The Uncharted Tales

Chapter 25

Sully turned to her in astonishment. Nate told her all that? He hadn't expected his partner to open up about his mother, or the less than respectable way in which he obtained his 'heirloom.' He was firmly reticent about that part of his life at the best of times, even around Sully.

Still, he didn't miss the lack of any mention of Sam, and it burned a hole into the back of Sully's mind. Of course Nate hadn't opened up about that, but it didn't hurt any less that his brother's memory was still locked deeply away. He didn't think it was entirely fair to erase his existence so effectively. Sam deserved to be remembered, flaws and all.

Elena fell quiet when he continued to say nothing, and Sully wondered if she thought maybe she had crossed a line. I'm not gonna be the one to spill the kid's secrets.

She shook off the uncomfortable lapse. "When we found Drake's body," she spoke up again, "he tried to leave it behind. The ring. I... kinda held onto it for him."

Sully started at that. He had no idea. Nate had never said a word about it. Hell, the damned thing was still there, so he never would have thought he'd taken it off to begin with. The ring was practically attached to him, and the only time Sully ever remembered him removing it was when he went to the Panamanian prison with Sam, and Sully watched over it for him.

"That's when I knew you guys weren't just a couple of conmen." He remembered her cornering him, trying to gauge what sort of men she had chased after. "You guys dropped everything to stop Roman and Navarro."

After a moment of her watching him, Sully realized she wanted him to answer some implied question. He pondered his words carefully, then said, "If there's one thing Nate's taught me, it's that there's things that're more important than treasure."

A smile broke across her face, and something told him he'd passed her test.

"So how is it you wound up doing all this?" Elena asked. "I get how Nate fits into the story, but what about you?"

Sully eased back with the change of direction. He wasn't comfortable talking about Nate's life when he knew the kid held onto his secrets tightly. But talking about himself? He knew what kind of information he was willing to part with.

"Oh, I served some time in the Navy years back. Spent about two years out at sea, if I'm rememberin' correctly."

"Ah..." Elena drew the sound out as she watched him closely. "So, you were a military man. How does someone like that wind up digging up old tombs?"

Sully shrugged. "Got into some trouble with my superiors. I shaved off the bottom of our stocks and sold it off on the black market."

Elena quirked a brow. "Any punishment come along for something like that?"

Smoke billowed out of Sully's nose. "Dishonorably discharged, I'm afraid. But I never looked back. It was kinda... like a calling." He huffed a laugh, letting his eyes roam over to the boy still haggling for a few more nights. "Like I said, it was kinda like destiny. I met Nate, and here we are." He spread his arms out, giving a general gesture at the beachside bar and the coastline. "El Dorado's at the bottom of the ocean and we got some gold to show for it." Sully leaned back and twisted his cigar between his fingers, a small smile playing on his lips. "I haven't decided if meeting that kid is the best or worst thing to happen to me yet."

Elena turned her eyes on Nate when he started walking back to them, watching him with sharp eyes. "Guess we'll have to wait and see, huh?"

~ ~ ~

At the end of the two weeks, they flew back to the States. Nate and Sully had to scrounge up some of their forged passports, curtesy of a guy Sully knew. They didn't usually worry too much, but with the Hog Wild destroyed, they were forced to slip under authorities' radar. If Elena noticed, she never commented.