Man of the Sea: Abandoned Lighthouse

Man of the Sea Abandoned Lighthouse Nathan Kippley Pirate Island Publishing This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Copyright © 2023 by Nathan Kippley and Pirate Island Publishing All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. Contents . Chapter 1. CONCH MARINA 2. PRISON AT SEA 3. HAVANA DAY DREAMING 4. ALONE 5. FISHING VILLAGE 6. LOST AND FOUND 7. FRIEND? 8. KING OF THE SEA 9. BILLIE TO THE RESCUE 10. NIGHT LIGHTS 11. CONCH REPUBLIC 12. VISITOR 13. STREET LIFE 14. ROGER 15. HOSPITAL KEY 16. STRANGER DANGER 17. BURNING FOR YOU 18. SUNDOWN BEWARE 19. NET 20. FOOD STOCK 21. TWISTED SISTER 22. THEY WON’T LET ME OUT 23. IN THE HOLD 24. ABANDONED LIGHTHOUSE 25. THE SAME ANGEL 26. THE LEANING TOWER 27. PECHUGA 28. AN OLD FLAME 29. BRAVE THE SEA 30. AND IT ALL FALLS DOWN 31. THE STORM IS OVER 32. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 33. UP OR DOWN? 34. SHOWDOWN 35. SPEED AWAY 36. WATERLOGGED 37. SAY IT AIN’T SO GUSTAVO 38. DREDGING THE PAST THANK YOU P ROLOGUE One Hundred and Ninety-Two days have passed since the night Joe went missing. Silas had a check mark for everyday and every day he told himself that he was one step closer to finding Joe, closer to finding "The Man of the Sea," he didn't know which one anymore; if either. In the one hundred ninety-two days that have come and gone, there has been no sign of Joe. Silas and a team have dived everywhere near Heaven's Gate and the wreck from that night; there have been no clues. Not only was there no sign of Joe, but there was also no trace of Lucky, otherwise known as The Man of the Sea. The biggest puzzle Silas cannot figure out is the knife. He keeps replaying the night, asking himself; did Joe already have the knife? Did Joe, in fact, leave the knife in the boat before he slipped away into eternal darkness? Or maybe Lucky left it as a sign that I am still here and I have your brother; that's the way Silas hoped. Not every day you hope the most prolific serial killer in the Caribbean has your brother, but in this one case, it beat the alternative. In the many dives of Heaven's Gate, Silas came upon a 1500’s Spanish shipwreck, it with loaded with treasure; paradise had a funny way about it, beautiful and bountiful, yet deadly and sinister. Maybe that's why so many flock to the tropics; maybe in the history books, we are modern day pirates and don't realize it. In all the searching, Silas became a treasure hunter and a rich one at that; along with his partner, Billie. Since Billie's rescue at Heaven's Gate, she has a penchant for justice and vengeance. She has hired a fleet of three boats to scour the Caribbean Island to island to find any trace. They searched Heaven’s Gate to no avail. The only clue remains the name Captain Aldridge Folk. Billie has sent her teams to find anything and everything about the captain. His history is long and colorful, but he has been missing, presumed dead for thirty years; if he was alive, he would be ninety-four years old. The most interesting thing was he lived at sea on a ship for an unknown amount of time, anywhere from twenty to fifty years, depending on the date of death. One thing they have noted is if anyone remembers him, they won't speak of it. He was a very wealthy and influential business executive in Cuba before communism and the regime of Fidel Castro took over; after that, the Captain lived on his ship in exile and nothing more was ever heard from him. Billie hasn't forgotten about justice, but as time has gone on and with the discovery of the treasure that Silas and she found, she has redirected her boats to running a dive operation around Heaven's Gate and specifically the chain of shipwrecks in the area. Silas, however, has pressed on. He has traveled the Caribbean to all ends, stopping at island after island to learn anything he can. One thing he has heard over and over is it's an old wives' tale, and "The Man of the Sea" is just a story. He has yet to find anyone who has encountered him, but he has met plenty of people who have lost loved ones to the sea; their last story remains forever untold. Things have been quiet in the Caribbean before, only to have terror ensue in spurts. Silas and Billie were both feeling the dead end, maybe "The Man of the Sea" and Joe died that very night; Joe must have grabbed the knife from the Man of the Sea's boat and left it as a sign to Silas. A last goodbye? Silas couldn't make sense of that part, and one other thing that has bothered him to no end was in diving into the wreck of the Man of the Sea's boat, the fireproof box that housed the life raft was empty. Did he deploy it before the boat sank? Did he really get shot? Silas had so many questions. No matter what he did, he couldn't quit thinking about it. He played it over and over in his head. He was often seen around town talking to himself. He hadn't had a shave since that day, and it appeared not a change of clothes either. People in town talked. Silas didn't care; people started comparing him to Darian Kane, and Silas understood Darian now better than ever. No matter