“So what’d you kidnap me for, then?” Adam demanded.
“Do you know who that man is sitting there in that chair?” asked the sheriff, motioning with the hand that was not holding the cigar.
Adam turned his head towards Santiago, and then he looked back at the sheriff and said, “He’s a captain and your nephew, and apparently he helped my friends try to find me. That’s all I know about him.”
“His name is Santiago Velasquez,” said the sheriff. “My name is Eduardo Velasquez.”
“So? You’re related. I don’t care what your name is,” said Adam. “You are nothing to me.”
Eduardo laughed. “You are right, chico, but you do not even know why that is true.” He placed the cigar into an ashtray on his desk and slightly leaned forward on his elbows. “Tell me something: Who were you looking for when you came to Havana?”
Adam wrinkled his brow. “Why?”
“You do not ask me questions now. I am asking the questions.”
“What if I don’t answer your questions? Because frankly I don’t think it’s any of your business what I was doing or who I was looking for when I came here.”
Just then Eduardo nodded his head at one of the men guarding Drake, and he came down hard on the side of Drake’s knee with the butt of his rifle. Drake collapsed in pain as his leg went out from under him.
Adam watched what happened in horror and tried to lunge forward to help Drake, but Hector grabbed him and yanked him backwards.
“Now you will answer me,” said Eduardo.
Adam clearly resented having to answer, but he did. “I was looking for a man called Alonso Cordova.”
“And why were you looking for this man?”
“My grandfather knows him.”
“Your grandfather?” Eduardo leaned back in his chair and puffed on his cigar again. “How does your grandfather know him?”
Adam shrugged. “He just told me I should look for him while I am here.”
Eduardo slammed his palm on his desk and yelled, “You are lying!”
“I am not lying!” said Adam. “How would you know what my grandfather told me?”
“What is the name of your grandfather?”
Adam would not answer. He didn’t want to lie, and he knew he wasn’t very good at it anyway. Valentine wasn’t really his grandfather, but he was the closest thing to a grandfather that he ever had.
Eduardo said, “His name is Valentine Hodges, is it not? And he is the proprietor of the Topsail Tavern in Port Beaufort, correct?”
The color left Adam’s face. He had no idea how or why this Cuban sheriff would know so much about him.
Santiago interjected something in Spanish.
Eduardo raised his hand to silence him, then said to Adam, “You know, you should not even be alive. Your mother was supposed to die in the fire at that tavern before you were even born. The truth is I did not know she was with child, but since she was carrying you in her belly at the time, you would have died with her. That would have been so much easier”—he waved his hands around in the air—“than all of this.”
“You are an evil man!” Santiago tried to bolt out of his chair to fly at his uncle, but the man behind him shoved him back down. In response Hector reached from behind Adam and put his arm around his neck. Then he held a knife to the boy’s throat in an apparent effort to prevent Santiago from having another similar outburst.
Santiago quickly stopped trying to bust free, then turned and said to Hector, “You always were a traitor. Does it make you proud?”
Hector lowered the knife, then looked at him and shrugged. “Proud? I not feeling proud, but it is paying very well.”
Adam narrowed his eyes at Eduardo. “I heard about a fire at the tavern the summer the Spaniards from Florida attacked our port—the year before I was born. You started that fire?”
“Stupid boy,” said Eduardo. “I have never set foot in your tiny village, but you might be surprised what other men will do for thirty pieces of silver . . . or even less.”
Santiago spoke up. “My Tio Eduardo helped to finance the final attack on your town that summer, Adam. And it was because that man—the one standing right there behind you—abandoned my ship and came back to Cuba so that he could betray me.”
Adam was visibly puzzled. “I don’t understand what any of you people are talking about. Would you please just tell me what is going on?”
“Hector was a member of my crew,” said Santiago, “as was Alonso Cordova.” He took a deep breath and looked at Adam as though he were waiting for some response.
Adam wrinkled his brow, not sure he heard what he thought he heard.
“Adam, soy tu papá.”
The room fell silent. No one even moved a muscle.
Santiago said it again, his voice cracking, but in English. “I am your father, Adam.”
Adam suddenly felt very hot, like he was going to be sick. His heart was pounding, and his head felt light. He didn’t just say what I think he just said? He looked over at Drake, who was now crumpled in a chair, for some reaction. Drake gave him a slight smile and a nod. Adam looked back at Santiago, unsure of whether this was all some sort of elaborate scheme.
Santiago’s hands weren’t bound like Adam’s. He was about to stand so he could rush over and embrace the boy, but as soon as he started to rise from his chair, the man standing behind him pushed him forcefully back down into his seat again.
“Wait a minute,” said Adam, utterly dumbfounded. “Is this true?” He looked at Eduardo, then back at Santiago.
Santiago said, “Yes, I swear it to you that it is the truth. It was days after I married your mother on La Dama that Hector disappeared. Apparently, my uncle told him before he joined my crew to keep an eye on me and to let him know if I ever became very serious with any woman outside of Cuba.”
“You married my mother?” Adam asked. “She really was married to you?”
Santiago nodded. “Of course. How else do you think we made you?”
Adam could hear his heart beating in his ears. He was so angry he didn’t know what to say. Finally, it occurred to him to ask a question.
“Then where in the hell have you been the last eighteen years?”
Santiago lowered his head. “It is a long story and—”
“It is not such a long story,” countered Eduardo, who then looked at Adam. “You only need to know that if he had made it apparent that you existed, that he had a son, he feared I would have killed you long ago.” He made that declaration with such calm that it sent a chill down Adam’s spine. Eduardo continued: “He was trying to hide you from me.”
Adam ignored him. He turned his attention to Santiago. “But we met just last year. Don’t you remember?”
“Yes, of course I remember!” Santiago exclaimed, smiling. “You had no money, and I gave you a bag of little regalitos from my ship.”
“Why didn’t you say anything then?”
Santiago shook his head in bewilderment. “I did not say anything then because I did not know it myself. I only realized you were my son when your friends came to ask for my help finding you. They said your mother’s name, and that you had come here trying to find Alonso, so I knew it had to be you. I never—”
“¡Basta! ¡Ya!” interrupted Eduardo.
He then spat out something in Spanish to Santiago that Adam was not able to understand. He could see that Santiago was outraged by whatever had been said, though, because his face turned red, and his eyes were fixed on the man with fury. Soon, Santiago and Eduardo were engaged in a heated argument that involved a lot of yelling, hand waving, and finger pointing.
“You are both blind, obviously,” said Eduardo. “Look at you both!” He motioned at Santiago and Adam. “He looks just like you!”
Adam looked at Santiago, but then said, “I look like my mother.”
“You do look like me,” said Santiago. “Just like me when I was young like you.”
/> “But he looks nothing like my brother,” said Eduardo, motioning to Santiago. “And that is because he is not my brother’s son.”
“¡Bastardo!” Santiago roared, then rattled off something in Spanish. He turned to Adam and said, “He is consumed with greed because I am in line to receive my father’s estate—the Velasquez family estate.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Adam shot back.
“Stupid boy!” said Eduardo. “If he is your father and he is to inherit what does not rightfully belong to him, then you would be next in line—and I will not have it!”
“Why do you say it doesn’t rightfully belong to him?” Adam asked.
“Because he is Isabel’s bastard son. He is not my brother’s son.”
“You say this all the time.” Santiago grabbed the hair on both sides of his head in frustration. “Why do you always say this?”
“¡Deberías haber preguntado a tu madre!” Eduardo insisted. “You should have asked your mother!”
Finally, Adam spoke up. “If you’re worried about me wanting a piece of this godforsaken island, there’s no need. Trust me. There’s nothing here that I want.”
Eduardo responded in Spanish, and Santiago promptly translated. “He says that’s only because you do not know all that you would come to possess through our family’s great fortune.”
“Is that so?” said Adam. “You know nothing! The Velasquez family could own this whole damned island and all of the Spanish West Indies, and I still wouldn’t care. If being part of the Velasquez family means I’d have you for an uncle—a man willing to kidnap or even kill his own nephew because of his greed, his love of money—I’d want no part in any of it.” He paused for a second, then added, “I’d be ashamed to claim you. You’re an embarrassment.”
Eduardo got up from his chair and walked around his desk to Adam and stood right in front of him, studying him for a moment. Finally, without warning he slapped him across the face.
In a flash Adam’s youthful brawling instincts all came flooding back. He fearlessly lunged forward and spat right in Eduardo’s face before quickly throwing his bound fists upward and busting him in the jaw from under his chin, sending the man flying backward. Hector, who was standing at guard behind him, hadn’t expected him to make a move like that and tried to grab him, but just as quickly Adam whipped around and used the momentum of his bound hands to swing his elbows back and pound Hector with all his force in the center of his body, leaving him unable to breathe. Right away, he grabbed the knife that had flown out of Hector’s hand. Adam then noticed the chain of Emmanuel’s pocket watch hanging out of the front of Hector’s pants, so he reached down and glared at his captor, then reclaimed his property by snatching it out of the man’s pocket.
“I told you I’d get this back,” he said. Then he grabbed the flintlock and possibles bag that Hector had placed on a table along the wall.
Santiago capitalized on the moment of chaos and attacked the other guards. He was able to wrestle the knife out of the hand of the man who had been guarding him, and then he slashed the man across his right arm, not dealing him a fatal blow but one that would render him unable to use his dominant hand offensively.
While Drake’s leg was hurt, he was not as bad off as he had led everyone to believe, but he was smart enough to stay down until there was an opportunity to fight back. While Santiago dealt with disabling Drake’s guard, Adam wasted no time cutting the cords that had bound Drake’s hands in front of him.
As soon as his hands were free, Drake delivered a punch to the side of the guard’s head that rendered him unconscious.
Eduardo was unarmed and left stunned by the sudden turn of events. He ran towards the door of the hut to call for guards from outside, but Santiago grabbed him and pinned him to the wall by the neck. He said something to him in Spanish, then pressed him even harder against the wall and held a knife to his throat.
Adam shouted, “Wait! Don’t kill him! He’s your uncle!”
“He’s not going to kill him,” Drake said. “At least he doesn’t want to. He’s telling him to call off his guards and let you and your friends go.”
“Do it! ¡Ya!” Santiago demanded.
Eduardo responded. “¡Sueltame entonces!” He looked over at Adam but continued speaking to Santiago. “Let me go, and I will tell them.”
Santiago loosened his grip and marched Eduardo out of the hut.
THERE WERE OTHER MEN POSTED around the compound. They looked to their leader in confusion about what to do, since he was now the hostage. Eduardo called out to them to release the prisoners in the hut. Within moments Martin and Charlie were freed. They quickly ran over to join Adam, Santiago, and Drake.
Then Willis and Jones both appeared on the other side of the compound near the horse pen and were waving their arms.
“Y’all, come on!” shouted Willis. “Let’s go!”
He had one horse hooked up to a cart, and Jones was mounted on one of three other horses so that all of them could make a quick getaway.
Adam worriedly looked at his father, who was still holding on to Eduardo to ensure the safety of the others. “What do we do?” he asked him.
“Run! You all go, get out of here! I will deal with him,” Santiago said.
“Why don’t we bring him with us?” Adam suggested. “There has to be a higher authority than him.”
Santiago said, “Not in Havana! Right now there is not!”
Drake spoke: “Your uncle is the law, boy, and everyone falls in line behind him.”
“You’re joking,” said Adam, desperately hoping it wasn’t true. He looked at his father.
Santiago just shook his head. Eduardo smiled and raised his eyebrows in a moment of cocky victory, in spite of the fact his nephew was presently holding him at knifepoint.
“What do you want us to do?” Drake asked his old friend.
Santiago thought for a moment, then said something in Spanish. Adam didn’t understand, but Drake nodded and motioned for Adam, Martin, and Charlie to just follow him towards where Willis and Jones had the horses.
“What? What did he say?” asked Adam.
“Just come with me,” said Drake, hobbling ahead ever faster.
Initially, Adam tried to keep up, calling out behind him, “Tell me what he said!”
Drake kept going and wouldn’t answer. “Hurry up!” was his only response.
Adam stopped in his tracks. “I won’t take another step unless you tell me what is happening here! Now say something!”
“Your father won’t kill him,” said Drake as he met Willis and Jones, who had come in their direction with the horses. “Now come on! We have to go!”
“What will happen to him when he lets his uncle go?”
“God only knows,” said Drake. At that he pulled himself into a horse cart that was driven by Willis.
Martin and Charlie stopped running halfway between where Adam stood and where Drake, Willis, and Jones were with the horses. They looked back at Adam as though they wanted him to tell them what he wanted them to do.
Santiago could see what was happening, and he yelled at Adam and his friends, “Go! Get out of here! I will be fine, but you are putting everyone in danger the longer you wait around.”
Adam wrinkled his brow. “I don’t understa— ”
“Just go!” Santiago demanded.
Adam took a deep breath and one last look at his father, then ran to catch up with the others. Willis drove the horse cart, with Adam and Drake riding along. Martin, Charlie, and Jones all went on horseback. This time Jones led the way, since he knew the terrain better than Drake, Martin, and Charlie. The three of them had not come to the fortress from the northern route along the beach like Adam, Willis, and Jones, but rather had been taken on that long, winding path through the woods, approaching the fortress from the south.
It was impossible for Adam to make sense of what had just happened—not in the last two days, and c
ertainly not in the last two hours. To finally meet his father and then to be ripped away from him just moments later was far too cruel a fate. He could not accept that this was going to be the end. He knew if his father wasn’t going to kill Eduardo—and he didn’t blame him for not wanting to kill his own uncle—Eduardo would most likely kill him. And Adam couldn’t just let that happen.
“Go back!” he suddenly demanded.
Willis turned his head around and looked at him as though he were crazy. “What?” he said.
“I said go back!” Adam attempted to wrestle the reins away from his friend, but Willis held on tight.
“Go back where?” Drake asked. “Back into that death trap? Your father wants you to get out of here safe.”
“That’s just it! My father is back there. And he’s going to die if we don’t go help him! We’re armed again and we’ve got these horses. We can ride back and grab him and bring him with us!”
“You’re crazy,” said Willis. “Do you know that?”
As soon as he said it, he pulled the reins hard to the left to turn the horses back towards the compound. When Martin and the others realized what was happening, they followed close behind.
As they approached the center of the compound, Adam could see that Santiago was still standing in the same spot, holding Eduardo in order to ensure their safe escape with the horses. When he saw Adam and the others coming back towards him, his eyes grew huge.
“What are you doing?” he yelled. “¿Están locos? I told you to leave!”
The horse cart was less than twenty feet away from him now.
Adam called out, “Come on! Just leave him here. They won’t catch us. We’ve got all the horses!”
“I cannot do that,” said Santiago. “This will never end if I do not end it today.”
“But how? One of you is gonna get killed,” Adam replied.
“Maybe, but it will not be my father’s brother—not by my hands,” Santiago countered. “If it is, this fighting will only continue. I would end up in Hell, and his sons will just come after you.”
Captured in the Caribbean Page 9