Peter St. Clair, Professor of American History, didn't think his life could get any worse. His career is stalled and his beloved wife has recently died in a car accident. But when 18th-century pirates rise from the cold Atlantic depths and kidnap him, his life spirals into a true hell. Why do these ghoulish pirates want him and the few others they have kidnapped? Why are these captives called the "keys" to opening a buried treasure on a deserted island in the Caribbean? And what exactly will happen once that treasure chest is opened upon the world? The pirates, led by a wily Captain Morgan, will force St. Clair into a fight for his life and his soul to find the answers, from sword battles to cannon fusillades, from shark attacks to raging fires. But in the end, the pirates will do whatever they must to bend the will of their captives. For though Peter St. Clair may be fighting for his freedom and his future, the pirates have a higher power they must satisfy: their sponsor, Old Scratch himself.