Silver Linings

we couldn't take them with us, Hugh. After all, it is their boat and it's quite large. There's plenty of room. If we leave these two men here, they might very well be killed.”
    “No great loss, I promise you.”
    “Hugh, please, I'll never be able to sleep at night if we just abandon them to their fates. It's not right.”
    “Lord love us,” Rosey said piously, “you was right, Gibbs. She is a pure little angel. And real good lookin' to boot.”
    “Hugh, I really think we should…”
    Hugh groaned. “Mattie, listen to me, it would be downright stupid to take these two with us. They're a couple of professional lowlifes. Trust me on this. We'd have to keep an eye on them every inch of the way. Don't you understand?”
    “We could tie them up in the boat or something,” she said eagerly, sensing she was making headway.
    “No, damn it,” Hugh vowed, “I am not going to go against my better judgment just to please a woman who doesn't know what the devil she's dealing with here.”
    “Please, Hugh. It's just not right. And it's not as if we don't have the room.”
    Gibbs and Rosey waited with hopeful expressions.
    “Shit,” said Hugh. “I know I'm going to regret this.”
    * * *
    Half an hour later, comfortably ensconced under the canopy of Rosey's swift cruiser, Mattie watched the Pacific dawn explode across the sky. For the first time since she had walked into Cormier's beautiful white mansion, she was able to take a relaxed breath.
    Purgatory was no longer in sight. The boat's wake was churning merrily as it made rapid headway toward Brimstone. All seemed right with the world again.
    The large man, Gibbs, was sitting across from Mattie, his hands tied behind his back. Rosey was at the wheel. Hugh was sprawled in the seat next to Rosey, his gun still held casually at the ready. He was the only one of the group who did not look cheerful.
    “What in the world was happening back there on Purgatory?” Mattie asked to break the ice that had settled over the crew the instant the boat had been untied from the dock.
    “Fuckin' idiots, you should pardon my language, ma'am,” Gibbs said, pitching his voice over the dull roar of the engines. “Don't have the sense to leave a good thing well enough alone. Ain't that right, Rosey?”
    Rosey's small, wiry shoulders lifted in a philosophical shrug. “Right enough. Everyone on Purgatory was happy the way things was. Had ourselves a right nice little government that didn't believe in taxes and committees and paperwork. Kept things simple, ya' know? Didn't interfere in a man's business so long as he kept his nose clean while he was on the island. Worked real well for everyone.”
    “Fuckin' right,” Gibbs volunteered with a sad shake of his massive head. “Worked real well. Can't imagine why some fool would want to mess things up.”
    “Apparently someone wanted to modernize things,” Hugh muttered.
    “I guess,” Rosey said.
    “Had there been an active opposition party on Purgatory?” Mattie asked with a thoughtful frown. “Some group that had been agitating for reforms?”
    “Nah. Weren't nothin' to reform,” Gibbs told her.
    Rosey scowled. “The whole thing just kind o' blew up outa nowhere, ya' know? No warnin' or nothin'. All of a sudden the airport's closed, everyone's told to stay in their homes, and there's armed men in fatigues all over the damned place. No one was ready for that kind of takeover.”
    “What happened to the president or whoever was in charge on Purgatory?” Mattie inquired.
    “Don't rightly know, ma'am,” Rosey said. “If he had any sense, which he did, the old pirate, he got hisself off the island right quick like. Either that or he's probably occupyin' the one jail cell we got on Purgatory.”
    “Or else he's dead,” Gibbs said gloomily. “I'll kind o' miss old Findley. Me and him was drinkin' buddies. Man played a mean game o' pool.”
    “It's incredible,” Mattie said, shaking her head.
    “It happens,” Hugh said, sounding bored.
    She shot him a quizzical glance. “What do you mean by that?”
    Hugh shrugged. “Just what I said. These things happen. There's always some idiot around who wants to run things.”
    Gibbs and Rosey nodded in worldly understanding.
    “Yep,” Gibbs said. “Always some joker around who figures he can line his pockets a little better if he's in charge.”
    “It usually comes down to money,” Hugh explained. “Money and power. They always go together.”
    “Put the two together