Marriage of Convenience

Appearances can be deceiving, my pets. I am quite a foolish old besom but there is something profoundly untrustworthy and venal in Verman's face. I prefer to believe that Sybil is being abducted 'gainst her will and is not the fickle heartbreaker her recent email and engagement announcement would have us believe.

Verman could be using her to get to Gus and to give him a plausible pretext to head in his direction (I expect Interpol has had him under surveillance for some time, as rather a lot of international drug cartel contraband they attempt to trace goes mysteriously missing in his patch of the Caribbean). He simply oozes corruption and greed, and is almost certainly a Bad Hat.

On the other hand, Sybil could be playing a most dangerous game - seeming to go along with the preposterous wedding plans (really, who gets married on a rust-bucketty old frigate these days) in order to get to Gus. And coincidentally, she will be on quite a serviceable rust-bucketty old frigate, absolutey stuffed full of fuel, arms, and the sorts of toys that brighten the eyes of crusty old demolitions and ballistics experts the world over. And if the Toaster of Mass Destruction is up to the task, p'raps Gus may yet be able to defeat the effete Tortolans and take the frigate and go after the whale and of course Sybil would be there too...

*POP!*

Well, that was a lovely pipe dream, wasn't it? Yes, it seems quite hopeless. I shan't give on Sybil until it is absolutely proven that she's an adventuress of the worst sort, but I should hate to be disappointed in her, as I admire her so. It is all too easy for poor dear Gus to assume the worst, but I shall try to keep faith with the dream for a bit longer.

And besides which, Flarq and Thesaurus would never let him get away with simply blowing the whale out of the sea with the application of several tonnes of Tortolan Naval ordnance, so unless the frigate has a rack of antique harpoons below decks, they'll probably refuse to participate in the boarding party. Such charmingly stubborn traditionalits they are, to be sure. So that's another perfectly good outcome gone West.