The Tangerine Merchant's Tale

By Jay Harez

In 1799 the Dutch East India Trading Company was the largest shipping company in the world and it was on the brink of collapse. Attorney Goodson Smythe has been retained to defend two men accused of stealing a company ship, a crime considered to be more serious than murder.

But Goodson Smythe is a successful attorney and he believes he can save his clients from the gallows. However he isn’t prepared for the violent and horrifying tale his clients tell him.

The Tangerine Merchant’s Tale is a story of murder, slavery, and divine retribution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jay Harez
• Release date: Feb 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311331908

Jay Harez

Jay Harez was born in Texas. During his early twenties he traveled extensively throughout Mexico and the United States. The majority of the stories he writes are loosely based on the places he has been and the people he has met along the way. His experiences in Mexico were the most influential and second only to his love of history for source material. Great writers such as J. MIchael Straczynski, Wilbur Smith, Garry Jennings, Quentin Tarantino, Elmore Leonard, and Aaron Sorkin have had a significant influence on his characters and overall style. Jay is a comic and graphic novel reader from childhood where he was introduced to writers like Warren Ellis, Allen Moore and Frank Miller. Jay lives in Austin, where he enjoys scotch, plays chess and travels whenever opportunity permits.

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The Tangerine Merchants Tale

By

Jay Harez

Copyright © 2016 by Jay Harez. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

1 RECHT OP EEN ADVOCAAT (Right to a Lawyer)

2 ODD CONNECTIONS

3 ONTSNAPPEN (Escape)

4 TERUGKEER (Return)

Chapter 1

‘RECHT OP EEN ADVOCAAT’ (Right to a Lawyer)

In all likelihood you imbeciles will hang, Barrister Smythe explained to his two clients while he scanned their statements for the fifth or sixth time.

"Why should I hang? I wasn’t even party to the…events," said John Masten, the more effeminate of the two defendants.

Barrister Goodson Smythe’s clients had been awaiting trial for almost a month.

Bloody coward! Anthony Straat shouted, We should have left you there and let the snake worshipper’s see to you,

You are, or were, a part of the crew, were you not? Barrister Smythe asked.

I was pressganged into service by these miscreants! I am a scholar, a historian, a student of cultures older and more… said Masten.

You were offered wages and a berth? Barrister Smythe asked.

Or face death at the hands of religious zealots, replied Masten with less resolve.

You performed duties to further the enterprise in exchange for monetary remuneration making you party to the scheme. Barrister Smythe explained.

It was my life or my service! Masten shouted.

The position of the Batavian Council of Justice is that that was a bargain neither you nor your rescuers were authorized to make, Barrister Smythe replied. "For God’s sake it is almost eighteen hundred! Now I need to know what went on aboard the vessel Wild Aye in every detail," Barrister Smythe said to the two men.

Once the doctors determined that both men were healthy enough to stand trial a date had been set. The newspapers had turned the whole affair into a public spectacle with wild stories of domestic piracy and mutinies. This was the first time that the accused had met their legal counsel and the trial was set to start five days from today.

First sir, were the sharks… said Masten.

Shut your mouth about the fucking sharks! There were no more than normal for the wake of a livestock ship, said Straat.

By livestock, you mean…? Barrister Smythe trailed off.

The tangerines man, the tangerines! Straat said sounding vexed.

Keep in mind Mr. Straat that as I am not in the flesh peddling business, your quaint euphemisms are lost on me as they will be on the tribunal, Smythe explained.

I had no idea what the purpose of the venture was. I was merely a victim of circumstance! Masten pleaded.

Gentlemen, we are getting away from the purpose of this meeting. As you know we have limited time to build your defense and… Smythe was cut off.

And who’s to blame for that? We’ve been sitting in those cells fighting off rats and rapists for a month now, Straat interjected.

"The person or persons to blame for your circumstance is yourselves. Second to that, I just received word of my assignment to this case two days ago. It seems you have engendered some hostility from certain business interests; very influential business interests. If you two