48 Hours a Day - Chapter 138

Chapter 138: The Truth

Bellomonte did not expect to meet someone familiar here. The ex-captain of the Scarborough, Elmer, was sitting right beside him. An awkward situation arose when their eyes met. They both wanted to say something, but the words were somehow stuck in their throats. A man in a set of clean and neat formal navy attire sat in front of them.

“Who are you people? Why did you kidnap me?” asked Bellomonte while trying to keep himself as calm as possible.

“My name is Edward Teach. I’m sure you’ve heard my name before.”

Bellomonte’s face changed when he got to know his name. Everyone from the New World heard about the horrific things that Captain ‘Blackbeard’ Teach had done. Bellomonte had been trying to eliminate piracy for a long time and, of course, knew the name of the most notorious pirate of the Caribbean. Bellomonte had tried several times to eliminate Blackbeard’s crew, but sadly, none of those attempts bore fruit. Not only did he fail to capture them, but he had inadvertently made Blackbeard more famous than before.

He had always dreamed of capturing Edward Teach. Right now, although he was just sitting right across him, he was not happy at all. Bellomonte had been through a lot, and a situation like this did not make him flinch. There was a shocked look on his face, but less than two seconds later, he managed to compose himself. Elmer looked guilty when Bellomote turned and looked at him.

“Mr. Teach, I have been looking forward to meeting you. Finally, I get to see you in person.”

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time we’ve met.”

“Have we met before? When was that?”

“I think we were in the navy academy when we first met. I can still remember that day as clear as daylight. You and him, walking to class together.”

“Him?”

“It appears you have a poor memory. My earl, let me give you a hint. Does 1695 remind you of anything?”

“Who the hell are you?!”

This time, Bellomonte lost all composure.

“He was the hero of the navy. He was the most reputable adventurer in the whole of Scotland. He even got the queen’s compliments. At that time, you had just gotten your job as governor-general. Your first task was to figure out a way to end the piracy and restore peace to the trade port. To deal with the two most notorious pirates, Henry Every and Thomas Tew, you asked for his help. At first, he did not agree because he was tired of going to war. But, you did not give up. You kept convincing him that you did it for the prosperity of the New World. In the end, he was bought by your sincerity. Also, as your friend, he had decided to take on the task. It was at that time that I was assigned as the quartermaster on his ship.

“That was literally my happiest day. Being able to go on a sail with my idol is like a dream. When I was told that I’m doing this for a bigger cause, I was elated. I wanted to do my best to build a better New World. However, things weren’t smooth from the very beginning. Before we could leave the port, we were stopped by the navy. They told us the war in Spain had gotten really intense. So, they wanted us to recruit a new batch of sailors. Left with no other options, we went ahead and hired all the sailors that we needed in the shortest time possible. After that, we spent six months at sea. Still, we failed to track Henry Every and Thomas Tew down.

“It was then that the atmosphere on the ship was really intense. The batch of sailors we recruited were mostly thugs and gangsters, where their main goal was to always search for more money. Since we did not manage to capture the two most wanted pirates, they didn’t mind resorting to other options.

“There were only three people on the ship who went to navy school before—me, him, and the chief mate. The three of us were not powerful enough to control the situation on the ship. I was tied up when I tried to console the others. They beat me up and tossed me in a goat ranch. They threatened to kill me in three days! To save my own life, I had to comply with the requests of those thugs.

“That was the darkest moment in my life. I didn’t know what I did wrong. Why would God allow something like this to happen to me? He was the one who consoled me and gave me confidence. He made me believe that we would be able to clear our names once we got back to civilization. I want to live, to live and tell the truth to the whole world! That was my motivation to stay alive. However, I never thought that it would take aeons before I could achieve that. Four years later, we crossed paths with another group of pirates. Our sailors decided to join them and they set us free. In the end, 13 of us, including me, traveled back to the colony.”

“We decided that we would dock in New York and contact the navy. We wanted to tell the whole world about it. During that time, you made a name for yourself by eliminating a lot of pirates. You were a famous governor-general, and you didn’t want to relate to us, worried that we might affect your reputation. So, you looked for someone to talk to us. You told us that you sympathized with everything that we had been through, and you are more than willing to help us to clear our name.”

“I did remind him about it, but he insisted that he wanted to trust you. Without any hesitation, we handed you everything that those thugs robbed and documents to prove that we left the port. We trusted that you would go to your allies in White Hall to help us. You know exactly what kind of person he is, right? He was always a positive one. He believed that kindness still existed in this world.”

Bellomonte got more and more nervous after hearing what Teach had to say.

“You betrayed him. You tricked him to Boston, and the authorities arrested him once he touched down. You burned all the documents that he gave you and sold off all the dirty stuff from us. And our Mr. Elmer here was the one who escorted him to London’s court! To ensure that he would not badmouth you while they were on their way there, you told Elmer to take ‘good care’ of him while he was on the road.”

“I heard that he lost his mind before he got to London’s courthouse. Your people hung him to death at River Thames. His body hung there for two years! They called him the most notorious pirate of the New World. Again, you were praised by White Hall for eliminating him.”

Elmer was now trembling in fear. He did not know that this incident was related to him.

“I… I didn’t know what was going on. I was just a man following orders. I couldn’t say no to Mr. Bellomonte.

Before he could finish, Edward Teach took out his gun, and in a swift second, shot him at point-blank. He would never expect to meet his death in this way.

Edward Teach ignored the dead body and looked at Bellomonte.

“I told the pirates that I’m here for Kidd’s treasure. But, I know better than anyone that there’s no such thing as Kidd’s treasure. I’m here for revenge.”

Bellomonte was shuddering in terror, sitting in a fetal position, and curled up like a ball.

“What do you want?! I can give you everything! I can give you immunity! I can give you boundless wealth that will never run out!”

“Save the trouble. I will get them myself if that’s what I want.”

Edward Teach uttered his final sentence and lifted his sword. All the anger on his face was all gone, replaced by sadness and grief.