by David Wood
Chapter 11
Dane stretched out on the sofa in the living area of his parents’ cottage, feeling the bone-wearying fatigue that had plagued him since the sheriff had shut them down. He hated to think they’d wasted their time, but what did they have to show for their work? One injured crew member and a chamber they hadn’t managed to penetrate. He despised failure.
He was tired, but sleep eluded him. There was too much on his mind.
He opened his eyes and rolled over onto his side, and his gaze fell on The Gold Bug. He’d read a few pages, but not gotten very far. Might as well give it another go.
It was the story of a man who had to decipher a cryptogram in order to find a treasure buried by Captain Kidd. It wasn’t the best book he’d read, but it held his interest to the final page. And what he found there made his heart lurch.
Beneath the words “The End,” his father had written another personal message.
“So, what do you say? Are you in?”
After the inscription, an arrow pointed to the edge of the page. The next page was blank, with another arrow, beneath the words
“Keep going!”
He flipped to the back page cover and was disappointed to find it blank. He was about to toss the book on the floor and try and get some sleep when he saw it. The dust jacket was taped to the cover, and peeking out from underneath it was a thin, wax paper envelope, with a yellowed sheet of paper inside.
“Bones!” he shouted, springing to his feet. “Get out here now!”
Seconds later, Bones burst through his bedroom door wearing only a pair of boxer briefs and holding his Glock. Moments later, a bleary-eyed Avery came stumbling out of the bedroom Dane had given over to her, while Angel, not wearing much more than Bones, scrambled down the stairs that led to the loft where she was bunking.
“What’s wrong?” Bones had needed only a glance at Dane to realize they weren’t in danger, and had lowered his pistol.
“What’s wrong is, I’m an idiot. Look!” He held out the book for Bones to see what he’d found.
Bones whistled.
“What is it?” Angel was pressed up against him, one hand resting lightly on his shoulder. Dane’s eyes drifted to her taut stomach that her tank top didn’t quite cover, and quickly tore his gaze away, cursing himself for ogling his best friend’s sister. He glanced up to see if Bones had noticed, but Bones was checking Avery out, and making little effort to hide it.
“I think it’s whatever was hidden inside the sea chest. My dad left a note in this book inviting me to help him search for a treasure.” Under any other circumstance, he would have felt a lump in his throat and found it difficult to continue, but excitement and a measure of discomfort at Angel’s closeness, served to distract him. “It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but he never got the chance to give it to me.”
“He wanted you to help him find the treasure?” Avery’s voice held an odd note he couldn’t quite define.
“I’m his son, and treasure hunting is what I do.” He shrugged. “Anyway, everybody grab a chair and let’s check this thing out.”
“I’m just glad you woke me for a good reason,” Bones said. “I was dreaming about a Victoria’s Secret model.”
“Which one?” Avery asked.
“I don’t know. They all look alike to me.”
With the utmost care, Dane worked the envelope free of the tape that bound it to the book cover, and removed its contents. There were two items inside: a sheet of stationery covered in symbols, and another sheet, folded, yellowed with age.
“Want me to do that?” Avery spoke in hushed, reverential tones. “I have experience with old documents.”
“Sure,” Dane slid it over to her.
“Give me a moment.” She hurried into her room and returned with a pair of latex gloves. “I was going to color my hair,” she explained. Dane didn’t miss the way her eyes flitted toward Bones and her cheeks reddened a touch. “This is more important.”
A silence borne of anticipation fell as they watched Avery go about her delicate task. When the sheet was finally spread out before them, they all broke out in grins.
“It’s the island,” Bones said.
It was an aged map of Oak Island, rendered in exquisite detail. It alone would have been an exciting find, but there was more.
“X marks the spot.” Angel gave Dane’s arm a squeeze. “That’s the place you and Matt found, isn’t it?”
“Looks like it,” Dane said. “We can’t say for sure, since it’s probably not to perfect scale, but I think it’s the same place.”
“And check this out! There’s a way in.” Bones indicated a dotted line leading from a different location on the island to the chamber.
“It starts on land, so it’s unlikely to be an underwater channel,” Dane mused. “Unless it’s become flooded over the years. That’s a possibility.”
“I know where this is!” Avery exclaimed. “I can lead you right to it. If the sheriff will let us back on the island, that is.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Dane said. “He said he’s going to arrest anyone who wasn’t gone by the end of the day. No way he lets us come back.”
“What are we going to do?” Avery was on her feet, fists clenched. “We have to get to that secret passage before Locke drills into the chamber. That won’t be long!”
“Chill,” Angel said. “You forget who we’ve got on our side.”
“She’s right.” Bones rocked back in his chair, hands folded behind his head. “Maddock and I are experts getting into places we’re not invited.”
“Only because you were never invited to any parties in high school,” Angel jibed.
Bones’ obscene gesture was half-hearted at best. He loved the adrenaline rush of anything dangerous, and was clearly focused on finding a way onto the island. “You’ve got to figure he’ll have deputies guarding the road that leads to the island, and, maybe, a boat patrolling the coast, though I doubt it. He thinks he’s beaten us, so he’ll probably be lax.”
“Don’t count on it. His ego is huge, but he doesn’t miss a detail. We’d better plan on two boats, and a patrol on the island as well.” Avery cupped her chin and narrowed her eye as she stared at the map. “We’ll have to go in at night without lights or a motor. Kayaks?”
“You’ve got a good head for this sort of thing,” Bones said. He gave Avery an admiring smile and she blushed.
“I love kayaking!” Angel exclaimed. “Let’s rock this!”
“Hold on.” Dane held up his hands. “Avery’s right about going in at night, but any kind of boat is too risky. Besides, I want to do this tonight. Bones and I will swim it.”
“No!” Avery shouted and sprang to her feet. “You can’t do that.”
“We’re pros,” Bones said. “We’ve done the same thing hundreds of times, and trust me, the stakes were much higher. Worst that can happen here is we get arrested and Charlie bails us out.”
“I need to go too.” Avery clenched her fists until her knuckles were white. “I have to show you the way in.”
“I’m sure you can tell us all we need to know ahead of time,” Dane said. “Show us on the satellite images.”
“It’s cool, Avery. We’ve got this.” Bones reached out to take her hand but she snatched it away.
“This is my project. I’m the expert. Besides, I’ve done plenty of diving. I can handle it.”
“You wouldn’t be able to keep up if we ran into trouble.” Dane said. “Look, I’ve been on plenty of treasure hunts and I know how you’re feeling.” Avery shook her head and, too late, Dane remembered that you should never tell a woman that you know how she feels. “If the circumstances were different, I’d have you right there with us, but this is just one of those times when it needs to be me and Bones. Only me and Bones.” He said this last to Angel, who made a pouting face that sent a shiver down his spine. He looked back at Avery, trying to ignore how warm he suddenly felt. “I’m sorry, but this is the way it has to b
e.”
“Besides,” Angel said to Avery, “this is Maddock’s treasure hunt. His father left it for him.”
“You don’t understand.” Avery whispered as a solitary tear trickled down her face. “He was my father too.”
Chapter 12
Dane sat, dumbfounded, gazing up at Avery, who seemed almost as shocked by her words as he was.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you. This wasn’t how I wanted to do it.”
Dane looked from Angel, who was likewise speechless, to Bones, who frowned, and then his face split into a broad grin.
“I can totally see it!” He pounded his fist on the table, threw back his head, and laughed. “The hair, the eyes, the thing you both do when you’re thinking hard. I should have figured it out.”
“How?” Angel asked.
“Our father,” Avery said, settling back into her chair and studiously avoiding Dane’s gaze, “spent a lot of time here. Sometimes he was with his wife, but other times he came alone. He and my mother had a fling; two ships meeting in the night and all that. They didn’t carry on any sort of long-term affair, but he sent money every month and made sure I had everything I needed. He even helped me with college.” Her eyes grew moist. “Once every summer, he would spend a few days with me. We’d always do something related to his pirate research. I suppose that’s why I chose my the career path I did.”
“So, this is more than an academic pursuit,” Angel said. “This is personal.”
Avery nodded.
“Say something, Maddock,” Bones urged.
“Sorry, I’m just shocked. I never...” He trailed off, lost in dark thoughts. He’d never dreamed his father would lead a double-life.
“Let’s leave these two alone,” Bones said to Angel. “I think they’ve got some talking to do.” He rose from his seat and headed out the back door onto the deck. Angel gave Dane an encouraging smile and followed her brother out the door.
“I’m not lying.” Avery said after a lengthy silence. “I’ll take a DNA test if you want me to.”
“I don’t guess I want that.” Dane said. “Bones is right. It’s kind of obvious once you know what to look for. How long have you known about me?”
“All my life. I don’t mind telling you I’ve hated your guts for as long as I can remember. You got my dad fifty one weeks out of the year. I got the leftovers. And now, after all the times he and I spent researching Kidd’s treasure, I find out it was you he wanted to share it with.” Her tears flowed freely now, but her eyes shone with resentment.
Dane nodded, unable to summon any words of comfort. He couldn’t blame her for feeling like she did.
“So, how do you feel about me now? Still hate me?”
“I haven’t made up my mind yet.” Avery managed a tiny laugh. “You’re bossy as hell and you don’t listen to anyone but Bones. That much I’ve already figured out.”
“I’m not bossy, I’m decisive.” He grinned. “And I do listen, it’s just that everybody else is wrong most of the time.”
“We really are an awful lot alike. Creepy.” Avery wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “So, what else do we have in common? Are you as unlucky with the ladies as I am with the guys?”
“Maybe.” Before he realized what he was doing, he was telling her about his wife, Melissa, and her tragic death; a subject he studiously avoided even after all these years. Then it was on to his ex-girlfriend, Kaylin, and, finally, his current sometimes-girlfriend, Jade. “Things just aren’t working out between us. Sometimes I think Jade and I are too much alike, you know?”
“I’ve got to hand it to you, Maddock. I never suspected you had that many words in your vocabulary, much less you were the kind of guy who would talk relationships for ten minutes straight.” She reached out, tentatively, and took his hand. It was a good feeling: companionable and comforting.
“That’s the longest I’ve ever talked to anybody about relationship crap,” he said, knowing he sounded a bit too much like Bones. “Is this typical sibling conversation?”
“Don’t ask me. I’m new at this too. Are we good?”
“Yeah,” he said after a long pause. “I think we are. It’s still weird, though.”
“Totally,” she agreed, slipping her hand from his grasp.
“How about we bring the two peeping Toms back inside and let’s make a plan for getting to whatever Dad wanted us to find?”
Bones and Angel were making no effort to hide the fact that they were watching Dane and Avery through the window. When Dane motioned for them to come inside, they bounded through the door like children headed to recess.
“This is so cool!” Angel said. “Now I have somebody who can understand what I go through with this assclown.” She glared at Bones, who feigned innocence and his heart.
“Time’s short. Let’s get to work,” Dane said.
“Bossy,” Avery said to Angel in a confiding tone. “I just told him about that.”
“They don’t listen,” Angel said in a mock-whisper. “You have to learn how to push their buttons to get what you want. I’ll show you.” She smiled at Dane, eyes sparkling, and winked.
Once again, he found himself feeling uncomfortably warm, and hurried on.
“It’s going to be me and Bones going in. You get it, right?”
Avery gave a grudging nod.
“What can you tell us about this spot on the map?” Dane asked.
“We’ll have to compare it against contemporary maps and photos.” She couldn’t hide her guilty expression. “I lied. I have no idea what spot on the island this correlates to.”
Dane buried his face in his hands. “Why me?”
“Just kidding. I know exactly what this spot is.”
Bones and Angel burst out laughing and Angel high-fived Avery.
“Fine,” Dane sighed. “Fill us in.”
“The spot here is in the swamp.” She pointed to the mark that denoted what they presumed was the entrance to the passage. The swamp was a triangular body of water that virtually cut the island in two.
“I thought the swamp had been investigated and dismissed as a possibility,” Dane said.
“Sort of. Back when portions of the island were privately owned, someone tried to drain it. As the water receded, he found what looked like a wooden shaft rising up out of the water, but when they investigated it further, it turned out to only be a few feet deep. He gave up his efforts to drain it any further. After that, there were disputes over the swamp between the different people and groups who owned parts of the island. Eventually, the government took control and, since then, the swamp has been ignored.”
“Do you think this map is pointing to that shaft?” Bones asked. “If we have to dig, there’s no way.”
“It’s not. Look here.” She pointed in turn to six circles. “These indicate the locations of huge granite stones that form what we call the Oak Island Cross. The width of the cross,” finger hovering millimeters above the aged map, she traced the line, “is 720 feet, with the center stone perfectly centered. The distance from the center stone to the bottom of the cross is also 720 feet, and 360 to the top. Everything is perfectly proportioned except for this one.” She pointed to a circle between the middle and bottom stones.
“That’s the entrance,” Angel whispered.
“This stone ought to be halfway between the center and bottom stones, but it isn’t. Researchers have always wondered why it alone is disproportionately spaced. Now we know.” Avery looked around the table, her expression triumphant.
“Is it in the swamp?” Bones asked, leaning down for a closer look.
“It juts out into the water,” Avery said. “I’ll bet there’s a hidden passage underneath it.”
“What if the stone is covering the passage? They’ll never be able to move it.” Angel pursed her lips and tugged at her earlobe. It was one of her little habits that made Dane smile.
“I guess we’ll find out.” Dane’s eye
s drifted to the bottom right corner of the page. “What are these symbols?” A tiny block of glyphs, triangles, circles, squares, some incomplete or slashed through with diagonal lines, had escaped their notice.
“They look like the same glyphs that can be found on the stone that was discovered in the pit back in the 1800’s.” Avery gave the symbols a long, appraising look. “This uses some of the same symbols, but it’s a different message entirely. No wonder no one has ever been able to make sense of it!” She sprang from her seat and hurried into her bedroom, returning shortly with a battered briefcase.
Dane’s eyes widened when he saw the case. “I remember that.” It had belonged to his father. Dane could recall being surprised when Hunter Maddock had returned from one of his research trips with a shiny, new briefcase instead of his beloved old one.
“Dad always had this with him whenever he visited,” Avery explained. “When I was little I used to like to play with the clasps. As I got older, I guess I came to associate it with the good times we had together. He gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday. I hope it doesn’t make you feel weird.”
“It’s cool. He told me the airline lost it. I’m glad it’s still around.”
“Anyway,” Avery said, opening the case and extracting a folder, “here are some possible translations of the original stone. Maybe they can help us figure it out.”
“What about this?” Angel held up the other paper that had been in the envelope. “It’s got a bunch of those weird symbols plus a code.” She flipped the paper around for the others to see.
“That looks like the cipher in The Gold Bug,” Dane said, reaching for the book that lay forgotten on the table. He flipped to the pertinent page and turned it around for the others to see.
“No way!” Avery’s eyes grew wide. “Do you think Dad translated the runes, and then encrypted them?”
“Definitely.” Dane was certain of it. “He would have thought it added to the fun and made it more secure in case the wrong person stumbled across it. Besides, to the average person, it looks like a long math problem.”