Plunder, livre ebook

England, 1713—The height of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Charlie Drake boards the heavily-armed British fighting ship, the Churchill, on the morning after his sixteenth birthday in possession of a mysterious three-lock box left to him by his father. The contents of the box could change Charlie’s life forever, but there’s a catch—the box is booby-trapped, and he doesn’t have the keys.

Aboard the Churchill, young Charlie must earn the respect of a skeptical captain and a disreputable crew who will do anything for a single gold coin while searching for clues to unlock his destiny. In this coming-of-age tale, Charlie will fight enemies of the Crown, visit exotic locales, and make allies of fearsome pirates while proving that he is worthy of his father’s legacy. His first order of business: Don’t get killed trying.

Why is this happening to me?

Are they going to kill me?

Or worse?

These questions and many others like them ripped through 17-year-old Charlie’s confused mind like shot through a gun, and each ultimately had the same answer: there was no answer. Judging by the dire predicament he now found himself in, it appeared as if Charlie would never get those answers. Death would come first.

The wet and moldy burlap satchel that had been placed over Charlie’s head reeked of salt and rotten fish and was stifling his breathing. If the men didn’t kill him, sucking in that god-awful smell just might.

Flat on his chest, arms pinned behind his back, wrists and ankles bound, Charlie was completely defenseless. And the ropes that had been tightly knotted around his wrists and ankles could not be undone or broken. The more Charlie tried to wriggle out of his constraints, the more the abrasive hemp bit into his flesh. After just a few minutes of trying he could feel small rivulets of blood trickling down onto his hands and feet.