Treasure of Love Page 2

  “Welcome aboard the Lindsey C,” Jack said.

  “Thanks,” Dona replied. “Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

  “Let’s head down to the salon, and we can talk there,” Jack suggested.

  Both Dona and Dax continued nervously looking around the dock as they made their way below deck.

  He led them through the companionway and into a well-appointed, mahogany-lined salon with a black leather couch and two upholstered side chairs. There were built-in bookcases above the windows, port and starboard, and a flat-panel television on the wall above the navigation desk. Midship was a banquette across from the galley, and in between was a set of stairs leading to four forward sleeping cabins. Aft was another set of steps that went down to the master cabin.

  They settled on the couch, and Jack asked, “Can I get you anything?”

  “No thank you, I’m fine,” Dona said. “You, Dax?” she continued. Dax shook his head no, so Jack sat down across from them.

  “So what’s this all about?” Jack asked.

  “We are about to give you some very private information,” Dona said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a folder containing a stack of papers. She sorted through the papers until she found what she was looking for. She handed Jack a stapled document and said, “You’ll need to sign this before we can really get into details.”

  Jack quickly scanned the two-page document titled “Nondisclosure Agreement.” It was a simple, straightforward document stating that he could not disclose any information shared between them during this meeting or he would be held legally responsible. Dona held a pen in his direction, which he took and used to sign the agreement. He handed the document back to Dona, and she placed it back into the folder. Only then did Dax speak.

  “Jack, I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but Dona and I recently lost our vessel while searching for the wreck of the Sarah Maria off the coast of Cape Horn.”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah, I heard about that. That was really a tough break.”

  The look on Dax’s face tightened considerably, but he kept his composure as he continued.

  “While doing further research on the Sarah Maria, we stumbled upon some documents that allude to the final resting place of a wreck here in Alaska called the Anna Wyoming.”

  “Why does that ring a bell?” Jack asked.

  “She went down in the Lynn Canal, heading for Skagway, during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush,” Dax said.

  “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that wreck,” Jack said. “Around here, that ship is old folklore. No one’s been able to locate her in over a hundred years.”

  “Until now,” Dax said.

  Jack tilted his head and studied Dax’s expression before Dax continued.

  “Legend has it the boilers exploded, and she went down fast, carrying a shitload of gold,” Dax explained. “But no one’s been able to find her to prove that theory. And trust me, many have tried. We now have reason to believe that we have the approximate location of the wreck and have uncovered paperwork that proves that the gold was on that ship.”

  “How much gold?” Jack asked.

  Dona and Dax looked at each other, and Dona said, “We’re not one hundred percent certain, but it could be as much as ten million dollars in today’s market.”

  Jack whistled. “That’s a lot of money. So how do I fit into the picture?” he asked.

  “We need your boat,” Dax replied.

  “Okay,” Jack said. “What’s in it for me?”

  “Half a million when we recover the gold,” Dax offered.

  “Interesting,” Jack said. “And if we don’t recover the gold and this expedition turns out to be a bust like your last one?” he asked while staring at Dax.

  Jack could see the anger building as the blood rushed to Dax’s face. Dona touched Dax’s arm—Jack assumed to keep him calm and remind him to keep his cool.

  “No gold, no payout,” Dax said.

  Jack stood. “I’m sorry you wasted your time coming all the way out here,” Jack said. “But your terms won’t work for me.”

  “Okay, Jack. But just so we’ll know… what terms will work for you?” Dona asked.

  “A quarter of the take,” Jack responded.

  “Damn it!” Dax yelled as he slammed his fist on the table, stood, and looked at Dona. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

  Dona pulled Dax back down to his seat and looked at Jack. “Mr. Cameron.”

  “Please call me Jack,” he said.

  “Okay, Jack,” Dona said. “Thank you for your time. You’re the first captain we’ve talked to, so we’ll just keep looking.”

  Jack stood. “Suit yourself,” he said. “But I’m sure you’ve done your homework and already know that there’s only one other charter boat within a two-hundred-mile radius, and he just got to Skagway last year. I’ve been navigating the Lynn Canal for the last ten years and know her waters well. So the way I see it, your options are very limited.”

  Dona looked at Dax, who seemed to have steam blowing out of his ears, then back to Jack. “Can you give us a minute alone?”

  “Sure thing,” Jack said as he walked out of the salon.

  He climbed the stairs to the deck and released his breath. He couldn’t believe he’d just negotiated his way into—he quickly did the math—two and a half million dollars.

  Before he could revel in his victory, Dona and Dax were standing in front of him.

  “Okay, Jack, we have a deal,” she said.

  Jack stuck out his hand to shake on it.

  “Not so fast,” Dax said. “We have a deal, under one condition.”

  Stunned, Jack pulled his hand back and said, “There’s always a condition, isn’t there?”

  “You incur all the up-front expenses, such as fuel, provisions, and crew,” he said. “And in the event we don’t find the wreck at the end of our contract, we’ll pay you for half of the incurred expenses and call it even.”

  “Half,” Jack said.

  “Yes, Jack, half. If you want a portion of the purse, you have to share some of the risk. It’s only fair.”

  “I’ll need some time to think about this,” Jack said.

  Dona looked at Dax. “We’ll give you until six o’clock this evening. If we don’t hear from you by six, we’ll either look for another captain or bring in a boat from elsewhere.”

  “Okay,” Jack said. “If I decide to take the expedition, I’ll call you by six o’clock.”

  Dona handed Jack a business card with her cell phone number on it, and she and Dax left the boat in much the same way they had arrived—keeping a watchful eye and looking around nervously as they got back into the cab and drove off. Jack immediately removed his cell phone from his pocket and started dialing.

  MAC and Brad were loading their floatplane with supplies after their morning of shopping in Anchorage when Mac’s cell phone rang. Mac looked at the caller ID and smiled.

  “Jack, I’ve been on the edge of my seat all morning. What happened?”

  “Is Brad with you?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah, he’s right here, why?”

  “Can you put your cell phone on speaker?”

  “Yeah, hang on.”

  Mac hit the speaker button and held the phone out so he and Brad could hear what Jack had to say.

  “You won’t believe this shit, guys.”

  “Tell us,” Mac said.

  Jack filled Mac and Brad in on the entire conversation, except for the details of the wreck—mainly, the name and potential location—at least trying to stick to the nondisclosure agreement.

  When he was through telling the story, there was silence on the other end.

  “Guys, are you still there?” Jack said.

  “We’re here,” Brad said. “We just can’t believe it.”

  “I know what you mean,” Jack replied. “Here comes the good part.”

  Brad and Mac listened intently as Jack continued.

  “Do you guys want to crew the boat
with me?” Jack asked.

  Before Mac could answer, Brad said, “Hell, yeah.”

  Mac laughed and said, “Well, I guess you have your answer.”

  Jack chuckled. “Now listen, guys, there will be work involved. You’ll have meals to prepare, laundry to wash, decks and equipment to clean, and all the other stuff that goes along with a charter.”

  “No problem,” Brad said. “When do we leave?”

  “Don’t know yet. They don’t even know I’ve accepted the job.”

  “When will you let them know?” Brad asked.

  “I have until six o’clock tonight to let them know, but I’m pretty damn sure they’ll want to leave as soon as possible.”

  Mac jumped in. “Wait a minute, what do we get out of this?”

  “You mean besides the adventure of a lifetime?” Jack said.

  “Well yeah. I mean, it sounds like fun, but it will be work.”

  “Okay, here’s the deal that Dax and Dona and I agreed to,” Jack explained. “I get a quarter of the take, which could be as much as two and a half million dollars, but I have to cover all the up-front expenses. And if we come up empty-handed, they will only cover half of what I’ve already spent.”

  “That sucks,” Brad admitted.

  “But to lower my risk and make this a little easier on my wallet, what if I give you a quarter of my take, which could be upwards of seven-hundred-and-fifty-thousand dollars, and in return, if we do come up short, you pay for half of my half of the expenses? That way, each of us is only on the hook for a quarter of the expenses.”

  “Deal,” Brad shouted.

  Mac chuckled. “Can we at least talk about this, Brad?” he asked.

  Brad gave Mac the pleading look he’d seen so many times in the last few years.

  “I guess we’re in,” Mac said. “Let us know when they want to leave.”

  Jack heard Brad yell at the top of his lungs, but couldn’t see the kiss that followed. “Will do,” he chuckled. “Now I’ve got to call the Powers’s, and tell them we’ll take the gig.”

  “Hey, Jack, before you hang up,” Mac yelled. “Was Powers as much of an asshole as you thought?”

  “He far exceeded my expectations,” Jack responded.

  Jack heard Mac laughing in the background and Brad still yelling as he ended the phone call. I guess they really were ready for another adventure.

  JACK spent the rest of the day readying his boat for the three-day charter he had to get through before they would embark on their new adventure. His thoughts drifted between the details of the expedition and fantasizing about the money and what he would do with it. He took a gamble and waited until five after six to call Dona. He didn’t want to seem too anxious, but if he was honest with himself, he did it because he knew it would piss Dax off, and he wanted to show him who was in control.

  He removed Dona’s card from his wallet, dialed the number, and hit the send button. The phone rang only once when he heard, “Dona Powers.”

  “Hi, Dona, this is Jack, Jack Cameron.”

  “Hi, Jack.”

  “Is this a convenient time?” Jack asked.

  “Of course,” she responded. “We’re just about to board our plane back to Portland.”

  “Oh,” Jack said. “I’m sorry, I thought you’d be back home by now.”

  “Almost,” she responded. “We wanted to meet with the other boat captain before we left Skagway,” she explained.

  Jack felt the blood drain from his face. Oh shit, I hope I didn’t blow this.

  “And how did that go?” Jack asked with as much calm as he could muster.

  There was suddenly silence on the other end of the line.

  “It’s after six o’clock, Jack,” Dona said calmly. “You’ve obviously decided against our offer.”

  I’ll be damned, they’re calling my bluff? Jack dug deep to keep his composure, to make the next words count.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Jack said. “I had to see if I could put together a crew and verify a few things, and to be completely honest, I was undecided until a short time ago.”

  “And now?” Dona asked.

  “I’m in, if you want me,” he said. “But I’m still a little uneasy about this.”

  “What is making you uneasy?” Dona asked.

  “With all due respect, it’s your brother.”

  “Why does Dax make you uneasy?” she asked.

  “He has a reputation for being extremely difficult, and at this stage in my career, I just don’t want the bullshit.”

  Jack heard Dona take a breath to speak, but he stopped her.

  “Please let me finish,” Jack said. “I want to make it perfectly clear that the Lindsey C is my boat, and I’m her captain. My judgment will not be questioned by you, Dax, or anyone else when it comes to the safety of her or my crew.”

  Dona sighed. “Fair enough,” she said. “Do we have a deal?”

  Jack released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He’d turned the table again, in his favor. “We have a deal,” he said. “When do you want to leave?”

  “We’ll need to pack the equipment and transport everything to Skagway,” Dona explained. “And if all goes as planned, we should be there in three days.”

  “That should work out just fine,” Jack explained. “All we’ll need to do is fuel up and load the provisions, and we’re good to go.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Dona said. “I’ll be in touch.”

  “Okay, Dona, thanks.”

  “Bye-bye, Jack.”

  Jack hit the end button and immediately dialed Mac and Brad.

  MAC and Brad had touched down earlier that afternoon, a little after one o’clock. It had taken the better part of three hours to secure and unload the small plane and pack everything into a four-wheeler to get it up to their mountain retreat. Once up the mountain, it had taken another couple of hours to unload and put everything away.

  Mac had dinner on the stove, and Brad had just opened a nice bottle of Pinot Noir, and they were now comfortably sitting on their porch swing, sipping wine and looking out over the pink, orange, and lavender sky as the Alaskan sun dipped just below Mt. McKinley.

  They were discussing their new adventure, planning menus and making lists as if the urgency would help speed things along. Their planning was interrupted by the ringing of the cabin’s satellite phone. Mac looked at the caller ID and said, “It’s Jack.”

  Mac pressed the “on” button and held the phone loosely to his ear so Brad could lean in and listen as well.

  “Hey, Jack.”

  “It’s a go,” Jack said. “We leave in three days.”

  Brad yelled. Mac put his finger in his ear and moved it back and forth in an attempt to stop the ringing sounds. “Okay then,” he said. “What time?”

  “My charter is due back late morning, and we’ll need to fuel up and load the provisions before we can leave again,” Jack said. “But I imagine we’ll push away either that afternoon or at first light the next morning.”

  “We’ll plan on flying out day after tomorrow, shop for provisions, and be at the dock by noon,” Mac said. “Will that work?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Jack said. “I’ll call you if anything changes.”

  “Okay—and, Jack?” Mac said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks, man!”

  “My pleasure, it’ll be fun,” he said.

  “See ya, Jack,” Mac said as he hung up the phone.

  When Mac hung up the satellite phone, Brad was beaming. They discussed their trip a few minutes longer, but it was starting to get a bit nippy. The early summer days were quite mild in the mountains, but the temperatures at night still dipped below freezing, and once the sun had set, they’d decided to make their way inside and light a fire to get the chill out of the cabin.

  With the evening chores complete, they were now snuggled up on the couch, finishing a second bottle of Pinot Noir and watching the fire roar in the huge stone fireplace. They wer
e so ready for another adventure, and crewing on Jack’s boat, hunting sunken treasure, was just what the doctor ordered.

  Brad was lying with his back against Mac’s chest, staring into the blazing fire, when he rolled over and looked into Mac’s eyes.

  “Do you think we’ll find the treasure?” Brad asked.

  “Who knows,” Mac replied. “Dax seems to be the real deal, and supposedly the screwup of the last expedition was just a fluke, so I guess there’s a good possibility.”

  “Wow, we’re going to be real-life treasure hunters.”

  Chapter 3

  IT WAS eleven o’clock that night when Dax Powers pulled into his driveway. Following their day in Skagway, he and Dona had flown back to Portland, and after he’d dropped her off, he’d quickly made his way home. He was thoroughly exhausted, mentally and physically. He’d felt certain when six o’clock had come and gone that Jack had called their bluff of finding or bringing in another boat and decided not to accept their offer.

  He’d stripped off his clothing as he made his way to his bedroom and crawled into bed. Unfortunately, as tired as he was, sleep didn’t come. He lay in bed, tossing and turning and brooding over the fact that he had to give away two and a half million dollars of his and Dona’s possible fortune to some asshole with a charter boat. I only have myself to blame. If I hadn’t lost my boat on that last expedition, we wouldn’t be in this position. It would be at least a year before the new boat would be ready, and he needed this purse to pay for it. The insurance had covered the old boat, but the new state-of-the-art boat, with all the latest reconnaissance equipment, cost three times more than the insurance company had paid him.

  He sighed. It is what it is, and I’ll just have to get used to it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

  On the flip side of the coin, he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit the asshole was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. Dax was admittedly a hard-ass who never went for small talk and tried not to mix business with pleasure. Sometimes he was successful and sometimes not so much, but when he first saw Captain Jack standing on the bridge of his boat, he was truly at a loss for words. Jack was a living Adonis, and when he’d smiled at him, he’d felt like he was suddenly under some sort of spell. Damn if he wasn’t immediately drawn to the man, and it pissed him off and excited him at the same time. He wasn’t there for romance, and the fact that his dick said otherwise really got his blood boiling.