Christopher, or Chris has lived in southern florida for most of his life. He grew up on and off of boats, in the tough scenes of street life here and there. His mother was shot at a young age. She died in the operating room as they tried to save her life. It had been a typical mugging, except something had gone wrong, or perhaps the mugger had decided to add more to his rap sheet. Who can say? As far as Chris goes, the guy was never caught. This left him in the care of his father, who tended to work in what little horse business there was, as well as working oil rigs, so by default he was raised by his grandmother on his father’s side. His grandfather had passed away a year before, but Chris does not remember the reason why.

A few years later, his father became interested in a woman in Southern Ohio. Chris was relocated by his dad, with his brother. Life there was decent, but not without struggles as his father remarried. The brothers were thrust onto the life of a horse ranch. It was discovered almost immediately that Chris had asthma. HIs mother had been a chain smoker and kept him locked in a room with her in his infant and toddler years. The Ohio humidity, combined with being around the barn and all caused him to be nearly deathly ill at first. After some time they looked into taking him to a chiropractic specialist, they were able to straighten him out in a month. Before, he had been on powerful steroids to try to combat the effects, but quickly he was off of them, and was able to mostly be a happy little boy.

His dad and stepmother worked on building a new house for their growing family, as they were all at first living with his step-mother’s mother, or step-grandmother. That was no big deal to him, and having a younger step sister to play with was a good thing. Most of the time that was fun as well. There were storm clouds on the horizon though as his father and step-mother fought a fair bit now and again. It seemed to get better at first when they moved to the very large house a half mile or so away. It was two stories and a basement, and larger than anything Chris had lived in. His mother worked for a government facility as a chemist at that time, and his father managed the ranch and related horse business. They served as a breeding service, a stabling service, and effectively a veterinarian service. Most of the local vets didn’t have much knowledge of equines so they tended to defer to the ranch’s knowledge, which was pretty extensive. They tended to bale their own alfalfa as it grew naturally on the property, and had 40 acres to work with.

Being so occupied, this lift Chris and his younger sister free often times, though there were chores especially on the weekends. Still, he found time to go out and play in the woods, following deer tracks, playing around the creeks, learning to fish, learning some basic hunting skills. He grew comfortable with the outdoors and loved it even. Eventually, things reached a head with his dad and stepmom and he was shipped back to Florida to live with his grandmother. It was a tough transition, as he had gained friends that he had become attached to in school. Florida was a new experience, now that he was back as a pre-teen, there was lots to do.

There was anonymity in school, but he did manage to find friends, and gain some popularity. He reconnected with the rest of his family and found it to be good. School was a little rough though as he didn’t fit in with any certain clique, and bullies found him an easy target. Having some family to fall back on helped, but his time in Ohio had left him with an independent streak. He knew that he could take care of himself decently, had decent judgement. Rarely did he want to discuss his problems with family that he still didn’t entirely know, at least in his own mind, and who he didn’t feel valued his own decision-making, or intelligence. So he turned to video games and the internet. Along the way he met a friend Jamie who was similarly minded, and the two of them became fast friends. After a while they were making regular trips to the glades, or the beach, not just for swimming, but as a means of escape, to think, and to dig into the local flora and fauna. Chris rediscovered his love for being outdoors here and relearned old skills, and new skills tailored for south Florida.

Jamie also happened to be unstable, bi-polar, and perhaps had a few other conditions that Chris never cared about. Jamie was just Jamie. Eventually, Jamie had gone off meds, and had an incident that wound up putting Chris’ friend away for a while. Jamie wound up in a local asylum, which Chris was never able to get much information about it from Jamie’s family members, who did not like Chris himself. Eventually, he moved on, but kept up with his skills. Another set of skills he’d learned from Jamie was basic psychology, learning how people think, how to understand them. Chris had been a skilled liar when he was younger, covering for his step-sister, or older brother quite often, as well as covering about his own personal shortcomings, such as completed/incomplete homework, and so on. He’d learned to look his dad or stepmother right in the eye, and with a straight expression, tell them a total untruth. These days he got better at it, more focused, more determined to seal the holes, and to believe the lie to sell it. He’d had to practice it a fair bit when he’d come home at midnight, sometimes one or two in the morning, or if he’d made a short visit after school with Jami or other friends.

In high school he took up running, as well as some general bodyweight exercises. He got into kickboxing as an outlet for his energies, and some anger, but even then he’d begun to mellow out. The bullies began to leave him alone, as he was no longer a fun or easy target, and found their jabs could be turned on them. Chris did get into a couple of fights, but defended himself at least adequately,. Eventually the bullies left him be entirely, and his circle of friends did expand. They often found him to be the quiet voice of reason, and found his advice usually solid.

A couple years before graduation another person joined the ranks of their group. Her name was Heather. They took an immediate liking to each other. Soon they were seeing each other and dating. Again, Chris had to use some of his skill at deception, mostly to have the freedom to spend his time with her. After a time they were nigh inseparable. To anyone on the outside it was obvious they were head over heels for each other. Chris was a grade above her and after two years together graduated out. Heather’s folks wound up moving that summer a good distance away, her father chasing a job in Missouri with a food production company. They tried to maintain a long-distance relationship, but eventually broke up due to the realities of their situation. They did not speak again for a few years, but remain very close to this day. Chris still loves her very much, but he keeps it very tightly under wraps.

Chris spent the next year still living with his grandmother, working small jobs, living life, partying. He began to look into hooking up with girls wherever he could in an effort to take his mind off of Heather. It helped some, but at the same time provided sharp contrast. After a while, he decided to make use of some of the protective instincts he’d gained over the last few years, as well as the skills he’d picked up along the way and joined the Miami PD. He made his way through the academy. The kickboxing and other basic martial arts experience he had served him well and he learned fast in that area. He’d been a gun enthusiast for many years and took to firearms training quickly. He’d spent part of his time breaking or avoiding the law in his middle school and early high school years, so learning the official side of it was easier. Soon he graduated from the academy.

He was able to impress upon his peers and superiors his skills at reading people, leading, and more. He set the goal of working as an undercover cop in narcotics and vice, posing as a mule or dealer often. He began making small busts and arrests, before starting to make contacts and connections. He set the goal of infiltrating a few organizations, knocking out the pins here and there. He took to it quite a bit, and found he liked the challenge, and sometimes the adrenaline that came with looking down the wrong end of a barrel, and the wrong said thing would get him ended. He branched out into robbery and other divisions as well.

Eventually, the port authority and Miami police wanted to check out an unusual business. It seemed to be a small boating concern that was arguably a tourist trap of sorts. Except it made a lot of money, and seemed to be extremely successful. It made a ton of trips up and down the coast and all over the place in coastal waters. It wasn’t easily tracked, and the finances just didn’t look right. So Chris was called up as a young sea hand on the docks, letting him spend a while doing odd jobs, and working on basic seamanship.. With his knowledge of the beaches, waterways, the glades and other places, he made a name as a guide and soon approached the Tide Runner’s captain, a young lady by the name of Zephy about working on the boat.

He was brought on, on a trial basis, and soon became part of the crew. Chris took some time to get to know her, and the others aboard… the Chef Andre, and a masseuse, medic, and holistic medicine specialist Shelly, who also served as a sort of hospitality specialist. At first Chris thought there might have been something there with Shelly, but after a while, found nothing. She was just a girl on a boat with a good job. Andre checked out, even though he was known to have a chat with Mary Jane from time to time.

It took a while to get close to Zephy who was recovering from the death of her father who she was very close to. Her attitude at times was almost combative toward Chris. She also got into altercations with her mother, Karen, who was the business manager. After a while though, there was a bit more ease between Chris and Zephy. One evening after a fight between Karen and Zephy, Chris decided to take a risk and had a talk with Zephy. His words were gentle, but intent, and designed to provoke her anger, and her grief about her dad. She hadn’t really grieved at all, just bottled it up and shoved it in a drawer. He deliberately focused on cracking that shell, since he was a better target than her mother. After that he left her alone with her thoughts. She left, went to go visit her father’s grave, and had the breakdown she needed.

She returned the following morning, drained, and dried out but in much better condition. Over the following weeks, she repaired the relationship with her mom, and the relationship with Chris improved, dramatically so in some ways. Part of the money had come from a hefty life insurance policy, and they had been having a large run of some of their more lucrative charters. The boat was paid off years ago, so almost all they draw in now goes to paying crew, and normal operations. Whatever is left goes into their pockets. Chris was on board long enough by now to know that the numbers did add up, they were just kind of expensive, but for good reason.