Laney’s eyes grew wide. “Absalom? What about him?”
Emmanuel looked at Adam.
Adam said, “Will you tell her? I don’t know that I can talk that much right now.”
Emmanuel nodded. “Certainly.”
He proceeded to explain what had happened with Adam sneaking into Rasquelle’s warehouse and overhearing his conversation with Reading. He told her that Adam knew about Reading’s part in the conspiracy to see Emmanuel arrested. He also explained that everyone had told Adam not to dare let Laney know that Absalom was involved.
“Why wouldn’t you have wanted him to tell me?” asked Laney.
“I wanted to,” said Adam, “but they were afraid you wouldn’t be safe if you knew.”
“We understood as long as Mr. Reading didn’t realize we were aware of his involvement he’d just continue on with his guardianship duties as he always has in the past,” said Emmanuel. “We were concerned that if he found out that you knew his plan, he might do something desperate.”
“His plan? But what was his plan?” she asked.
“I think it’s probably best if your brother discusses that with you,” said Emmanuel.
Adam wasn’t going to miss his chance to tell her what he’d heard.
“No, I’ll tell you. I had wanted to tell you that morning, but . . .” He struggled to speak.
“Oh, Adam,” said Laney, “it’s alright. You don’t have to.”
“I do!” he strained. “Reading wanted you to take the fall for Mr. Roger’s use of your estate as the second dock. He wanted you to face charges so he could rush in and rescue you. He thought he could position himself as your hero, and that he would somehow win your affection that way.”
Emmanuel took a deep breath and shook his head. He wouldn’t have advised Adam to tell Laney something so shocking, but the cat was out of the bag now.
Laney looked at Emmanuel to see if he’d verify what she’d just heard.
He looked at Adam, then back at her, then nodded his head. “I’m afraid it’s all true, dear.”
Laney sat in stunned silence.
“But please remember, dear,” said Emmanuel, “you don’t have to worry about that anymore. We know about his plot, and your brother won’t let him do anything to harm you.”
She considered all of the implications of what she had just learned. Finally, she said, “Adam Fletcher, if you hadn’t been so brave, if you hadn’t risked your life to go into Rasquelle’s warehouse, you’d have never even overheard their conversation. We might still not know of Absalom’s involvement with this plot. He would still be free to control my future. Adam, that means if anyone is my hero, you are.”
Adam didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t meant to be anyone’s hero. He was just trying to do the right thing.
“So what happens to him now? Do we go to the authorities? Does my brother know about all of this?” said Laney.
“Yes, from what your brother has told us, Mr. Reading’s involvement in this whole plot should lead to his arrest as well, as an accomplice to Richard Rasquelle. And you’ll be happy to know that William has already drawn up papers to have Absalom Reading disqualified as your guardian, Miss Rocksolanah.”
Adam smiled and lowered his head back onto the pillow.
“You rest now,” said Emmanuel. “I want you to get well quickly. I have something I want to give you as a thank-you once you’re all better.”
“Alright.” Adam smiled weakly. “Mr. Rogers, when I get back, will you teach me how to sail?”
“Ah, my boy, I have many great plans for you, many things I’d like to teach you.”
Emmanuel smiled at Adam, then turned back to smile at Mary. “So long as your mother agrees, that is.”
Mary nodded. “I’ll send him by to see you as soon as his strength returns,” she said.
“Miss Rocksolanah, we’ll be happy to accompany you back over to the courthouse, if you’d like to meet your brother there,” offered Boaz.
“No, thank you, Mr. Brooks. I think I’d like to stay here with Adam and his mother until my brother comes for me.”
At that, Emmanuel and Boaz bade Adam, Mary, and Laney farewell.
Chapter Forty-Two
“WELCOME BACK, FLETCHER!” EVERYONE ON the shipping floor cheered as the boy finally returned to the warehouse two weeks after the court victory.
Adam had a huge grin on his face at the warm welcome. “I reckon I ought to get kidnapped more often if it’ll get me a welcome like this!”
“My boy!” exclaimed Emmanuel. “We’re so happy you’re back.”
He approached Adam and gave him a big hug.
“Me too,” said Adam. “Wasn’t sure I would be back. Things were kind of rough there on that island for a while. Never thought I’d be happy to see a customs ship until I realized I’d been rescued by one.”
“We all agree you’re a hero, Fletcher,” said Boaz, “but don’t let it go to your head.”
He laughed. The other men chuckled, too.
“Don’t worry,” said Adam. “I figure if I start to get too cocky, I can count on you to take me down a peg.”
Boaz smiled and nodded.
“I have something for you, boy,” said Emmanuel. He went over to a shelf in the warehouse, where he grabbed two packages. “Two things, actually,” he said.
Adam raised his eyebrows. “What are these?”
“Open them,” said Emmanuel. “You’ll see.”
Adam took the two objects over to the workbench and placed one on the benchtop while he opened the first—the smaller of the two objects. It was a gold pocket watch. Adam’s jaw dropped. “Oh, Mr. Rogers. This is . . . Well, this is incredible. It looks so expensive . . . I can’t take this.”
“You can,” said Emmanuel, “and you will. To start, it will ensure you will always know the correct time, so you have no excuse to be late for work.”
Adam grinned, admiring the shiny gift. It wasn’t brand-new. It was quite old, actually. Weathered and worn with a few scratches, but still in very good condition.
“Go on,” said Emmanuel. “Open the other one.”
Adam tore open the other piece of paper. There was a box inside with a small compass and a spyglass.
“This is too much,” said Adam.
“Nonsense,” said Emmanuel. “I’d have likely lost everything, not the least of which is my dignity, and a place of employment for all these men had it not been for your tenacity. I wanted to give you these items, which belonged to me when I was not much older than you, so you can always find your way and see clearly where you’re headed.”
“These are all wonderful, Mr. Rogers. Thank you so much.”
“Now,” said Emmanuel, “I think one thing we’ve all seen is that you are surely capable of much more than just warehouse work. Not to mention you’re a young man. Young men crave adventure, and if that desire is not honed and aimed in a right direction, it can lead a man astray.”
“I don’t understand, sir,” said Adam.
Emmanuel smiled. “If you recall, I told you I had great plans for you.”
Adam nodded.
“Well, sometime in the near future I’m going to want you to put to work these gifts I’ve given you. There is a voyage that my sloop will be making several months from now. Would you like to go?”
“Are you serious? You mean this winter?” said Adam. He was thrilled at the prospect.
The old man nodded. “I am. But it will take some intensive training between now and then to get you ready to go on a trip of that duration. Do you think you’re up for it?”
“Yes, sir! I’d be grateful for the opportunity,” said Adam.
“Good, then! So it’s settled. You’ll leave with the sloop just after it returns at summer’s end.”
“Great! Where will I be going? Charleston? Salem?” Providence?”
“No,” said Emmanuel. “You’ll be going to Havana.”
Chapter Forty-Three
“SOUNDS LIKE YOU GOT T
HE hero’s welcome today,” said Mary. She smiled, grateful to have her son back and proud of what his courage achieved.
Adam smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know about that, but everyone does seem pretty happy about how everything turned out.”
“I’m still upset you got involved in all of it, but I have to admit I’m proud of you, to know that had it not been for what you did, and the information you were able to provide about Richard Rasquelle, he’d still be free to deceive everybody. And then poor Laney Martin—to hear about the plans her guardian had for her!”
“I know! It’s all terrible. And to think I actually wanted to work for Richard Rasquelle,” Adam exclaimed. “It’s a good thing Mr. Robins put me with Mr. Rogers instead. By the way, you know what he told me today?”
Mary shook her head. “Who? Emmanuel? No, what did he say?”
“He’s said he’s going to be sending me out on his sloop in a few months!”
Mary’s face fell. “He is? Already?”
“That’s great news!” said Valentine, who had just returned from the kitchen to the bar. “Where’d he say he’s sending you?”
“Havana! Can you believe it?” Adam beamed. “I’m going to the Caribbean!”
Mary and Valentine looked at each other with astonishment.
“Havana?” said Mary. “You can’t go to Havana! It’s out of the question!”
“Don’t worry! I’ll be fine. I’m really excited about this. It’ll be a great adventure!”
Mary shot a look at Valentine. He just shrugged his shoulders and then set to work cleaning up the bar.
“When did you say this is supposed to happen?” she asked.
“Emmanuel says we’ll be leaving not long after the Gypsy gets back,” said Adam. “We’re just waiting for it to arrive so we can off-load everything, then get the ship ready to load up again with local cargo for the West Indies. That, and he wants to get me trained up on some things before we set sail.”
“And how long will you be gone?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” said Adam, “but it will be a few months.”
“Is Emmanuel going?”
“No, at least I doubt he’d be going. I’d be sailing under Captain Phillips—but Martin, he’ll be going.
“I don’t know about this,” said Mary. “I don’t want you to go. That’s too far, and it could be dangerous. I just about lost you once already. And now you’re telling me this?” She threw up her hands, exasperated. “I can’t take thinking about this right now.”
“This is a great chance for me. It’ll help me start learning a whole new side of the shipping business—far more than I could ever learn just staying at the warehouse here in Beaufort.”
“There are other places you can go. You don’t need to go all the way to Havana. You haven’t even been outside of this colony, for goodness sake!”
“I know you want me to stay close, but this is just part of the industry. This can be a really big chance for me. I don’t want to be at sea all the time, but I do need to learn about it if I’m training as a merchant.”
As he observed Mary’s reaction to the news, he recognized the telltale signs of her trying to restrain her emotions.
“Listen, I know you’ll miss me,” he said, attempting to calm her fears, “but I’ll be back. I promise! And when I am, I’ll bring you the most wonderful gifts.”
Mary suddenly burst into tears. She shot a desperate look at Valentine, then took off up the stairs.
“What in the world was that about?” Adam asked Valentine.
The tavern keeper stopped wiping the counter and looked at Adam. He started to say something but stopped short.
“What is it?” said Adam. “I know she’s my mother. I know she’ll miss me, but you know how it is. We’re men. We have to do these things.”
“Son,” said Valentine. He took a deep breath and braced himself on the counter before speaking. “It ain’t just that your mama’s gonna miss you. She will miss you, but that ain’t what this is about.”
“What is it, then?”
“She remembers somebody else who once left for Havana and promised to come back, but never did.”
Adam furrowed his brow. “Who?”
“Your father.”
<<<<>>>>
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I give thanks to God. I know that it’s only by His grace that I was able to write and publish this novel. To Mama—Thank you for believing in me. I am blessed to have been raised up under your covering of prayers, love, and encouragement. You’ve always made me feel like I could accomplish anything, and for that I am truly grateful. To Daddy—Whether you meant to or not, you have been helping me prepare to be an independent author ever since I was a little girl. The vast array of opportunities and resources you’ve provided me over the years have helped me learn to handle just about every aspect of this book’s production myself. For that, I sincerely thank you. To Terrance—We’ve been friends now for well over a decade. In that time, I have learned so much from you about what it means to be an author, as well as how the publishing industry works. I want you to know how much I appreciate your advice, your encouragement, and your reality checks. To Sam—Anyone who reads this novel owes you a big “thank you.” People don’t know how utterly awful a first draft can be, and our thorough and candid discussions after you read the earliest version of this novel played a big role in helping me shape several characters and smooth out some sticky plot points. Thank you for never tiring of being one of my key story consultants, especially regarding the legal aspects of colonial-era smuggling. To Rey—I’m grateful to you for your constant encouragement, not just about this novel, but about so many things. I also want to thank you for helping to make sure my Spanish is correct in this story. To Kevin—I appreciate your friendship and your advice. You are a historian and researcher I greatly respect, and I thank you for always being willing to answer my seemingly endless list of questions. You know how getting the historical details right is important to me and your input has helped me achieve that with The Smuggler’s Gambit. To Marcus Trower—I am grateful that you were my copy editor for this novel. Not only did you help ensure that the manuscript was cleanly edited, but you also offered some brilliant suggestions that helped enrich the story. Thank you. To Kristy Acevedo and my friends and fellow writers in the WritingChallenge.org community—Thank you for being a daily source of motivation and encouragement as I was banging out the first draft of this novel. I also want express my appreciation to historians Victor T. Jones, Alan D. Watson, and Charles L. Paul for researching, documenting, and preserving our regional history, as well as the Kellenberger Room at New Bern-Craven County Public Library, the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, the Carteret County Public Library at Beaufort, and the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort for making our history easily accessible. And last, but certainly not least, I’d like to express my gratitude to three individuals who have been the most enthusiastic and public supporters of this book since long before its release: Mike and Sherry Morris and Phil Molloy—Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope it was worth the wait.
—S.D.G.—
Table of Contents
The Smuggler’s Gambit
Copyright
gam•bit
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
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Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
The Smuggler's Gambit (Adam Fletcher Adventure Series Book 1) Page 25
