Fortune Favors by Sean Ellis

quickly, instinctively, then forced his gaze back to the eyes of whatever it was that watched him from the now opened cell. “I should have known better, when you said to trust you.”
    “Yes,” replied Elisabeth from somewhere above and to his left. “Are you always such a sucker for a pretty girl, Nick?”
    “More often than you'd believe,” he muttered, more to the mocking voice of his conscience, than to the actress. “So let me guess. This pirate, Jin, made you a better offer than the Sultan?”
    “Oh, I certainly did,” replied a different voice. Though masculine, the speaker's tone was high, almost flute-like, and his speech was deeply accented. “Lights!”
    The hall was suddenly bathed in the glow from more than a dozen electric bulbs, all shining down from the balcony. Kismet did not look away from the eyes, which still seemed to be hiding in shadow, but in the periphery of his view, he saw at least a score of men moving above him. He knew without looking that Elisabeth and Jin, the leader of the pirate gang, were among that number.
    “You seem to have trouble with the ladies,” chuckled Jin. “Maybe you will have better luck with my other princess.”
    The hovering embers blinked then moved forward out of the darkness. Kismet was not surprised at all when the features surrounding the glowing points coalesced into a feline face, the largest member of the cat family, a tiger. Kismet locked his own eyes with the stare of the stalking cat, backing up slowly.
    “Or perhaps not,” concluded Jin.
    Without looking away, Kismet fixed the place where Jin's voice seemed to be coming from. He vaguely remembered reading that Bengal tigers liked to attack their human victims from behind, that they would not approach if their prey seemed to be watching. This had prompted the men working in the Indian jungles to wear masks on the back of their heads, so that their “eyes” were always watching out from behind. Kismet had no idea if this was merely jungle lore, or if the tigers on the Malay isles were as gullible as their cousins to the west, but it seemed like a good idea. As the cat padded forward however, he could plainly see that the animal had been starved and abused; doubtless, it would not wait long to attack anyone trapped with it in the pit. With slow, deliberate moves so as not to provoke the tiger, he let go of the AK-47 and slung it across his back, and then removed the coil of rope from his shoulder, hefting the grappling hook.
    “Ah,” sighed Jin. “Perhaps this will be more entertaining than I first believed.”
    Kismet tight expression cracked in a wide grin. “You don't know how right you are.”
    His arm moved in a barely visible arc, the rope uncoiling like a striking serpent as his arm stretched upward. His gaze never faulted. The hook sailed up and struck something just out of view. He immediately pulled with both hands setting the hook and taking in the slack. An instant later, someone pitched over the balcony railing and crashed onto the floor in front of him.
    “Nice of you to join us, Jin.”
    The pirate winced as he pushed himself to his elbows, dazed by the fall. Kismet gave the rope a shake, loosening the hook from Jin’s clothing where it had snagged. Blood seeped from a ragged wound on the pirate’s back and dripped onto the floor of the hall. Jin stared blearily at Kismet then his eyes opened wide as he whirled around to face his pet. The tiger had already sprung, and at that moment, all hell broke loose.
    The entire promontory shuddered as a peal of what sounded like thunder rolled though the structure. The balcony was suddenly filled with chaotic shouting, mostly in Chinese, but Elisabeth's strident shrieking wove in an out of the din. A second tremor followed quickly on the heels of the first, and this time, the electric lights winked out as somewhere in the compound, the generator was knocked out. The fortress was under attack.
    Kismet jumped back as the tiger pounced on its