Phoenix Burning (4 page)

Dee spoke without moving from her position by the door. “You expect us to believe you’re here without Nell’s say-so?”

Ayla’s shoulder’s sagged. “Nell kicked me off the
Banshee
. I said it was stupid to send in a raiding party. I told her my plan and when she refused, I tried to sell it to the crew. Most were on my side. No one really wants to be in that raiding party, not when the
Banshee
is so torn up. Nell found out I’d gone behind her back.”

“You bloody mutinied!” Dee breathed.

“Not exactly.” Ayla’s reply was so quiet Toby could
barely hear her. “I never wanted to take over from Nell; I just thought she might listen to me if I had the crew on side. I—”

“That’s mutiny.” The captain frowned. “I’m sorry, Ayla, but you expect us to believe, after you showed us how loyal you are to your mother, that you have since betrayed her?”

“It wasn’t
betrayal
,” Ayla snapped as she spun to face the captain. “Nell’s not thinking straight. She’s going to get the whole crew killed – me along with them. I’m not suggesting the
Banshee
and
Phoenix
team up. I just need to work with one of you. Then when the con’s over, we share out the inverters.”

“You want Toby,” Dee said.

Ayla nodded and glanced at him, seeking support.

Toby did not meet her eyes. Was this something he wanted to do – go on a mission with Ayla again? His heart thudded. It couldn’t possibly work, there was too much between them. Ayla had imprisoned him on the
Banshee
, she hated his family
and
she had watched the
Phoenix
abandon her to die. He’d be a fool to trust her.

But if they didn’t get the inverters they would have to give up on the island. Without solar power the
Phoenix
had to sail close to shore – no venturing into the deep salt. Things would go back to the way they were and suddenly that didn’t seem like any kind of life: living from hand
to mouth, fighting for survival, knowing the Greymen or the
Banshee
would catch up with them eventually.

Only the hope of finding the island had kept the crew going. If they gave up that hope…

“Your pulse is accelerating.” Polly nipped his ear. “Don’t even think about it.”

“We
need
those inverters,” Toby said eventually. “Ayla’s plan makes sense.”

“We have other blond crew.” Dee scowled. “We could send Rita with Rahul, Amit, Ajay … any of them.”

“They’re all too old,” Toby explained.

“So Ayla says.” Dee narrowed her eyes.

“It’ll be easy enough to confirm the rules when we get there,” Toby said.

“
When
?” Dee marched up to Toby. “You’ve already decided!”

From the corner of his eye, Toby saw Ayla’s wild grin.

The captain held up a hand. “I can’t allow it, not after last time. You imprisoned Toby on the
Banshee
and he was almost killed.”

Ayla ignored the captain and leaned towards Toby. “It’s not nearly as dangerous as rescuing you from Tarifa. Between us we have two ships, both with unusable solar panels. I don’t know about your crew, but ours isn’t too happy about that. Nell needs an inverter, or she
will
be
facing a mutiny. From what I heard when I climbed on board, I reckon you’re in the same position.” A sly look entered her eyes. “Did you translate the map?”

“So that’s what you’re after.” Dee narrowed her eyes. “You want our map translation!”

Ayla shook her head. “Honestly, no. I just wondered, is all. Our map is useless, our panels are useless, our ship is damaged and our crew is injured. We need these inverters and my plan will get them for us. Sebastiane told me all about the sanctuary, how it works. I know how we can get in and out.”

The captain’s eyes slid to Dee’s.

“I don’t trust her,” Dee snapped. “There’s no way she’s here without Nell’s permission. They’re after Hiko.”

Toby tensed.

“Keep Hiko locked up below if you like,” Ayla replied. “I won’t even look in his direction, let alone go near him.” She spread her hands. “It’s an inverter we need right now. If I can go back to Nell with the piece of equipment she’s after, she’ll have to let me back on board.” She swallowed. “She’ll have to forgive me.” Her hair fell over her face. “I made a mistake, Captain, can’t I atone for it?”

“Are you referring to your mutiny on the
Banshee
, or your betrayal of the
Phoenix
?” the captain asked.

“Either. Both.” She widened her eyes and Toby had to
bite his cheek to stop himself from laughing.

“All right.” The captain looked at Ayla’s rust-covered palms. “You’ve made your point. Toby, take Ayla to clean up. Once Rahul clears the mess we’ll have a meeting with the rest of the crew. If we’re going to consider this, we need a solid plan. That means I want input from everyone who has ever had a dealing with Gozo.”

As Toby closed the door behind him, the captain turned to Dee and started to speak in a low and urgent voice.

“So, the traitor’s gonna tell us how to pick up an inverter,” Crocker sneered.

Peel turned to the captain. “Put her off the
Phoenix
now, before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what?” Arnav hawked and spat. “We ain’t going anywhere and nor’s she.”

“We need that piece of equipment.” Nisha sat close to Rahul, his arm closed around her. “If we put Ayla off ship without listening to her, where will we get one?”

Rahul tightened his arm. “No reason we can’t take her idea and do the job without her.”

Toby watched Ayla smile slightly as Rahul spoke. She knew that only she and Toby could complete the heist. She wasn’t worried.

Marcus stood beside his partner; he had been silent for the whole meeting. Now he spoke. “Dee doesn’t like it, I can tell.”

Toby whirled to look at Dee, who hadn’t said a word. “Dee?”

She rubbed her healing wound and said nothing.

“You’re my second, if you’ve something to say…” the captain prompted.

Dee sighed. “You know my thoughts, Captain. I don’t trust her.”

“If Dee says she can’t be trusted, then we shouldn’t,” Marcus said.

“I hear you, Dee,” Rita called out. “But without Ayla, I’d be hanging from the ramparts in Tarifa, alongside Rahul, Theo, Oats and you, yourself, Captain. We owe her. We should at least hear what she has to say.”

“Rita…” Dee said, her voice low in warning. “She’s
Banshee
.”

The crew growled at that and the atmosphere thickened.

“We don’t know why she’s really here!” Oats shouted. “Could be the
Banshee
’s more badly damaged than she says. Could be they want the
Phoenix
. Could be a trick.”

D’von started to sidle closer to Ayla. Toby caught his friend’s shoulder and shook his head. “They’re being mean to Ayla,” D’von grumbled.

“She can look after herself,” Toby murmured as Ayla vaulted on to a tabletop and raised her voice.

“We don’t want your bucket of a ship. I’m here because
we both need inverters and my plan to get them requires the
Phoenix
’s crew.”

“Why not use your own crew?” Rita shouted.

Ayla snorted. “For a start, I need a partner in crime and
Banshee
pirates are all easily identified.”

“She’s right,” Toby said.

“Well maybe her captain should stop tattooing her crew!” Dee snapped.

“Basically you need one of us to help you because we haven’t mutilated ourselves,” Uma grunted. “Nice.”

Ayla glared at her. “I don’t need ‘one of you’. I need
Toby
.”

Uma leaped to her feet. “Not a chance.”

“Uma!” Toby frowned. “This isn’t your decision.”

She spun to face him. “Have you forgotten already? She’ll get you killed. Maybe she wants you to go with her because you’re expendable. That’ll be the real reason she won’t use
Banshee
pirates – because she cares what happens to her own crew.”

Toby caught his breath.

The crew began to call out. “Get off the table … we don’t need you … get off our ship!”

The voices grew louder and uglier but Ayla shouted over them all. “There are inverters in the sanctuary of the sun worshippers in Gozo.”

The crew quietened.

“How do you know?” Nisha finally demanded.

“Intelligence gathered.” Ayla narrowed her eyes. “Toby and I can get into the sanctuary disguised as devotees, in advance of the solstice festival. We go as representatives of the Sun and Moon, who must be under sixteen. Once we’ve found the inverters, you arrive disguised as pilgrims and we hand them over to you.”

Marcus stood shoulder to shoulder with Dee. “You’re asking Toby to infilitrate the sun worshippers’ sanctuary with
you
at his side. It wouldn’t be safe for him to go into that sanctuary with a trusted companion, let alone with you.”

“There’s no downside here,” Ayla replied. “Toby and I get dropped off at the sanctuary where we live in comfort for a couple of weeks. We find the inverters, we pass them to you. We get out.”

The crew shuffled and muttered, then Arnav cleared his throat. His wrinkled face was thoughtful. “Heard of this festival, I ’ave,” he said. “An’ there’s one thing you ’aven’t mentioned, girlie.”

Ayla fidgeted shiftily.

“Thought as much.” Arnav nodded. “Yeah. You ’aven’t mentioned what ’appens to those Sun and Moon kids when the festival’s over.”

“What happens?” Toby spoke slowly.

“It’s not a problem.” Ayla opened her hands.

“What happens, Arnav?” he insisted.

“The Sun an’ Moon are special, ain’t they? So the ones who are chosen get the proper trainin’ to become high-ups in the Order.”

Marcus’s chin shot up. “Hang on! Doesn’t that mean they have to be sunblind, like Morris and Javier?”

“Yep.” Arnav nodded. “After the pilgrims get their gifts, the Sun and Moon get staked out with their eyes taped open. Blindness takes a minute or two, or the rest of the afternoon – dependin’.”

“On what?” Nisha whispered.

“On how cloudy it is.” Arnav directed his attention to Ayla. “Wasn’t goin’ to mention that, were ya, girlie?”

Ayla appealed directly to Toby. “We’ll be out before then.”

Toby scowled. “If we’re the focus of attention during this festival, how the hell do we get out again before we get blinded?”

Ayla hissed. “I
have
thought this through. We’ve a chemist on the
Banshee
. He’s been working with an old sleeping tablet: Tuinal. It’s a respiratory depressor. He’s given me pills that fake the effects of death. If we can’t get out the easy way, we can each take Tuinal. They’ll think we’ve died. There’s no way they’ll stake out a couple of dead bodies.”

“They might cremate them.” Amit spoke up.

“Or bury them,” Ajay added.

Toby caught his breath. He could all too easily imagine being buried alive. It would be like the aftermath of the explosion in Tarifa, only with no light, no friends and no hope. He exhaled shakily.

Ayla rolled her eyes. “I already thought of that. Sebastiane told me what the order does with their dead. They’re known for it. They don’t cremate – they believe it’s too close to worship of the eruption. They don’t bury, because they don’t have a cemetery. They entrust their dead to the salt.”

“To the salt,” Rita said slowly. “Like we do?”

“There’s a low cliff behind the sanctuary. The dead get wrapped up and put over the edge. They land on the beach and the next tide takes them. The order thinks of it like going over the horizon, towards the sun. Really they just get eaten by acid and buried in junk.”

“So what happens when you get dumped over this cliff?”

“Easy.” Ayla grinned. “
Birdie
picks us up.”

“This plan depends on far too many things we don’t know.” The captain gestured for Ayla to get down from the table. “I agree, if there’re inverters anywhere they’re most likely to be on Gozo, but you haven’t any actual proof. There may not be any, or there may be only one.
If that’s the case who gets it, the
Phoenix
or the
Banshee
?”

Marcus stepped forward. “You don’t know if you’ll be able to find the inverters, let alone steal them without being caught.”

“That’s right,” Peel growled. “I already saved the boy once. Me an’ Crocker ain’t going to get ’im outta Gozo for no good reason.”

Crocker hawked and spat. “You could be so closely guarded in there, you won’t get to do nothin’ but pray.”

“Or we could be left completely alone.” Ayla folded her arms. “They’re
blind
remember!”

The captain glowered at her. “They’re not
all
blind, Ayla, in fact I’m sure most of them aren’t. The best way to fail a con is to underestimate your mark. You should know that.”

“And then there’s your exit.” It was Uma’s turn to fold her arms. “What if you can’t escape and have to rely on that suicide pill? I haven’t tested this ‘Tuinal’ you’re talking about. What if it doesn’t work? What if the order realizes you aren’t dead? You’ll be completely helpless – asleep probably – when they deal with you.”

Toby shuddered.

“And all of
that
depends on the pair of you being chosen as the Sun and Moon, among a number of others.” Uma nodded, satisfied that her case had been made. “It’s not worth the risk.”

Ayla opened her mouth and the captain raised his hand to silence her, but she ignored his gesture. “It’s the best plan we’ve got,” she snapped.

Rita stood. “Not worth the risk? Without the inverter we might as well toss the solar panels back in the salt where we found them.”

“We ain’t tossin’ nothing back in no salt,” Crocker shrieked.

“Without the inverters, they’re good for nothing but cluttering up the deck.” Rita frowned. “If the sun worshippers have the only inverters, then we have to at least
try
and steal them, otherwise we’re back where we began.”

“Would that be so bad?” Ajay asked and his brother nodded agreement.

Oats slammed his hook on the tabletop and the sound of metal on metal rang through the room. “Of course it would,” he shouted. “If we hadn’t been going for those solar panels, the
Banshee
would never have attacked; we’d have outrun that storm and never needed to be in Tarifa seeking repairs.” He dragged the point of his hook along the surface. “We lost more than just my hand in Tarifa. What would Carson say if he knew we’d got nothing out of it? No panels, no chance to find the island. He’d bloody turn in his grave. If he had one. Which he doesn’t.
We’re bloody pirates! Our whole lives are a risk, or have you forgotten that?”

“There’s taking risks and then there’s sending Toby in on a con,” Uma retorted.

“Why’s Toby so special?” Crocker sneered, squaring up to her. “Would we be ’avin’ this discussion if we were talkin’ about sendin’ someone else in? How about Delgado or Alvarez?” He pointed to the group of Spaniards standing at the back of the mess hall.

“So you’re saying we should send Toby into the sanctuary with the traitor?” Uma asked. “With only some of the information we need.”

“And a half-baked exit strategy,” Marcus supplied.

“It’s a sound enough plan.” Oats was defensive. “Send ’em in. If Toby and the girl don’t get picked as the couple, it’s no skin off our noses, they just come back. If they get in and can’t find the inverters, they sneak out, come back, we’ve still lost nothing. But if they find the inverters and get them to us, we’ve gained everything. They don’t have to wait till the festival – get in, get the inverters, get out.”

“The
Banshee
sent someone in already.” Dee looked up. “He never came out.”

Oats fell silent.

“Maybe he was a fool an’ got caught doin’ something stupid,” Crocker rasped. “Maybe he decided life in the
sanctuary was better than on that stinking tub they call a ship. Our Toby’s bright, he mightn’t get caught.” Crocker turned, sharp as a ferret. “I don’t know about you lot, but I want to find that island. Fink about it – our own place, all shiny an’ new, away from Greymen and their laws and taxes. We’re so close, I can smell it. I ain’t givin’ up on that. What d’you fink, boy? Can you do this?”

The eyes of the whole crew turned to Toby, but he only saw Ayla. Her head was cocked to one side and her eyes sparkled with challenge.

“Is there no other way in?” Toby asked finally.

Ayla shook her head. “Not according to Sebastiane.”

“Rubbish.” Dee slashed her hand across her body. “They must get deliveries. We could pretend to bring supplies or we could bring them some of the solar panels, say we found them and wanted to hand them over. That would get us in.”

“To the inner sanctum?” Ayla sneered. “Did you get in when you dropped off your crew?”

Uma groaned and shook her head. “We left them at the outer wall.”

“They’re even more paranoid now. They send missionaries out into the world, into communities to make converts, but the only time their worshippers get to see inside the actual sanctuary is at the summer solstice.
The only other way in would be as an attendant – a sister or brother-in-training, but the
Banshee
already tried that. It has to be more than one person working together. People they’ll trust.”

“They won’t suspect kids of trying to steal equipment,” Rita said thoughtfully.

“And if we get caught where we shouldn’t be, we can say we got lost, or were playing a game, or looking for some privacy.”

Ayla twitched her eyebrows. “Toby – we’ll be fine.”

As she looked his way, Toby’s stomach flipped. “I don’t want to go back to where we started.” He turned to the captain. “We can’t ask the crew to give up on the island. If we don’t go for the inverters, that’s what we’re doing.” He wiped his forehead. “All right. I’m in.”