The bearded man's name was Hank. He was a well-known intelligence dealer on the island. He knew many captains that traveled to Nassau, and he had accumulated a lot of information. Many pirates had bought clues from him before.
When Billy was still on the Sea Lion, he followed Orff to look for Hank. That was when he got to know Hank. The two of them even drank together a few times, and their relationship was pretty good. That was why Billy wanted to buy information from him before he set sail.
Hank might not look like much, but he had his own unique skills for being able to do business on the island for such a long time.
He would grade each clue based on the value of the prey, the detail of the information, and the credibility of the information source. Finally, he would evaluate the value of the clue.
For example, the information about the perfume ship was rated highly based on the value of the prey and the credibility of the information source. The only thing that was not as detailed was the fact that it was a very good clue.
Therefore, Hank's asking price was very high. He asked for two Spanish gold coins. To be on the safe side, Billy spent ten Spanish gold coins to buy out the information. This meant that Hank could not sell the clue to other pirates other than the Jackdaw.
After that, Hank returned the favor and gave Billy the information about the tobacco ship, the Duffy, which was sailing on the same route as the Jackdaw. This put Billy at ease, and he was very confident about the Jackdaw's first voyage.
However, what happened next was completely out of his expectations. If it weren't for Carina, the female merchant, who boarded the ship halfway and provided them with the important information about the perfume ship, the Jackdaw would have returned empty-handed.
Although Billy was not as cunning as Orff, he was not an idiot. When the perfume ship disappeared for a long time, he had already begun to suspect something. However, there was a high probability that something like this would happen. He could not immediately deny the second clue just because the first one had failed. If that was the case, it would be meaningless for him to buy a backup clue.
However, his worries were proven right. Two clues had failed at the same time, and Billy realized that he had been tricked. However, he did not understand why the intelligence trafficker would suddenly set him up. He had been on good terms with Hank all these years, and the Jackdaw did not have any conflict of interest with him. Why would he be tricked by the intelligence trafficker?
Today, the three of them came to the Mermaid's Home to find out about this matter.
Hank recognized the man standing outside the door immediately. Recently, Zhang Heng had become the most famous person on the island. When the Jackdaw first appeared at Nassau's harbor, Hank was there to watch the commotion. As an intelligence dealer, expanding his network was a very important part of his job. Hence, he was no stranger to the Jackdaw and its new captain.
The intelligence trafficker struggled to get up from the ground. Without wiping the stains on his clothes, he smiled bitterly at the man in black in front of him. "When I sold the clues, I made it very clear that I can't guarantee that every clue is absolutely valid. Even the most credible clue can have all kinds of accidents, such as the target suddenly changing routes halfway, accidentally bumping into other pirates, weather factors, etc. If you don't believe me, you can ask your helmsman. I emphasized the risks to him at that time …"
Hank took a deep breath and continued, "Of course, I'm deeply sorry for what happened to you. Fortunately, you didn't suffer any losses in the end. How about this? Let's each take a step back. I'll refund you the money, and we'll call it a day. What do you think?"
Zhang Heng was noncommittal. Anne and Billy walked out of the tavern's back door, and the three of them surrounded Hank in a corner.
Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, the intelligence dealer quickly added, "Oh, and before you go out to sea again, I can give you a few more valuable clues for free. This time, I can guarantee that there will be no more accidents."
Hank leaned his back against the cold stone wall, trying his best to remain calm. In the past, there were people who came back to trouble him because of inaccurate clues, but he was always smart enough to deal with them. There weren't many intelligence dealers on the island, and they would usually compete with each other. However, they would still stick together when it came to critical moments. Previously, one of their colleagues was killed, and after finding out who the murderer was, no one sold any clues to the pirate ship anymore. In the end, the pirate ship was forced to change its captain.
The intelligence dealer looked at Billy. The latter was a veteran on the island, and it was impossible that he hadn't heard about that incident. As a competent helmsman, he should now remind his captain of the possible consequences of doing something like that.
However, Billy didn't respond. All he did was stare at him coldly.
After that, Hank saw the red-haired female pirate on the other side pull out a dagger from her waist and smile at him.
The next moment, the intelligence dealer felt a chill on his chest. When he looked down, he was horrified to find that his flax shirt had been sliced open, and the tip of the dagger had penetrated his skin, less than two centimeters away from his heart. All it would take was a little more force from the red-haired girl, and he would die here tonight.
Hank really panicked this time. He didn't expect this group of people to not play by the rules at all. The intelligence trafficker's voice was already trembling as he said, "You … How much compensation do you want? At least give me a number."
"We don't want any compensation," Zhang Heng finally said, "but we need you to answer a few questions truthfully."
"What do you want to know?" Hank was a little confused when he heard that.
… …
A quarter of an hour later, the three of them walked out of the alley. Anne put the dagger back on her waist, frowning. "Malcolm, do any of you know this guy? Why is he looking for trouble with us?"
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