Merciless Charity: A Charity Styles Novel (Caribbean Thriller Series Book 1) by Wayne Stinnett

Author:Wayne Stinnett [Stinnett, Wayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Down Island Press
Published: 2015-10-09T07:00:00+00:00

Six hours later, Charity awoke. The light streaming through the portholes on the starboard side told her it was already daylight. Sitting up quickly, she bumped her shoulder on the low underside of the side deck. Rising and rubbing her shoulder, she looked around the salon.

The quarter berth on the other side had been rearranged back to a couch. Glancing forward, Charity saw that the small vee-berth was made up and the cabin empty.

Charity climbed quickly up the ladder to the cockpit. Alonzo and his family were all sitting in the early-morning sun, little Roberto on his grandfather’s lap, helping steer Wind Dancer.

“Good morning, Preciosa,” Alonzo said. “It is such a fine morning for the sailing. You looked so peaceful in sleep, I did not wish to disturb you.”

Sitting down on the other side of the helm, Charity glanced at the electronics. The small radar and chart plotter screens were turned off, as was the autopilot. She switched on the two screens and, according to the plotter, they’d traveled almost eighty miles and were no more than a quarter mile off the course she’d plotted the night before.

“My apologies,” the old man said. “The light from the little televisions made it hard to see the stars. There was no show on them anyway.”

“You sailed eighty miles, using only the compass?”

“I’ve sailed many thousands of miles,” Alonzo replied. “All with nothing but the stars to guide my way. The compass only points to one of them, so I rarely use it. The stars are timeless and predictable. They tell me where I am and where I am going.”

Smiling at the old man, Charity said, “I have a friend that says the same thing. You’re a celestial navigator?”

“He was his father’s navigator when he was just a boy,” Rosina said, smiling.

“We are nearing America,” Alonzo said. “It is perhaps five hours away.”

Glancing at the plotter, Charity saw that he was very close. The ETA displayed four hours and forty-five minutes to Key West at current speed. The knot meter indicated they were clipping along at fourteen knots.

“The wind has picked up,” Charity noted.

“Sí, and changed direction,” Alonzo said. “A storm is brewing far to the north in the Gulf. We crossed the Stream an hour ago, at dawn. It was a special feeling for me.”

We’ll be within range of the Zodiac by early afternoon, Charity thought.

“You and your family will be in America before nightfall,” Charity whispered to Alonzo. “You are an extraordinary sailor. May I bring you coffee, Capitan?”

The old man beamed. “Sí, café! For little Roberto, as well. He will become a great sailor, just like the men before him for six generations.”

Going below, Charity switched on the coffeemaker, having already set it up the night before, while she and Isabella made soup and sandwiches.

Isabella came down the ladder, joining Charity. “You have given my father purpose again, Gabriela. I have never seen him like this in my whole life. Thank you.”

“Your father is a unique man,” Charity said. “In America, he will be called a Renaissance man.

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