Martel gestured to a chair. “Monsieur Gage, at last. It’s been far too long. Sit, sit, after your long journey. I confess I doubted your pugnacious reputation, and yet here you are, bright as a button and taut as a bow after the battle of Vertieres and the sack of Cap-Francois. Please, relax. You deserve it! Word is that you helped negotiate the city’s surrender, saving countless lives. It must be splendid being a hero.”
“A feeling you’ll never know.”
“Your manners.” He winced. “I had correspondence from our defeated army and was told you’re not shy about calling people unkind names. Even General Rochambeau, in front of his officers! It’s a wonder you haven’t been killed in a duel or shot by a firing squad.”
“Men have tried.”
“It’s much easier to be polite.”
“I only say what is true. If honesty offends you, you’ll be upset all day.”
Martel sadly shook his head. “We started poorly in Paris. I should have believed you were the ignorant half-wit you claimed instead of continuing to try to drown you, but my nose hurt very much.”
“From the size of it, I shouldn’t wonder.”
“Despite that, I took splendid care of your son.”
“Care? As his jailer?”
“Am I? A better father to Horus than you, I contend. I’ve spent more time with him than you have his entire life, and kept him closer and safer. Your wife, whom I’ve also treated with propriety, tells me you didn’t even know you’d spawned him, left him alone in a ship of Barbary pirates, and dawdled in Paris to play diplomat instead of giving him the security he deserves. Bastards get better treatment than your boy. You’re in my debt.”
A better father! How I longed to kill him. “Easier to be polite, Martel.” My voice had low menace.
He leaned back in his chair in a show of easy superiority, happy to turn his monstrosities around. “His mother elected to accompany me, rather than you, so there’s intelligence on that side of the family. We relaxed while waiting, researching history. Martinique is in the legends, you know. Now, here you are, no doubt with information that will leave everybody happy. You’ll get your family, I the treasure, and France the ancient aviation secrets of the Aztecs.”
He had the cheek that came from having me outnumbered a dozen to one, and I was half tempted to start my own war right there. But that would gain me nothing. I’d endure him until I didn’t have to. “How can I trust you?”
He spread his arms expansively, a gesture of generosity. “How can you not, when I’ve yet to kill you?”
“Let’s start with my emerald.”
“But of course.” He’d expected this, and the devil hauled it out with the aplomb of Catherine the Great, tossing it at my feet like a worthless pebble. “I’m not a thief, Monsieur Gage.”
“The hell you aren’t.”
“I only borrowed it to encourage our partnership.”
“Then return it like a borrower, if you want manners.”
At that we stared like rival lions. It’s amazing what the eyes can convey: contempt from Martel and hatred from me. Hatred and a stubborn determination that our “partnership” needed to be modified in the extreme. Starting now, or by God I’d throttle him then and there and punch in his throat, before his bullyboys could get me off him.
Satisfyingly, I finally saw the scoundrel drop his eyes and nod.
Crow reluctantly came forward, picked up the emerald, and handed it to me with more grace. Without a word, I reached inside my shirt and hauled out the same magnifying glass I’d used to ignite the powder kegs at Vertieres. Taking my time, I studied the gem, remembering its beauties as vividly as the charms of my wife.
“So untrusting,” Martel said.
It was the same stone. I pocketed the jewel. “Finally, a start.”
“You know where the remainder of Montezuma’s treasure is?” he asked.
“I know where it may be.”
He smiled. “Then let’s go look. France and America, united.”
“Just as soon as I have my family back, and your agreement to a third, not all, of whatever we find.” I actually had no intention of giving him any of the booty, except maybe an Aztec jade dagger to his heart, but I needed this manipulator just a little while longer. If I could bundle Astiza and Harry to Jubal and his men, we’d shuck these French criminals and the British entirely, restore some of whatever we found to Dessalines, and keep a generous share for ourselves. I’d retire a gentleman after all.
This was assuming the hoard existed.
“Your family will be reunited, monsieur, when we have the treasure.”
“You will have the treasure, monsieur, when I am reunited.”
“Then I’m afraid we’re at an impasse, except that I already have your family while you, as yet, have nothing.” He looked at me coolly. “I’ve returned your gem as a gesture of goodwill. I’ve presented your wife and child, unharmed. You must extend courtesy to me. Tell me what you know, and I’ll release them.”
“Napoleon, sir, would hold you in contempt for such blackmail.”
He shook his head. “No man is more practical and ruthless than Bonaparte, if we’re being honest here.”
I considered. If I shared what I guessed about Diamond Rock, there was nothing to prevent Martel from shooting me, keeping my wife, and selling my child, actions I was certain he was perfectly capable of. Yet he was right, I didn’t have anything to exchange for them. Yet.
“Since you want a pirate pact, I’ll comply,” I said. “Loot for family. But I’m going to test what I know with my own companions, not yours. If I find something, I’m going to trade part of it-not all of it-for my family.”
“I want the flying machines.”
“If you harm my wife and son, you get nothing. If you try to betray me, you get nothing. If you bungle a discovery that could cost Napoleon the chance to cross the English Channel and conquer England, Bonaparte will have you shot. Be very careful, Leon Martel.”
This was the kind of thieves’ bargaining he understood. “And if you find nothing, you do not get your family,” he countered. “If you don’t share with me the secret technology of the Aztecs, I will kill you myself. If you take your secrets to the English, Bonaparte will make you a hunted man no matter where in the world you flee. Be very careful, Ethan Gage.”
We stared, again.
“And with that, monsieur, I believe we have established an excellent relationship,” he finished.
“I’d like a word with my wife.”
“Not possible. She’s a very clever woman, and quite impatient by now. I’m relying on her to interpret what clues you find, or what the treasures mean. Let your desire to talk to her spur you on. The sooner we have the Aztec treasure, the sooner you reunite.”
“If you touch her, I’ll destroy you.”
“I don’t need your woman. I have many of my own.” He sighed, as if exhausted by my distrust.
“I want another kiss from her, then,” I said stubbornly. “And a hug from my son.” I wanted, but could not admit it, to be reassured. I wanted love. She’d left me in Cap-Francois to go with this monster.
“I’m afraid not. Au revoir, Monsieur Gage. Poke about as you wish with what you know, and come back when you’re ready to consummate our alliance. Treasure has a way of bringing people together.”
Chapter 35
D iamond Rock, Le Diamant, looked lonely and somber when Jubal and his men ferried me out to its imposing bulk. Scrub and cactus clung to cliffs spattered with salt and guano. The Caribbean heaved uneasily against the rock’s base, the sea making a sigh like a giant. Sun and cloud wrestled for control of the sky.
“Looks as impregnable as the pyramids,” I said.
Jubal looked at the sheer cliffs. “Empty like the desert.”
We had the place to ourselves. Submerged volcanic reefs surrounded the monolith so ships steered clear. Seabirds wheeled around this Gibraltar as if playing sentry. Undersea gardens of seaweed undulated in the shallows. Time had carved caves into its flanks, but there was no easy landing place.