The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

Anybody home?"

    "Wanna bet?"

    Kate went into the kitchen. "You the only one here, Jolly?"

    The bird cracked a sunflower seed and studied her as if she were a specimen under glass. Kate gave his head a quick scratch and headed for Jared's study. The phone numbers were filed on a neat little series of cards, right where he had said they would be. Without hesitation she looked up Sam Finley's number and dialed it.

    There was no answer.

    Kate slowly replaced the receiver and wondered what to do next. She was getting an unshakable feeling that Jared and Max were walking into trouble. It was ridiculous to allow herself to get too nervous. Max, at least, was supposedly a professional at this sort of thing. And Jared was surely not totally devoid of common sense. But she could still picture the gleam of suppressed excitement in his eyes. Kate found herself staring at the Hawthorne dagger in the glass case.

    It occurred to her that Jared had gone merrily off unarmed tonight. The dagger wasn't much of a weapon by contemporary standards, but it would have been better than nothing.

    Without giving herself time to think about it, Kate opened the case, picked up the dagger and stuck it into her jeans, under her shirt. The old metal lay cold and hard against her skin. She felt a bit melodramatic, but she didn't hesitate. Her mind was made up now. She had to do something. She went to the desk and rummaged around until she found a small flashlight and then she headed for the door.

    Her first stop was the lounge, but as she suspected, neither Max nor Jared was there. That only confirmed her feeling that they had both gone to the castle to see what was happening. She reminded herself that Max was apparently a pro, but that didn't kill the uneasiness she was feeling. The fact that Jeff Taylor was nowhere around did not make her feel the least bit better.

    "Evening, Kate. How are you tonight?" The colonel nodded from the bar where he was busy pouring drinks for the throng.

    "Fine, Colonel. Seen Jared?"

    "He was in here a while ago, looking for Max. Haven't seen him since. Thought he'd be with you."

    "He was earlier." Kate debated saying anything else and then decided Jared would not thank her for blabbing to the entire bar about what was supposed to be some sort of top-secret operation. "Tell him I'm looking for him if you see him," she said lamely and hurried back outside.

    There was nothing else to do except go on up to the castle herself and see what was happening. If she didn't, she'd go crazy with worry.

    The walk along the torch-lit path toward the beach was not too bad. But when she turned off the main trail to follow the dark path to the castle, chills shot all the way down her spine.

    It seemed to take forever to reach her destination. When the tower finally loomed into view, a dark mass of stone silhouetted against a dark sky, she breathed a sigh of relief.

    There was no sign of light showing through the narrow windows, but that did not tell her much. She walked quickly through the shadowed courtyard and slipped into the main hall.

    It was darker than midnight inside. For a moment she stood in the doorway, listening intently. When she detected no sound at all she finally switched on the small flashlight and went over to the circular staircase.

    She started down the steps with great caution. The black stairwell seemed bottomless and because of the way it twisted as it wound downward she could not see more than a few paces ahead, even with the light.

    She was on the bottom step when she heard the smallest of sounds and then it was too late. A rough male arm coiled around her throat, dragging her off the step and back into the dungeon hallway. The flashlight clattered to the floor.

    Frantically Kate lashed back with her foot. She was rewarded by a muffled oath.

    "Hell, not again," Jared muttered in her ear. He sounded thoroughly disgusted. "I should have guessed." He relaxed his grip only slightly. "Hush. Not a sound. Not one sound."

    Kate nodded quickly, the rush of adrenaline making her stomach queasy. Jared must have felt the motion of her head. Either that or he assumed she had the sense to keep quiet. He grabbed the flashlight and switched it off. Then she felt his hand close tightly around her wrist and she was being dragged deeper into the darkness behind the steps.

    Kate stumbled along until Jared stopped without any warning. She immediately collided with him.

    "Did you see anything at all when you