A Spot of Blackmail
folder
Pirates of the Caribbean (All) › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
12
Views:
1,831
Reviews:
5
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Pirates of the Caribbean (All) › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
12
Views:
1,831
Reviews:
5
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 8
The next night, Anna was ready for Alfred. The bag she was going to give him contained a double handful of pennies, on top of which was the snake. Since it had been fed, it spent most of its time sleeping, and it wasn’t obvious that the bag had something alive in it. Jack had decided that the bag was heavy enough to pass for a hundred pounds in sovereigns, since Anna had never seen a hundred pounds all together in her life. She worried about that a bit, but as Jack had pointed out, “He doesn’t care where you got it from, as long as he gets it.”
“Oh, he’ll get it, all right. It’s too bad that snake isn’t poisonous and hungry.”
“Venomous.”
“What?”
“A snake is poisonous if you swell up after you bite it. It’s venomous if you swell up after it bites you.”
“Well, whichever. As long as he swells up. I suppose I’ll settle for having him go away, though.”
“Oh, he’ll definitely do that, luv. I’ll make sure of it.” Anna grinned at the image of Jack rowing Alfred offshore and telling him to start swimming. He wouldn’t do that, but the idea amused her anyway. Keeping that image in her mind, she went about opening the tavern for the night.
By the time Alfred actually showed up, Anna was starting to get nervous, and was glad that Jack and Gibbs and Cotton and Anamaria were all in the tavern. Jack had apparently called for reinforcements in case Alfred decided to go back on the deal. Alfred, for his part, was sitting there drinking gin and eating stew and planning what he was going to do with his hundred pounds. He was somewhere around the “hire an entire brothel for as long as the money lasts” stage of things when Anna came up behind him with the bag.
“All right, you bastard, here’s your hundred pounds.” She shook the bag and Alfred heard coins hit each other. “Now go. Get out of my tavern and don’t come back here.” Anna’s heart was in her throat, but she was determined not to let it show. It was a lot easier to be brave when she wasn’t staring what she had for family history in the face. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted him to open the bag there, or whether she just wanted him gone. Either way, he had to do something soon, or she was going to faint. Fortunately, he shook the bag himself, felt the weight of it, and got up, smirking at her.
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
“It’s done. Now you heard the lady, get out. And get off Tortuga before morning, or I’ll put this somewhere painful.” Anna couldn’t see what “this” was, but assumed it was a dagger, if not a sword. Gibbs had a broken bottle, and Anamaria had something like a young machete (where the hell had she gotten that from?). Alfred’s sense of self-preservation kicked in again, and he walked out with four pairs of pirate eyes boring holes in his back. Once he was out in the street again, he decided he just had to see the fruits of his labor, and stuck his hand in the bag. That was when the snake, which was thoroughly tired of being shaken, bit his fingers. He yanked his hand out of the bag, with the snake winding itself around his arm, and the last anyone saw of him, he was running like a madman in the direction of the pier.
Anna fell back into a chair, feeling Alfred’s weight come off her mind and off her shoulders at the same time. It left her feeling dizzy, and apparently Gibbs didn’t like the look of her, because she found his flask in her hand. Whatever he’d taken to keeping in it wasn’t anything she recognized, but it was alcohol, and it reconnected her brain with the rest of her even if it did feel like she’d swallowed a coconut husk. “He’s gone?”
“Well, if he isn’t, we’ll take care of him.” Anna wondered if she could survive being looked out for by the Pearl’s entire crew, but decided that they meant well and let it alone. She returned the flask to Gibbs in favor of some of her own rum, which was at least drinkable, and by the time she got done with that, she felt better enough to go about business as usual. Jack watched her, and noticed that even though she looked relieved to be rid of Alfred, she still looked tired. Knocking her over the head and sailing away with her reasserted itself as a good idea. Especially now that she seemed to be famous enough for people she didn’t want finding her to find her.
“By the way, you don’t have any other relatives you need taken care of one way or another, do you?”
“Not that I know of, no.”
“Just as well, or you’d spend a lot of time catching snakes.”
“No, I think that idea has had its day. From now on I’ll settle for being left alone. Hopefully I’ve got enough of a reputation for the snake story to spread.”
“Trust me, luv, you’ll have it soon if you don’t have it now.”
“Good. I really don’t want to have to do that again.”
******************************************************************
A/N: I borrowed the definition of the difference between venomous and poisonous snakes from Diana Gabaldon’s book, Drums of Autumn.
“Oh, he’ll get it, all right. It’s too bad that snake isn’t poisonous and hungry.”
“Venomous.”
“What?”
“A snake is poisonous if you swell up after you bite it. It’s venomous if you swell up after it bites you.”
“Well, whichever. As long as he swells up. I suppose I’ll settle for having him go away, though.”
“Oh, he’ll definitely do that, luv. I’ll make sure of it.” Anna grinned at the image of Jack rowing Alfred offshore and telling him to start swimming. He wouldn’t do that, but the idea amused her anyway. Keeping that image in her mind, she went about opening the tavern for the night.
By the time Alfred actually showed up, Anna was starting to get nervous, and was glad that Jack and Gibbs and Cotton and Anamaria were all in the tavern. Jack had apparently called for reinforcements in case Alfred decided to go back on the deal. Alfred, for his part, was sitting there drinking gin and eating stew and planning what he was going to do with his hundred pounds. He was somewhere around the “hire an entire brothel for as long as the money lasts” stage of things when Anna came up behind him with the bag.
“All right, you bastard, here’s your hundred pounds.” She shook the bag and Alfred heard coins hit each other. “Now go. Get out of my tavern and don’t come back here.” Anna’s heart was in her throat, but she was determined not to let it show. It was a lot easier to be brave when she wasn’t staring what she had for family history in the face. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted him to open the bag there, or whether she just wanted him gone. Either way, he had to do something soon, or she was going to faint. Fortunately, he shook the bag himself, felt the weight of it, and got up, smirking at her.
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
“It’s done. Now you heard the lady, get out. And get off Tortuga before morning, or I’ll put this somewhere painful.” Anna couldn’t see what “this” was, but assumed it was a dagger, if not a sword. Gibbs had a broken bottle, and Anamaria had something like a young machete (where the hell had she gotten that from?). Alfred’s sense of self-preservation kicked in again, and he walked out with four pairs of pirate eyes boring holes in his back. Once he was out in the street again, he decided he just had to see the fruits of his labor, and stuck his hand in the bag. That was when the snake, which was thoroughly tired of being shaken, bit his fingers. He yanked his hand out of the bag, with the snake winding itself around his arm, and the last anyone saw of him, he was running like a madman in the direction of the pier.
Anna fell back into a chair, feeling Alfred’s weight come off her mind and off her shoulders at the same time. It left her feeling dizzy, and apparently Gibbs didn’t like the look of her, because she found his flask in her hand. Whatever he’d taken to keeping in it wasn’t anything she recognized, but it was alcohol, and it reconnected her brain with the rest of her even if it did feel like she’d swallowed a coconut husk. “He’s gone?”
“Well, if he isn’t, we’ll take care of him.” Anna wondered if she could survive being looked out for by the Pearl’s entire crew, but decided that they meant well and let it alone. She returned the flask to Gibbs in favor of some of her own rum, which was at least drinkable, and by the time she got done with that, she felt better enough to go about business as usual. Jack watched her, and noticed that even though she looked relieved to be rid of Alfred, she still looked tired. Knocking her over the head and sailing away with her reasserted itself as a good idea. Especially now that she seemed to be famous enough for people she didn’t want finding her to find her.
“By the way, you don’t have any other relatives you need taken care of one way or another, do you?”
“Not that I know of, no.”
“Just as well, or you’d spend a lot of time catching snakes.”
“No, I think that idea has had its day. From now on I’ll settle for being left alone. Hopefully I’ve got enough of a reputation for the snake story to spread.”
“Trust me, luv, you’ll have it soon if you don’t have it now.”
“Good. I really don’t want to have to do that again.”
******************************************************************
A/N: I borrowed the definition of the difference between venomous and poisonous snakes from Diana Gabaldon’s book, Drums of Autumn.