A Hidden Queen

Chapter 75

John fumbles through his chest. He digs at the articles of clothing while grumbling under his breath. He knew he had another dress coat in this mess but was unable to find it. He sighs irritably, hitting the side of the wood. He snatches the only decent jacket he had, shoving it into Charlie's arms.

"Here. Put this on." He grunts.

Charlie unfolds the article of clothing, examining it in the bright afternoon light, "I don't think this is going to fit, Captain."

"Just try it on, Austin." John commands, his upper body falling into the chest.

Charlie sighs, dropping his shoulders. John sneaks a glance, holding his breath as he slips his arms through the narrow sleeves. The seams protested with the strain as the young man turned to examine himself in the mirror. He tugs at the ends of the jacket, rolling his shoulders and neck.

"This is a merchant captain's coat." Charlie states.

"Aye, so?" John inquires, continuing his desperate search.

"Josephine said you were a merchant before. What happened?" He inquires turning toward him. "If you don't mind me asking; why did you choose to be on this side of the law?"

"What concern is that of yours?" John grumps not unkindly. "Besides that, Charlie that is a long stor..."

"Make it not so long." Charlie interrupts.

"Why are you so intrigued by this?" John asks, sitting on the lip of the chest.

"Well, I have served under you for almost three years now and know little about you. I feel I should know what type of man I am serving under. Besides that," Charlie shrugs, "we are going to be family here soon. I figured I should get to know as much about my uncle-in-law as possible."

John sighs, rolling his eyes, "Fine. Aye, I was a well-known and respected captain to a large merchant company. I ran a hard crew and bargain, but I always got the job done at the stipulations I wanted. It was on a day a few years after Josephine was born that Pittman and I..."

"Pittman was with you?" Charlie inquires surprised.

"Aye, along with many of the current crew as a matter of fact. Anyways, Pittman and I were going over the jobs sent by the company. One such job caught my eye. See the company had not paid the men for several jobs previously done and they were beginning to demand the funds from me. This one job was paying lucratively, covering the backlogs and then some. However, Pittman was apprehensive, something wasn't sitting right about this job. For one, it was not as detailed as the others, not even offering papers to sign upon delivery. One top of that, the company was insisting that we take this one, promising backlogged money, plus the original price for the job. It would have made many of us rich, and we had men to sustain so we could not refuse such an offer. We took the shipment, made the delivery without a problem and went on our way back home with greed filling our minds."

"But that wasn't the end of it. So, what happened after that?"

"We were at a neighboring port restocking our supplies for the voyage home. One of the company's messengers found us. The clients sent representatives, stating that they had never received the shipment and refused to pay. He was there to place us under arrest for conspiracy to piracy. I didn't know it at the time, but the company had been observing me. They knew of my unhindered stops to certain pirate occupied ports and they had eyewitnesses placing me on Morga multiple times. I realized that the whole thing was a set up."

"What did you do?"

"Well, after I enlisted Rogers to help me extract information from the weasel of a messenger. I learned that Pittman and the crew were also being charged with cooperation of piracy. It wasn't just my life at stake, so I took it to Pittman to analyze our options. There were only two; face the music and pray we received a fair trial that didn't end in a hanging or run. We chose to run, presenting the fact to the crew as well. Those that wanted to make their own luck were dropped off on shore, the rest of us ran to Morga as a haven. Upon arrival, Albert helped me refit and rename the ship. And Clinton took me in, teaching me about a more permanent life on the waters. Since, then I have been captain of The Wicked Mary as the pirate Demon Johnny with many of the original crew still serving today."