Everglades

Table of Contents

 

 

“White brings vivid imagination to his fight scenes . . . it all roars along with cliffhanger chapter endings and great technogear. Think Mickey Spillane meets
The Matrix
. . . Rich and mysterious.”—
People

 

“This magical, but deeply vulnerable corner of North America needs all the help it can get, and White is an eloquent witness for the defense.”—The Associated Press

 

“White just keeps getting better, his plots more shapely and intricate and his characters more complex and believable.”

—
The Miami Herald

 

“[The] superlative tenth episode in the acclaimed series . . . pulsating action . . . Righteous indignation never felt better.”

—
Booklist
(starred review)

 

“Randy Wayne White, a former fishing guide and thirty-year resident of the Sunshine State, writes about Florida’s natural world with lyrical elegance and passion . . . An accomplished writer, White mixes his naturalist’s eye and small-town sensibilities with a combatant’s edge. His book is simultaneously gentle and compelling, a rare combination.”

—
The Times-Picayune

 

“White’s Ford novels build slowly to a breathless ending, and
Everglades
is no exemption . . . White doesn’t just use Florida as a backdrop, but he also makes the smell, sound, and physicality of the state leap off the page . . . Ford continues to excel as an unorthodox detective whose beat is the watery byways . . . Unique.”—
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

 

“This satisfying, madcap fare could well go seismic on the regional bestseller lists.”—
Publishers Weekly

 

“A remarkable writing job.”—
St. Petersburg Times

 

“Before it’s over, White takes us on a wild ride involving an encounter with a testy bull shark, a heart-stopping airboat race across the Everglades, and a depressingly documented expedition through the ongoing despoliation of Florida’s most fragile natural treasure.”—
The Raleigh News & Observer

 

“White masterfully guides his narrative to a riveting conclusion that will have readers eagerly awaiting the next Doc Ford adventure. In
Everglades,
Doc Ford may be out of shape, but White’s writing is as muscular as ever.”

—
The Tampa Tribune

 

“Randy Wayne White is a creative genius who writes stories that are seductively compelling and hauntingly refreshing . . . After reading
Everglades,
one will come to appreciate just how fragile that ecosystem is and find pleasure in the complex and intricate plot.”—
BookBrowser

Praise for the novels of Randy Wayne White

“Randy Wayne White and his Doc Ford join my list of must-reads. It is no small matter when I assert that White is getting pretty darn close to joining Carl Hiaasen and John D. MacDonald as writers synonymous with serious Florida issues and engaging characters.”—
Chicago Tribune

 

“Enough twists to satisfy any hard-boiled but intelligent detective fan.”—
The Dallas Morning News

 

“One of the hottest new writers on the scene.”

—
Library Journal

 

“Great action scenes, terrific atmosphere, and a full-bodied hero add up to a pleasure.”—
Booklist

 

“Packed with finely drawn characters, relevant social issues, superb plotting, and an effortless writing style. . . . The best new writer since Carl Hiaasen.”—
The Denver Post

 

“White is the rightful heir to joining John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen, James W. Hall, Geoffrey Norman. . . . His precise prose is as fresh and pungent as a salty breeze.”

—
The Tampa Tribune

 

“A series to be savored.”—
The San Diego Union-Tribune

Titles by Randy Wayne White

EVERGLADES
TWELVE MILE LIMIT
SHARK RIVER
TEN THOUSAND ISLANDS
THE MANGROVE COAST
NORTH OF HAVANA
CAPTIVA
THE MAN WHO INVENTED FLORIDA
THE HEAT ISLANDS
SANIBEL FLATS

 

 

TARPON FISHING IN MEXICO AND
FLORIDA (AN INTRODUCTION)
LAST FLIGHT OUT
THE SHARKS OF LAKE NICARAGUA
BATFISHING IN THE RAINFOREST

 

 

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either
are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and
any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

EVERGLADES

 

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with
the author

 

Copyright © 2003 by Randy Wayne White.

 

All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form
without permission. The scanning, uploading, and distribution
of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the
permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please
purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate
in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-16147-0

 

BERKLEY®
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY and the “B” design
are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

Acknowledgments

The islands of Sanibel and Captiva are real and, I hope, faithfully described, but they are used fictitiously in this novel.

The same is true of certain businesses, marinas, bars and other places frequented by Doc Ford, Tomlinson and their friends. When you spend as much time as I have roaming around in a boat, it’s hard not to mention interesting people you’ve met and come to care about.

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

This book demanded extensive research in several fields, and I am grateful to the experts who took the time to help. I would like to thank Dr. Allan W. Eckert not only for years of encouragement and friendship, but also for allowing me to draw on his vast knowledge of both the brilliant Shawnee leader Tecumseh and the Everglades. Also invaluable was Dr. Doug Smith of the University of Florida Geology Department. He very kindly replied to my questions about earthquakes with a valuable letter he entitled “Creating Artificial Seismic Disturbance in South Florida.”

Equally helpful was Dr. Patricia Riles Wickman, Department of Anthropology and Genealogy, Seminole Tribe of Florida. Her enthusiasm for the premise of
Everglades
was as important as the guidance she provided and her detailed replies to a novice’s questions. For any serious student of Florida history, her book
The Tree That Bends
is recommended.

I would also like to thank David Dell and Pedro Chamorro, and the excellent staff of the Colony Hotel for their help while I was in Nicaragua; Tina Osceola; Officer Larry Chil son of the City of Miami Police Department; Sergeant Jim Brown of the Lee County Sheriff’s Department; Dr. Rebecca Hamilton, Lee County Medical Examiner; Sue Williams; Re-nee Humbert; Dr. John Miller; Dr. Brian Hummel; Bill “Spaceman” Lee; Andrey Aleksandrov, administrator of the Russian national baseball team; John and Mitsu McNeal; Bill Haney; Thaddeus Kostrabala, MD; my friend Peter Matthiessen, for allowing Tomlinson to paraphrase his powerful quote about a life that “may not be understood”; Jack Himschoot, for teaching me to drive an airboat; Cindy Abele and Lisa Worthington, for introducing me to windsurfing; and my dear friends Rob and Phyllis Wells, for letting me hide out and write in the boathouse at Tarpon Lodge.

These people all provided valuable guidance and/or information. All errors, exaggerations, omissions or fictionaliza tions are entirely the fault, and the responsibility, of the author.

Because of deadline obligations, I was unable to participate, as I traditionally do, in the Roy Hobbs World Series 2002, so I’d like to apologize to the members of Bartley’s Bombers, a great team: Gary Terwilliger, Stu Johnson, Dan Cugini, Steve McCarthy, Steve Liddle, José Imclan, Victor Candelaria, Tim McCoy, Mike Padula, Dr. Mike Tucker, Dr. Kevin Goodlet, Johnny Delgado, Mike Miller, Rich Johns, Rick Scafidi, Mark Lamers, Mike Radvansky, Don Carmen, Kerry Griner, Scot Harding and Rob Moretti.

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

 

Hope could not exist if man were created by a random, chemical accident. Pleasure, yes. Desire, yes. But not hope. Selfless hope is contrary to the dynamics of evolution or the necessities of a species.

—S. E. TOMLINSON “One Fathom Above Sea Level”

I have always thought there might be a lot of cash in starting a religion.

—GEORGE ORWELL, 1938

 

 

 

My letter of yesterday will inform you of the departure of Tecumseh. There can be no doubt his object is to excite the southern Indians to war. [These] include the Seminole of Florida.

The implicit obedience and respect which the followers of Tecumseh pay is astonishing. He is one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions, and overturn the established order of things. If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would, perhaps, be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico or Peru. No difficulties deter him.

 

—GOVERNOR OF THE INDIANA TERRITORY,
LATER U.S. PRESIDENT, WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON,
ON THE SHAWNEE LEADER, TECUMSEH,
WHO ACCURATELY PROPHESIED THE NEW MADRID,
MISSOURI, EARTHQUAKES OF 1811