find if I stay ripped itâs easier to follow instructions. âAye, aye, Captain.â Heâs teaching me how to sail, in the fucking ocean. I donât know how many times I thought of sticking a finger down my throat.â
âBut you hung in.â
âStill his little sailor. I have to actually mop the fucking deck.â
âPart of the trial, eh?â
âI guess. Iâm not sure itâs worth it.â
âOutside of that, you still like him?â
âHeâs weird. Always looking for pirates, his elephant gun handy.â
âBut he doesnât try to shoot them.â
âHe sunk their boat. If they happen to drown, tough shit.â
âWhatâs he talk about?â
âThe rules of the sea. How to tack, come about. How much money he has. Arabs. He doesnât care for Arabs, I found that out. He said, âThe Mohammedans scored with 9/11âââHelenetrying to sound like Billy from East Texasââânow theyâll try for a bigger bang.ââ
âDoes he mean al Qaeda? Bin Laden and his people?â
âBilly doesnât say. I think heâs dreaming, trying to think of a role he can play. And I happen to be with him, Iâm his gang.â
âHe isnât CIA, is he? You mentioned that once.â
âHe hinted at it, sounding like heâs some kind of government agent, but heâs not. I came right out and asked him and he smiled, very condescending, and patted my cheek. Like what do you expect from a chick works fashion shows. He said why should he get tied up in rules and red tape when heâs got the way to get answers on his own. He means heâs got enough money to bribe anyone who can help him. He believes terrorists are playing a part in this, letting the pirates have thirty million, less than half of whatâs been paid so far.â
âThat much in ransoms?â
âAt least. More than sixty ships have been hijackedâthe latest number he told me this morningâransomed off or still being held.â
âHow does he know that?â
âHe makes phone calls. To Billy, the bad guys are the lawyers and Mohammedan terrorists. He always calls them that, Mohammedans. At first he thought it was al Shabaab, the strict Muslim gunmen. Theyâre supposed to be against piracy, but Billy says bullshit, theyâre taking a cut like everybody else. He told me al Shabaab means âyoung guysâ and calls them âthe lads.â He got that from the BBC.â
âBut if Idris and his guys are doing all the workââ
âBilly says Idris is afraid to complain.â
Dara shook her head. âHe doesnât know Idris.â
âBilly says theyâll shoot him and get somebody else.â
âBut Idris is having a ball hijacking ships.â Dara paused.âThere was something on the Internet about middlemen, lawyers handling the ransom negotiations from Nairobi, even London. Billy thinks the lawyers represent terrorists?â
âOr they donât know who they represent, or care. Billy can be terribly boring, but heâs not dumb.â
âMaybe melodramatic?â
âSerious,â Helene said. âSometimes heâs so fucking serious itâs scary.â
âThe moneyâs delivered directly to the pirates,â Dara said, âby boat or dropped from a plane. Iâve seen it.â
âBilly says they get only part of it that way, for show. It keeps the lawyers out of the news.â
âIdris,â Dara said, âhas never even hinted at someone telling him what to do.â
âAsk him about it. Maybe Billyâs full of shit.â
âI donât knowâIdris has always seemed straight with me,â Dara said. âItâs why I like him.â
âI do too,â Helene said and took a sip of champagne. âThe other night at that club in Djibouti, Las Vegas, he asked me to go for a