Nympho: Book One (Nempho Book One) (13 page)

“Oh My god,” Megan blurted to my disbelief.

“That smells like pot.” I looked at her dumbfounded expression and smiled, I couldn’t believe that she could be so naive.  

“Are you going to tell me that you didn’t know that this was pot when you first found the bail in the water?” Her eyes widen in amazement, with a big grin on her face.

“No Chris, I had no idea, it said coffee beans on the front of the bag, and it was pretty damn heavy, so I just presumed that it was a bag of coffee beans.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, here I am standing next to a bale of weed and the sheriff’s granddaughter. 

“Don’t you ever watch T.V Megan? Channel 4 has been reporting all week about the Coast Guard chasing a boat suspected of drug smuggling all the way from Cuba to the upper coast of Florida. They also reported that the Coast Guard had started following the suspected drug smugglers because they were finding bales of pot floating out in the Gulf Stream.”

“Of course I watch T.V. Chris, but I don’t have any interest in the news, I find the news to be boring and usually switch the channel to a movie or something. And wait one minute, I want to keep what I found. Are you saying we have to get rid of it?”

“Now, don’t get excited about anything, I need time to think.” I ran my hands through my hair and shook my head in disbelief. How am I going to get out of this situation? She finds a bail of weed, and I stumble across cigarette Willy hiding in the brush, is he still working for the DEA? We are definitely going to get busted.

This was not the first time that bales of pot had wash on the shores of  south Florida, as a matter of fact it had become a typical pattern of the mother boats that were coming from South America. They would package the weed in waterproof shrink-wrap and drop the bales of pot off in the water as they headed north to the Miami River. Then the local smugglers in their fast boats would pick them up and run them to shore. That is how the phrase, I am going fishing for square grouper became so popular, because there was bales of pot washing up on shores everywhere. This was the first time I had ever seen a bale of pot wash up on shore and I told Megan that maybe we should drive up to Marathon and report our finding to the local police department. She turned her head and looked at me as if I were speaking a foreign language. Suddenly her face turned red with anger as she crossed her arms and cocked her hip to one side. She must have got that pose from her grandmother because she looked like she was about to give me a good old fashion tongue-lashing. 

“What did you just say Chris? Correct me if I am wrong but I thought I heard you say something about telling the police that I found a bale of weed on the beach. First of all, I thought I made it very clear to you that I didn’t want my grandfather finding out that I was going to Miami. And the second thing that comes to my mind is the fact that my grandfather is the sheriff of Monroe County. So tell me Chris since the sheriff department is the only one that has a police station in Marathon. How long do you think it will take them to realize that they have little old me in custody? Miss Megan Adams, the granddaughter of the Sheriff of Monroe County. And how long do you think it will take them to figure out that they should arrest you and let the chips fall wherever they may later?”

“Calm down, I told you I needed time to think about it.” It didn’t take me long to realize what she was telling me was very true, the local deputies would rather arrest me than have to explain why Megan was involved in a drug bust so I decided against going to the cops.

“Hey, I have an idea Chris, how about if you run up and get your car so we can load this bundle of joy in the trunk.” Maybe we can find someone willing to take it off our hands for some hard cash. Well Chris, what do you think of that scenario? After all, I am sure between the two of us we have enough friends that might be interested in buying some weed at a bargain price.”

Now I don’t know when and where I was nominated for the most stupid man in Florida award, but I proved myself worthy as I replied without hesitation that it sounded like a good plan. So I ran down the beach, got into my car, and drove back up the beach where Megan was waiting with the bale of pot. At that, moment all I could think of was how I get myself out of this mess. Then I remembered the fishing boat offshore and it did not take me long to figure out where the pot came from. I quickly shut off my headlights and hollered for Megan to get into the car. She asked me what was wrong, so I pointed out to the fishing boat and told her that pot belonged to the people on that boat. And if they saw us stealing there bales of weed off the beach they would come after us. Then I must not forget our little DEA agent hiding in the mangroves. So, if we didn’t want to get hurt we should get the hell off the beach as soon as possible and leave Grassy Key.

“What about the weed
Chris are we going to take it with us?” I knew that I should just leave it there but against my better judgment I loaded it in the trunk.

As I sat in the car and started the engine, I decided to take one more look at the shrimp trawler sitting off the coast and see if I could make out the name on the side of her hull. As I zoomed in on her bow with my binoculars, I caught a glimpse of her name. It was the Sea Witch, now why does that name sound familiar to me? Had I done work on her at the boat yard? I don’t remember her being in dry dock. Then it hit me like a bag of rocks, now I remember she was the boat from last summer that came in for some work. I pulled out onto the highway, I drove the car down US1 and heading south.  I must have been driving a bit reckless because I could hear Megan yelling at me to slow down. I looked at Megan and told her that we needed to get the hell out of Grassy Key. She looked me bewildered and a little amused at the same time. Our little trip to Miami is going to have to wait. I took a deep breath.

“What is wrong with you Chris? You were driving so damn fast that you are scaring me. Have you forgotten the bale of pot in the trunk?” She stated sarcastically with a solemn expression on her face.

“No! I haven’t forgotten about the damn bal
e of pot in the trunk. But, I remember where I have seen that boat before.”

“What are you rambling about?” She spats as she takes a hair band off her wrist, to tie back her hair.

                                                 Chapter 6

“Megan
let me tell you why I remembered the Sea Witch.” I looked down at my speedometer to check my speed, I must be very careful now. The last thing I need is to go to jail for having pot in my car, I don’t even smoke that shit. After I was sure that we were doing the speed limit I continued to tell Megan the story of the Sea Witch. 

“My father and I were out for a weekend of fishing near Sand Key on the fourth of July last year. When we heard a SOS single over the ship-to-shore radio. It stated that a hundred foot vessel named the Sea Witch had
collided with a fuel barge. The ship was taking on water at a faster rate than her bilge pumps could keep up with, her bow had extensive damage and the captain didn’t think his crew of six souls could keep her afloat. I knew without my father saying a word that we would respond to the captain’s request. After all, it is the law of the sea, if a ship was in distress and in danger of loss of life. It was the responsibility of every vessel within a hundred miles, no matter if she was a friend or foe you must respond to a Save Our Souls broadcast.”

“Wow Chris, tell me more about the Sea Witch she sounds mysterious.” Megan utters, hoping he will forget about the bail
of weed in the trunk.

“I pulled up the anchor and started our engines; my father was on the ship-to-shore radio notifying the Coast Guard of our location and intention of responding to the Sea Witch’s SOS request. I heard him say that our ETA was approximately thirty minutes and we were responding with a thirty-five foot open fisherman boat. That we had two souls onboard and requested the Coast Guard assistance in transporting the crew of the Sea Witch back to Key West.”

“Chris when you say souls, do you mean how many people were on board?” I could see that Megan was getting excited about my story.

“Yes that is
exactly what that means Megan, now let me finish the story. We also informed the Coast Guard of our intentions of claiming salvage rights to the Sea Witch and that we had a fifty-foot salvage boat coming out of Key West as part of our salvage effort. The Coast Guard informed us that they logged our claim of salvage in the ships log at eleven hundred hours and reminded us that our first obligation was to attend to the rescue and well-being of the six souls on board.

The Coast Guard also informed us that a U.S Coast Guard Cutter based out of Marathon, Florida was responding to our request of
assistance and her ETA was thirteen hundred hours. As we approached the Sea Witch I could see that she was sinking, her bow stem was crushed clear back to the chain locker bulkhead and her port side had a six-foot gash just above the waterline. As she listed dangerously to her port side, I knew that the Sea Witch would soon be on her way to Davy Jones’s locker. It was of no surprise to me that the captain had ordered his crew to abandon ship. As I looked around the choppy waters for the ship’s crewmembers, I spotted the orange reflection of a raft about a hundred yards off the south side of the Sea Witch. One of the crewmembers shot off a flair to mark their location, onboard I counted six men as they waved for help.” I look at Megan, she is listening intensely, so I carried on.

I turned our boat toward the raft
and I could see smoke bellowing out of a smoke stack off the horizon it must be Tony my brother with our salvage boat. Boy I thought to myself he made great time, I didn’t expect him for another hour. I pulled alongside the raft and tied them off to our stern so the crew could climb onto our boat by way of the swim platform. I could see Tony in the wheelhouse as he maneuvered the tugboat alongside the Sea Witch. My old man looked at me and started telling me what he wanted me to do. My dad let me off on the tugboat, so Tony and I could hook up the three-inch pumps that was on our tugboat and start pumping the water out of the engine room. He told me that we would need all five pumps to keep her afloat. After Tony and I got the pumps running I had to cover that gash on the portside with tar and plywood. I knew that it would slow down the amount of water coming into the bow section and give me a chance to work on the splintered bow.

This was not the first time that I worked on a salvage
job but it was the first time that Mike put me in charge so I listen to his every word as he finished giving me instructions. He then told me he was going to head back towards Key West with the crew so he could drop them off and he should be back in a couple of hours. He also told me that he would inform the Coast Guard that the crew of the Sea Witch had been rescued and he was transporting them to the Coast Guard Station in Key West. As the hours flew by and the day light started to diminish into night. I knew that I must hurry up and patch the massive leaks if we wanted to save this ship from sinking. The pumps were barely keeping up with the amount of water gushing into her hull and it took me hours of working underwater on the bow. Nailing sheet after sheet of plywood onto the hull of the Sea Witch, before I finally heard my brother taping on the haul, tap, tap and tap was that three taps I heard. Three taps meant we had finally stopped the water from gushing into the boat and it was safe for me to come topside. As I came topside and climbed the dive ladder onto the deck I could see that the pumps were emptying the hull and already I could see the water line, that meant the Sea Witch would be high and dry in just a couple of hours. I spotted Tony up in the wheelhouse it looked like he was on the radio reporting to the old man. So I went to the tugboat to change into some warm clothes and get some food and a cup of hot coffee.”

“It was not long before Tony came in the galley and told me about his conversation with our old man. He had told the old man we were going to hookup some towlines to the Sea Witch and we should be heading back to Key West. Mike told him that it would probably take us all night to tow her and they would have the railway in the water waiting for us at first light. Well Tony and I had a long night ahead of us. Since there was only the two of us that meant Tony would have to operate the pumps on the Sea Witch while I piloted the tugboat, since I was the only one with a captain’s license. As the sun began to rise over the islands to the east, I could see the main channel buoy about a mile ahead of us. I decided to check in with the old man to make sure they would be ready to lift us out of the water. Before making my call to the boatyard I called Tony on the Sea Witch and asked him if he had everything under control.”

“He didn’t answer my call right away and when he did answer he asked me if I could come back to the Sea Witch for minute that he needed to show me something. I told him we were only about four miles from the channel marker and if I didn’t keep the proper heading I would have to turn around and start all over again. He asked me to just turn the boat around and head back out to sea, he needed me come to the Sea Witch right away and it was important that I talk to him before we dock at the boatyard.  I told him to give me time to set a new course and I would be right back there. I was pissed off and fuming at the thought of losing two hours just to pamper my younger brother. I told him that he better not be screwing with me because if that was the case I swear that he will be old and gray before he forgot the ass whipping I would give him today. It took about three miles to turn the Sea Witch around and set her new bearing of south by southwest and now that she was cruising at a steady five knots, I could safely engage the autopilot and go see what my little brother thought was so damn important. As I climbed onto the Sea Witch I saw Tony coming at me like a lunatic running his mouth a mile a minute. I told him to calm down, I can’t understand a word that you are saying. As he stood there trying to speak he pointed down at the open cargo hole and blurted, look it is full of weed. I felt sick to my stomach as I realized what he was so excited about. There must have been two thousand bales of pot down there in the cargo hole. I could see the fear in his face as he pointed at the massive amount of weed. I was so angry that I had to clench my fist to keep from hitting him.”