Another flag disappeared into the deep. How many was that now? She’d lost count while talking to the horrible bastard behind her. However many, it was too many.
Four hundred feet. Oh, dear God.
Thom had lied to her. He’d known the depth. He’d known the danger. He must have feared what might happen, maybe even expected it, telling her what to do if he had to unhook his tether and air hose. Yet he’d gone anyway, to save her life.
And she wouldn’t lose him to panic.
Yet it still held her in its grip as she cranked and cranked and cranked, her panic easing only a little when the flags stopped moving so steadily and a hundred feet or so of hose remained in the coil beside her.
Slowly, more hose paid out. Oh, that was Thom. Moving somewhere on the seafloor.
The danger wasn’t over yet. Coming up would take longer. Anything could happen between now and then. But he was down there and moving around. Hope began to replace her fear.
Her arm began to tire and her knees began to ache but she didn’t slow. She stared at the water, watching the hose, the cable, anything that offered some indication of how Thom was doing. Dimly, she was aware that Blade had moved closer—and that another noise had joined the gentle roll of the waves, the creaking of the airship, and the gulping rhythm of the pump.
She glanced over. Shock almost made her hand slip from the crank. Directly behind her shoulder, Blade had opened his coat—was rubbing himself through his trousers.
Revulsion and anger slapped furious heat into her cheeks. “Back away from me, sir! This moment!”
“I don’t think so.” His oily smile returned, but as slick as that was, his eyes were hard and mean. He held his pistol at his thigh. “You’re doing a fine job there. But you’ve got a free hand, so you’re going to give me a good pumping, too.”
Rage stole every single word. Incensed, Georgiana craned her neck back and looked to the airship. No one stood at the rail. Even if they had, Blade’s open coat would have blocked his disgusting actions from their sight.
“His majesty will have gone below. He doesn’t like the cold. And even if my crew hears you, they won’t help.”
Georgiana didn’t doubt that. But Blade could threaten all he liked. This cowardly bastard wouldn’t shoot her. He wouldn’t dare, not when he’d have to explain it to Southampton.
Shaking with anger, too sickened to look at him, she resolutely faced the water again. “This isn’t the job your employer gave you, Mr. Blade. Now back away from me.”
“My job, missus, was to end when Lord Pinchpenny collected his gold. And that was to be four days ago, when we caught up to that old ship. But now collecting the gold is taking longer, and his majesty isn’t extending the pay, saying this is all one job. Not one of my crew is happy about it—and I’m looking for my bonus.”
And she was supposed to pay it? Seething, Georgiana cranked. “Then go ask Southampton for a hand and leave me be.”
After a short pause, Blade stepped back. Relief touched her for a brief second, then crumbled to horror. He’d moved away from her—and now stood next to the coil of Thom’s air hose, the toe of his boot resting on the line.
“Don’t you dare! I’ll kill you if you do!”
Blade regarded her with hard amusement. “It seems to me that your husband’s diving deeper than most men can. That he even told his lordship the dive was impossible. An accident wouldn’t be no surprise. And then there won’t be questions if you’re dead next. There’s no use for you if your man’s not alive, and if I didn’t do it here, his lordship would do it himself when we went back above. So give me your free hand, missus.”
The filthy disgusting coward. Georgiana glanced around her. There was nothing to protect herself with. And she didn’t dare leave the pump.
“Give me your hand, missus.”
Setting her jaw, she looked down at the water. No bubbles in sight yet. No Thom coming back up.
Blade’s boot pressed down, flattening the hose against the platform boards. The pump wheezed, jolting terror through her heart.
He would murder Thom.
Sick with rage and fear, Georgiana lifted her hand. Blade stepped off the hose, coming around behind her shoulder again. Hard fingers circling her wrist, he pressed the back of her gloved fist to the front of his trousers. Not demanding bare skin or her participation. He hadn’t wanted her touch. He’d just wanted to force her—and to win.
But only for now. Georgiana stared ahead, briefly imagining turning her hand around and crushing Blade’s organ through his trousers. She didn’t dare risk it, though, when he’d likely shoot her and step on the hose again or knock over the pump in his agony. It had to be decisive. She couldn’t allow him the opportunity to use his gun or react. So she watched the water, sending air to her husband and killing Blade a thousand times over in her head.
As she would in truth.
The moment he’d stepped on Thom’s air hose and forced her hand, Blade’s days had ended. In Skagen, or in any civilized land, she’d have had another recourse. Law and authority would have punished Blade for this. But not on the seas. Here, there would be no justice except what she took.
Blade believed she was helpless. That was the only reason a coward like him would have ever dared this. But Georgiana was just delaying her response until her husband was safe.