Page 4 of Iron Cross

“I think he will kill her, marry her to a man who will beat the life from her if not literally, then at least metaphorically, or…” He shook his head. “He will cause his own demise, and take her with him.”

He was right. Slowly, I had whittled down the Italians to what they were, sinking their ships, breaking their commerce. Dissent among them grew louder and louder, as their wealth diminished. But a starving animal was always its most dangerous in its final throes of life. That was why I was building an army to exterminate them.

“I want her saved. I want her protected.” Morelli looked down at the ground. “Durante will fall, but perhaps if I help you be the executioner, you will keep her from burning with him.”

“You’d live in this squalor, helping me, to save her?” I asked the question, even though I knew the answer. Because I would do the same for Kira. I would doeverythingfor Kira.

“You’re a man of honor,” Morelli said. “I help you, you will grant me my wish.”

“How do you know that?”

He shrugged. “Because it’s my gift. I see the future laid bare before me. I see a man and know their worth within a single conversation. These quiet meals we have exchanged, as pleasant as they have been, have given me time to think, and… to see the situation as it truly is.”

I sat quietly, contemplating his words. Then I shook it off, reaching down for the now emptied plates and glasses - because I could not let him keep utensils lest he hurt himself or others, or possibly pull a Count of Monte Cristo and tunnel his way out. Without a word, I came to my feet, knocking on the door for Kieran who was waiting on the other side.

“Visit me again, little king,” Morelli said as I turned away. “You’ll find my counsel invaluable.”

Chapter one

Underpaying the Boatman

Eoghan

Present Day

Iwas convinced that anyone who wanted to live on a boat is either a habitual drunk or insane. The ship tilted and swayed beneath my feet, and I had to keep my knees bent to stay upright. Damn the ocean.

Damn the water. Damn the entire shipping industry. The moment Green Fields Enterprises could go legitimate, I would sell the Docks on Dutch Street and be done with all maritime endeavors.

Give me mountains over beaches any day.

I stared at the heavy, loaded weapon in my hand. I wasn’t too keen on guns. They were too heavy, too… impersonal. There was something about the weight of a gun that made me think of a prisoner’s shackles. Maybe it was the rough texture of the damn things, made to be easy to grip, unlike the smoothness of the iron blade on my hip. It was so… unsophisticated.

I preferred to kill with the edge of a knife. It was closer, more intimate, and more noble.

The squawking of sea birds in the black sky drew my attention, as the creatures with wide, white wings circled above. Albatrosses, maybe? They circled high above, cawing as they floated on the wind.

I looked back down at the man on his knees before me, his face sullen, the fight drained out of him.

“Where is Kira?” I placed the barrel of the gun against the kneeling sailor’s head, nudging cold steel upon his warm flesh.

He sputtered. “I-I-I… I don’t know who that is!”

A lie.

And I took it as an insult.

I pulled the trigger. His head fell back at the impact, before he fell to the ground, dying in a puddle of his own blood. I went to the next in line, and placed the gun at his forehead as well.

“Where is Kira?” I asked.

It was a useless exercise. They would die no matter what they uttered. But the information would be useful and I left no stone unturned.

“I… I… I thought she ran away… she…” He stammered what he knew of the legend of my missing wife. It was nothing I had not heard before. She’d run away. Eugenio Durante was willing to pay a bounty for her, alive, preferably. Dead, if they presented her corpse.

Durante had no idea what manner of death I would bring down on the city if they so much as harmed a black hair on her sacred head.

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know, boyo.” I slapped him with the pistol. Not hard. Just enough to make a point. “Tell me something I don’t know!”

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