Chapter 193: 193
Malone was lazing on the bed in a brothel as an attractive prostitute helped him to spread some medicine on his wound .
Previously, when the Skeleton pursued the Gentle Breeze, Malone insisted that they were black-market merchants, but the pirates from the Skeleton ignored the claims . As captain of his ship, Malone tried his hardest to fight off the pirates bravely with his crew . Unfortunately, the Skeleton was way more potent than the Gentle Breeze, and within three minutes, every single one of the Gentle Breeze’s sailors was defeated by the Skeleton’s pirates .
After that, they started to kick and punch Malone . He fell to the ground the moment one of the pirates landed a heavy blow on his stomach . The searing pain from the bludgeoning caused him to drop the dagger in his hand . When the pirates were done bashing him up, Malone was dragged and locked up in the depths of the ship’s hold . When he was finally alone, he quickly checked his body and realized that it was bruised and bleeding from top to bottom . Not one part of him was left unscathed .
Just like the entire crew of the Gentle Breeze, Malone thought that those pirates would surely kill him . While they sailed back to Nassau, the Skeleton took the opportunity and plundered another merchant ship . Malone witnessed first hand on how Wilton gleefully tormented the Gentle Breeze’s sailors for sport . Even after all the experience gained from working at sea for decades, Malone still trembled at the sight of the inhumane pirates that plundered his ship . He became so hopeless to the point where he wanted to kill himself .
Right until when his freedom was granted back to him, he couldn’t believe that he had to endure such unspeakable horrors . When he was sure that he was no longer in danger, the first thing he did was run the tavern and drink as much as he could stomach . Having his fill of alcohol, he proceeded to the brothel he visited regularly . Finally, he found some peace and quiet that he craved for so long in a familiar place he was comfortable with . When he woke up the next afternoon, he was met by Carina .
“Hold on . You suspect that Jim is working for Malcolm?”
The prostitute left the room half a minute ago . Malone blinked, shaking his head as he tried to clear the awful hangover that was pounded his mind . Through his daze, he was shocked to hear Carina suspecting that Jim was a mole . He quickly fumbled around, eventually finding his shirt before putting it on .
“To be honest with you, I won’t believe such accusations if I don’t see solid evidence . Jim is a good kid . I dug around, asking about him when I thought of recruiting him to the Gentle Breeze . Everyone said that he’s a terrific kid . He’s one hardworking lad, never allowing the slightest bit of laziness to get the better of him . Though he could be boring at times and has no sense of humor whatsoever, that didn’t stop me from putting him on my list of favorite persons . Have I told you about his sister?”
“What sister?”
“Jim has an adopted little sister who is two years younger than him . During that time, his family was doing well, and he was taught how to read and write . Unfortunately, the happiness was short-lived . Shortly after that, both his parents were tragically killed in an accident, leaving the two of them alone . Of course, they needed money to support themselves . So, some people suggested that he send his stepsister to an orphanage or a monastery . Jim rejected all of them with a resounding no . In the end, he had to sell off everything valuable in his house . It was then that he started to look around for a job that could support him and his sister . He was only 14 years old . ”
Suddenly, Malone paused .
“What’s wrong?”
“Speaking of his sister, I heard that she had just recovered from a severe illness . Jim spent quite a huge sum of money, looking for a doctor to cure her . I did ask him earlier if he needed my help, but he told me that he had settled his debts . Apparently, he has a distant uncle who sent him some money to deal with his crisis . ”
“Could this man be Malcolm?”
“I have never thought about it from that angle . I still don’t think that Jim will sell us out and let Wilton know which route the Gentle Breeze took . ”
Malone shook his head, and he had put on his clothes . He then moved his shoulder, and the pain from his wounds caused him to wince and grit his teeth .
“Have you talked to him about it?”
“Not yet . I don’t want to be rash and alert the enemy . Right now, we don’t have any solid evidence about him selling us out . Once he notices that we are on him, it would be extremely hard for us to catch him red-handed . This matter is of the utmost importance to us . Even though Wilton and his pirates are dead, our next journey would be perilous if we fail to catch the mole . The worst thing would be that Malcolm will know all of our moves . ”
“Whoa, whoa, hang on . Wilton and his pirates are dead?! How is that even possible? Is this supposed to be a joke?”
Malone had no idea about the entire incident on the island since he slept through the day .
“If you didn’t get drunk last night and unleash your inner beast at the brothel, you should have heard of the big news . Right now, you are probably the last person on this island that finds out . ”
“Haha… this has to be the best news I’ve heard in a long time . ”
Malone pretended that he didn’t hear the undertone of sarcasm in Carina’s voice .
“While I was on my way back to Nassau, I cursed Wilton, hoping that his pirates would be somehow engulfed by the ocean . I didn’t even mind being a casualty alongside them as long as they’re dead . Anyway, I’m cool with this ending as well . How did they die, eh? Who killed them? How did they get killed? How many survivors are left? To be honest, I find it hard to believe that anybody could kill them . Wilton had over 200 pirates with him, and they were bloody good at what they did . How did this person kill him under the protection of his men?”
“You should go look for the answer yourself . Back to our little Jim, then . Is there anything you wish to add?”
“Let me think… well… I think that should be it, I suppose . I have known him for some time now, and he is a good worker, a good brother, and a good neighbor . I reiterate . I don’t think he is the mole . ”
“Regarding your last point, we will make sure to get to the bottom of it . ”
“What are you planning to do? Send someone to spy on him?”
Malone gulped a mouthful of water and rinsed his mouth . With that, he was done cleaning himself for the day .
“No . I want to give him a reason to sell us out . ”
“Huh?”
“Just now, I ‘accidentally’ spilled some top-secret news to him; deliberately of course . I said that two powerful pirate ships are planning to leave the black-market alliance, choosing to work with us instead . If he is indeed the mole, he will surely tell Malcolm about it . ”
“After that?”
“Malcolm will surely do something . As compared to the small traders we deal with, he won’t just stand aside and watch us snatch away his powerful clients and will definitely try to stop it from happening . Judging by his personality, he would approach the two captains and convince them not to leave the alliance . All we need to do right now is to watch them closely . Once he meets the captains, we can go ahead and apprehend Jim . ”
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