The Pirate by Katherine Garbera Page B

knew he’d feel it but right now he stood straight and tall and kept his eyes focused on the man who was hitting him.
    It took no skill and little honor to beat on a defenseless man. And it showed Laz exactly what Fridjtof was…a coward.
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    Daphne was worried and scared as the minutes ticked by and Laz didn’t return. Their search hadn’t netted any weapons. She wished she’d contained her anger toward him and oh, hell. She didn’t want anything to happen to him. It didn’t matter that he’d told her they’d be safe and then had seemed to go back on his word.
    Hadn’t she learned that no one could protect her? Hadn’t the ending of her marriage reminded her that there were no guarantees in this life? She shook her head and continued pacing the floor.
    Bob and Franny were huddled close to each other in the corner. Arms wrapped around each other, taking comfort, she imagined. She wished she’d done that with Laz. Made him stop being in charge and just hugged her before he’d been taken away.
    What if he didn’t come back? What if the pirates felt like they had to sacrifice someone to make the men they were demanding ransom from take them seriously?
    â€œPacing helping?” Rudy asked her.
    â€œNot really. I feel…”
    â€œHelpless. Believe me I know that emotion well,” Rudy said.
    She sensed that Rudy needed to talk. That somehow maybe this situation was bringing back to the surface whatever had happened to him in South America.
    â€œHave you been in a situation like this before?”
    Rudy shrugged. He was a solidly built man, and in his eyes she saw the same brokenness she’d felt for so long. She reached over and put her hand on his wrist to comfort him and he looked down at it before drawing his arm away.
    â€œI have been held hostage before. And it wasn’t the kind of experience I want to repeat. I’m not going to let myself be—”
    He broke off and she realized that he didn’t want to react the way he had the last time.
    â€œDon’t worry, Rudy. None of us are going to take this lying down.”
    â€œSometimes you don’t have a choice. Men like these pirates, they have nothing to lose. They don’t understand things like our lives and our loves. It makes it very hard for them to be reasoned with.”
    Daphne nodded, realizing that Rudy and his girlfriend had probably been in a situation like this in South America. “I’ve never been taken hostage before.”
    â€œIt’s not something you want to get used to,” he said. “The men who held us in Peru were with the drug cartel. So it wasn’t a ransom thing. But a territorial thing.”
    â€œI don’t imagine that makes much difference,” Daphne said.
    â€œNo, it doesn’t,” Rudy said.
    â€œI read a bit about the pirates in this area before we left and they don’t seem to be motivated to kill their captives—just use them for leverage to get money.”
    â€œI don’t care about that. I’m tired of being used by men with no moral compass. I’m not going to take this sitting down.”
    Rudy stood up and walked away and all Daphne could do was stare after him. He was a loose cannon—someone without anything grounding him to the moral compass he’d just talked about. Focusing on Rudy would give her something useful to do, but she had no idea how to talk him down from this. How to make Rudy give up his anger. Hell, she hadn’t been able to get rid of her own anger until she realized that she didn’t want to lose Laz.
    It was funny how caring was the bridge that made all the difference. There was no one here that Rudy could care about. Their group was newly formed and they hadn’t bonded with each other yet. Who knew when they would?
    And the women here…well, Rudy wasn’t going to fall for Franny, who was clearly involved with Bob, or with her because,