Page 50 of Scammed

But the storm took him by surprise. Just as he was about to overtake Robicheaux, his ship slammed into the side of his. Realizing this would be his opportunity, he rammed the ship again, spearing the center of her body. As the ship took on water, Robicheaux headed below deck to get his crew out.

He was always a weak man. He thought of others before himself. It would prove his weakness.

As the men were brought to shore, Robicheaux went back one more time to be sure everyone was off. In the darkness, Couvillion drowned him. He was weak and tired from swimming back and forth to shore, no match for the man who’d had the common sense to think of himself.

Yet, by the time the investigations into the wreck were complete and he was able to come out of hiding, someone had taken the cargo. It was gone. All of it. He had no choice but to regroup. He traveled to Boston and settled there for a while, then returned to New Orleans when he heard of the Prometheus Foundation.

Two hundred years of chasing a dead man and his treasure. All of it was thanks to a witch that gave him a gift. A gift that allowed him to return over and over again to claim his prize.

Now, he was close. So close he could smell the gold. This was perfect. He would be able to tell the authorities that he was searching the island for a new location for a potential hotel and found the jewels. Spain would claim him a hero. America would reward her favorite son and the name of Marcel Robicheaux would be wiped from history.

“Caicos. Of course,” he smiled. “Caicos.”

“Sir? Sir?” said the man.

“Yes, sorry.”

“How many men did you say you need? With the weather deteriorating, I may not have as many as you need.”

“I just need ten good, strong men. They should know how to handle a sailboat and be able to dig if necessary.”

“Dig? Like a hole?” asked the man at the marina.

“Yes, like a hole.”

“Alright. Give me about thirty minutes. I’ll make some calls and see if anyone is willing to go out. Just know that if you get out there, you might be stuck because of the weather.”

“I’m an experienced sailor. I won’t be stuck out there,” said Jacques with a cocky smile. “I’ll go across the street and have some dinner.”

The restaurant across from the marina turned out to be much better than he expected. Filled with sailors of all varieties, from luxury yachts to small crafts and shipping vessels, they were a range of refined to rugged. Where there were drunken sailors, there were always whores.

With time to kill, he paid the young woman and then bent her over the toilet and fucked her. When she complained about not getting an orgasm, he gagged her mouth and rammed her ass. The blood thrilled him. It always did. Tossing an additional hundred-dollar bill into the sink, he wiped himself off and slapped the woman on the ass, leaving her to clean herself.

“If you say anything to anyone, I’ll come back and kill your whoring ass. You should expect these kinds of things in your business.” She wiped the tears from her face, nodding at him.

Across the street, he spotted seven men standing by his boat.

“Seven? That’s all?” he asked the man.

“It’s all that were willing to go. They want to be paid in advance.”

“Half now. Half when we return,” he told them. They looked at the other man and nodded.

“Alright.”

“Wonderful. Gentlemen, let’s explore, shall we?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“Grab your gear,” said Gaspar, yelling above the engines of the jet.

Evie shut them down, and he nodded a thanks to her. The winds were picking up, rain coming down on them. They’d found a clearing on the beach to land the Osprey, providing a safe place to land and to hide her beneath the stealth netting.

“Gaspar! Harbormaster says that a man came in this morning and paid for seven men to sail with him to this island. They left about two hours ago,” said Evie.

“Thanks. We’ll be ready. I’m gonna leave Baptiste with you, just in case.” She nodded, knowing that Baptiste would much rather be on the hunt with the other men. Turning toward him, she smirked.

“I don’t need you to stay, handsome. You can go with them.”

---