Wood's Tempest by Steven Becker

Author:Steven Becker [Becker, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The White Marlin Press
Published: 2018-12-02T22:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Two

As they approached Fort Jefferson, the seas calmed. Glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to check on the tow, Mac did what every salvor does after making a recovery—calculate the worth.

Trufante had probably done the math, which should have lifted his mood, but something was troubling the Cajun. He sat alone on the port seat with a beer in his hand. It was the same position Mac could have found him in almost any other day they were out, but that thousand-dollar Cadillac grin was missing. Whether Mac liked it or not, his fortune was often tied to Trufante’s, and that made him a concern.

Mac placed the boat on autopilot and asked Ned to take the wheel. The old man nodded and moved to the captain’s seat, where he scanned the seas ahead as the hydraulic motor tied into the autopilot steered the course Mac had laid out.

“Old Wood’d be rolling in his grave if he saw all this mess. You got cable too?” Ned asked.

Mac ignored him. Like Wood, he had grudgingly accepted the early technology, loran and paper depth plotters were often hard to use and inaccurate, but now he was sure his mentor would approve.

Mac left Ned and turned to Trufante. “Need another one?” Tru shook his head as Mac moved toward the bench. The trawler was all function with minimal form. Except for the cabin, which was well appointed, the decks were bare of cushions or seats. The bench running along the port gunwale was used to move crab and lobster pots from the winch near midship to the slide on the stern. Across the cockpit, the other bench had a rack behind it to hold dive tanks and offered room to gear up. Both men were acting out of character. Mac rarely offered Trufante alcohol, and Trufante more rarely refused.

“That boat was a nice surprise. Should be a good paycheck.” Mac was about to sit, but felt uncomfortable enough standing. Heart-to-heart talks were not in his wheelhouse.

Trufante nodded.

“You know that Pamela came to me because she was worried about you,” Mac said, so only Trufante could hear. The Cajun sat motionless. Mac looked at his beer and saw there was barely a quarter left. Ignoring Trufante’s refusal, he went to the cabin and grabbed two bottles. If Trufante didn’t want one, Mac would drink them both. That didn’t turn out to be necessary, as the Cajun reached for the bottle and nodded his thanks.

“And y’all sat up all night naming boats,” he finally said.

Mac sensed the jealousy in his voice. “It was you she was looking for.”

“Well, you found me.”

Mac retreated a step as if he’d been hit. In all their years together, he’d never seen Trufante act this way. There had been other women before, but none had the effect that Pamela did on him—not even close.

“Suit yourself,” Mac finally said, and moved back to the helm. He looked forward and saw the red-brick fortress rising from the water, thinking, for the first time in his life, that land might be preferable to a boat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.