Friends Forever — Gary L. Dorion

A rollicking adventure!Book 3 opens with Jack and his companions in control of the slave ship, the Helena, renamed The Midnight Raider, having tricked the pirates and slave traders that were chasing them after they stole the ship and kidnapped the captain. Jack has ordered Helena's captain - kidnapped in Cuba - imprisoned below deck. Despite his friend Jeremy's reluctance to go along with him, Jack invites the captain to help them and the 135 freed slaves to sail back to West Africa to return the ex-slaves home. Captain Pendleton agrees on the surface. But will this slave trader - whose dream is to buy the Helena to make enormous profits blockade-running when the impending American Civil War begins - keep his word? Jack believes he can continue to outsmart the captain. He also believes the captain wants to do the 'right thing'. It's a combination of trust and mistrust but Pendleton may be the only person aboard who has the longtime experience crucial to crossing the middle Atlantic Ocean to Africa.Jack and Jeremy have another problem: Two young Jamaican women are aboard who they met in Kingston and are scheming to make sure that they stay together with Jack and Jeremy who plan leave them back at their homes after returning from the African mainland.Meanwhile, a major hurricane is bearing down on the ship from the south, threatening to end their escape to the African continent. Jack has many nautical skills for a young man of his age. But best friend Jeremy has his doubts that Jack has the knowledge and experience to sail a large ship across the Atlantic Ocean and back. But Jack has an Ace up his sleeve - Captain Pendleton, an experienced 'old salt' who captained the Helena until Jack and Jeremy kidnapped him at gun point. Pendleton is known by other sea captains to be the best there is at captaining a merchant ship and Jack intends to put that experience to good use. But Pendleton has his own plans to get the Helena back into his possession and is looking for the first slave trading vessel coming from Africa to help him take his ship back.