Paxton and the Gypsy Blade by Kerry Newcomb Page B

on the floor and went back to help their comrade with the boys. Jase started at the gun and tried to gauge his chances.
    â€œBastards!” Colleen shrieked, scrambling to her feet and attacking the first pirate from behind.
    The pirate cursed, turned, and pushed her back sharply, sending her reeling into a chair. The chair broke and Colleen fell heavily. Distracted, Sanchez looked to the side, and in that second Jase knocked his pistol aside with one hand and sent a fist at Sanchez’s face. The pirate was knocked aside. Jase hurtled past him and headed for the closest of the other three.
    Sanchez shouted a word of warning a fraction of a second before Jase slammed into the first pirate and sent him crashing into the nightstand. The second pirate thrust Joseph into the hands of the third and, before Jase could get his balance, pulled his cutlass. Jase made a desperate grab for the weapon, but his age was against him. The pirate dodged away, raised his cutlass, and could easily have lopped Jase’s head off; but instead, on Sanchez’s order not to kill him, he swept Jase’s feet out from under him with a well-placed kick.
    Jase grunted and went sprawling to the floor. He landed with a crack that everyone in the room heard. Face drained of blood by the shock, Jase rolled over, moaned, and tried to get up, but failed.
    â€œGrandpa!” Joseph screamed, his cry cut off by a filthy hand clamped over his mouth.
    â€œJase!” Colleen half-crawled, half-ran to Jase’s side and lifted his head into her lap.
    â€œGet them out of here,” Sanchez ordered his men in Spanish. “Wait for me downstairs. My apologies, señora,” he said to Colleen in English as his men carried out the kicking, screaming twins. “I had hoped that there would be no need for violence.”
    Jase’s face was pale, his forehead beaded with sweat. His leg lay at an impossible angle. “Tom? Tom!” he called in agony. “Help me up, Colleen. Help me up, damn it!”
    â€œHush. Just lie still …”
    Colleen cradled his head and rocked him as she would a child. “Why?” she asked Sanchez savagely. Tears streamed down her face and blood down her arm where the broken chair had cut her. “Why are you doing this? For money? What kind of monsters are you?”
    â€œWealth is the chief pursuit of every man, señora,” Sanchez replied.
    â€œThen we’ll give you money! As much as you want, and anything else you want. Just release the children and leave us alone.”
    Sanchez shrugged apologetically. “I regret that I cannot, dear lady. We have already been paid, and we are honest pirates. Your money means nothing to us now. Only the children are important. Only they can fulfill the terms of the agreement with my employer.”
    â€œWho?” Colleen asked, her voice little more than a whisper. “Who would pay you to do such a wicked thing?”
    â€œHis name is Sir Theodotus Vincent.”
    â€œOh, dear God, no!”
    â€œDamn!” Jase moaned.
    â€œI was told to tell this to Señor Tom Paxton, but I will tell you and you must tell him for me, do you understand?”
    â€œDear God!”
    â€œYou will say that he stole a man’s daughter.” Sanchez’s smile was gone and he spoke very clearly so there would be no misunderstanding. “You will say that now the girl’s father will have what is left of his daughter on this earth: her sons. You will say that the debt of Thomas Gunn Paxton is paid. Paid with the flesh of his flesh.” With that, Sanchez wheeled about and strode out of the room without a backward glance.
    â€œWait,” Jase called, struggling to a sitting position. “Come back, damn your hide!”
    Stunned, unable to comprehend the enormity of what had happened, Colleen moaned and rocked back and forth. “They’re gone,” she cried, her voice choked with anguish. “Oh, dear God, they