Free Little Black Girl Lost 4 by Keith Lee Johnson Page A

occurred to her that saving Rutgers’ life could play into her hands the way Amir had planned. She realized that even if he never acknowledged it, she had saved his life, and if he was any kind of man, if he was any kind of human being, he would be in her debt for as long as he lived.
    When she realized this, she no longer worried about the fate of the girl, who would die any moment now. Besides, she rationalized that the girl preferred death to being raped every night. She had said as much herself. Saving Rutgers’ life gave the girl what she wanted—death and the freedom that came with it.
    Quickly, she left the cabin and made her way down the empty passageway. She climbed the stairs and went on deck. She had to see what was going to happen. She had to know how it would end for the girl who, without realizing it, had given Ibo the advantage she would need to repay those who had destroyed her romantic dream.
    The darkness on deck was so thick she could feel it. It was so dark that she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. The officers lit torches. The crackling flame sliced into the night. The women were still screaming, still running around with nowhere to go but into the sea. Several of them jumped overboard, preferring a watery grave to becoming a bed wench and producing children who would be condemned to the same the moment they heard themselves cry.
    She heard loud splashes along with ear-piercing screams as they plunged into the Atlantic. She saw Mr. Whitaker on the starboard side of the ship, using a torch as he looked around for the girl who had tried to kill Captain Rutgers. All of a sudden, the woman came out of the darkness and ran toward him at full speed from the other side of the ship. Mr. Whitaker didn’t see her.
    The woman hit him with enough force to take them both over the side. Two loud splashes filled the night. When Ibo saw it, a satisfied smile bubbled to the surface and remained.
    Happy that she and the woman had both gotten a measure of revenge, she returned to the cabin. She covered her mouth so that her laughter would not be heard.

Chapter 22
    â€œAm I to assume you will grant me anything but my freedom then?”
    A couple of hours later, she heard the cabin door open and close. After searching fruitlessly for the key that would unlock the chains that secured Amir and the other men, she had fallen asleep in the lavender velvet spoon-back chair. She opened her eyes. Captain Rutgers was staring at her. For a few unsettling moments, they just looked at each other, neither of them saying a word; both of them contemplating what had happened and what would happen next.
    On the way back to his cabin, Rutgers thought about what had happened and knew he was lucky to be alive. He had raped a woman and was brazen enough to fall asleep on top of her. He had also been careless in that he left a loaded weapon in a place where the woman could find it and blow his brains out. If one of his men had done that, he would have stripped him of his rank and flogged him. Being the captain of a seafaring vessel, he knew he would have to set a much better example for his men.
    The gun was still right where the woman had dropped it. He picked it up and looked at the instrument of death. He had used that very gun to kill a number of men. Most recently, one of his own who was about to shoot and kill Ibo Atikah Mustafa, the precious cargo that he had tried to procure from her father a number of times. The irony of her saving his life left him feeling totally indebted to her. Saving his life meant that anything he did, no matter how insignificant, would not have been possible were it not for her intervention.
    He looked at Ibo again. She was still watching him. He got on his knees and looked under the bed. Then he grabbed the case that had been specially made for the weapon. He put the pistol in it and closed it again. The weapon had been discharged, so it could no longer be used to threaten his