Randy Wayne White - Hunters Moon

HUNTERS MOON

Also by Randy Wayne White

Sanibel Flats The Heat Islands The Man Who Invented FloridaCaptiva North of Havana The Mangrove Coast Ten Thousand Islands Shark RiverTwelve Mile Limit Everglades Tampa Burn Dead of Night Dark Light

nonfiction

Batfishing in the Rainforest The Sharks of Lake Nicaragua LastFlight Out An American Traveler Tarpon Fishing in Mexico and Florida (AnIntroduction) Randy Wayne Whites Gulf Coast Cookbook

with CarleneFredericka Brennen

Hunters

MON

RandyWayne White

G.P.PUTNAMS SONSNEWYORK

G. P. PUTNAMS SONS Publishers Since 1838 Published by the PenguinGroup Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014,U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700,Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) PenguinBooks Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England PenguinIreland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin BooksLtd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) PenguinBooks India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017,India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 1311,New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) PenguinBooks (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196,South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL,England

Copyright 2007 by Randy Wayne White All rights reserved. No partof this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed orelectronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encouragepiracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchaseonly authorized editions. Published simultaneously in Canada

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

White, Randy Wayne.Hunters moon / Randy Wayne White. p. cm.

ISBN: 1-4295-3426-5

1.Ford, Doc (Fictitious character)Fiction. 2. Marine biologistsFiction. 3.FloridaFiction. I. Title. PS3573.H47473H86 2007 2006101833 813'.54dc22

bo ok design by meighan cava naugh

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, andincidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are usedfictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Whilethe author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internetaddresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the authorassumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur afterpublication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does notassume any responsibility for author or third-party web-sites or their content.

This book is for m y mother, Geor gia Wilson W hite,

of Ric hmondCounty, Nor th Carolina

and for m y aunts

Je w el, Johnsie,JoAnne, DellaSue, Ve ra,

Lucille, Authorine, and J u dy

and for m y uncles

Le vaugn, K e r ne y, T homas , Mitc hell,

Paul, Eug ene,and Carl

AUTHORSNOTE

Thisbook required extensive research, and the author is grateful to experts inmany fields, while taking full blame, in advance, for any misunderstandingsthat have led to factual errors. Thanks to my dear friends, Dr. Brian Hummel,Dr. Thaddeus Kostrubala, Capt. Jimmy Johnson, David Thompson, Jerry Franks,Capt. Russ Mattson, Robert Macomber, Judge Tony Johnson, and all the folks atCabbage Key, Useppa Island, and Doc Fords Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille for theirinput, kindness, and forbearance.

Capt. Mark Futch, one of the worlds finest amphib pilots, investedmuch time in helping me make the flight scene herein accurate, and not just bytaking me on low-level flights. As I was finishing the book, Capt. Futch, withwriter/filmmaker Krov Menuhin aboard, landed his Maule off the dock at UseppaIsland, where I was holed up working. Even though they were returning from atwo-week trip to Central America, these men sat patiently going over chartsand answering questions.

The scenes in the Panama Canal Z onewere carefully choreographed, and especially helpful was my friend TomPattison, although all of my Z onian friends contributed,because we have had so much fun in Panama over the years, so thanks to Capt.Bob Dollar and Mindy, Priscilla Hernandez, Legendary Vernon Scholey, Mimi andLucho Azcarraga, Teresa Martinez, Priscilla and Jay Sieleman, now director ofthe Memphis-based Blues Foundation.

Thanks to my pal George Riggs, I had a solid table on which towrite this book, and, thanks to my teammate Gary Terwilliger, my writing shedhad electricityuseful for working after sunset.

Finally, I would like to thank my sons, Lee and Rogan White, for,once again, helping me finish a book.

Sanibel and Captiva are real places, faithfully described, butused fictitiously in this novel. The same is true of certain businesses,marinas, bars, and other places frequented by Doc Ford, Tomlinson, and pals.

In all other respects, however, this novel is a work of fiction.Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the authorsimagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, livingor dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men donothing.

edmund burke

Its easier tobe a genuinely humane person if you can afford to hire your own personal son ofa bitch.

s. m.tomlinson

HUNTERS MOON

On amisty, tropic Halloween Eve, an hour before midnight, I stopped paddling whencoconut palms poked through the fog ceiling, blue fronds crystalline in themoonlight.

An island lay ahead. Maybe the right island. Hard to be certain,because the fog had thickened as it stratified, and my sense of direction hasnever been great.

If it was the wrong island, I was lost. If it was the rightisland, there was a chance Id soon be detained, arrested, or shot, maybekilled.

Im human. I was hoping it was the wrong island.

I checked the time as I reached into the pack at my feet andopened a pocket GPS. The navigational display was phosphorous green, likenumerals on my watch. It was 11:1 p.m., I discovered, and I wasnt lost. Id arrived at my destination, LigartoIsland.