could help her and her aunt escape. Now he was a prisoner, too.

  “I’m going with you to translate for you and the pirate.” Brian’s words didn’t make Angelina feel any better. “Don’t worry. I believe God will help us escape from these men.”

  “But there are so many of them and only three of us.” Tears pooled in Angelina’s eyes. She didn’t want the pirates to see them, so she blinked them back.

  “I don’t know how or when He’ll help us, but I do believe that God is on our side.”

  Brian sounded so strong and certain that for the first time since the initial cry of “Pirates” went up, Angelina had a tiny spark of hope. She looked around the deck at her father’s sailors. The ones who were still alive were tied together with a long piece of rope and under the guard of two pirates. The rest of the outlaws moved her father’s merchandise from the belly of the Angelina Star to the deck of their ship. This attack would cost her father a lot of money. . .and maybe his only child.

  The pirate captain indicated that he wanted Brian, Elena, and Angelina to cross one of the large gangplanks to his ship. At first, Angelina didn’t think she could do it. When she placed one foot on the undulating board, she glanced down at the churning water below. She quickly looked back at the swaying wooden walkway. How easy it would be to slip off the damp wood. Brian must have sensed what she felt.

  “Don’t look down.” His strong voice gave her strength. “Just look at the ship on the other side and put one foot in front of the other.”

  After Angelina was across, she turned to watch Aunt Elena, who looked with horror at the board that crossed the chasm between the two ships. A pirate who had been guarding the three of them said something to Aunt Elena, but she remained frozen in place. The man shouted at her, and Brian translated the words.

  She tentatively touched one toe to the board. The ship dipped, and she almost toppled over, so she jumped back. The man shouted again, and Elena winced. Angelina wished she was still on the merchant vessel with her aunt.

  Brian said something in French to the shouting man. The pirate nodded and untied Brian’s hands. Brian touched Aunt Elena on the shoulder. She turned stricken eyes toward him. After speaking softly to her, he put his arm around her waist and helped her up on the end of the board. He stepped up behind her and slowly made his way across the gangplank, holding her tight against the front of his body. Angelina watched a hint of confidence shade her aunt’s expression.

  When the two of them stepped onto the deck of the pirate schooner, Angelina wished she could throw her arms around Brian and thank him. Instead, she gathered her shaky aunt into her embrace. All three of them stood on the deck of the pirate ship and gazed back at the vessel Angelina’s father had named after her.

  Four pirates came from behind them. Two of them took hold of Brian’s arms and rushed him below deck at the bow of the ship. The other two escorted Angelina and Aunt Elena to the rear of the ship, pushed them up a few steps, and shoved them into a cabin. After the men locked the door, Aunt Elena crumpled to the floor, weeping copiously. For a moment, Angelina felt older than the woman who lay in a heap.

  Gazing around the room, Angelina determined this must be the captain’s quarters. The cabin spread across the entire width of the ship. A large bunk, hung with what looked like silk draperies, covered the back end. Portholes lined the walls on either side of the room. Angelina walked to one of them and looked at her father’s battered ship, still connected to the pirate schooner by wooden planks.

  This is a nightmare! But she wasn’t going to awaken from this bad dream. Every horrible detail was appallingly real.

  Angelina leaned her head against the glass of the porthole and turned her attention to the sunny sky. Through her tears, she watched puffy white clouds scuttle before the wind. A few birds darted around high above the two ships, unaware of the devastation below them. Please, God, protect us from our enemy. . .and don’t let them do anything bad to Brian O’Doule.

  Three

  Angelina knelt beside her weeping aunt and pulled the woman into her arms. As her chaperone continued to cry, Angelina chanted the scripture that had filled their cabin on the Angelina Star. Once again, the words brought comfort to her heart. She hoped they would soothe Aunt Elena, as well.

  Nothing that had happened in Angelina’s life had prepared her for today. After her beloved mother died, her father had pampered her. Aunt Elena often told him that he spoiled his only child.

  Angelina was surprised she hadn’t lost control along with her aunt, but something gave her strength. Brian’s words about God rescuing them had touched her soul. Bridgett Lawson spoke about God as if He were a man standing beside them. She talked about Jesus as her friend. Angelina grew up in this atmosphere, accepting the existence of God as part of normal life, but she had never felt the need to talk to Him until today. And He had been there for her.

  Even though they were still in terrible circumstances, they hadn’t been harmed physically. They were probably in the most luxurious accommodations on the ship. Most important, Brian O’Doule was also on the schooner. Brian’s words about God rescuing them gave Angelina a fragile sense of peace.

  “Where are we?” Aunt Elena seemed to have cried herself out. She sat up and looked around, swiping tears from her cheeks with both hands. “Is this the captain’s cabin?”

  Angelina stood and helped her aunt to her feet. “I believe it is.”

  Her duenna began wringing her hands. “Do you think this is a good thing? What if he wants to have his way with you?”

  Although she wasn’t exactly sure what those words meant, Angelina didn’t want to think about it. “Brian O’Doule said God will rescue us. I believe him.”

  Aunt Elena stared at Angelina. “How can you be so sure?”

  “I don’t know.” Angelina held out her hands. Earlier she couldn’t hold them still, but now they were steady. “I should be falling apart, but Brian’s words brought comfort and strength to my heart.”

  The older woman wandered around the room. When she started toward one of the portholes, Angelina said, “You don’t want to see what’s going on out there.”

  “Yes, I do.” The words were firm. Perhaps her companion was stronger than she appeared.

  ❧

  The pirates threw Brian into a tiny, dark cell. The only light came through the bars on a window that was cut in the heavy door. At least it wasn’t completely black, and the cell was close enough to the open companionway that he had fresh air. But he didn’t care about his own circumstances; he worried about the women. Where had the sailors taken them? He hoped the captain had sense enough to put them in his own cabin. And he hoped that
if Badeau had put them there, he wouldn’t share the room with them.

  Brian’s heart still contained the assurance from God that He would rescue them, but his mind kept reviewing all the terrible things that could come about before that happened. Brian was glad that years ago Pastor Harold Blodgett had convinced him to memorize scriptures. Many verses he learned comforted him during the long hours he spent not knowing what was going on above deck.

  Brian spoke the words from Psalm 56 aloud. “ ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.’ ” A blanket of comfort covered his heart, so he repeated the verse over and over. Each time he said it, he felt a deeper presence of God surround him. If only he could know what was happening with the women.

  Father, I don’t fear what the pirates can do to me, but I’m afraid for Angelina and her aunt. Please, God, protect Angelina from any evil thing Etienne Badeau might plan to do to her. I know I deserve to be a prisoner. If it hadn’t been for my inattention, the pirates might not have been able to overtake us. Help me find a way to escape and rescue the women. That’s the only way I can redeem myself. Make me alert to everything around me so I can discern Your direction when it comes.

  After his prayer, Brian tried to figure out what was going on outside his dungeon. Although he could hear the murmur of voices, they were so far away he couldn’t tell what was being said. The rumbling, scraping sound of barrels and crates being shoved across the deck punctuated the indecipherable conversations. Soon the pirates would probably start transferring items into the hold.

  The brig was near the outside hull of the ship, so Brian also heard waves lapping against the wood, sounding like a soft drumbeat. He could imagine the cries of the gulls that dipped and floated above the havoc. Once again, he wondered just how far they were from Spanish Florida.

  In the darkness, loneliness closed in around Brian, almost suffocating him with its intensity. He started speaking his thoughts out loud to banish the feeling, but he didn’t want any of the pirates to know what he was saying, so he whispered in Spanish.