when we recover the gold,” Dax offered.
“Interesting,” Jack said. “And if we don’t recover the gold and this expedition turns out to be a bust like your last one?” he asked while staring at Dax.
Jack could see the anger building as the blood rushed to Dax’s face. Dona touched Dax’s arm—Jack assumed to keep him calm and remind him to keep his cool.
“No gold, no payout,” Dax said.
Jack stood. “I’m sorry you wasted your time coming all the way out here,” Jack said. “But your terms won’t work for me.”
“Okay, Jack. But just so we’ll know… what terms will work for you?” Dona asked.
“A quarter of the take,” Jack responded.
“Damn it!” Dax yelled as he slammed his fist on the table, stood, and looked at Dona. “I told you this was a bad idea.”
Dona pulled Dax back down to his seat and looked at Jack. “Mr. Cameron.”
“Please call me Jack,” he said.
“Okay, Jack,” Dona said. “Thank you for your time. You’re the first captain we’ve talked to, so we’ll just keep looking.”
Jack stood. “Suit yourself,” he said. “But I’m sure you’ve done your homework and already know that there’s only one other charter boat within a two-hundred-mile radius, and he just got to Skagway last year. I’ve been navigating the Lynn Canal for the last ten years and know her waters well. So the way I see it, your options are very limited.”
Dona looked at Dax, who seemed to have steam blowing out of his ears, then back to Jack. “Can you give us a minute alone?”
“Sure thing,” Jack said as he walked out of the salon.
He climbed the stairs to the deck and released his breath. He couldn’t believe he’d just negotiated his way into—he quickly did the math—two and a half million dollars.
Before he could revel in his victory, Dona and Dax were standing in front of him.
“Okay, Jack, we have a deal,” she said.
Jack stuck out his hand to shake on it.
“Not so fast,” Dax said. “We have a deal, under one condition.”
Stunned, Jack pulled his hand back and said, “There’s always a condition, isn’t there?”
“You incur all the up-front expenses, such as fuel, provisions, and crew,” he said. “And in the event we don’t find the wreck at the end of our contract, we’ll pay you for half of the incurred expenses and call it even.”
“Half,” Jack said.
“Yes, Jack, half. If you want a portion of the purse, you have to share some of the risk. It’s only fair.”
“I’ll need some time to think about this,” Jack said.
Dona looked at Dax. “We’ll give you until six o’clock this evening. If we don’t hear from you by six, we’ll either look for another captain or bring in a boat from elsewhere.”
“Okay,” Jack said. “If I decide to take the expedition, I’ll call you by six o’clock.”
Dona handed Jack a business card with her cell phone number on it, and she and Dax left the boat in much the same way they had arrived—keeping a watchful eye and looking around nervously as they got back into the cab and drove off. Jack immediately removed his cell phone from his pocket and started dialing.
M AC and Brad were loading their floatplane with supplies after their morning of shopping in Anchorage when Mac’s cell phone rang. Mac looked at the caller ID and smiled.
“Jack, I’ve been on the edge of my seat all morning. What happened?”
“Is Brad with you?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, he’s right here, why?”
“Can you put your cell phone on speaker?”
“Yeah, hang on.”
Mac hit the speaker button and held the phone out so he and Brad could hear what Jack had to say.
“You won’t believe this shit, guys.”
“Tell us,” Mac said.
Jack filled Mac and Brad in on the entire conversation, except for the details of the wreck—mainly, the name and potential location—at least trying to stick to the nondisclosure agreement.
When he was through telling the story, there was silence on the other