Golden Legacy

by Robert James Glider

  “Please go on,” Jac urged. He knew the time had finally come for Chauncey to reveal the secret she’d been hiding.

  Chauncey looked across the table at Jac, took a deep breath, and opened the front cover of the Bible. Jac’s eyes fixed on the inside cover and its parchment paper covering. Small intricately drawn lines representing four hundred years of the tree branches were filled with the names of the family’s progeny. Jac noticed a slight bulge and a torn spot under the central tree.

  “When I was married to James Senior and we had our son, I was entering his name into the tree branch below my name, and I accidentally pushed the book from this table. When the Bible struck the floor, the front inside cover split open.” Her fingers carefully probed inside the tear, and she extracted a piece of yellowed parchment folded squarely in quarters. “It was then that I found this document. It had been sewn inside the cover.”

  “What is it?” Peri asked.

  As she gently unfolded the fragile paper, Chauncey’s lips began to quiver. “My ancestral grandfather was one of the judges at the trial of Calico Jack Rackham when Anne Bonney and Mary Read were also tried and convicted. But as I’m sure you all know, both were with child, so the sentence of death could not be carried out. Anne and Mary were spared temporarily from the gallows, and both had their children while in prison. But Mary died shortly after childbirth, and I believe Anne was pardoned.”

  Jac watched Chauncey’s gaze move to Abigail as she continued, “This document that was issued by the governor of Jamaica is for the adoption of Mary Read’s child, a girl, to my ancestral grandfather and grandmother who were childless.”

  “You’re saying … what I think … you’re saying?” Abigail’s words stumbled.

  “Yes. Mary Read was my ancestor—my grandmother a few generations removed. And, if history is correct about the affairs, Calico Jack is my ancestral grandfather.”

  Jac heard Abigail gasp when she suddenly realized that Calico Jack was also her grandfather and that she and Chauncey were related.

  After a several moments of stunned silence, Abigail tried to speak. “I … am also …” A tear rolled down Abigail’s face.

  Jac finished what she was trying to say. “Abigail has a similar family Bible. She found the other half of your map. She is related to Anne Bonney. Calico Jack is also her ancestral grandfather.”

  “Thank you, Jac,” Abigail wiped the tear from her face and smiled. She turned to look at Roni. “We have a new sister.”

  “Well, Chauncey,” Jac said, “I can tell you that was not what we were expecting to hear. But it doesn’t change our plans. It just adds you as a new partner in our venture.”

  Jac looked at Abigail, who was now smiling, and then back to Chauncey.

  Abigail, Chauncey, Roni, and Auntie Mick got up from the table and hugged.

  “I believe this calls for a special dinner tonight. And I’ll do the honors,” Peri said.

  “Dad.” Jac said quietly, “Now would be a good time to pick up that package at the dock.” Jac’s concern now turned to what Inspector Townsend had told him. They may be in for a fight.

  “Michael and I have some things we need to take care of at the dock,” Mandrago said as he and Michael got up from the table.

  No one but Jac noticed them leave.

  Earlier, Mandrago and Jac had decided they’d better retrieve the guns they’d hidden aboard the Adventurer. Jac originally wanted to leave the island at night and avoid a confrontation. But with Townsend on his way with the arrest warrants, they had to stay. He knew the odds were against them. They needed to be able to protect the women from Remy’s wrath.

  When everyone was finished hugging, Jac looked at Abigail and said, “I think it’s time we put all our research together. Just maybe we can find this island where your relatives hid their plunder.” Jac asked for a refill on his coffee, and Auntie Mick obliged. He took a sip, set his cup down, and related everything he knew about Anne and Mary to Chauncey and Aunt Mick. When he finished, Chauncey reciprocated and filled in some of the blanks in Jac’s version. The half map she had found—Mary’s half—was the key. That is, Jac thought, if nothing had changed in the character of the land over the past three hundred years. He needed to take some time now to put it all together. He would study Mary’s diary and the ship logs. Just maybe, he thought, we will find this elusive island.

  CHAPTER 35

  Auntie Mick’s house

  Late afternoon

  “Not one of James’ men, including James, has ever seen my face,” Jac argued. “I came out of the shadows to deliver that punch at the hotel in Jamaica.”

  Peri, Mandrago, and the ladies mulled over every possible encounter that might have exposed Jac’s identity, but couldn’t think of a time anyone, including James, Mulee, or his men, had ever seen Jac.

  “Unless,” Peri said, “they pulled up a picture of you from the Internet.”

  “Not likely,” Jac said.

  James had encountered Mandrago at the bookstore and again at the hotel the night of the incident. Abigail and Roni had met him on the hotel deck where he had bought them a drink. Remy and Kincaid knew Abigail and Roni from Virginia. And, unless James had managed to do some research, which Jac thought highly unlikely, and found pictures of Jac on the Internet, Jac would be invisible to James.

  Peri was at the window with binoculars watching the hotel entrance, and just before noon, he saw James and two men he thought to be Remy and Kincaid enter the hotel.

  “I’m going to take the chance. We need to find out what they’re up to,” Jac said. “Let’s hope they’re going to eat.”

  “Jac, if you’re going to do this, you have to wear a disguise,” Peri said. “Even though we believe your face has never been seen, there is still the possibility, right?”

  “Okay. You win. I’ll wear a disguise.”

  “I have just the clothes and hat,” Auntie Mick said. “They’ll be perfect. They were my husband’s. Oh, yes, and I have a pair of glasses for you. I hated them, but they’ll do nicely now.” She smiled. “Now come along.”

  Jac followed Auntie Mick into the room next to the kitchen where the sewing machine lived.

  Everyone laughed when Jac came out wearing a pair of baggy overalls, a faded blue T-shirt, and old black boots. He also was wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses that showed age. The lenses were scratched in several places. His outfit was topped with a L.A. Dodger baseball cap that must have been twenty years old. And Auntie Mick had applied a small amount of dark makeup under his eyes.

  “Now you look like one of the men who work at the boatyard next to the hotel. They eat in the hotel restaurant all the time,” Auntie Mick explained.

  “Kudos, Auntie,” Peri said while admiring her handiwork.

  “Let’s go,” Jac said.

  Auntie Mick told Jac about the escape tunnels that had been dug out by smugglers when they occupied the house. She said, “There are probably more, but we found only five. One particular tunnel runs from the basement to a thicket next to a large stand of trees about a hundred feet behind the house. From there you can get to the highway across from the hotel unseen.”

  She led Jac through the cellar into a storage area filled with packing boxes. She helped him push aside several boxes that covered the entrance to the tunnel. “Now you be careful,” she said and gave him a hug.

  Jac kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t worry, Auntie Mick … I’m invisible.”

  “I wish my grandson wasn’t involved with those men. Jac, promise me that you will … not hurt him,” Auntie Mick mumbled as she watched Jac disappear into the darkness of the tunnel.

  Jac found the path that took him to the main road. Not wanting anyone to see him coming out of the woods, he looked out from behind a large tree. He was directly across the road from the hotel. After two cars went by, he quickly crossed the road. He put on his b
est smile, waved, and walked casually past several people waiting at the curb near a sign that indicated the area was a bus stop. The sign on the pole was written in big letters and said the bus made stops at two of Tortola’s beaches. Jac avoided the main entrance to the hotel and entered through a side door that opened into a short corridor that led him into to the main lobby.

  The lobby was crowded. Guests with luggage stood at the front desk in conversations with hotel personnel, and others waited in line to register or check out. The main room was decorated in a Caribbean motif. Fancy cane and wicker furniture with cushions covered in a variety of colorful floral blue and earth-tone fabrics circled the large room.

  Jac looked for a restaurant. Seeing none, he followed several couples who were moving through the center of the great room. He heard the sound of water falling and followed a corridor lined with three small shops where tourists could purchase shirts, hats, jewelry, and sundry items. The corridor opened into a smaller room featuring a towering thirty-foot-high, three-tiered waterfall. Water spilling from the top tier fell into the tier below it where it overflowed and fell into a pond that recirculated the water for another cycle. A bar surrounded by a few cocktail tables sat against a three-foot stone wall that circled the base of the fountain. Colorful multi-colored koi swam to tables so that guests could throw them morsels of bread from their lunches. Just past the fountain, Jac saw a large coffee shop where staff members were busy serving brunch.

  Hoping James and his group were inside, Jac stood in line while the maître d’, who stood at a small podium, greeted guests and handed menus to waitresses who guided the guests to tables.

  Jac was greeted by a warm smile and a question. “Good morning, sir, how many in your party?” To which Jac answered that he was alone and wanted a small table, as he preferred not to sit at the counter.

  “Do you want to sit with your friends at the table over there?” he said.

  Jac saw that he was referring to three other men who were dressed in coveralls. Jac assumed they work at the boat yard. They were sitting at a table near the wall on the far side of the room.

  “No, I want to eat alone.”

  “No problem.”

  The maître d’ handed Jac off to a cheerful waitress who led him through the room toward an open table. Jac felt like a lion looking for prey as he scanned the room. The restaurant was set in a large open area. People talked and laughed while they ate. When he looked around and didn’t see James, Jac began to wonder if this had been a good idea.

  But as Jac followed the waitress, he spied James, Remy, Kincaid, and Mulee sitting at a round table in the far corner of the room. The waitress took him to the opposite side of the room and sat him near the men he supposedly worked with.

  “Excuse me,” said Jac. “If possible, I would like to sit over on that side. I had an argument with one of the guys I work with, and I don’t want to renew the discussion here.”

  “Sure. I understand,” she said.

  She led Jac toward the far corner of the room, toward James’s table.

  Jac glanced at James as he passed. James didn’t look up. Remy looked at him as if he was intruding. He gave Jac a sneer and went back to eating. He didn’t recognize me. Auntie Mick’s disguise did the trick!

  The waitress seated Jac at a small table close enough that he could almost hear every word of what they were saying. Kincaid and Mulee had their backs to him. The waitress handed Jac a menu and said she would be right back to take his order.

  Jac studied the menu, occasionally glancing across the short distance separating his table from James’s. James was in an animated conversation with Remy, and he wasn’t happy.

  “Have you decided, sir?” The waitress stood in front of the table, blocking Jac’s view.

  “Yes, thank you. I’ll have the ahi tuna plate, plenty of ginger, and a Japanese Asahi beer,” Jac said. “I’m not much of a breakfast person.”

  “Very good, sir.” The waitress smiled and said she would be back in a minute with his beer.

  Jac watched Remy say something to James. James nodded agreement. Jac couldn’t make out what the conversation was about, but he knew they weren’t talking about the weather. Then James pointed at Kincaid and Mullee with an angry look.

  While Jac waited for his food, he played with his cell phone while sneaking looks at James’ table. Most of the conversation had stopped as they ate.

  Just about the time she returned with Jac’s beer and his order they had finished eating, and got up to leave. Kincaid leaned over the table and said something to James. Jac couldn’t hear what he said, but James slammed his fist down on the table and emphatically said one word: “Tonight!”

  Remy grabbed Kincaid by his arm and turned him to face him. Kincaid looked scared as he pulled away and said, “Okay.” Mulee smiled and threw some bills and the check on the table. They wove their way through the crowded tables and went out the door.

  Jac was happy he had come. He had the information he needed. He surmised that the thieves he’d been watching would be coming tonight to try to steal the contents of the box. We’ll have it ready for them, Jac thought. He decided to stay and finish his food. Why waste a good beer and one of my favorite foods? He smiled thinking that Peri would be proud of him. He was eating something other than his usual cheeseburger.

  He was about to take his last bite of the ahi tuna when his phone buzzed. “Hi, Nikki.”

  “Jac … I’m sorry but my brother was too proud to mention that he is suffering from post traumatic stress from his tour as a marine in Afghanistan. He is going to need me for a long time.” Nikki stuttered through the conversation. Her speech was awkward as she went on to tell him she wouldn’t be joining him. Jac could hear the finality in her voice. He didn’t feel good about it, but then he felt guilty. He missed her. She was a special lady. But he knew her presence would complicate matters with Abigail. He needed time to sort out his relationship with Abigail. Right now, he couldn’t deal with anything but the fear he had for Abigail’s life as well as for the lives of the others. Their safety was his obligation and had to be his only commitment. Nikki had been through so much in the past few months—her father’s death, and her brother showing up after they’d believed him to be dead for years. Jac knew she was committed to her family and didn’t have time to nurture their relationship anymore.

  They tried to make conversation, but it wasn’t working. Jac didn’t know what else to say. This is awkward. I wish we could see each other’s eyes. I know I must say something. Jac’s mouth was dry, and his tongue felt frozen. He managed to suck in a breath and was about to tell her he would always care for her.

  Nikki said it first. “You and I were good together, Jac. You saved my life, and I’ll never forget you. I’ll always love you. But let’s face it, you know as I do that we’ll never have anything more than a great friendship.” She went on to say she could see that she knew Jac had feelings for Abigail that he needed to resolve.

  With nothing else to say, Jac whispered into the phone, “I love you too, Nikki. You will always be special to me. You take care, and if you ever need me for anything, I’ll be there.”

  She sobbed and whispered, “Bye, Jac.”

  Jac suddenly felt an emptiness. He dipped his last piece of tuna into the soy/wasabi combination and looked at the last bite while exploring a feeling of remorse. He’d lost his appetite. He couldn’t force it down and tossed it back on the plate. He took his napkin from his lap to wipe the tear from his eye.

  Holding an old brass lantern in front of her, Auntie Mick guided Chauncey, Abigail, and Roni through the same tunnel Jac had used earlier in the day. Mandrago would be waiting at the end of the passageway to take them through the woods to the inlet where he and Michael had moved the Adventurer. Earlier, Auntie Mick had given Mandrago and Michael the location of a little-known dock only a mile from the house. They would be able to stay in the wo
oded area most of the way.

  “If Jac’s plan works, we’ll be gone and James will be on a wild goose chase,” Roni said. “I hope Michael’s all right.”

  “Yes, and more importantly, no one will get hurt,” Chauncey said.

  Focus, Jac, for God sake focus! he told himself. The plan has to work. Lives are at stake!

  Peri looked at his watch. “It’s two thirty in the morning. Don’t you think, if they were coming, it would have been this afternoon?

  “No. They know where to find us. Remember what Chauncey told us. James read what Mary wrote in her diary when he spent the summer here.”

  “So he knows what we’re after.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t know what Abigail found. They’ll come with Remy and Kincaid to steal what was in the box.”

  “They must have made some sort of deal.”

  “Yeah, snakes dealing with rats!”

  Peri chuckled. “That never works out. Someone gets eaten.”

  “As long as it’s not us.”

  An hour later, through the quivering light streaming from an oil lamp perched above the table, Jac and Peri reexamined the documents Chauncey had found in the wall of the ship room.

  “Jac, what do you think the odds are of finding both descendants of Anne and Mary?”

  “I couldn’t even venture a guess,” Jac said, setting down the book in which Mary Read had written the account of how she and Anne Bonney had been stranded on an obscure island while Calico and his men went off to Tortola. “If we can pinpoint the island Anne and Mary were stranded on, it will be easier to find the locations on the map.”

  “Did you find anything that will help us find this island?”

  “Nothing that’s obvious. Mary’s description and account of their stay on the island is about the same as the one in Anne’s diary. The map original leather halves fit together. It’s time we take a transparency of the two halves of the map, pull up some older maps of the area on the laptop, print them out, and try to overlay the transparency. If they are not exact, perhaps the shapes of the islands will give us the clue we need to find a reference point.”