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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 42:

Chapter 13

            “Give me the bottle,” she said.

            Harry passed it over, still half full. Juliet rolled out from under the blanket and surged to her feet. It was an ungainly motion, due to her own chunky build and the need to use one hand to hold the bottle. But there was plenty of muscle under the Englishwoman’s heft, and she was up in less than two seconds.

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 41:

            “Bring up my second-best hat, while you’re at it!” Harry hollered at him. Then, went over to Sherrilyn and sat down beside her.

            “You’ll need the hat to keep your face hidden. Mostly covered by a blanket, lady weight-lifter or not, and even pushing forty like you are, ain’t no way anybody’s going to mistake you for a guy, up close.”

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 40:

            By now, Grabnar had the small ship heading into the center of the Channel, miles from either shore. Anyone on land who observed the unfolding little drama wouldn’t really be able to make out any of the details, even with an eyeglass. Two ships meet; one leaves; one doesn’t. Who can say what actually happened?

            Matija was also, cleverly, making sure the ship lost headway while he was at it. The pirates pursuing them would notice, probably, but they’d just write it off to panic and lousy seamanship. Harry didn’t think there was much chance they’d get suspicious at all.

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 39:

Chapter 12

The English Channel

            “Well, that’s a pisser,” said Harry Lefferts, lowering his eyeglass.

            Standing next to him at the small ship’s rail, Donald Ohde scowled at the vessel in the distance. “Doesn’t anybody have any imagination? They tried this once before, and it didn’t work.”

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 38:

            Several hours later, after Gayle took down all the radio messages relayed from Amsterdam that had come in during the evening window, she came into the main room with a big grin on her face.

            “Speaking of divine intervention, you’re all going to love this. Especially you, Rita.” She held up a message in her hand, one of the little notepad sheets she used to record radio transmissions.

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