The Blood King Conspiracy (Matt Drake 2) Read Free Page B

know.”
    “Alright, alright,” said Hayden looking away. “It’s a song by Barry Manilow. Early ‘80’s, I’m guessing. Did we win?”
    “He did.” Boudreau motioned at Godwin. Guards appeared, levelling lethal-looking weapons at Kinimaka and her. “Don’t move.”
    Hayden sucked in her lips. They were dead anyway. Why not try their luck now, when there were three of them? Why wait?
    Survive as long as you can. The old Jaye creed had been all but branded into her. One minute, to the next, to the next. Don’t provoke. Every next moment might bring you the chance you need.
    Godwin struggled hard, giving one guard a bloody nose, but he was no match for three. They manhandled him out of the cell and threw him to the ground before Boudreau. “Nothing fancy,” the leader said, taking out his field knife. “Tell me what you know, and it’s quick. Dick me about and it’s choppy choppy time.” His grin left no doubt in Hayden’s mind which scenario he favoured.
    “Listen!” She hoped the desperation didn’t show too much in her voice. She couldn’t bear to watch another member of her team murdered before her eyes. Commonsense and training urged her to shut the hell up. Heart and mind said otherwise.
    “We don’t know much. What we learned, well, we only learned yesterday.” Was it really only yesterday that her team had been laughing, excited, looking forward to their futures? Was it really only yesterday that she’d been talking to Ben Blake and torn between two minds about what to do with him?
    “It’s something to do with the Queen Anne’s Revenge,” Hayden blurted. “You know, Blackbeard’s ship?”
    If her father could see her now . . .
    “The pirate?” Boudreau smiled condescendingly.
    “Yes! They found it in ’96 off the North Carolina shore and have been excavating and salvaging it ever since. And, well, pirates . . . well they tend to hoard a lot of . . . umm . . . treasure.”
    Surprisingly Boudreau wasn’t laughing, only appraising. “You’ll be telling me the Bermuda Triangle is naught but pirate booty next! Aarghh!”
    With the last exclamation Boudreau sank his knife to the hilt into Godwin’s thigh. The shock was so sudden that even Godwin just stared for a second. Then Boudreau twisted the hilt and ripped the blade back and Godwin started to twist and scream. Blood pooled rapidly through his trousers and across the floor.
    “Anything else?”
    Hayden stayed quiet.
    “Tell me about the Blood King?” Boudreau all but bellowed. “Tell me about the Blood King!”
    Hayden stepped back despite herself. Boudreau had gone red in the face and was sending spittle flying in her direction. Christ, even the very mention of the Blood King sent this American bad-ass into seizures.
    How could that be?
    “We know nothing, Boudreau. Beyond his name, and that he is looking for the item we confiscated from the Queen Anne’s Revenge. That’s it.”
    She turned a regretful gaze towards Godwin. The man’s eyes had rolled up into his head. A guard was kicking him, another stabbing him. Inside five minutes one more CIA agent lay still and bleeding at Boudreau’s sin-stained hands.
    Hayden met the eyes of Mano Kinimaka. It was a look of finality and goodbye. A look that said ‘don’t judge me on how I die, judge me on how I’ve lived.’
    Kinimaka’s heavy brows raised in an open expression of sorrow. The Hawaiian was a very open man, not used to concealing his feelings.
    Boudreau was already at the cage and tapping the bars with his knife, sending rivulets of blood spattering across the floor.
    “You ready?” He grinned at Hayden.
    Then someone shouted, a scared holler that seemed completely out of place coming from the rough brawler who stood clutching a sat-phone.
    “Boudreau! ”
    The leader’s face showed anger. “What?”
    “It’s him! It’s him!” The phone was being brandished as if it were ablaze.
    Hayden watched closely as Boudreau’s face adjusted instantly from