"Lend us your help and we will do whatever must be done to move Nassau forward." "She agreed." "Madam Guthrie." "Everything we want for Nassau." "But Flint... she wants him dead and she wants me to do it." "They all turned on me, and I want them all to pay for it." "I tried once, but I didn't possess the instrument to make it work." "You do." "Nothing justifies trading her life for your war." "No one is saying that we let her die." "You cannot guarantee that..." "We will sail to Nassau." "And we will find her and we will bring her home." "You're confident in his plan maybe because it's a good plan." "But maybe you'll have to show him that you're prepared for the failure and that a treasure he wanted left in the ground... ain't in the ground no more." "Seemed only fair that I remind you that our fates are now linked." "If this plan to secure the cache ends badly for me, you can be certain it will end badly for you." "It was where I said it would be, was it?" "That's how close Mr. Gates was to Flint." "Stored his most prized possessions in his cellar." "Avery's journals." "Despite that measure of trust, all it took was a disagreement over a little money for Flint to kill him." "There are no two people close enough that something cannot separate them." "Some point at which they were never fully connected to begin with." "It happened with Gates and Flint." "It will happen with Flint and Silver." "This plan will work." "You want the exchange of the money to happen off this island, somewhere no one need know of it." "There it is." "You'll lead them there and they will follow you." "Kofi and his men are on their way to Nassau." "What happens after this?" "They'll use resistance routes to evade detection by the governor's soldiers." "They're probably already nearing town by now." "They'll find friends there, discover through them where Madi is being held, and be back to the beach for us to recover by morning." "Once we know where she is, we'll move to get her out of there." "What happens after all of it?" "Assume your plan succeeds and we retrieve her alive." "Assume your war begins... spreads throughout the New World." "I saw what came of Nassau when it was touched by it." "In the first instant, it was deprived of Eleanor Guthrie's commerce or Jack Rackham's prosperity or Woodes Rogers' oppression." "There's nothing in Nassau but horror." "You said it was just a transition." "That something better lay beyond it, something meaningful." "But what if that isn't so?" "What if the result of this war isn't beyond the horror?" "What if it is the horror itself?" "Have you given this any thought at all?" "If we are to truly reach a moment where we might be finished with England... cleared away to make room for something else... there most certainly lies a dark moment between here and there." "A moment of terror where everything appears to be without hope." "I know this." "But I cannot believe that that is all there is." "I cannot believe we are so poorly made as that." "Incapable of surviving in the state to which we are born." "Grown so used to the yoke that there can be no progress without it." "It's a lot to ask... to wager so much suffering on blind faith." "Well, it isn't entirely faith." "We'll have the right people in place to lead us through it and hold the world together while it finds its balance." "You think so much of what you and I can accomplish together." "You and her." "You and Madi." "She's as wise as her father." "She's as strong as her mother." "There isn't a man or woman in Nassau who'd argue that she isn't the best of them all." "The cache is critical to our war, but so is she." "Critical to holding our alliance together." "We absolutely must get her back alive." "And you think I'm the one best suited to lead our people through this?" "I think that you are the best of us." "The two of you together are the world in balance." "For all the damage Billy's done, at least he got that right." "Better." "Sorry I was not here to do this yesterday." "The meetings with Madam Guthrie and her man grow longer every day." "I believe I am gaining her trust." "I believe I have persuaded them our proposal is sound, and still the questions continue." "But I feel as though something is coming, a moment in which this will cease to be our idea and become her own." "If I am able to reach that moment and emerge from it a true partner to her, if Jack is able to fulfill his end of the bargain," "I am beginning to see a future for us in which..." "Why are you doing this?" "Talking about us like it's a thing?" "A future?" "I don't know who broke it first." "But it broke." "And there ain't no putting it back together again." "Are you all right?" "Wait." "Is there something you need?" "Yeah." "There is." "They waited an hour before disbanding." "Evidently, that is the lifespan of "the governor is on his way"" "as a viable measure of delay." "The solution to our problems is not going to come from a council meeting." "They are losing faith in you." "They see the problems we face in rebuilding this colony, the dangers if we fail." "And they are growing more and more skeptical by the day that you have anything in the way of a solution." "My fear is it's worse than that." "My fear is they will learn what your solution actually is." "I know you intend to ransom away that slave woman to Captain Flint and his maroon allies in exchange for the pirates' cache of gems." "As brazenly as you pursued this bargain, did you really believe that no one would find out about it, that I wouldn't find out?" "My wife made the bargain for the cache, Mr. Soames." "All I'm going to do is collect." "The pirates are gone, sir." "The threat that they presented us is done!" "The threat the pirates present has never been greater." "Their intent is to cause terror and destruction until civilization simply ceases to function." "The threat will not..." "The defense of civilization is not your responsibility, sir!" "Your duty is to restore stable profits to Nassau." "And the men charged to follow you to that end are already questioning their trust in you." "If they see pirates return here, if they see skirmishes begin again on this island and they know that it was because you invited it... then you are going to have a mutiny on your hands, sir." ""I fear for my husband's safety" ""from men I've long called enemies," ""from men I once called friends." ""I will move heaven and earth to protect him, but while playing this role, the limits of my influence are ever-present."" "I was just packing everything away as you asked, my lord." "Ready my things." "I sail at first light." "She must've slipped in behind us during the night." "She's already at anchor." "Looks like she's been waiting for us." "It looks like she knew where to wait for us." "Jesus Christ!" "On their rail!" "He caught them." "How's that possible?" "Overnight?" "All up on deck!" "Back the fore-topsails." "Bring us about." "Back the fore-topsails!" "Gun crews at the ready!" "Bring us about!" "What are you doing?" "We bring our guns to bear, he'll think twice about killing her." "Belay that order!" "Belay that order!" "Go get it." "Bring it up here right now." "Go get what?" "What did you bring with us?" "Your plan failed." "We're moving onto my plan." "Do not repeat your order." "Do not think about it." "Bring it up here." "Get it where they can see it." "Signal him." "Go!" "Signal the Eurydice." "Do it now!" "Strike the bell!" "Open it." " He's hauling up the anchor." " Where the fuck is he going?" "Wherever he's going, we follow him." "This should be good." "What is it I can do for our lord governor?" "I don't come on behalf of the governor, ma'am." "You are Governor Rogers' woman, are you not?" "I am, which is why I believe you and I may be able to help each other." "Really, ma'am, someplace private may be more appropriate." "Privacy always comes with a price, dear." "Let's see what it is you have to say first, shall we?" "I'm sure you would, yeah." "The governor moves in a dark and destructive direction." "His grief and his anger..." "I believe, have unmoored him from sound judgment and have left us all in grave danger if he is not reined in." "You've noticed this, have you?" "You were excluded from the council." "On the outside of its goings-on." "I don't know what information you were privy to..." "I appreciate your concern." "Come back when you like." "I may be able to help you get back inside." "Back on the council?" "Go on." "I found a journal Eleanor kept." "In it, she mentioned that when Nassau last threatened to descend into chaos... you were the one to whom she turned to help prevent it." "The men surrounding the governor now have all failed to challenge him in any meaningful way." "I am hoping that if I could provide you with information from inside his office... it might help you maneuver your way back onto the council." "That sounds an awful lot like treason to me." "And what exactly, aside from good government, do you hope to gain from this?" "Eleanor promised me passage to London." "A release from my service, that I might return home." "If I help you... will you help me?" "When you asked me if I could help you learn where the governor's ship went... to what place he drew Captain Flint," "I thought it unlikely I could be of much help." "But you will never believe what just walked through my door." "Is that not it?" "What?" "We don't seem to be preparing for a landing." "Is that not our destination ahead?" "No, it isn't." "It's a waypoint." "Two features on that island are the markers." "Maybe two peaks or some points along the coast." "You run a line through them, and that direction becomes the course the governor will set to reach our final destination." "How do you know that?" "I don't understand." "If the governor knows our destination, why can't he just plot a course directly to a spot on the chart?" "Because Skeleton Island is not on any chart, not on any civilized one, at any rate." "Remote." "Well outside any established trade route." "It's been used from time to time for transactions neither party wished would ever be acknowledged." "Of course I love her." "I let you try it your way!" "I did trust you." "But I'm through wagering with her life now." "If what it takes to secure her release is to turn over the cache," "I'm very glad I brought it with us." "We had it." "We had it in our hands." "This war was breathing air, it was alive." "Now Julius is back in that camp, pointing to a hole in the ground, telling anyone who will listen," ""This is what it looks like when you trust a pirate."" "Yesterday, he had nothing." "He was shouting at the rain." "Now you've given him all he needs to kill this war dead." "My God." "The number of times I have followed you blindly, backed you with the men blindly, put men in the fucking ground..." "Good men, friends... because you said, "I know the way."" "Don't ask me how." ""Just do as I say."" "I may not have understood it, I may not have supported it, but I did it!" "And God damn it, right now you're going to return the favor!" "We will find a way to put it all back together with whatever we have left at our disposal." "But do not ask me to choose between a war and a wife." "I do not think you're going to like the answer." "Whatever must be done to secure Madi's release," "I'm going to do it." "I do not expect your understanding, but I demand your support." "As my partner, as my friend." "Do I have it?" "Do I have it?" "Yes." "I got what you asked." "These are the ships either in port or soon expected to be and willing to accept passengers." "You really intend to leave... whether Jack returns alive or not?" "Jack will return." "Jack went to hunt Captain Flint." "Chances are good you've seen the last of him." "You killed a friend of mine." "Her name was Charlotte... and you did it for reasons that had nothing to do with her." "There were men I knew that would've killed you for me." "I wanted to ask them." "Had the money." "But Max refused." "I couldn't tell then if it was because she was afraid of you." "Wouldn't have blamed her." "I was." "Or if it was something else." "But I respected her wishes." "Obeyed when she said we'd protect you despite what you'd done." "Do you know why?" "Because despite the world reminding her every day of her life that she's undeserving of being given anything by it, that she was unworthy of what little she'd managed to take from it... despite all of that," "she never believed a word of it." "That woman has been fighting the whole goddamn world since the day she was born." "She's a breath away from winning that fight." "For whatever reason, she wants to share the spoils with you." "And you'd walk away." "You killed my friend." "I wanted you to know that." "We are not going to Mr. Grace's library." "I understood there was someone you wanted me to meet there today." "Has something changed?" "Walk with me." "Those are the pirates." "They've inhabited the east bank, across from Springett Island for years." "The governor promises this is the year he'll chase them off, but there they are." "Seven major shipping concerns in the city here." "In less than 10 years, more goods will move through here than any English-speaking port outside London." "There will be civilization here." "Where will the pirates be?" "On the east bank, across from Springett Island." "Why?" "Because the shipping concern charges a premium for the risk the pirates present." "I assume the governor, too, profits from this." "There is theft, but everyone benefits." "Why would anyone want to end it?" "How well did you know my granddaughter?" "I knew her well." "Was she happy?" "Happy?" "There are things I know about Nassau, about her." "There are things that are harder to know across an ocean." "I honestly do not know." "Her grandfather disowned her some time ago, assumed she'd simply become one with the wild men." "When the trial began and Guthrie became a contemptible name to utter in London, didn't help matters." "But I held out hope from the beginning." "A fantasy that despite what we'd heard of her, she was learning, growing." "And that someday, she'd seek me out and... a woman who reminded me of myself when I was younger would arrive in Boston and I'd walk the Charles with her and teach her the things a woman can do in this world." "It's the wrong river and the wrong woman, but perhaps to get even this close to a fantasy is something." "So, let us assume that we're past conversations about ledgers and that the measuring of you and your proposal are done and that we are partners in a venture to acquire and reform Nassau." "So, now all that's left to know about this venture is who is going to lead it." "Edward Houghton." "The only male heir to his family's banking operation." "Supremely uncurious, bordering on dim, but fundamentally decent." "The investments he's overseen have shown modest gains at best and losses more frequently." "This is not the man you would like to put in charge of Nassau." "I'd like to put you in charge of Nassau." "But on this particular issue, the world won't much care for what I'd like." "And of the men available, this one has merits." "His family would be relieved beyond measure that he'd found himself a future far away from their business." "He'd come with money, he'd open doors to new partners... and he'd be most amenable to doing whatever else you told him to do." "You think he would listen to me as an advisor?" "You think he would listen to me as a wife." "I suppose it needn't be him." "But to have the kind of control you will need to have, there will need to be someone occupying the role, and that someone solves a number of problems all at once." "Money, limited ambition... and reform-minded parents would find your story most intriguing." "In terms of your obligations to him, there are plenty of ways for a man like that to retain satisfaction in a place like Nassau with little or no participation from you." "You'd likely retain as much freedom in that regard as you desired." "To rise from where you began to where you now stand," "I cannot imagine the road you've traveled." "The humiliations and the sacrifices and the defeats... and the illusions maintained at so great a cost to your sense of self." "But that road has led you to me." "I am the gate through which your journey becomes something else." "I can make the dreams you have built real." "The toll is small, but it must be paid." "Tell me you're ready to pay it... and you and I will walk downstairs," "I will introduce you to him, and... as I imagine, you'll have no difficulty taking things from there." "Our partnership may move forward fully formed." "Are you ready to do it?" "That is a very old man." "The governor's woman overheard his ship was bound for Skeleton Island." "That man, I have it on good authority, is the last man on this island once sailed with Avery." "Claims to have been to Skeleton Island and can show us the way." "And you believe he can do it?" "Two possible outcomes as far as I can tell." "One, he fails, in which case we sail around till we tire of it, then go back to the camp." "Or two, by some miracle, he actually succeeds in getting us there." "And I can't tell which of the two is of more concern." "What does that mean?" "Killing Flint was already going to be a near impossible feat." "Now we need to evade the governor and his soldiers as well." "Wouldn't it make a whole lot more sense to just wait for the governor to kill him for us?" "If Woodes Rogers secures that cache, he secures his position here as well." "Negates our plan to see him removed." "He wins." "Yeah, but..." "Everything we need is on that island." "Flint, Rogers, and my cache of gems." "If that very old man over there can get us there... why are we still standing here?" "If you leave him alive long enough, he's going to make you pay for it." "He won't move against me." "This will pass." "And that's the end of this conversation." "So many lies to deny a simple truth." "What?" "The crown does not divide." "It cannot be shared." "You know it." "You want it done." "You just don't know how to ask yet." "Hear me very clearly." "There is no hidden message and no equivocation." "You will make no move against him." "You will not speak of doing so to any man on this crew nor to me again." "Do it and you'll answer for it." "Fuck you doing out here?" "It's a fucking mess out here." "Come inside." "Or don't." "I don't care." "It happened." "She has committed to the plan, to me." "The moment we have been working towards since we arrived... it happened." "That's good news." "So, why do you look like that?" "I told her I could not agree to it." "You told her no?" "She needs for there to be a man in the governor's office, not Jack." "A man of her choosing, and she wants me to be his wife." "His wife?" "!" "In name only and for appearance's sake, nothing more." "The power would rest with us." "Just for appearance?" "And you said no?" "Why would you do that?" "I remember when I first met Eleanor, how stunned I was." "A woman who spoke the way she did, who had no fear of the world or the men who reigned over it." "When I became her lover, I watched the decisions she made... and resolved to learn from them." "When I became her rival, I watched the mistakes she made and resolved never to repeat them." "But at the end, when I felt I had surpassed her in every way, it seemed as though there was something she was still trying to say to me." "Surrendering everything she had sacrificed so dearly for, because it would have come at the expense of the one she loved." "She was trying to tell me, I just could not hear her, about what is truly important." "I said no to Marion Guthrie's plan... despite having no alternative and at the risk of losing the entire endeavor because I refuse to situate a man in a position where he might interfere one day with my ability to repair things with you." "You are the bravest person I have ever known." "The truest person I have ever known." "And I betrayed you and it sickens me." "I am so sorry for working so hard to protect the wrong things." "For failing to see that there is nothing important that does not include you." "The story, as it was recounted to me, is that Avery was the first Englishman to find the island." "The Spanish had been using it to conduct illicit transactions for decades." "Avery plans to lie in wait for them." "He and his crew of 44 arrive and sail inland." "But as they move up the inlet, they see something most unexpected." "She was Spanish, but not one of the ships they'd been hunting." "This ship had been there far longer than that." "Captain's log identifies her having set sail from Havana in 1636." "31 souls aboard." "Avery finds the remains of all 31." "Slaughtered." "Brutally so." "Evidence that a number of them had been dismembered while still alive." "There were natives on the island?" "All 31 bodies were found still on the ship, locked inside the hold." "Locked from within." "They ate each other alive." "Avery claimed to have seen the log." "It said that the crew had refused to go inland to forage for food or for fresh water." "That the first men in had returned, reporting sounds coming from the forest." "The men said it sounded to them like the voice of God... warning them to stay away." "It's an open question how much of this story Avery invented." "But what is undeniably true is how undeniably effective that story has been in achieving a result." "Captain..." "It's no accident that Billy chose it." "A place likely to put us all out of balance, where our imaginations might run wild and our darkest impulses somehow made far more difficult to resist." "If we are to survive this experience... if our cause is to survive, some of us must find a way to keep our wits about us on behalf of those who cannot." "See the truth ahead of us through the fear and the haze." "Mr. Silver, I fear, is compromised in this regard." "At this moment..." "I find myself in need of a new partner." "I knew it would come to this." "I tried to tell him." "We fight, only two outcomes I can see..." "I die or you die." "Either way, he's gonna take me to blame for it." "That's how far you've burrowed into his head." "He won't put you out of it until he sees you for what you are." "Go." "Do you see it now?" "Do you see it?" "Prepare a launch." "Captain Flint killed one of my men and managed to haul the cache to shore." "I came in the hopes my presence might buy us some time before you reacted to this news... and until I am able to remedy the situation." "What sort of remedy is that?" "I sent six of my men after him." "The best men I have left." "Their orders, in no uncertain terms, are to track Captain Flint and retrieve the cache." "There was another order... wasn't there?" "Yes." "What else did you tell them to do?" "I instructed them to kill Captain Flint."