The Silent Thief

IV

IV

       "Wake up, lad!" I heard a familiar voice say. Something cold hit me.

My eyes shot open and my first instinct was to see if my mask was still on. Thank the Lord, it was.

"Are you alright? I was gettin' a lil' worried about ya', mate. You've been out for thirty hours," said the man in front of me.

My head hurt and my eyes stung, but I still managed to lift them. "Jake?" I asked after a while of staring into my friend's face. I was confused as ever. Was he in this? Did he set me up?

"Yeah, it's me, Ace. Sorry I had to hit you with the cloth. You weren't wakin' up," Jake said running a hand through his hair. I was completely awake, now registering the situation that I was in. My hands were tied to one of the masts behind me. I was below deck but wasn't in the storage room. My eyes adjusted more and I could see other men here and there, and dozens of beds.

"How are you here, Jake? How did I get into this situation? Was this part of the offer? How-?"

"Mate, calm down, let me explain everything, ok?" Jake said assuringly.

"You..." My voice came out kind of raspy. I had to remember to use my manly voice. "You better, or I'll kill ya', I said threatening.

"Alright, I will! You act like you'll cut my nuts off in me sleep! I'm still your friend ya' know?" I ignored the not-so-pleasant comment he made and listened intently. Only until he finished did I realize something.

"Why didn't they take off my mask and hood?"

"Sir William, he thought it best that we don't know what ya' look like. It sounded completely ridiculous to me because if I had hit ya' over the head and tied you up, the first thing I would've done is saw who ya' were," Jake said with a stupid smirk on his face.

"Shut up!" I kicked him in the shin then hung my head sadly, recalling the words he just told me.

"Hey, I'll get us out of this. I promise, Ace. We're best friends; I wouldn't let anything happen to you." I knew he was serious when he spoke with proper grammar. Jake was raised by royalty but he chose a regular life. "I have to get back to me job but I'll get ya' unlocked a soon as I can, ok lad?" There's the old Jake I knew.

"Yeah, just give me time to think," I replied. Jake stood.

"Eight years mate, eight years," He said to me smirking, and hurried up the stairs.

Sometimes you can be a pain in my back side, I thought to myself.

It was all planned from the beginning, Jake had told me, by Sir William. Ha, some Sir he was! Sir William, his Captain, and the dumb crew were just a pack of thugs from Great Britain. I was more famous than I thought. While Sir William came upon a legend of some treasure a few days off the coast of Africa, the Captain had found someone perfect for the job of finding it; Me. My last employer before Sir William, was actually hired by him to test my skills and see if I was good, as Jake said it. But how does Jake come into this? Well, Jake gets information from one of the crew members on this ship about an employer paying good money. Then I go to Jake, and he tells me, I accept the job and meet Sir William, I try to steal the wanted package from this ship but end up getting trapped, and Sir William pops out to reveal the deceiving thug that he is who is only using me to steal this dangerous treasure that for some reason no one wishes to go near.

So really, Jake was played from the beginning just like me. Jake, not knowing that Sir William was my employer, gets hired by him to be the 'look out guy', where he spends all of his time in the crow's nest of the ship. And me, I'm just here to lead them to the hidden treasure (if it's even real) and go back to Spain to live happily ever after.