Page 86 of Inconvenient Honor
“You can guarantee this?”
“Yes.” Richard took a sip of tea to cover his uncertainty. “Captains will do as I say. If they see me. If they recognize whom they see. I can guarantee your safety.”
“Why should you do that?”
“To get freedom for my family.” The word felt strange but right. He had a family. A surge of protective determination hardened his resolve.
“I too have family,” Hamidou said. “Many depend on me. Volkov promised much.”
“How much?”
The sum staggered. It would purchase one of the grand ducal palaces in London with enough left over to furnish the place.
“I doubt it,” Richard said.
“You doubt my word?”
Two men, the ones he thought understood English, moved, one with his hand on his sword. Richard refused to flinch.
Never show weakness in negotiations. This pirate won’t respect weakness.“Volkov couldn’t get his hands on anything close to that,” he said.
“Volkov is a lying pig. He promised what he cannot do.” Hamidou glared back. Words, translated and passed on, caused a billow of excitement among the “cousins.”
“He is indeed a pig,” Richard agreed. “Perhaps you misunderstood him.” He watched Hamidou under lowered lashes.
For a long dangerous moment, Hamidou’s hostile eyes held his before the corsair’s eyes crinkled up in the corners and took on an amused cast.
“The man did garble his Turkish,” Hamidou acknowledged. “But our expenses were high,” he continued briskly. He mentioned a sum two-thirds as high as before. Richard watched translators pass that on. The men on the benches looked solemn.
“I will give you half that.” Richard racked his brain, trying to dredge up every piece of information he had ever read about the slave trade. He had to offer more than he, Lily, and the baby would be worth at auction.
“Three fourths,” Hamidou countered.
The pirate likes to haggle.Relief flooded him. He stood on familiar ground now. He had brought Czar Alexander to agreement at the Congress of Vienna. He could manage Rais Hamidou.
Richard’s next offer increased only slightly; Hamidou came down by a similar amount. The haggling went on for several long moments,with Richard never moving further than half way to his goal. Hamidou proved equally skilled, a fact that might have amused Richard if the stakes weren’t Lily’s life and freedom.
“So we are agreed?” Hamidou mentioned an amount close to Richard’s goal.
“Yes.”Let’s end this farce.
Hamidou gave him a hard look. “You give me your word there will be no harm to this island, these people, no revenge, no violence?”
“You would believe my word?”
“I don’t need to. I hold your wife.”
“Do you give me yours that we will come to no harm?”
Hamidou nodded sharply. Richard glanced at Scarface; he held no lever to ensure Hamidou’s promise, but he had to accept it.
Richard leaned forward and growled in a voice for Hamidou’s ears only. “If any harm comes to my wife or baby, I will move heaven and earth to destroy you.”
Hamidou’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t reply. He gestured for writing materials.
Richard wrote out a formal report to Castlereagh seeking ransom and copied it for his father. The government would try to short him; he requested just enough more to ensure that the correct amount came. He raised his hand and looked at Hamidou.
“My ring.”
