Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

care if you’re present, Roger, but must you breathe down the back of
me neck?” He rolled his eyes. “Or are you trying to work up the
courage to grab me backside and give it a squeeze?” He’d spoken
loudly, and his voice carried to all Christophe’s crewmen. The cellbound
pirates laughed, whistled, and jeered obscene suggestions at
Mortensen.
Pretending he couldn’t hear them, and that it was his own idea,
Mortensen stepped back a few paces.
Jack turned back to Christophe. “What the bloody hell is going on,
mate?” he demanded, keeping his voice down. “They told me Borya
gave you up as a rogue pirate.”
Christophe’s dark eyes met Jack’s unflinchingly. “Jacques, mon
ami. Have I ever lied to you?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Jack said, cautiously.
“Then believe me now, of all times we have spoken truth between
us. Jacques, I am innocent! Borya has long had hatred for me. I caught
him cheating at cards once, in Tortuga, and I called him out. I
challenged him to a duel in front of the entire tavern. But the Russian is,
at heart, a coward. He did not have the…” Christophe groped for a
word, “the spleen, the stomach, the internal organs…” He broke off,
grimacing.
“The guts?” Jack suggested.
“Exactly! The guts to face me in a duel. He could do nothing but
turn and walk away. Everyone in The Faithful Bride was laughing at
him, calling him coward to his face. He has hated me ever since. So
today, when he realized he was going to die, he seized his chance to
gain his revenge on me, to make his own passing a bit more bearable
by taking me, his enemy, with him. Jack, I swear to you, as le bon Dieu
is my witness”—he crossed himself—“in the name of the Holy Virgin
and all the saints, I am innocent.”
“They say you murdered Old One Tooth Tommy, Christophe,”
Jack said. “The night he died, you were with me and Esmeralda for the
first part of the evening. What did you do after we escorted her back to
Venganza?”
“I heard that I am also convicted of killing that pitiful old crazy
man,” Christophe said, twirling his fingers beside his temple. “But