Revenge in the Keys
Page 23
I stood, greeted Ange and made the introductions as I pulled out a chair for her.
“Are you a supermodel?” Alex asked, still staring at Ange.
Ange laughed and hit it off instantly with the two girls. By the time we’d finished eating, they were begging their parents to spend more time with their new friend.
“You know we have to be back in Miami tomorrow,” Chris said.
“I could just quit school and move down here,” Alex said enthusiastically.
We all laughed at that, then headed back down to the dock. After we said our goodbyes and let them know that they were welcome to visit anytime, Cynthia walked alongside the girls back up towards their yacht. I was surprised to see that Chris had stayed behind.
Turning to me, his face grew serious and he said, “Logan, is there any way the two of us could talk in private?”
I looked him in the eyes for a few seconds, then nodded and turned to Ange.
“Don’t mind me,” she said, sprawling out over the sunbed and closing her eyes. “I’ll be right here, relaxing.”
I motioned towards the cabin door and Chris followed me down into the salon. I shut the door behind us and we sat down, facing each other on the half-moon dinette seat.
“What’s going on, Chris?” I asked.
He’d sparked my curiosity, and I hoped that he wasn’t in trouble of some kind.
He unzipped his backpack, which was now resting on the deck between his legs. Glancing up at me, he said, “As Alex told you, we’re on our way back from the funeral for my Uncle Ken.” He leaned back in the chair, lost in thought for a moment. “He was a good man, and he practically raised me.” He paused for a moment. “He’d risen to be a successful business owner in Pensacola but had actually spent the majority of his life as a shrimper here in the Keys.”
I nodded, listening intently and wondering where he was going with all of it.
“You see, when I was young, he would always tell me stories about things he found while shrimping. You would be amazed at the things he would catch: tires, toilet seats, and even televisions. But it was something he caught during his last year on the water that interested him more than anything else.”
Chris reached into his backpack and pulled out an old leather pouch. He reached inside the pouch and pulled out an antique dagger. My eyes grew wide as I examined it closely. It was incredibly intricate in its design, with a solid gold handle. But it looked like it had been through hell. Judging by how faded and banged up it was, it was clear that it had spent hundreds of years under the ocean. My interest grew the more I looked at it.
“It looks really old,” I said.
Chris nodded. “There’s a name and date here,” he said, pointing to an old and barely legible set of letters and numbers.
“It looks like 1665,” I said, reading it aloud.
“That’s right, and look here.”
My heart nearly stopped beating, then raced with excitement a second later as I read the words etched into the hilt.
“Beatrice Taylor,” I read, then looked up at Chris and saw the same serious expression, though tinged with excitement as well. “He found this in a net?”
Chris nodded. “My uncle used to tell me the story of how he found this all the time. He said it must have come from some lost shipwreck, and he has written a good description here of where it was found. Never inclined to go searching for the ship himself, given his age and physical ailments, he’d decided to make it a part of my inheritance.”
“That’s quite the gift,” I said. “Well, if you’d like help trying to find it I’d be more than happy to oblige.”
Chris went silent for a moment, then took in a deep breath and let it out. “Logan, there’s no way I could ever repay you for saving me and my family’s lives, but I want you to have it. From what I’ve heard about you, you’ve got a knack for finding treasure.” He held the dagger out in front of me. “Please. With how busy my work keeps me, I have no use for it anyway.”
I shook my head, “It’s too—”
“Please,” he said, cutting me off and setting it on the dinette. “It’s the least I can do.”
A few minutes later, I agreed, and we walked up out of the salon into the cockpit. Ange was still sunbathing and glanced over at us as we passed by.
“It was great to meet you, Angelina,” Chris said, smiling at her after stepping onto the dock.
She smiled back and said, “You ever need a babysitter, let me know.”
He laughed. “After an hour or so, I think you’ll be whistling a different tune.”
Before he turned to leave, I said, “Thanks, Chris. And again, you and your family are welcome in my house or on my boat anytime.”
“No, thank you, Logan. For everything.”
He turned and walked up the dock towards his yacht. Turning around, I placed my hand on the roof and leaned over Ange.
“You don’t like kids,” I stated with a grin.
She shrugged. “Usually, yeah. But something about those girls… I don’t know.” She blocked the midafternoon sun from her eyes and added, “What was that all about, anyway?”
I looked up at the distant ocean, the brilliant blue that stretched on as far as the eye could see beyond the bay. Feeling the warm tropical breeze against my face, I smiled and said, “You were right, Ange. Something has come from the horizon.”
THE END
Logan Dodge Adventures
Gold in the Keys
(Florida Keys Adventure Series Book 1)
Hunted in the Keys
(Florida Keys Adventure Series Book 2)
Revenge in the Keys
(Florida Keys Adventure Series Book 3)
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About the Author
Matthew has a deep-rooted love for adventure and the ocean. He loves traveling, diving, rock climbing and writing adventure novels. Though he grew up in the Pacific Northwest, he currently lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, Jenny.