Killing Chase

Killing Chase by Ben Muse Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: Killing Chase by Ben Muse Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ben Muse
Tags: thriller, Suspense, Mystery
their toys,” he said as his eyes scanned the instrument panel.
    We clipped the northernmost part of northeastern South Carolina as we descended through fifteen thousand feet. Five minutes later, air traffic control out of Wilmington cleared us in to Cape Fear Regional. I watched my father talk on the headset, fully in his element, in complete control. It was the way Henry Hampton lived his life. He was born in 1952 and in charge soon after he left the womb. An overachiever, he claimed he was number one academically in school, beginning in kindergarten and ending in his senior year of high school, in which he was the Foggy Harbor High valedictorian, class of 1970. He received a full academic scholarship to MIT and graduated in three years with a degree in mechanical and ocean engineering. Two years later, in the summer of 1975, he returned to Foggy Harbor with a master’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering and went to work for my grandfather at his company, Hampton Marine.
    For the next fifteen years, my dad and grandfather grew the business; the sizes of the boats they built grew larger and larger. My grandfather retired in 1990 and Dad changed the name to Aquatic Expeditions . Sailing is in the Hampton clan’s blood, although I’d yet to be infected with it. I preferred solid ground to churning water and often wondered if that was the reason for the chasm between us.
    “We’re going to head out into the Atlantic and come in from the south. We’ll fly over the shipyard and give you the bird’s eye view of everything.”
    “Dad, I just want to tell you thanks for picking me up and letting me crash on the boat until I can afford my own place. I’ll try and stay out of your way.”
    He looked at me for a few moments and didn’t say anything. Then he looked back over the instrument panel and at the empty sky ahead of us before he spoke.
    “Chase, I realize I was a pretty crappy father to you growing up. I was absent quite a bit, and even when I was there, I wasn’t, if you know what I mean. I don’t want to make that same mistake twice. You can live on the boat or out at the estate with Pops for as long as you like. Who knows, you may be the one telling me to stay out of your way before too long. I want to spend as much time together as possible though, son.”
    “I’d like that too, Dad. Maybe you can teach me how to fly this contraption.” I said, and I meant it. Aviation had always fascinated me. I looked out the window as we crossed the coastline, twenty-five hundred feet above the deep-blue Atlantic. At two thousand feet, he banked the jet into a wide, lazy turn to the right, and locked in on the glide path. I could see Foggy Harbor and the Cape Fear River to the north as we continued our descent.
    “I’d like that, Chase. It’s not that difficult.” We came out of the controlled turn at eleven hundred feet, and I could see the runway dead ahead at six miles. I looked off to the left toward the Foggy Harbor Marina and the shipyard. Standing out like a sore thumb was the largest yacht I had ever laid eyes on, and that’s saying something coming from the son of a shipbuilder. It wasn’t just the length that caught my attention. The Anchor Management was tall, about five or six decks, I guessed.
    “That must be her?” I said, pointing. Construction had just begun when I left for prison, and this was the first time I laid eyes on her.
    “It is. The pride and joy of Aquatic Expeditions,” he said. I’ll give you a quick tour once we get aboard, then let you relax for a few hours before dinner tonight. I’ve got some guests flying in this afternoon for the weekend, and I’ll be picking them up from the airport around four. Former clients. I think you’ll enjoy hanging out with them for a few days. We’re setting sail for Nassau at five, and we’ll be back in time to have dinner Sunday evening with Pops.”
    “You want me on the trip?”
    “Absolutely. Trust me on this,” he said

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