Lost Relics

Book 2: Shark Key Adventures

by Chris Niles

Genres: Action & Adventure; Thrillers

Synopsis

Bestseller Wayne Stinnett raves: “MARVELOUS JOB! Billy Rainwater is one of my favorites. Chris blended her characters and mine seamlessly.”

Kate Kingsbury & her retired police dog Whiskey chase a killer across the high-seas in this pulse-pounding addition to the bestselling Shark Key series.

When Kate Kingsbury and crew rush to help after a brutal hurricane widows a family friend, they stumble on an ancient mystery. Five indigenous idols are scattered throughout the Caribbean. Together, they hold the key to a fortune – and murder.

Hunting the idols thrusts Kate, Whiskey, and the Shark Key family into a race against time from the Dominican Republic to the Everglades. Because, unknown to Kate, a false shaman also seeks the idols.

With each idol he finds, he kills. So Kate and her friends must collect the remaining idols before another teen is slaughtered.

Kate can hold her own in a fight. But as the waters bleed, surfacing Kate’s darkest memories, the greatest obstacle may be the enemy inside.

If you love Travis McGee, try Kate Kingsbury! With a special guest appearance from Wayne Stinnett's beloved Billy Rainwater, this adventure-thriller will keep you turning pages through the morning-watch.

Release date: August 21, 2019

Print pages: 368

Sample

Prologue

Hispaniola, 1508

Íhon sat at the edge of a small clearing, its dirt packed from a thousand years of worship. He cradled the wooden ceremonial bowl against his side and carefully ground three large brown seeds into powder. For the other boys, it would have been the highest honor to assist the shaman in the cohoba ceremony, but Íhon’s mother was the shaman’s first wife and the sister of the Cacique. Everyone expected him to be chosen. Everyone except his sister, who’d found a snake in her blankets during the last hidden moon. She’d been threatening to tell on him every day since, and he’d been praying to the gods to close the shaman’s eyes to his prank.

The shaman crouched before him, inspecting his work. The boy kept his head low, focused on the beans. The cohoba ceremony was sacred, and if Íhon made a mistake in his preparations — if he chanted the wrong words, if he allowed his thoughts to drift — the connection to Atabey, the first god of his people, would be tainted.

The shaman nodded his approval and stood, his strong, narrow body rising far above Íhon’s hunched one. Then he slowly glided around the clearing. Sixteen small fires burned around the outer circle, and a larger fire burned at the head of the ring to Íhon’s right. Shamans from the other four tribes knelt in the center, a servant boy crouched behind each one.

“In the days before man, Atabey created the heavens above the trees and the earth below their roots. Atabey created two sons—Yúcahu and Guacar.” The shaman raised a heavy golden icon high above his head. “Yúcahu was a good son. He awoke the earth and created the light and dark, the sea and the stone, the mountains and the soft ground. Yúcahu, the god of goodness, created animals. He taught the bird to fly and the fish to swim and the snake to hunt. Then he created man, and his work was complete.” He placed the statue of Yúcahu on a low pedestal in the center of the clearing.

“Yúcahu is peace and goodness. But his brother Guacar was a jealous god. He was powerless to destroy Yúcahu’s work, so he escaped to hide in the heavens and plot his brother’s destruction. Guacar became wind and lightning, crashing waves and shaking earth. He became sickness and death. Yúcahu did not fear for himself, but when he thought of the difficulty Guacar’s jealousy would bring to the land, Yúcahu sent four spirits to the heavens to tame Guacar’s anger and protect his creation.”

Each of the four visiting shamans held a smaller golden icon. Íhon watched his mother’s husband move from one to the next. He bowed low before each of them, touching his forehead to the earth, then he carried them to the center of the clearing and placed them on the pedestal around the larger statue of Yúcahu.

“Together we have used these zemís to call upon the spirits when we need their guidance. In times of war, representatives from each of our tribes have been granted safe passage to seek their wisdom and council in the quest for peace among us. In times of famine, our tribes have come together to seek comfort from the gods and to share what we have. The zemís have served us as we serve them.” He sunk to one knee and bowed low to the collection of statues in the center of the circle. The other shamans touched their foreheads to the ground in unison.

“Since the beginning, Yúcahu and his spirit gods have protected us from Guacar. But now, Guacar has recruited new allies and sent them in their huge sailing ships from the east. They call him God. When we refuse to worship him, they take our women and kill our children.” He turned to face the four elders. “I have sought Yúcahu’s help to protect our people. But he came to me with the cohoba and told me we must allow Guacar to have a season of strength.” Íhon heard gasps from the men in the clearing.

“In time, his jealousy and anger will destroy him, and then, humbled, he will restore Yúcahu to his throne in peace. During this season of darkness, the five zemís of Yúcahu and his spirit gods must be spread to the four corners of the sea, and we, his shamans, must guard them throughout the generations.” The men all sat taller, recognizing the great honor and responsibility that lay ahead of them.

“As we take the cohoba together for the last time, the god of your tribe will lead each of you. He will show to you alone that which you and your descendants must do to protect the zemí he has entrusted to you.” He paced slowly around the circle. “After tonight, we will not worship together again, and we will never speak of this. When it is time for our spirits to move on, we will teach one young faithful shaman in the secret ways. And when his time comes, he will do the same, so the zemí is always guarded.”

The men nodded in unison.

“And when the time comes, Yúcahu will send a messenger to collect the five zemís. The messenger will channel the power of Yúcahu, and Guacar will finally be defeated. Yúcahu will once more rule over his creation, and the Taíno people will be restored.”

He looked back to Íhon.

The boy rose to his tiny feet and clutched the large, smooth bowl in his arms.

The high priest knelt before each shaman. One after another, they drew the seed powder into their pipes while Íhon stood close, holding a glowing rock from the fire beneath the bowl. When all the shamans had been served, he placed the bowl in a special cradle before the high priest then retrieved his own stone from the fire. The heat rose from the stone and burned his small hands, despite the protection of a thick leather sling. But those burns, which Íhon would carry the rest of his life, reminded him of the protection of the gods and gave him confidence that one day in the future, the gods would reunite the tribes of the Taíno and restore prosperity to their people.

 

Chapter 1

Present Day

Kate Kingsbury tossed an oily rag into a bin on the aft deck of her 45-foot derelict houseboat then jumped onto the dock. Serenity was tied in a shallow slip at Shark Key Campground and Marina, just east of Key West.

Shark Key’s owner, Chuck Miller, ambled toward her. “I scheduled her at the shipyard for a complete refit after Thanksgiving, Kate. What’s to work on?”

“The water pump was making a little whistle, nothing a little oil couldn’t fix. Really, Chuck, I wish you wouldn’t do this. She just needs to float, which she does just fine. You don’t have to put a new engine in my boat for me.”

“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” Chuck turned back toward the little spit of land behind them. “All of this’d be gone if it wasn’t for you.”

“You’d have a lot more than this if it wasn’t for me.”

“I got more than enough, kiddo. And you’re getting a new motor whether you like it or not. November twenty-ninth. Besides, I’ve already got the dredging scheduled, and I need your heap out of here for that.” He winked and started back up the dock. “Come have lunch and a beer. Relax a little.”

“Be up in a minute.” Kate adjusted the straps of her swimsuit and kicked her greasy cutoffs onto the boat’s wide, flat deck. In three steps she was off the end of the dock, soaring across the water and cutting gracefully through the surface. She dolphin kicked twenty-five yards out into the channel, rolled onto her back, then floated in the warm salt water.

A second later, a huge splash exploded behind her. Her seven-year-old German Shepherd swam up, grabbed a mouthful of her swimsuit at the hip, then started pulling her back toward the dock. She tapped his nose. “Whiskey, no.” The dog tightened his grip on her suit. Kate twisted to keep her head above water. “Whiskey. Release!”

He opened his jaw, and Kate quickly untangled her suit from his sharp canines. One finger poked through a tooth-sized hole near the edge on her backside. She shook her head and swam back to the dock, the dog right behind her.

Back up on the dock, Whiskey shook the water from his fur. Kate grabbed a towel from the bow railing of Serenity and stood over the dog. “Dude. I can swim. This trying to rescue me every time I jump in the water business has got to stop. Please, buddy.”

She pulled on a clean pair of shorts to cover the fresh hole in the back of her swimsuit then started across the parking lot toward the restaurant. She planted herself on a barstool beside a trim black woman and finished toweling off her hair.

“He jump in after you again?”

Kate nodded. “I’ve quit trying to tell him to stay. He doesn’t listen. He thinks he needs to save me. I’ve got a call in to his trainer, ’cuz I don’t know what else to do. I haven’t been able to get more than fifty yards from the dock before he pulls me back. This is the third suit he’s ruined since it happened.”

“Kate, we’re all still working through it. Give him some time.”

Two months earlier, Whiskey was aboard the sixty-foot Hatteras yacht Tax Shelter, guarding Kate and her group of friends as they raised millions of dollars’ worth of gold and gemstones belonging to Chuck’s grandfather from a shipwreck near the Marquesas Keys. There’d been a little trouble. Kate and several others in the group had been injured, the Tax Shelter was blown sky high, and Whiskey’s post-traumatic stress had been working overtime ever since.

“How’s your arm?” Kate asked.

“I just got released from physical therapy. I’ve still got some work to get back to full strength, but it’s looking good.” Michelle Jenkins rubbed the spot where she’d been shot during the melee aboard the Tax Shelter.

Chuck popped through the kitchen door holding two red plastic baskets. His assistant manager and best friend Babette Wilkins stretched her foot out in front of her to catch the door. She balanced three more baskets on her left arm, and gripped two squeeze bottles of tartar sauce in her right.

Chuck nudged Michelle as he passed her. “Where’s your dashing husband?”

“Right here!” William’s voice boomed as he swept around the corner. He kissed his wife on the forehead and led her to the picnic table where Chuck and Babette were unloading the feast.

Kate slid behind the bar and loaded a bucket with beer and ice. She dropped it on the table and planted herself in front of a basket full of Babette’s legendary grouper bites. “So, did you get it?”

William’s eyes twinkled. “Yep. We just got back from the airport. I almost couldn’t bear to leave her tied down out there. The way she sparkles in the sun…she’s almost more beautiful than my wife.”

Michelle slapped him on the shoulder then kissed his cheek.

Babette licked her fingers and tilted her head. “Wha…?” Her question sounded more like a caveman’s grunt through a mouthful of grouper.

William grinned. “I wanted to surprise—” He broke off and they all turned toward the steps.

“Hola, hola, mi familia!” A huge black woman built like a linebacker and dressed for a nightclub climbed the steps then glided toward the table on three-inch platform heels.

“Kara!” Babette ran over and hugged the newcomer. “I’ll get you a basket. Grab a beer and make yourself comfortable.”

“Honey, there is no comfortable in this dress, but it’s always better to be fabulous!” Kara perched herself on the end of the bench and swung her knees against the trestle. “Am I interrupting?”

“No, no, not at all. I’m glad you’re here. But I must ask …” William looked her up and down. “You look lovely as always, but isn’t it a little early for … this?”

Kara laughed. “Honey, I just came from an audition. The club is doing great, but I still gotta make these new girls pay for themselves.” She grabbed her breasts and juggled them under her tight sequined top.

William cleared his throat, and the color on his dark cheeks deepened. Michelle winked at his embarrassment.

“What’d I miss?” Chuck dropped a basket of piping hot fish in front of Kara. She popped two of the crispy fried fish bits into her mouth and waggled her shoulders back and forth.

Chuck admired her surgeon’s handiwork. “They look great, Kara. Really. Nice and, uh, balanced.” His cheeks were redder than the baskets.

“I’m still getting used to the extra weight. How do you girls keep your balance all the time?” Her Adam’s apple bobbed as she spoke.

Babette laughed and glanced at Kate and Michelle. “As the biggest girl here, I’ll field that one. It helps we grew up with them, so it’s more like boiling a frog one degree at a time. But my back does a lot of work to counter the extra weight. And it’s easier if you don’t wear three-inch platform heels around. I’ll stick with flip-flops, thank you very much. But I promise you’ll get used to them.”

“I can’t stop looking at them!”

Everyone at the table burst out laughing.

Kate coughed, then balled up a napkin and threw it at Kara. “Just … stop! I can’t eat and laugh at the same time!”

Kara wiggled her shoulders one more time for good measure, then waved at William with a flourish. “I believe you were saying something?”

“Ahh, yes. You’re all looking at the proud new owner of a six-passenger TBM 700B turbo-prop aircraft.” He flipped open his tablet to display a photo of a gleaming red and white plane.

Kate applauded, and the rest of the group joined in.

“I found it about a month ago. An old friend was starting to have some health issues and lost his FAA certification. He let me have it for a steal. So here we are! I can go farther and take more people with me.”

He flipped through a series of photos showing the plane from various angles, first close-ups of the instrumentation and then the luxurious tan leather and glossy wood cabin. “I thought maybe before it gets too busy around here, we could take a hop over to Little Cayman for a few dives. Who’s in?”

Kate’s hand shot up, with Chuck’s not far behind. The other three women looked at each other, shaking their heads. Babette spoke for the group. “I think we’ll stay on dry land and hold down the fort here…”

“It’ll be good for Kate to do something besides fix up a boat that’s about to get a full re-fit.” Chuck winked at her and popped a grouper bite in his mouth.

Kara froze mid-laugh, her eyes locked on the TV behind the bar. “Babette, honey, can you turn that up, please?” On the screen, a weather map showed a category four hurricane spinning up in the Atlantic, with a forecast track heading west, then making a sharp northern turn and returning back out to the ocean.

Babette reached for the remote. “It looks like it’s not coming anywhere near us. It won’t even hit the mainland.”

“Not us. Look, it’s heading straight for Hispaniola. They’re predicting it to be a Category 5 when it hits.”

“That’s gonna make a mess.”

Kara’s eyes stayed fixed on the screen. “I’m from the Dominican Republic, honey. My sister still lives up on the east side of the mountains. She’s gonna take a direct hit.”

 

Chapter 2

“Kara, look at me.”

Kate rested her hand on Kara’s shoulder and tried to spin the barstool around. “Please. You’ve been staring at that TV all day. Stand up, stretch a little bit, and come watch the sunset with me, okay?”

Kara remained glued to the television, its screen filled with image after image of waves crashing over the top of seawalls, palm trees bent horizontal under heavy winds, and sheets of rain pounding flooded streets.

Kate turned to take in the blue sky and calm shallow water all around them. “Kara, please?”

“I can’t get a call through.” She waved her phone in the air without taking her eyes off the screen.

“I know.”

“They said it’s bad up in the hills. Power lines are down everywhere, and the eye hasn’t even passed over yet.”

“Honey, they’re saying the same things over and over again. Please just come watch sunset with us, rest your eyes a little, maybe go lie down for a bit?”

Chuck leaned across the bar. “You shouldn’t be alone. Stay in my guest room tonight? We’ll keep trying to call for you.”

Kate wrapped her arm around Kara’s waist and led her off the barstool and toward the western railing. Kara’s gaze remained on the TV until her head couldn’t turn that far anymore. Kate found them a spot beside William and Michelle, and Babette pressed a plastic cup filled with white Sangria into Kara’s hand. Kara stared blankly at the horizon and lifted the cup to her lips.

As the sun sank toward the ocean, tourists and locals all drifted from their tables at the outdoor restaurant to watch the nightly spectacle. From the east docks came the low rumble of an engine Kate was just learning to recognize. Moments later, Steve Welch joined the group just in time to see the sun drop below the horizon, filling the western sky with a blaze of pink and orange.

“Never the same show twice.” Steve drained his beer, then scratched Whiskey’s head and followed Kate back to the bar. Together, they watched Chuck lead Kara into his house across the parking lot. Lights flicked on in the little concrete block Florida bungalow, and through the frosted jalousie windows they could see silhouettes as Chuck helped Kara find more comfortable clothes. “What’s up with that?”

Kate pointed to the TV. “Her sister lives in the mountains in the Dominican Republic. She can’t get a call through, and it’s looking pretty bad. Babette already cancelled her show for tonight. Sounds like Miss Dani has been looking for a chance to emcee, so she was thrilled to get onstage, and the rest of the crew over there will pitch in to keep the place running as long as necessary.” Kate hollered across the bar toward the kitchen, “Hey, Babette!”

“Whatcha need, babe?” Babette’s head popped through the swinging door.

“Can you throw a double burger on the grill for Kara, please? There’s no way Chuck is gonna be able to keep her in there, and she’s gonna need fuel.”

“Sure thing. Burgers all around.”

When a group of tourists left a large table near them, Kate started to clear it off. She carried the dirty dishes into the kitchen and came back with two baskets of French fries. She tossed a fry in the air, and Whiskey jumped from his spot under the bar and caught it. Nose raised, he followed Kate to the table.

“You’re hoping I drop one of these baskets, aren’t you, buddy?”

The dog stared at the fries with long strands of drool dangling from his jowls. Kate wiped the table with a wet bar towel, dropped the baskets in the middle, then took the towel back to the bar. She returned with bottles of ketchup and mayo and a thick pile of napkins as Chuck came back up onto the deck by himself.

Kate glanced at her watch. “It’s only six. There’s no way she’s gonna stay in there and sleep, is there?”

“Nope. But I did talk her into taking a shower and borrowing some sweats. She’ll be back out in a few minutes.”

The group settled in as the sunset cocktail crowd drifted away or began placing dinner orders. The dark evening grew cool, with a light breeze coming in off the water.

Shark Key Campground and Marina sat on a long, narrow spit of rock seven miles east of Key West, Florida. Back in 1931, Chuck’s grandfather had stolen millions from Al Capone and run for the Florida Keys with his girlfriend Gigi. He bought Shark Key and built a little marina with some of the bootlegger’s money, and he used more of it to build the little two-bedroom house for Chuck’s parents when they got married in 1960. Chuck had lived on the island all his life. Despite almost losing it earlier in the summer, Chuck was dedicated to keeping Shark Key a home to a growing family of beach bums and Conch natives.

Kara was the newest addition, having met everyone just two months before. Recovering from breast augmentation surgery, Kara had been placed in a room with Babette, who was healing from a violent attack ordered by the developer who was trying to steal Shark Key. Kara helped save the Key and quickly became a fixture among the group. She embodied the fun-loving free spirit of Key West, but Kate didn’t know too much about her beyond the surface.

Chuck chose a seat beside Steve. “How’s Hopper Too shaping up?”

“I know I’m going to love her once I get used to her, but I sure miss the old girl.” Steve tipped his empty beer into the bucket on the table. He pulled a fresh bottle from the ice and took a slow pull as his glassy gaze drifted over the hedge to the listing hull of his first charter boat, the Island Hopper, grounded beside Kate’s houseboat.

Kate rested her hand on Steve’s arm. His wife had died just two days before the Island Hopper was destroyed, all in the effort to save Shark Key. Having lost her own husband in a robbery two years before, Kate understood he still needed more time before he was ready to talk about Susan, but she could feel his loss every time he talked about the Hopper. “She took good care of you. But the Too will be even better.”

“You’re probably right. The original Hopper was good for big groups. I think the Too will be better suited for the smaller groups we run. Speaking of, I’ve got a couple bookings for next week if you want to lead the dives?”

“Anybody good? What sites do they want?”

Steve rested his half-empty bottle on the table. “Not really anyone interesting. They want the popular stuff, so I was thinking Joe’s Tug and Sand Key for both groups, probably.”

“Then let Justin take it. He could use the work, and he knows those dives well enough.”

“When am I gonna get you back in the water?”

“I’ve been in the water plenty since …” Kate hadn’t worked for Steve, or anyone else, since the incident on the Tax Shelter.

“But you’re the best divemaster I know.”

“But nothing. I’m prepping the Katherine K site exclusively for you. And I’ll run all the dives on that site for you. We know the history better than anyone, and you know we can sell the crap out of the treasure-and-wreck angle.”

After the Tax Shelter explosion, most of the gold and gems Chuck’s grandfather had hidden in the old wreck were strewn across several square miles of the quicksands. But Kate had managed to toss several bags and crates overboard before she cut the luxury yacht’s fuel lines. She needed time to salvage as much of Chuck’s legacy as she could find before they let recreational divers onto the site. The other dive operations would find it soon enough, and then it’d be crawling with amateur treasure hunters. She and Chuck had been working in secret for two months, methodically sifting through silt and sand to get as much as they could recover into Chuck’s safe deposit box, and she was almost ready to open the site.

She took a sip of her drink. “In fact, you know what? Go ahead and book a group or two for after Thanksgiving. I’ll take them out with you, and we’ll see how it goes.”

“You got a deal. I’ve got a couple past customers in mind who would love it.”

“Love what?” Kara slid into the empty chair beside Kate.

“We’re opening up the dive site on the Katherine K in a few weeks.”

“Oh, that’s … good.” Kara’s gaze drifted to the TV, where a reporter stood in the whipping rain, shouting into a waterlogged microphone in front of a street lit only by headlights of emergency vehicles. The scene alternated between the weather reporter and still photos of uprooted trees, downed power lines, and road signs twisting and flapping in the wind.

“Still no word from our team stationed up the mountain. We hope to get their satellite uplink working as the storm passes and bring you news from around the areas affected by Hurricane Sara. For those of you just joining us, Hurricane Sara came aground as a Category 5 storm near the Dominican town of Nagua and is barreling west up into the island’s mountains. Forecasters expect the storm to turn northward within the next two hours, passing over the eastern tip of Cuba and the southern Bahamas before it continues out to the middle Atlantic.”

As the report continued, Babette set a tray of juicy burgers in front of everyone. Kara turned back to the table. “It’s gonna be a long night.”