"Grapnels!" Merrick yelled.

Four pirates whirled the iron hooks above their heads and then tossed them across the gap betwixt the two ships. They struck the deck of the Reliance with a clank and a scrape of splintering wood.

Sloane stood on the main deck, arms crisscrossed over his barrel chest. Jackson, armed to the hilt, stood by his side. Both men stared at Merrick with an odd mixture of disapproval and apprehension.

The pirates aboard the Satisfaction heaved ...