Stolen Treasure

James Frederick Toomey was an explorer at heart. He left home at age thirteen, tried to lie about his age to get into the Navy but was discovered and rejected. Ultimately, James became a merchant marine. He ached to not just see the world but to experience everything he’d ever read about in the discarded magazines in the trash at the library in the little town in Nebraska he called home.

James eked out a living as a deckhand early on, but by the outset of the war, he had worked his way through the ranks to become a successful boat pilot by age seventeen. Donning a full beard, slicked back hair seated just below the collar of his stained white tee, he lived the life he’d always dreamed via the water-faring vessel called The Enchantress.  

In the port of Callao, James and the rest of his crew stopped for supplies and a little R & R. There he met the woman of his dreams, Carmelita. The way her hair flowed as she walked reminded him of dark waves of the sea billowing. 

“Hello, fine lady. My name is James Frederick Toomey of The Enchantress, but she is not nearly as enchanting as you.” He said, caressing her hand and he brought it to his lips. She shied away. “Sir, I am married to Juan Valdosta. You are not at liberty to say such things to me. It might get you hurt.” She warned, pulling her hand away from his, but gently.

“Very well then, goodbye my love,” James said, turned and walked away back towards the dock toward his boat. 

As James was stepping onto the moored vessel he heard shots ring out and yelling. He ran his trembling hand through his hair and ran back towards town. There, Carmelita was beating on the chest of her husband. “No, you cannot go! You cannot leave me here! You said you would take me back to my family in Costa Rica!!” The bleeding man looked deep into her black-brown eyes, tried to speak but only sighed. He was gone. Carmelita wept bitterly across his bloody chest as a group of local men looked frantically for the shooter. 

“Where are you, you cowardly bastard! Come out and fight like a man!!” They yelled, fire in their hearts reeling from the loss. 

James bent down to help Carmelita. “Please miss. We should go. The shooter might still be out there. We don’t know who he is gunning for. You could be next!” 

“No, please! Let me alone! He owes me,” she cried softly. James ushered Carmelita to the gangplank and aboard The Enchantress. “Listen, we need to get you below deck in case the killer is after you next!” 

“I will not go. I know who shot my husband. It is my brother Benito. He is after my inheritance. My father was very old fashioned. He offered my hand in marriage in exchange for food so that the rest of my family could survive. All he had to offer for a dowry was this manuscript that he found one day while fishing along the coastline. Juan could not resist but my brother is a very greedy young man. He was furious that our father traded his “treasure” for a few meals. That was five years ago. Juan and I have been deciphering its contents ever since. That is how we ended up here. Benito has been following us but evidently his obsession has gotten the better of him. He will not shoot me as he is not smart enough on his own to pick apart these riddles intertwined among the brittle pages my father found washed ashore.

“Where is the manuscript now, if you don’t mind my asking?” 

“It is hidden in a safe place, somewhere Benito would never find it!” 

“How do you know that?” 

“Because he cannot swim or dive. Juan could do both and so can I.”

The crew came aboard hauling boxes of foodstuffs, clothing and above all, whiskey but stopped short in their tracks running into one another stopping at the end of the gangplank, the first mate, Freddy, whistling. “Man, o’man! What have we got here?” 

Freddy dropped the boxes of canned goods, wiped his sweaty hands on his bluejeans and reached out to shake Carmelita’s soft hand. “My, you sure are a pretty thing!” He said. 

Tears began to roll down Carmelita’s eyes.

“Hey, foot. Did you not  hear those shots earlier?”

“Yeah, but I figured it was some card game gone bad or something. It didn’t involve me so I didn’t stick my nose in!” 

“That was Carmelita’s husband, Juan Valdosta. He was gunned down by a sniper in the area, she thinks maybe her brother, Benito. So, knock it off and give the lady some room.” 

“I sure am sorry ma’am. Please accept my apologies and condolences,” Freddy said looking sheepish.

“Fellas give us a minute, eh?” James asked.

“You’ve got five minutes, then we shove off lover boy,” the surly captain replied. Just ‘cause you drive the boat don’t mean you’re in charge. You seem to forget that…a lot!”

James rolled his eyes walking over to soothe Carmelita once Captain McFalen went below deck with the other members of the crew. “I want to help you. How can I help you?” 

“I need to get to those documents. Even though Benito can’t get to them, he might know someone who can. James, you can’t help me! You are part of a ship’s crew, a job to carry out!” 

“What if I told you we could get your manuscript?” 

Carmelita looked untrustingly at James. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Besides, we would need a smaller vessel to get where we need to go.”

“Is that all? Done. I’ve been making deals since I was old enough to watch my father back at home throw the dice in Flinty’s back room. We’ll have a dingy by sundown! Come on!”

James went to speak to Captain McFalen. There was shouting and what sounded like a fist fight. “Carmelita, we’d better go before Cap changes his mind!”

“What happened?” Carmelita asked as she and James skittered down the dock.

“Don’t worry, Cap owed me one and I made sure he paid up!” James said smiling. wincing at the bruise forming under his left eye.

Carmelita translated for James once they found the fisherman he’d seen earlier in the day, talking him out of his boat for the evening as it approached. The story James insisted on telling was that of a romantic moonlit boat ride for the lady’s affections. However, at the telling of this story to the fisherman, he recognized Carmelita and knew Juan was her late husband so she told him that she was taking this smooth talker out in the boat to the other side of the coast to “drop him off” so he would leave her alone. He smiled, agreed and gave her a wink and a nod in assurance. 

“Now see, wasn’t that easy?” James asked as he began to row the two of them according to her directions. 

It was nearly too dark to see as they approached a dark jungle infested cove about five kilometers around the coast. All at once, Carmelita stood up, shed her espadrilles, skirt and top, and dove into the water. James became nervous after what seemed like hours when he heard bubbles. He hesitated to shine the flashlight so as not to attract any attention then Carmelita grabbed the boat aggressively. “James, I cannot move the rock Juan put in front of the opening by myself. I am going to need your help!”

The two of them took a deep breath and dove deep in front of a rock face. Her hands caressed his, showing him the rock. As they rolled it together, using all their strength, James found he needed a breath but Carmelita grabbed his hand and drug him deep into a cavern. They surfaced gasping for air. 

“Carmelita, this is dangerous. There’s not much clearance here for air. If we’re not quick, the tide will come up and we’ll drown. Our lives are worth more than “treasure”!

“Stop. Wait.” Once again Carmelita dove deep down the rock face and slowly the water inside the cavern began to recede.

“What did you do?” James looked deep into her eyes seeing her determination. He was beyond fascinated. 

“There is a fail safe built in from whomever rigged this. I don’t think my husband was an engineer but someone was. Come.”

James and Carmelita waded through a small opening farther down the mouth of the cave, the temperature so cool it made James begin to chill. 

“There James, shine your light.” 

The light shone across the dry floor. 

“Grab the side while I open it,” Carmelita demanded. 

“I’ve got it! Carmelita smiled a wide smile, pulled a knife from her side and stabbed James. 

“You were such a fool. I couldn’t let Juan find the treasure when we were so close.I have been traded and married off like a piece of furniture. This is mine!” 

Carmelita put the manuscript back in the tube and swam back to the boat leaving James to bleed to death or drown.

“I guess it’s true what my mates said, “love IS blind.”