(Untitled)

[stoicsidekick]

Archie's investigation had confirmed their worst fears: the brig was, indeed, full of Spanish prisoners and the ship on its way to Kingston. Any moment, possibly that very night, the Spaniards would stage their prison break, and though the ship would not fall into their clutches, there would be casualties. Archie would be one of them. And while

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[strandedseaman]

"We cannot allow the prisoners to repeat their escape," said Horatio, speaking what he guessed to be at the forefront of William's mind. His own mind felt fit to bursting with a hundred frantic, dizzy thoughts, but he clamped firmly down on them.

"We have an advantage there, at least. We know what they are planning, we stand a decent chance at preventing it."

[the_cop]

Ray wished he had something to chew on, maybe something to do with his hands. Planning, though, planning was a good distraction.

"How'd they escape in the first place?" he asked. He remembered most of this story, when Horatio'd told him. Thing was, Horatio had told him a lot of stories about his time as a sailor and everything else, usually at Ray's insistence, so he wasn't totally keen on some of the details.

[stoicsidekick]

"They no longer have the virtue of surprise," Bush suggested, lifting a rueful brow at Hornblower, the phrase coming to him as if from another lifetime.

His jaw tightened as he remembered the utter disaster that had been the Spaniards' escape: the idiotic guard, the first lieutenant left tied in his cabin, the scramble to reclaim what, on any decent ship, would have never been lost. "It was the women. We found the young marine who was meant to be guarding them with his trousers 'round his ankles, keys missing, and a knife stuck in his back."

[strandedseaman]

"Then one of us must go," said Horatio. "We will not be tempted." He stood there, rocked for a moment by all the reasons that that held true, reasons new and old.

"It should be Ray. It will keep him away from the other men, and give us all less chance to arouse suspicion."