Perhaps if she and Drakon had been alone, she would have asked him what he was thinking, but with Rowan present, Morgan left Drakon to his own thoughts, and she tried not to dwell on her father, or his conditions in Somalia.

As Drakon said, her father would be home soon. Rowan had agreed with him.

She had to focus on that, cling to that, not allow herself to slide into panic or doubt.

Finally the dinner dishes were being cleared away and coffee was served. But sitting in silence with coffee proved even more uncomfortable than eating in silence.

“I hate them,” she choked out, unable to remain silent another moment. “I hate how they’ve taken him and are treating him like he’s nothing … nobody … just an object to be bartered.”

“It is horrendous,” Drakon agreed quietly.

“But it’s on the rise, isn’t it?” She looked up at him as she added another half teaspoon of sugar to her coffee and gave it a brisk stir. “From what I read, attacks have doubled in the last few years.”

Drakon’s dark head inclined. “Last year there were more hostages taken than ever before.”

“Nearly twelve hundred,” Morgan murmured, having done a fair amount of research on her own, trying to understand what had happened to her father. “With many being held for nine months or more. Unthinkable. But it’s real. It’s happening.”

“At least your father will be freed,” Rowan said brusquely. “There are hundreds of hostages who haven’t been ransomed … that will never be ransomed.”

Morgan’s insides twisted. She couldn’t imagine being one of the unfortunate crew who were never freed. How terrible to sit day after day, week after week, month after month waiting for a ransom that might never come. “Because someone isn’t willing to pay the ransom?” she asked.

“Or able to pay it. Not all shipping companies have insurance that will pay it, and most ordinary people can’t come up with millions of dollars, not even to save a loved one,” Drakon answered.

Morgan put her spoon down, her eyes burning, guilt eating at her because she was able to help her father. She was able to do something and yet she felt for those who couldn’t. “Fortunately, I understand the counter-piracy measures put in place this past year seem to be helping. From what I read, piracy was down during the first quarter of the year—not enough of course to give cause for celebration, but enough to know that the experts might be on to something.”

“That’s true,” Drakon agreed. “Right now there’s a concerted international effort to check piracy, and it’s helping, but it certainly hasn’t stopped the pirates. It’s just slowed them a little.”

“How do you stop them?”

“Put a stable, strong, and effective government in place. Change their economic structure. Take out the group who is arming the pirates, and profiting from the hostage ransoms.” Rowan’s lips curved, his expression hard. “But if that were easy, it would have been done already. And so we do the next best thing—increase maritime intelligence and continue international cooperation on monitoring the water off the Horn of Africa.”