Storm over the Caribbean

42. Facepunching Reunion

Dammit! I can't get a clear shot in! Not without hitting Mr Ambrose!

And despite past experiences with my darling husband, I didn't want to bet on his skin being actually made out of rock.

Just then, the giant managed to slam into Mr Ambrose with his whole weight, sending him stumbling backwards. With a thud, he hit the floor, and then the towering shadow was above him, raising a mallet-sized fist.

Swearing, I dropped my gun and rushed forward.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! You're pregnant! What do you think you can do?

But if I didn't do something, we were all going to die here. So I did the only thing I could. With a growl, I threw myself forward and grabbed the big man by the beard, tugging hard.

"Yeeaaaagh!"

The bellow of pain echoed off the warehouse walls.

Ha! That served the bastard right! I tightened my grip on the massive beard, and...

Wait a moment.

Beard?

Massive Beard?

...

"Karim?"

"Harami saale! Unhand me, you fat son of a—err... Sahiba?"

We both froze.

There was a long, long moment of silence.

"Karim? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? What are you doing here? And why are you pulling my beard?"

"'cause it's fun?"

He opened his mouth.

"And before you complain," I added, narrowing my eyes at the towering shadow, "remember you called me the f-word."

He snapped his mouth shut again. I couldn't see much of his figure in the dark, but I could swear I saw drops of sweat appearing on his forehead.

Smart man.

I gave him a sweet smile.

"Oh, and since we are on the subject, could you tell me why you were trying to smash my husband's brains in?"

"I," Mr Ambrose's voice came from the floor, "would like to know that as well."

"I, um, well..." Karim cleared his throat. "That is because, err, I..."

"Yes?" Rising to his feet, Mr Rikkard Ambrose dusted himself off and pinned Karim to the spot with his iciest stare. Suddenly, the massive man didn't seem quite so big anymore. "Do continue."

"Well, err, you see, Sahib, after your ship sank I was looking for you and, well, when I didn't find any sign of you or the Sahiba, I decided to go after the pirates because they often frequent uninhabited islands and, um, if you had been shipwrecked there, they would most likely already have taken you prisoner. So I went searching for pirates all over the place and—"

"—and you thought the best way to find the pirates would be punching my husband in the face repeatedly," I finished, nodding wisely. "Ah, of course."

"Yes, exactl—wait, what? No! No, of course not!"

"Oh?" I cocked my head, inwardly congratulating myself for not already rolling around on the ground laughing. The look on his face! It was just too precious! "Then why did you punch him in the face repeatedly? I know his face is eminently punchable—"