There was so much wrong with that ludicrous plan, I didn’t even bother to discuss it. “I don’t know where the mine is, let alone your secret way through it. You lead the people to the ship—I’ll take care of Bart.”
The look he shot me was priceless, and I mentally tucked it away in a file to be examined later, when I could appreciate the look of mingled love and exasperation. “Don’t even go there.”
“I just wanted you to see how it felt,” I told him, kissing his sooty nose, but sobering up as our dire situation was made clearer by the sound of the arriving warship opening fire on the town. She was still too far out in the harbor to hit the town, but the sound of her cannons thundering in the night air had a chilling effect. “If you’re the only one who knows the way through the mine—”
“I’m
