By

 Thomas J Ault

 

He raised his muscular arms and stretched, pushed his arms back and intertwined his fingers to form a cradle for his head. The sun had just arisen and was pushing the shadows away from the nooks and crannies of the mountain side, it touched his blond hair causing it to look like a crown of gold for an instant. Leaning back in the old rocking chair on the porch overlooking the valley below he sighed a sigh of ecstasy as he watched the beams of light bounce across the vast lake in the valley below.

He and Leaf had come upon this place a few years back while hunting white tails and fell in love with the area. What a majestic view!. When the hunt was finished, and before they returned to their jobs, they went directly to a land broker to find out if they could buy the twenty or so acres of scrub timber with the flat rock that protruded out over the side of the cliff. This stone ledge that oversaw the beauty that God had made “especially for them.” Their luck had held, not only did they get a beautiful 14 point buck that weighed in around 280 pounds but the land could be purchased, and cheaply too!

Watching the two of them together, working weekends on that cabin was a sight to behold. Leaf, with his green eyes almost intimidating the very trees he was cutting to use in the construction while his wild brownish-red hair flirted with the wind. Handling the axe was not a problem for this 187 pound masculine hunk of 6’2”. He was indeed a pleasant sight. He would cut down the tree and fell it perfectly, then with Willy’s help move it just far enough to make way for Willy and his chain saw to cut it into the length they wanted.

To see them from the back or from a distance one might think of them as brothers, Willie being only an inch shorter and weighing in just a few pounds lighter than his friend. His blond hair teased in the wind and his hazel-blue eyes flashing with excitement with each log being cut to be placed in the stack for future selection.

One would never guess that these two were so very opposite in their work and yet came together to be such great friends. They spent as many week ends together as possible. Leaf and his partner, John Cunningham, owned and operated a marine salvage place down in the valley across from the old electric plant on the banks of the Tennessee River. It was fortunate that John had no family and only a pretty steady relationship with a red head from town. She kept him busy in town on many of the weekends.

            Leaf liked to do his mountain hiking and was an ardent swimmer. His navy seal training was all the bonding needed for he and his partner John. Same kind of pasts, same kind of love of nature, animals, swimming and occasional golf. It appeared they were a perfect fit for a long partnership. They had been partners for only a few months, but it seemed like forever.

Willie, on the other hand, had an up and coming detective agency. There were times when the weekends became a little tough to come by due to the investigative nature of his work but he tried to set things up so he could spend the weekends in the forested sides of the mountains he loved so dearly. One thing he and Leaf had in common was their desire to have things done properly, sometimes to a fault when they did not agree on one aspect or another of what they were doing. One example was choosing the color scheme for their new cabin. Leaf felt the large room that housed the kitchen, eating area and living area should be off white with a tinge of orange, his favorite color. Willie, on the other hand was sure orange would be too hot of a color and insisted it should be aqua or blue.

Little things like this, at times, got in the way of getting along, but somehow they always overcame the disagreement and everything turned out okay.

 

                                                            ****

 

He enjoyed being a bachelor which allowed him the freedom to do pretty much as he pleased and not be tied down to any one person. He loved that loose living aspect but now things were different, he had met Joanne. She had been running a small boutique next door to his office for the past year and he had ventured into her place to find some used furniture for the cabin. It was from this chance meeting that the discussions became longer, and the trips into her little store became more frequent. They had kept their relationship as secret as possible as he did not want his mother to know, since she would like to get involved. Joanne had a similar situation with her father, or so she said.

Today was going to be special, she was coming up to the mountain for the rest of Saturday and not leaving until Sunday afternoon. He planned to prepare her a wonderful venison steak dinner after which they could sip scotch while enjoying the marvelous scenery below. His friend Leaf would be gone on a salvage job with his partner and the place was all theirs! Who could ask for a more romantic weekend?

 

                                                ****

 

Leaf and John headed out in their 32 foot craft bucking a slight north wind and a light chop about 3 feet. They had filled the fuel tanks and put on one extra 10 gallon can as a precaution. Their destination was approximately 22 miles northeast up the river where a an old barge hull had been located. Leaf had been told that there were possibly some artifacts to be retrieved and the company hiring them would like the items brought up and delivered to them, if that proved to be so. Apparently the heavy rains and current of the river had moved the old hull into a hazardous location for the mining barge traffic. They would have to dive down into the thing, retrieve what they could and then scrutinize the situation to see the best way of moving her or bringing her up. It was not a run of the mill job since there seemed to be artifacts of some kind involved. Neither of them were thrilled about this particular job but the job had to be done, they had come to Leaf with their proposition and it put cash in their company accounts.

The boat seemed to glide over the 3 footers without too much difficulty. It wasn’t like the old days when the seals were in the Pacific and the giant chops ran closer to 8 or 10 feet and cold as hell. They could be thankful for that. They checked and then double checked their gear before they left and then stored it in the bilge for safe keeping.

 The tanks had been filled and checked for leaks, the face and mouthpiece edges cleaned thoroughly and the gauges and depth meters calibrated. They were ready for the dive but would have liked the water clearer than it was. With all of the rain of the last few days it was pretty murky from the roll-off mud on the mountain sides and the creeks coming into the tributaries along the way.

 

 

                                                ****

 

Joanne closed her store at exactly 3:00 P.M,. as she had done so many times, on Saturday. Business always died off at that time and the folks around her shut their doors and went home. She had tried a few times to remain open, hoping for that last buck for the week, but unfortunately the times she found the dollars were few. Today was going to be better. She was excited to see the place that Willie and his friend Leaf had built. She was equally interested in seeing how well her “old” furniture fitted into the place. Going away for a weekend, even just a few miles, with a guy, was not something she was going to take lightly. She just wasn’t brought up to do these things, but after all, she was going on 30, had run her own business and certainly had some idea how to read people. If she could trust anyone it would be Willie, and well, let’s just say that if things did get a little out of hand, who would care or even know about it for that matter, except, of course for Willie and her.

Willie picked up the phone, dialed his folk’s number as he had done so many Saturdays before, and waited for his mother to pick up. As usual the answering machine came on with the usual greeting, “You’ve reached the Brashear residence, we have stepped out for a bit, leave a message and we’ll get back to you.” Willie thought about just putting the receiver down, but then after giving that a second thought decided to leave some information for her. “Hi mom, just letting you know the week was great and last night’s meal was wonderful. Oh yeah, tell dad to watch out for that cop down on the corner of 9^th and Alburn, he’s handing out tickets right and left. I’m going up to the mountain now so I’ll call you late tomorrow . Bye.” He hung up, turned out the light that his secretary had left on in the outer office, scurried out the front door, turned and locked it, then walked to his car. He whistled with satisfaction as he thought how well things were going, and how much better they should be going a little later on.

 

                                                ****

 

Sam Perry owned the property next to Willie and Leaf. He was a grumpy old goat who had to have his say no matter what. He was an intelligent scamp but had the manners of a Billie-goat and the temperament to match. He had watched them build their cabin, offering his unwanted advice whenever he could. Totally the opposite of his neighbors he was older, a very un-becoming five foot and three inches and with a crew cut that made him look even more ridiculous. He knew that neither of the young men building their weekend cabin next door smoked so he took great pleasure in “flipping the lid” of his vintage Zippo lighter when they were trying to concentrate on one problem or another with their building.

He had a masters degree in archaeology, was a treasure hunter in his spare time, when not writing science fiction, and the of course he had a wife, Luane. She was not a pleasant person and looked like she should be in one of his ancient animal worship books. She was shorter than he was and as round as she was tall. Her little nose was turned up snout-like and she had tiny little slits for eyes. If you didn’t know better you would think she might be part pig or something. You could hear the two of them bicker over all kinds of things during the week since they lived there full time. It was apparent neither of them had any friends and that was probably part of their insecurity.

 

                                                ****

 

John was elected to man the air pump as Leaf was going to go down first and survey the old wreck to see what artifacts they were talking about. Both men wanted first hand knowledge as to whether or not the items were worth salvaging. The waves moved the boat back and forth from its anchorage forcing John to maintain the craft’s position constantly. They put the buoy flag out to identify that divers were in the water. Leaf backed down into the water using the ladder attached mid-ships. The water was around 72 degrees and the wreck some 15 feet below. It’s deck disappeared long ago as it was made of wood, not metal, so the old cabin had also disintegrated and consequently not a problem for their work The bow had somehow moved upward and became a concern as it was now only 8 feet under the water line. He let the weight-belt pull him down at will until he reached the old hull. He was amazed to find a hole that appeared to be new when he compared it to the other damage he could see. This was curious since supposedly no one had been down there to stir things up. As he moved around the hull it became obvious that someone had recently blown the hole in the side. Undoubtedly this was what had caused the hull to rise above where it had rested all these years. Leaf was certain that if there had been anything of value there, it was gone now! He gave a couple of yanks on the line he was hauling behind him to signal John that he was coming up. They had to discuss this situation at greater length before any further attempts would be made to retrieve the thing.

 

**************

 

Willie rounded the curve and drove up the incline toward “Pike’s Peak” as he liked to call the mountain boulder he and Leaf had built their cabin on. It was not steep when you think of the Rockies but when you think of these mountains just south of Tennessee it had a great incline in comparison to some of the adjacent ones. He took a deep and pleasurable sigh as his cabin drive came into view. Anticipation of a great evening was on his mind and he was determined to make this an unforgettable one. In a few hours Joanne would be coming up and their evening would begin. He was getting excited and for him that was a unique experience. He had had his pick of beautiful women over the years but this Joanne, she was different, a real lady.

He pondered the best way to prepare his steaks and decided to use an old recipe his grandmother used. He filled a container with water and added some salt, then brought it to a boil. He lowered the carefully cut flank steaks into the brine, turned off the heat and left the meat in the water to soak for the next couple of hours. According to his grandmother, who incidentally used to fix some fantastic wild life meals, this would deaden the wild taste and at the same time make the meat more tender. He recalled how she used to do some of those big jack rabbits from Nebraska that averaged three feet or more in length, that no one else would touch. They’d end up a wonderful jack rabbit steak with mashed potatoes and rabbit gravy. Made you hungry to just think about it.

He thought about having wine, but he and Joanne both liked good single malt scotch, so why gamble on an unknown, he certainly wasn’t a wine connoisseur. Looking into the liquor cabinet (really an old cabinet he refinished and used for all kinds of miscellaneous, including his booze) he found a great 12 year old, single malt scotch, pulled it from the cabinet and set it on the eating bar that separated the kitchen from the living area. Should he get some flowers? He thought about it then discarded the idea, after all they could sit on the porch and see all the wonderful wild flowers that covered the mountain side at this time of year so why spoil such a natural setting for a romantic evening?

 

********

 

“Any ideas?” Leaf had explained what he had found, took a sip of a cup of hot coffee then set his cup on the table between them.

“None, not at this point.” John had pulled out the chart from the chart bin against the inner cabin wall and spread it out on the table in front of Leaf’s cup. “It doesn’t show anything in their write up we received and nothing on this chart shows a shift of the old hull. How long ago do you think it got moved, or was attempted to be moved by explosives?”

Leaf was at a complete loss to come up with an answer. This was not the first time they had been called to do some salvage work and found someone had already been there and disturbed the site. There were literally hundreds of novice divers around who would find a lot of pleasure investigating things like this, and some of them, not realizing the importance of the find, would pilfer the wreckage for a souvenir or two, Rarely would one of those types ever use explosives though. There had to be more to this than met the eye.

“Let’s take another look before we go any further. We have no choice but to attempt to bring this thing up or at least move it out of the path of the deep coal-laden barges that come through here, but I would feel better if you looked this time. just to corroborate my findings.” Leaf motioned with his cup indicating his wish for John to make the second trip below.

“Okay Leaf, I’ll go down and have a look-see. Keep a sharp eye out though because the waves and the heavier than usual winds are causing some problems with keeping the boat stationary.” John donned his gear and slipped over the edge into the dark river water.

Joanne donned a colorful blouse that tied just below her breasts exposing her beautifully shaped abs that stopped obtrusively at the tasteful mid-thigh shorts that hid the rest of her curvaceous body. Her short ankle socks protruded out of the white walking shoes that announced their willingness to take on any mountain path that might beckon them. With her hair tied with a short yellow ribbon it formed a charming pony tail that moved with her every movement like a teasing pendulum.                                                           

Soon she was on her way but kept her eye on the road. Even though she had come into the mountains on several occasions she was still wary of who or what might be coming across the road around the next bend. She had read about a lot of accidents between cars, even wild animals causing wrecks due to swerving to miss them, and she wasn’t about to take a chance. This wasn’t her first venture alone but it was her first venture onto a mountain to spend any time, let alone over night, with Willy.

It wasn’t too long before she came to the curve and the upward roadway to the cabin drive that had been described to her so perfectly. There was no way she could have gotten lost following his directions. Joanne pulled into the drive leading to the cabin and stopped short just behind Willy’s car, turned off the ignition and slipped out of the drivers seat after releasing the silver buckled seat belt. A sigh of relief gently emanated from her lips as she stood for a second or two and took in the beauty of the place. “Here at last” she thought to herself as she walked along side the car and started up the path to the cabin.

Willy had removed his work shirt, showered, shaved and slipped on a muscle shirt and a pair of walking shorts. His muscular arms were bronze and his athletic body was a sight to behold. The only blemish, a small scar over his eye he had received years ago when he fell off a horse at the foot of this very mountain.

Willy was enchanted by her beauty. He met her half way up the path and with his boyish grin welcomed her to “Pikes Peak”. He was thrilled that she had driven up there to spend the remainder of Saturday and all of Sunday with him in this private Shangri-La,

He took her by the hand and led her to the cabin.

 

                                                ****

 

Watching from a distance, Sam could not help but admire this young couple. He was envious of this young and handsome neighbor who seemed so adapt at everything he attempted. Now, to make things worse, Willy had a beautiful visitor. All Sam had was his overweight and complaining wife. Somehow he had to equal things out so that at least in his mind he too could enjoy this weekend in the mountains.

As she sat on the back step of their place Luane watched Sam. She could tell he was looking at something but she could not see what it was.

Too lazy to just get up she took the line of least resistance and just asked the question. “Sam, what are you looking at? Is it something I would like to see?”

“Don’t trouble yourself, I’d hate to have you get up and stumble over something just being nosy! I’m not lookin’ at anything.”

“Nosy, you have a lot of nerve. You are the one who gets into everyone else’s business and tells them how to run it or do it. You got a lot of nerve.” She grabbed the rail running up alongside the steps and pulled herself up to her feet. She shuffled to where Sam stood then continued, “If it’s worth all that looking I think I better see too.”

Sam was annoyed with his wife’s comments and the way she had to see everything he saw but there wasn’t a lot to do up here on the mountain, so the two of them stood in awe of the young couple they could see through the trees in the distance. Why couldn’t they look like that now, not that they ever did before. All they could do was dream about it. All smarts and no looks, just didn’t seem right some how when others, like those young folks have it all, looks and brains.

The cell phone tone sounded and Sam pulled it from his pocket. “Yes, Sam here. What?

They are doing what? When did they get there? I thought you took care of that before.

What? Listen I can’t get down there now, but you better take care of the problem or else. What do you think you get paid you for.?” He pushed the off button and jammed the phone into his pocket.

“What was that about?”

“Business, just business that’s what.”

 

************

 

John had descended into the water and was taking a good look at the hole in the side of the old derelict. Leaf was correct, the hole was at the right place to have shifted the old wreck and forced the bow upward as the transom slipped into a crevice that had apparently been formed by an eruption some time ago. Someone had been here and rather than go into the old ship’s hull from the open top decided to blow a hole in her from below for easier access, or perhaps to remove something too large or too heavy to get out any other way, but what could it be? After taking a few shots of the bow and the damaged hull with his underwater digital he tugged on the rope signifying his return to the boat. Leaf was waiting.

John pulled himself onto the boat, removed his gear and without saying a word to Leaf went swiftly to the table below decks. Leaf followed with the anticipation of learning something he hadn’t discovered on his own dive. John turned on the digital after removing it from the protective water case and turned the small dial to the view icon.

He moved his arms forward holding camera so both he and Leaf could see it. There, on the bow, barely visible was the name “Katrina”. They leaned back in their chairs. John set the camera on the table.

“Do you know what this means?” John produced a furrowed brow and almost squinty eyes as he looked at his partner. “Do you understand what this old wreck is?”

“No, I don’t. Is this something special that I don’t know about?”

“Well, let me fill you in on this brother, you won’t believe it. About one hundred years or so ago one of the barges from the old “Kenerly Gravel Mines” left their river port filled with course gravel like always, but, as I was told by my dad, it wasn’t all gravel. They found a kind of a concrete encasement when they were digging. kind of like an old adobe box, and in it was a skeleton adorned with gold bracelets and necklaces as well as a gold belt buckle that weighed over a pound. Old man Kenerly decided to send it down river to the small town of Boaz where there was a professor Perry or something like that, who could estimate its age, figure what old tribe or whatever, and maybe put a value on it. The old barge ran into a raging storm of some kind and sunk. Now that made everyone think that the thing was hexed or something and so they didn’t immediately go after it.”

“You mean that this thing has been down there all this time and no one tried to do anything about it?”

“Fact is, there weren’t any radios then or special instruments, no one knew where the old barge sunk. The storm raged on for days so no one ventured out. Since they did not go out immediately due to the storm, I guess they just counted it as a loss and put in on the back burners and forgot about it. Well, until now anyway.”

 

“What should we do? It is apparent someone blew that hole in it because they knew about the treasure but I don’t understand why they’d use explosives when the thing was falling apart anyhow and all they had to do was go down into the hull and get it out?”

“Leaf my boy, think about it. Why not get the thing, then just set off an explosive and let it sink into the hole and just disappear forever from sight and people’s minds?”

“Clever, real clever. No one would think about it twice since the only thing that showed on the chart or the radar was an old hull.. If they hadn’t tried to cover everything up no one would have known the difference and we wouldn’t have been called in to salvage her since now she was in the way. We know that someone was aware of that old encasement thing though, maybe even the folks that asked us to salvage her in the first place. Right?”

 

************

 

The table was set, the flank steaks had been retrieved from the brine bath and were now being prepared to go onto the grill. Willy had taken great precaution to have excellent baking potatoes and rather than worry about not getting them done just right, he followed the cook book with great intensity. He put the potatoes into his oven for the prescribed time and was not about to remove them, even then, unless the fork punctured them and the texture was perfect.

He prepared an enticing salad of orange quarters, lettuce, broccoli, some carrot spears, pieces of sweet onion, some grapes and then garnished with bacon bits. Her choice of dressing would come later. He placed the concoction into the refrigerator and poured out a double shot of his special scotch into their glasses. “Ice?”.

“No”, just like it is, great for sipping.” Joanne knew a good thing and this was it. Her favorite drink.

The two of them sat on the porch as the grill finished their steaks to perfection and drank in the beauty that surrounded them, mindless of the fat couple down the mountain peering at them from behind the trees. The night was young, the dinner about ready to eat, a rare and wonderful before dinner scotch and an evening to remember was about to take place.

The buzzer on the oven sounded and Willy raised up from the comfort of the two-seater they had been sitting on and wandered into the kitchen. He opened the door of the oven, and stuck his fork into the hot potato. “Ah, just right” he thought as he turned the upper burner on the stove top to ‘warm’, then placed the two potatoes into a pan and covered it with a lid. “Time for the steak”.

The dinner was ready. The table was set, the napkins in place, the food brought in and the steaks on their individual “hot plates”. A chef’s delight. As they started to eat their salads a knock came on the door.

“Just a minute”, Willy frowned with wonder as he shouted to the knocker and wondered who could possibly be ruining this romantic evening. He got up and walked to the door and to his amazement there stood his neighbor and his wife.

“Hi neighbor, just thought we would drop in. Oh, have you got company? Gosh sorry but that sure smells good, what is it?” It was obvious that Sam and his wife were more interested in the food than making a house call, and of course their curiosity was easily seen and totally unwanted.

“This isn’t a good time Sam, we were just starting our dinner and..”

Sam interrupted, “Well don’t let us stop you, we’ll just sit here and wait ‘till you’re done.”

“Really, I don’t think…”

Joanne, attempted to be cordial. “It’s all right Willy, introduce me to your friends.”

Willy was perturbed about the whole affair, in the first place Sam was not his friend only a nosy neighbor, and in the second, and more important place, this was supposed to be a romantic evening, every detail planned out and it was not supposed to be interrupted. What could he do now? “Damned neighbor” he thought.

“Sam and Luane, this is Joanne, my friend from down town, you probably have been in her shop next to my office.” Even with his patience, which was wearing thing quickly, he felt obligated to introduce them since Joanne had asked him to.

“We are glad to meet you Joanne. I can see why he kept you a secret.”

 

“I wasn’t keeping any secrets, I…”.

He was cut off again. “Sure you weren’t”. Sam intervened with all of his obnoxiousness                                                

“Sam, and Luane, why don’t you take Luane and go out onto the porch, When we are done in here we will join you with an ‘after dinner’ scotch?”

“Well one reason is we don’t drink scotch, only wine. What kind have you got?”

“I don’t have any wine because I don’t drink it!” Willy was starting to grow impatient with his unwanted guests and it was beginning to show.

The cell phone went off again in Sam’s pocket. “Sam Perry! What? That can’t be. Well this isn’t the time. What? What company?” Sam looked at Willy with a hateful expression. “I’ll get back to you”. He turned off the phone

“Where is your friend that stays up here a lot and helped you build the place, I think his name is Stump, or, oh darn it , yeah now I know, Leaf?”

“Why?”

“Well because I need to know, that’s why!”

“Frankly, I don’t think it is any of your business where Leaf is, why don’t you just take Luane and go home?”

“Sorry to ruin your dinner.” Sam used a very disgusting tone in his voice. “I need to know now!”.

Finally he had worn out his welcome and Willy had lost patience. He got up from his chair and walked boldly to Sam’s side, Quietly he spoke very carefully planned words that were simply “Sam, if you don’t get out of here, right now, I am going to pick you up and thrown you down the mountain. Have I made my self clear?”

Sam backed up and reached into a lower pocket on the leg of his utility pants and pulled out a revolver. Willy stepped back in amazement at what had just happened. How could this strange little man even know how to load one, let alone shoot one.

“What are you doing with that thing?”

 

By now Luane was as concerned as Joanne and Willy. “Put that thing down Sam, where in the world?”

“Shut up Luane and go home. I’ve got business here with this guy!”

“Look you little fat smart aleck, don’t talk to me that way. I asked you a question and I want an answer.” She was both abrupt and perturbed.

“Like I said, Luane, go home!”

“No, I’m not going!” Her disrespect for him reflected in the tone of her voice.

“If you won’t go then sit down over there.” He pointed to a hard seated antique chair from Joanne’s store, that sat in the corner. “I mean it, go sit down and shut up!”

As she moved apprehensively across the room to the chair, Sam again turned his attention to Willy.

 “I didn’t plan things this way but since this is the way it is we will just change direction.”

 He saw a length of rope by the gun cabinet, walked across the floor slowly without taking his eyes off of Willy, then picked it up. “Tie up the lady and be quick about it.”

Willy stared at him and the anger seething as his hazel-blue eyes turned to green. “What do you think you are doing?”

Sam pushed the gun further in front of him aiming right at Joanne’s body.

 “If you would rather, I can just shoot her?”

Willy, afraid of what he might do followed Sam’s orders and took the rope and carefully tied up Joanne’s hands to the chair behind her.

 “Now what?”

“I want you to get that friend of your’s on the cell and tell him to drop whatever he is doing and come up here, now!”

“I don’t know that I can even reach him. I know he’s on the river somewhere on a salvage job but that doesn’t mean we can reach him. You know how the cell phones are with towers and such.”

“I don’t give a damn about that. Get on the phone and give him a call. Believe me, you and Joanne’s life depend on it!”

Willy moved to the kitchen counter where his cell laid. He carefully picked it up and started to finger the numbers.

“Wait! Give me that thing.”Willy complied.

“Now, tell me the number, I’ll dial it and then you can talk. No 911 calls today!”

 

***********

 

 

“The people who sent us to salvage this might have known about the artifact but they wouldn’t have come in ahead of us to get it then try to destroy the old barge would they?”

 

The cell phone tone sounded and John reached for it.

 “Hello, Salvage Company”.

 

There was a second or two of silence, then the voice answered, “John, this is Willy, I need to talk to Leaf”.

John was surprised by the voice on the other end, especially since Leaf had told him he was being a great guy this weekend by working and leaving the cabin to his buddy and a new lady friend, for privacy.

“Here, it’s for you”.

“Hello, who is this?”

“It’s me. Listen, this is going to be quick and there is no way to say no, or that you’re too busy, or anything else. You’ve got to stop whatever you are doing and come to the cabin. Got it?”

“This isn’t a time for joking around Willy, we are pretty busy right now. What’s up?”

“I’m not kidding around. I have a guy here with a gun at my temple and he says if you don’t come here, at once, he is going to shoot me and Joanne! He means business.”

“You’re not kidding are you!”

“No, I’m not.” The phone went off.

“John, we’ve got another problem.”

“What now?”

“I guess you know that was Willy. He said some guy has a gun to his head and if we don’t stop what we are doing right now and come to the cabin, he’s going to kill both him and his girl friend.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you heard me right. I don’t think we have any time to lose. Let’s get out of here.”

They hoisted up the anchor, pulled in the diver flag, started the motors and pushed up the channel at full speed.

 

 

************

 

Sam jerked the phone away from Willy and turned it off.

 “You said enough, if that don’t bring them up here nothing will. Now, go sit over there,” and he pointed to the chair next to Joanne.

Taking a quick look around the room he spotted some duct tape that Willy had left after repairing a heat vent, picked it up and carefully taped Willy’s arms behind his chair. He wasn’t taking any chances or leaving any margin for error.

All of this time Luane sat quietly, but deep in thought.

“What in the world is Sam doing? I’ve never seen him act this crazy before and I’ve seen some crazy things with him too. What should I do?”

Her mind was racing with second thoughts about Sam, about what he had done right in front of her, the way he had spoken to her. What could she do, or maybe more to the point, what should she do?

Sam knew time was running out.. His father, the original Professor Perry, had told the story many times of how he was to identify the remains of some ancient warrior dressed with gold bracelets and such. How the boat bringing it had gone down and no one knew where it was. Sam had kindled this story in his mind so many times the fire burned through his skull like a hot brand. He had researched it many times and now, just as he was about to bring it up, his assistants encountered someone else at the barge site. It wasn’t fair and after a lifetime of searching the charts, checking the currents and finally locating the barge he wasn’t about to give up to easily.

 

************

 

After leaving their boat, they ran to their company car, started the ignition and drove at reckless speeds from the harbor. Being quiet was easy as both were deep in thought. It wasn’t until they approached the foot of the mountain road that the silence was broken.

“I can’t figure out why we are wanted at the cabin, or who for that matter.”

“Well, it must have something to do with our salvage trip!”

“What makes you think that?” John gave Leaf a suspicious look.

“Well, why else would someone take Willy hostage and insist we drop whatever e were doing and come to the cabin, or else?”

“I don’t know. That is a good question though. Do you think Willy knows something we don’t?

“No. I think Willy just got caught up in something, but who would know about the cabin?

“I can’t think of anyone, except…”

“Except who?”

Leaf changed his stare from the floor board then to his partner, with a startled look he said , “Sam, Sam Perry of course. Why didn’t I think of that before. Didn’t you say the professor that was going to examine that old hunk of concrete was a Professor Perry?”

John looked at Leaf with a startled expression, “That old man would be dead by now!”

“Our neighbor. That weirdo next door to the cabin who kept telling us how to do our work, that’s who. I just can’t believe that little old fat guy with the crew cut could be that bold, but I’ve been deceived by looks before.”

“ It takes all kinds. I don’t understand who could have been spying on us and then report back to him that we were there. Why would he go to the cabin, take everyone hostage and insist we drop everything and go there too. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe it does. Let’s connect the dots. Think about this; (1)He knows about the treasure from his dad.(2) He decides to get it but knows if he does he will have to turn it over to the state. (3)He hires someone who knows about diving but they recognize the name on our salvage boat. (4) They have been there and tried to destroy the old barge but goofed (5)Now we come along and the whole things is going to come to light because of the name on the bow of the barge (7) He has the treasure but his people did not destroy the evidence well enough and have seen us get there before they had the time to do what needed to be done.”

“That sounds wonderful Sherlock, but aren’t you forgetting something?”

John got that puzzled look again, “What?”

“If he stole it in the first place, why not just run”

 

“You’re right! And I thought I had it all figured out.”

“I think you are on the right track. What if someone else stole the thing before he could get it and he thinks it was us. After all we’re the only people reportedly seen around the old barge.”

“So in your scenario, he sent someone to get the treasure and they reported back we were there to get it too?”

“That’s it. Someone else got it and he just disappeared .”
Leaf thought about it for a minute, then came up with a suggestion.

“We know he has a gun, we know he has two hostages, and we know he hired someone who double crossed him. The advantage we have is that I know the cabin real well. There is an outside entrance to the storm shelter that opens into the kitchen behind the eating bar.”John interrupted, “What if you go in, and he gets pissed because I am not with you?”

“While he is distracted looking outside through the door or the window for me, I will come up through the trap door in the kitchen and take him by surprise?”

“Don’t you think that could be a little risky?”

“Got a better idea?”

John stuttered a bit, ‘N-no, I don’t!”

“Okay then, you let me out before we get around that last bend ahead of the drive. I will get out and circle around to the shelter entrance, give me about two minutes before you continue. Go in the front door off the porch. It’s got to work.”

Leaf got out of the car at the curve and John continued into the drive. Deciding that there could be a possibility this may not work and knowing the gunman would take the first car in the drive rather than move them out of the way one at a time, he stopped the car and put a small cut with his pocket knife into the brake line on the rear wheel so any leakage would not visible.

 

************

 

Sam was nervously looking at his watch. He wondered where they could be. Surely they wouldn’t be stupid enough to alert the law and take a chance on someone getting killed. They didn’t even know he was there, or who it was holding Joanne and Willy hostage.

He only knew he was ready and wished they would come. Time was being lost!

Suddenly the porch door opened and John came in.

Sam did as expected, “Close the door and come in with your hands up. Where is Leaf?”

“I thought he was behind me”. John turned his head as though he expect Leaf to be there.

“Well, it doesn’t look like it. Get over there by the table and sit in the other chair on the end next to the girl.”

Willy watched as Leaf’s partner moved toward the chair.

“I thought Leaf would be with you. Where is he, doesn’t he know our lives are in danger?”

It was as though no one even heard him. John looked at him and slowly rolled his eyes toward the kitchen before Sam could see any communication between them.

Willy winked in recognition of the message. He remembered the trap-door and understood.

Sam walked over to the door, opened it slightly looked out, and then he checked the window. No one there. He turned to face his captives. “You have only one chance. Your friend better show up here in the next five minutes or you are going to be very sorry. He could be waiting for something, the good Lord only knows what, but I am running out of patience! Now that we are clear, you tell me what I want to know!” He turned his gaze toward John who was sitting in the chair, but unbound, where he was directed to go.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Some company hired us to get an old tub moved out of the shipping lane and before we could do it you took these two hostage and then had them call us to come here. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on.”

Sam cut him off, “I don’t have to tell you anything. I want to know what you did with my property and I want to know now. Did you think I would not have the barge watched?”

Luane had been thinking about this situation since it started. She was having difficulty realizing how bad things had become. What in the world was Sam doing. Could it be that she really did not know him at all? Even if she didn’t care much for these young people she couldn’t sit by and watch them be murdered. For that matter what was going to happen to her when this all was played out. She and Sam didn’t have a wonderful married life either.

“Sam”, Luane pleaded, “please don’t do this. Stop this nonsense and let these people go. What could possibly be so important to kill for?”.

“Shut up Luane, you don’t have any idea what’s going on. I’ve spend a lifetime researching my father’s story and now that I have found it I don’t intend to give it up.”

The tone, the attitude, the demeanor, everything pointed to the fact that she was no longer important to Sam. She was just another pawn in the game. Actions were necessary but she was neither fast nor powerful enough. What could she do?

Sam turned to look outside once more, this was her opportunity to act. She was one of two people not tied up as he hadn’t tied up that new guy yet. John was still available to help. Maybe if she were to distract Sam long enough, John could do something. Luane looked at John and slightly moved her head a couple of swift times in the direction of Sam. John saw that she was motioning him and tried to mentally formulate some type of maneuver to quickly disarm the little man. His navy seal training was going to be valuable at this point if lives were to be saved. He nodded his understanding to Luane and waited for her next move.

Slowly, she got up from her chair and walked toward her husband. She was careful to walk in a direction toward him so that he could not see John who was poised to move. Sam turned and saw her.

“Sit down and stay out of the way woman!”

Sam was mad, out of patience and ready to take it out on someone as he moved toward her with his left hand in the air ready to slap her. This was the opportunity John had been waiting for and with catlike reflexes he rolled over the table landing on his feet then leaped the four feet from the table onto Sam.

Sam, taken by surprise lost his gun and it went flying across the room and into the kitchen just as Leaf came up through the trapdoor.

 

Sam was on the floor grappling with John who had the upper hand. Luane had moved back to her chair and was crying in desperation. Leaf, gun in hand, looked around the room with pleasure in his expression.

“Leaf, what’s going on. I thought…” Leaf cut Sam off.

“Okay everyone, fun time is over.” He walked around the table to the back of Joanne’s chair and untied her. As John got up off the floor he motioned to him with the gun hand to take Joanne’s place on the chair.

“Hey man, put the gun down. We got him.”

“Joanne, use that duct tape on the counter and wrap up old Sam for me.”

Leaf waved the gun toward the chair once again.

 ”Take the chair Joanne just got out of, and you, fat guy, just stay right there on the floor. Thanks for making this so easy Luane, I was getting a little bit worried listening from below.”

As John walked over to the chair his heart raced with disgust. “It was you? It was you all along? Why?”

As Leaf tied his old partner to the chair he described the plan with a sinister smile, “Simple. Sam told me about the treasure and how to get it. We were to split the reward. Joanne and I decided we didn’t need Sam anymore so we retrieved the concrete encasement on Thursday. She and I have been planning this for a long time but we needed more information so I contacted Sam for work He knew about you and the salvage company and suggested that we become partners. He even loaned me the dough to buy my way in. Don’t look so forlorn John, there’s one born every day you know. 

Looking at Willy, he continued “While your buddy was under the water I called Sam and told him someone else was at the wreck. I was his watch dog. I knew it would be a brief matter of time before he called me on his cell phone to try and find out what was happening and probably threaten me, and I was right. After all, For the last part of our plan it was necessary to get everyone up here at the same time so by baiting Sam, you can see that worked pretty well, I had already told him to come up here and keep an eye on you. I didn’t trust you too much alone with my Joanne.

I hate to see all of my hard work go to waste, especially after our detective friend here and I built the place but I’m afraid this place has to go. I understand that fires do happen in these parts, you accidents with grills and such.”

John’s curiosity surfaced, “But why the charade. Why not just steal the thing and disappear?”

A smile came on Leaf’s face as he continued to tell of his escapade.

“Because everyone would have put two and two together if we disappeared. Now they’ll just figure it was a shame about the fire and you folks. Having a nice dinner when the grill exploded and caught the place on fire with you all in it. But that’s enough chit-chat. It’s time to complete the plan. Joanne, have you got the chloroform in your purse?”

Leaf held Sam tightly as Joanne administered the chloroform. Poor Luane had already fainted from the mental exertion and horror that came to light finding out that her husband was a crook. Carefully Leaf moved the gas grill closer to the side of the cabin. While Joanne busied herself chloroforming the rest of the group, Leaf started on his igniter.

The plan was perfect. Leaf rigged an old style timing device that would give them time to get far away before the explosion took place. It was a simple one made of a solution of water and baking soda. He attached a bent wire into the cap and then placed another thin flat metal piece inside the jar that floated on top of the concoction. The baking soda would interact with the water causing the metal piece to rise in the jar until it would come into contact with the two wires and cause a lethal spark. With the amount of gas from the grill that had been left on (accidentally) an explosion would definitely occur. The evidence would be up in flames and the bodies as well. Joanne had unbound each victim after they were succumbed by the chloroform and rearranged the unconscious bodies to appear they were just relaxing in the various chairs in the cabin.

Laughing, Joanne and Leaf moved quickly toward the last car in line, the company car that John and he had recently arrived in. He turned the key in the ignition and the car roared to life. He knew the car was practically new and would take them far into their journey before anyone could detect the fire. Disposing of it would be child’s play with the river so close by. They drove partway down the mountain before stopping to await the explosion and be sure their plan did not come undone. As they sat at the side of the road waiting for the fire,  the fluid slowly leaked from the line, unnoticed.

“Leaf, don’t you think it’s taking too long for the fire?” Joanne was getting edgy with the delay.

“I think you should start calling me by my real name now, what do you think? The charade is over.”

“Okay. I was getting tired of that Leaf crap anyhow. Glad to get real again Walt.”

“That’s better. Now don’t worry honey, the plan is going to work.” He didn’t want to worry Joanne but he was getting concerned about the delay as well.

Another five minutes went by without any interruption in the quietness of the mountain retreat. Leaf turned the ignition key once again.

“Maybe we better check!”

The car started and Leaf turned the wheel and hurriedly backed up toward the side of the cliff so he could turn around on the narrow road. He looked into the rear view mirror and instinctively pushed on the brake pedal to stop the cars backward motion. The pedal dropped to the floor. With a look of horror on his face the car gained momentum!

He shouted to Joanne, “Open the door and jump, hurry up and jump, we are..”

The car rolled off the road side, falling down the treacherous mountain side toward the ravine below as two bodies flew through the air from the opened doors as the vehicle tumbled unmercifully down the cliff.

Willy’s senses came alive as his nose twitched and the smell of the propane gas entered his nostrils. Being one of the first to be immobilized by the gas he was the first to awaken. He raise his head from the table and moved it from side to side as he awoke. Suddenly he realized what he was smelling. He got to his feet and staggered out of the door almost falling over the grill that was half in front of the door and leaning against the side of the cabin. Reaching down he turned the two knobs to their off position while fanning with his hand in front of his face attempting to ward off the obnoxious fumes.

One by one the others came to their senses. Luane had a headache from the gas and of course had to complain, but knowing that Sam felt worse did lessen her pain.

 

As Sam regained consciousness,  his only thoughts were questions as to why he trusted this Leaf character, where did his treasure go, why didn’t he think this out more carefully? Even as obnoxious as he was it was a pitiful sight to see with the sweat rolling from his brow and the tears in his eyes. The smell emanating from his armpits was almost too much to handle.

John was the last to awaken. He had been through the mill. The fight, the driving, the gas……….it is no wonder he felt so bad. Suddenly he spoke, “Where is Leaf, where is Joanne?” Even as he looked out the window, then staggered outside he worried about this man who he thought was his friend. This man who had been his partner for several months and with whom he had worked so closely.

The company car was gone. Then he saw it, a plume of black smoke coming from the valley and he knew,

                                               

 

 

 

 

 

.