Chapter 2: Leaving Dutch
Sarah Hansen wove her way through a throng of deckhands that were chatting on the dock. She jogged the rest of the way down the dock and hurriedly climbed onto the Northwestern. The Fish and Game services in Alaska were about to open the King Crab season and she wanted to make sure that she and her crew left as soon as possible.
Climbing into the wheelhouse, Sarah began to turn on all her radios and other equipment. She whirled around and opened the door that led to a small second-story deck. She leaned over the rail and glanced around on the deck below her.
Andrew, Jon, Alex, and Jake were all on board but there was no sign of the greenhorn, Amy.
Jack sighed in frustration and ran a hand through her auburn hair. Her hazel eyes flashed in annoyance as she leaned back over the railing.
"Where's Amy?" she asked the crew below her.
"Haven't seen her!" replied Jake, looking around.
"She'd better be here if she knows what's good for her," muttered Alex under his breath, "I don't have the patience to deal with greenhorns showing up late."
Alexander Mahone was a middle-aged man with strikingly pointed features. His crystal blue eyes and weathered face made him look rugged, but no less attractive. His build was sturdy and rather muscular. He had years of crabbing experience and two years of experience on the Northwestern. He was the senior deckhand and a good friend of the Hansen family. When his boat went down during a storm, he had been the sole survivor. With no job and no where to go, Sarah Hansen convinced Sig to let him join the crew. He was tough and had a quick temper, but an expert fisherman.
Jake smiled at Alex and shook his head.
"Should've seen me when I was a greenhorn," he said, "I almost missed the boat for King Crab season once. Sig about throttled me."
"I'll bet!" said Andrew as he moved to begin untying the lines, "Sig never did have patience for that kind of stuff."
Andrew was also a rather good-looking man. At thirty years old, Andrew had ten years experience on the Bering Sea and worked for Sig for the last three years of his skippering career. Unlike Alex, Andrew was patient and tended to be a little more on the kind and forgiving side.
"I think I see her!" shouted Jon from the bow of the boat, "She's running down the dock!"
Jon was twenty-four years old and had one year of experience on the Northwestern. He was more scraggily than the other more burly deckhands. His build was similar to Jake's but what he lacked in brute strength, he made up for in spirit and quick wit. His brown hair and hazel eyes were strikingly similar to Edgar's. Many people often asked Edgar if Jon was his son. The two resembled one another and from a distance one could easily confuse the two.
Amy Wagner ran down the dock as fast as she could. Her heart was pumping with exertion as well as fear. Her first day on the job and she was late. This was not the way to go about doing things if she wanted to make a good impression on the other deckhands and on her child-hood friend and skipper, Sarah.
Amy was muscular, but lean. She had long, straight blonde hair and greenish-hazel eyes. She and Sarah had practically grown up together but were never really friends until high school. Amy was fascinated by the stories Sarah told her about her trips out to the Bering Sea with her parents and the rest of the legendary Northwestern crew. Amy was an adrenaline junkie and was always looking for a job that put her on the edge. Her parents told her that there was not enough money for college and Amy began to panic. She could not find a decent job with only a high school degree and turned to her friend for help. Sarah hired her as a greenhorn for the King Crab season and promised her that if she did well that she could come back for Opilio season in January.
"Well look what the cat dragged in!" shouted Sarah from the wheelhouse.
Amy looked up and gave Sarah an apologetic look as she climbed onto the boat.
"I'm so sorry!"
"Yeah, they all are!" replied Sarah with a smile, "You are lucky though! We were just about to pull away from the dock!"
Amy sighed with relief and threw her bag down below deck. As she walked back outside, Alex gave her a hard stare.
"I suggest that in the future you show up on time," he growled as he brushed past her.
Jake sneered and shook his head.
"Don't mind Alex," he said kindly, "He's just old."
"I'm only a year older than you, Jake!" retorted Alex as he began checking the ties on the pots.
"Are we fighting already?" asked Jon as he walked over to them, "Sheesh, we aren't even in the Bering Sea yet!"
Amy laughed lightly as she turned to help Alex with the pots. Jon watched her walk away with a thoughtful look on his face. Jake and Andrew snickered.
"Already got the hots for that one, eh?" asked Andrew.
Jon pushed him away and smiled sheepishly.
"You know what they say," continued Andrew, "Never mix business with pleasure!"
"I don't know," said Jake, "It worked for Edgar and Jack Hansen."
"Yeah but look what happened before that," retorted Andrew.
"What are you talking about?"
"He's referring to Blake Painter and the Maverick," said Alex as he walked by them, "Remember the stories about the rivalry they had and how Blake and Jack were kind of seeing each other?"
"Yeah and the Maverick's coming back," said Jake.
The crew whirled around and gave Jake shocked looks.
"Are you serious?" said Jon, "I thought that the Maverick was grounded permanently!"
"Not anymore," said Jake, "Blake was forced to quit after what he did to Jack that Opilio season. He closed down the business and put the boat on dry dock. But now he's giving the boat and the company to his son, Rick Painter. Apparently the Maverick's returning this Opilio season."
"That's not going to go over well," murmured Alex, "Most of the fleet still hates them. The boat I was on during that time wasn't even in on the rivalry and they still hated the Maverick for what they did and tried to do to Jack."
Jake shook his head and gazed out over the harbor as they began to make their way towards the Bering Sea.
"I don't know what's going to happen, but I can tell you this…it's not going to be good."
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I'll try to update "The Elite" tonight too if I have time!