Quest (Dane Maddock Adventures)

by David Wood

  “He warned me and then they took him! They wanted me too, but I got away. They searched my apartment. Maddock, you know I’m not a drama queen, and I wouldn’t come to you unless I really needed your help.”

  The need in her eyes took him back to another time and place, and he shook his head to return himself to the present.

  “Okay, I understand. So you want us to go to the Amazon to find your boyfriend? I don’t know that we’re the best men for that job. It’s not our specialty.”

  “I want you to help me solve this mystery, wherever it might lead. That is your specialty. Don’t deny it.” Her eyes bored into him. “I also need someone who can keep me safe.” Her voice fell with the admission. “Whoever these people are, they probably don’t know I’ve given the picture to the police. Even if they do, they might want to make sure I can’t tell anyone else what I’ve seen.”

  Dane rubbed his chin, feeling the stubble that had cropped up over the course of the day. He felt for her, truly he did, but was he really the right man for the job? And frankly, if it was Kaylin lost in the Amazon, he’d go after her in a heartbeat, but to risk life and limb for her boyfriend? It was… weird.

  “You could stay with us,” Corey suggested, “and have the authorities search for your boyfriend. You’d be safe here, and there must be people who are better trained for an Amazon rescue.”

  “It’s not that simple. When Thomas first turned up missing, everyone’s attitude, the police, the university, was he’d probably just been delayed, because that’s fairly normal down there. Now that it’s been a while and still no word from him, I’m getting subtle hints that he’s probably not coming back. No one really wants to help. If he’s going to come out alive, I’ve got to make it happen.”

  Bones took the picture from Kaylin, took a long look at it, and dropped it into Dane’s lap. “You know we’re going to do it, Maddock. You might as well save us all some time and go ahead and say yes.”

  “Please, Dane,” Kaylin’s eyes glistened on the verge of tears. “There’s no one else in the world I can trust. I need you.”

  “All right.” His voice was hoarse. “I’ll do it, and it sounds like Bones wants in.”

  “Hell yes, I do.” Bones pumped his fist. “Gonna’ lasso me a kangaroo and ride it clear across the jungle.”

  “They don’t have kangaroos in South America.” Willis looked at Bones as if he wasn’t quite certain if Bones was kidding or not.

  “Seriously?” Bones face fell. “Well, I’m not going. I was only in it for the kangaroo rides.” He gave Kaylin an evil grin and she laughed.

  “That’s another reason I need you guys to help me. You can always make me smile no matter how bad the situation gets.”

  “Maddock’s the best at making a woman laugh.” Bones spoke behind his hand in a mock stage whisper. “Just not on purpose.”

  “Hey, I’m not the one whose nickname was ‘Mister Shrinkage,’” Dane retorted. The others guffawed as Bones sputtered an explanation about gossiping women and the temperature of a particular hotel pool.

  When the laughter subsided, Corey spoke up. “I take it that, once again, the three of us will be left to finish up the job here, while you guys do your thing.”

  “That’s pretty much the size of it,” Dane said. “Look on the bright side. You have a boss who trusts you with every aspect of the business.”

  “Riiight.” Matt downed the rest of his beer in two gulps, belched, and tossed the bottle back into the cooler before fishing around in the ice for another. “You know, such trusted employees just might deserve a raise.”

  “Seriously,” Dane said, his voice sober, “if Kaylin needs help, it’s probably going to take all of us. We’ll have to do some research on the front end, but if I’m going into the Amazon, I’d like to have all you with me. There’s no better crew in the world.”

  “I’m there.” Willis raised his bottle and nodded.

  “Me too,” Matt said.

  All eyes turned to Corey, who sat staring down at the deck. Unlike the other members of the crew, he was not a combat veteran, and didn’t get the adrenaline rush from dangerous situations that his friends often did. He sighed and shook his head. “I guess it would get lonely around here if the rest of you jerks were off saving the world, and left me to swab the deck. I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

  “That’s settled then.” Dane stood and knuckled the small of his back. “Bones, Kaylin, and I will follow up on this… clue.” The simple picture scarcely merited the title, but it was all they had. “You guys shouldn’t need more than a few days to finish up here. If we aren’t back by then, we’ll meet you at home.”

  Home was the Florida Keys, where Dane had been planning to spend a couple of weeks after this job fishing and being generally useless. That would have to wait. If he was honest with himself, though, the prospect of trying to solve another mystery from the past had his heart racing.

  “Well,” he said to Bones, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. “I guess we need to pack.”

  Chapter 6

  “That’s the last one.” Bones tossed another book onto the table. “There’s not much relating to Fawcett in this library. I did find a freakin’ awesome book about cryptids of the Amazon, though. I wonder if they’d let me have a library card.”

  “Bones, what kind of luddite are you that you’re actually looking at books?” Kaylin grinned and returned to the library computer. “I wish I had my laptop, but I didn’t want to go back home. Not after, well, you know.” Lapsing into silence, she looked around as if danger might lurk behind any shelf.

  “I’m going to pretend I know what that word means,” Bones replied, “and we’ll skip to the part where I tell you to kiss my…”

  “A little quieter, you two,” Dane said, making an apologetic wave to the two scandalized-looking old ladies who sat at the next table. He was reading an article online about The Lost City of Z, the subject of Fawcett’s alleged obsession. It made for interesting reading, but mostly consisted of speculation founded on rumor, with very little substance to it. “And Kaylin, you don’t need to look so nervous. The real danger begins when we head to the Amazon. I think we’re safe in the library.”

  “So, what did Jimmy say when you asked him to help us out on this?” Bones asked. Jimmy Letson was an old friend and a high-level computer hacker. His system, NAILS, could access secure databases all around the world, and he had assisted them with key research on their previous adventures.

  “Well, he used a few phrases that curled the hair on my toes, and then he told me he didn’t do fairy tales or dime store novels, and to call him when we had something real for him to investigate.” Dane chuckled. “When he finally took a breath, he explained that, while he could probably turn up plenty of information on Fawcett, it wouldn’t be anything we can’t find ourselves, and a lot of it would be junk. He’s a subject of historical interest, and an important explorer, but it’s not like there are secret government documents about the guy.”

  Kaylin sighed as she clicked on another link. A website opened, filling the screen with old photographs of Fawcett. “I can’t find anything relating to this Fawcett painting. What few portraits he posed for are pretty ordinary—nothing as busy as the image Thomas left for us.” Her shoulders sagged and she took her hand off the mouse. “I’m already getting discouraged here, guys. Tell me something that will lift my spirits.”

  “You know,” Dane said, “I think what you’ve found is actually helpful, in a way. If all the other portraits for which Fawcett sat are plain and ordinary, that actually reinforces the idea that our painting is special. I’ll bet you that every detail in that picture is critical to understanding Thomas’s message, whatever it might be.” Dane turned away from his computer and looked at Kaylin and Bones. “What do you say we take each element of the picture separately, and see where each leads us?”

  “What do you mean?” Bones had abandoned his book on cryptids, and was now hunched over an old
book, trying to erase Fawcett’s huge mustache from a black-and-white print. Kaylin snatched it away from him, shooting him a reproving glance.

  “We take each item in the picture one at a time, and try and figure out how it relates to Fawcett. Take the ship, for example. Did Fawcett make a voyage on that particular ship, or one like it?”

  “We’d have to know her name,” Kaylin said. “But I think you might be on to something.” She took the picture out of its envelope and slid it onto the table where they all could see it.

  “Amphorae,” Bones mumbled. “Could be Greek, or, really, any of several Mediterranean cultures.”

  “I always forget you’re not as dumb as you act.” Kaylin shook her head.

  “Thanks, I guess. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Fawcett doing any explorations connected to the Mediterranean, but it won’t hurt to check.”

  “Let’s see what we can find.” Kaylin typed a few words into a search engine. “We have a couple of hits.” She frowned as she read. “There’s speculation that Fawcett’s lost city of Z might have actually been an ancient Greek city.”

  “Wait a minute. A Greek city somewhere in the middle of South America?” Bones frowned. “How does that make sense?”

  “It doesn’t.” Kaylin turned a knowing smile upon him. “But you and Maddock, of all people, should know something doesn’t have to make sense in order to be true.” She turned back to the computer. “Kephises is a legendary lost city of Amazonia, settled in ancient times by the Greeks. Nothing else of substance, though.”

  “Do you think that might be what Thomas was searching for?” Dane asked.

  “It doesn’t sound like him. He’s a scientist, so I can’t envision him searching for lost cities. I could see him searching for Bigfoot before he went after a lost city.” She shook her head. “Then again, I wouldn’t have expected him to have any interest in someone like Percy Fawcett, either. I guess I didn’t know him as well as I thought.”

  “Okay, so we have the possibility that Thomas was looking for the lost city of Z. That’s not much to go on.” Dane cracked his knuckles and picked up the picture. “If he truly believed this picture was enough for someone to come after him, there’s got to be much more here than meets the eye.” He gazed intently at the picture, as if the famed explorer could speak to him. “How about the book? Is there a connection between Fawcett and…” He took a close look at the picture, turning it so he could make out the title on the cover. “The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle?”

  “I loved that book when I was a kid.” Bones smiled and, for a moment, his eyes took on a faraway cast. “Seems like the connection would be obvious, though. That book was written around the time Fawcett was exploring. What other book would you put in his portrait?” Then his eyes lit up. “Dinosaurs! Kaylin, you said Thomas might go after Bigfoot. What if he believed dinosaurs still live somewhere in the Amazon? Would that be something he’d go off in search of?”

  “I… suppose.” Kaylin frowned. “It doesn’t feel right, though.”

  “I agree,” Dane said. They were thinking about this all wrong. They were looking at the picture from the perspective of a Fawcett scholar, deepening the mystery about his quest for Z. What they should be doing, however, was put aside what they thought they knew about Fawcett and Z, and instead, treat this image as a set of bread crumbs that would lead them to Thomas. “Look up Fawcett and The Lost World.”

  Kaylin typed the terms into the search engine, and the screen filled with hits. “Wow!” she whispered. “Look at all of these.” Dane and Bones scooted closer to the monitor. “It appears that Fawcett and Conan Doyle were friends. Some of Fawcett’s explorations inspired the story, and the main character in The Lost World was even modeled after Fawcett.” She continued reading. “Conan Doyle presented Fawcett with a signed copy of the book, and…” An excited smile spread across her face as she went on. “Percy Fawcett took it with him on his next-to-last expedition in the Amazon. Members of his party said he used it as sort of a personal journal, making notes in the margins.”

  “That’s got to be it!” Bones pounded his fist into his palm. “Thomas must have found something written inside that book that told him where Fawcett was headed on his final expedition. Find the book, find Thomas.”

  “But why wouldn’t someone have discovered it before now?” Kaylin looked as if she was afraid to believe it could be true.

  “Maybe it’s in code or something, like what was on the back of the picture,” Bones said. “We don’t have any better ideas, do we?”

  “Does it say where this book is kept?” Dane’s heart was racing. This felt right. “Is it in a museum somewhere?”

  “It’s kept in the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society in London.”

  “Did Thomas make a trip to England at any time in the last few years?”

  Kaylin frowned, her brow furrowed. “He actually did, shortly after we started dating. I remember thinking it was odd because he was gone much longer than he had planned, but I didn’t want to be nosy. We weren’t serious at the time. You know, he seemed excited when he got back, and he stayed that way. I assumed it was because he and I were getting along so well, but maybe it was something else.” Her face flushed and she hastily called their attention to a thumbnail-sized image of the book inside a glass display case.

  “Here’s the book.” She clicked on the image and the snapshot filled the screen.

  There was nothing remarkable about the book itself, but something else had caught Dane’s eye.

  “Go back to the previous screen for a minute.” Kaylin clicked the back arrow. “Click on this picture here.” He pointed to a thumbnail image farther down on the page. Kaylin clicked it, opening an image of one of the rooms in the Royal Geographical Society.

  “Look at the picture hanging on the wall in the background.” The resolution was low, and the image blurred, but there was no mistaking the portrait.

  “It’s the same picture,” Kaylin whispered. “Thomas’s picture. Our picture!”

  “You know what this means.” Dane smiled. “Time to pack our bags for England.”

  “Well, I have mixed feelings about this.” Bones frowned, looking disheartened.

  “What’s wrong?” Kaylin asked.

  “I’ve been to England,” he said. “The beer’s okay, but the food sucks.”

  Chapter 7

  “You are telling me that this is the sole piece of evidence you have collected?” It was only with the greatest of effort that Salvatore Scano kept his voice calm. He found cold serenity to be much more intimidating than anger or annoyance. Let them wonder what was going on behind that calm façade, and they would always fear that you were about to do something rash. “With all the resources you have at your disposal, the best you can offer me is nothing more than a poor quality photograph of an early twentieth-century painting?”

  Silence reigned in the conference room as everyone exchanged sideways glances. No one wanted to be the first to speak. Finally, Alex, his son, cleared his throat. “That is the only piece of evidence there is, Father. Thornton left no other clues regarding his plans.” He fell silent, wilting under his father’s cold gaze.

  Shane Kennedy took up the explanation from there. “We searched everything, Sir. Thornton’s office, his apartment, even his girlfriend’s apartment. Nothing that would tell us where he’s going. We were thorough.” Few men could meet Salvatore’s stare for very long, but, when it came to Kennedy, nothing seemed to intimidate the gritty former Marine, a quality that Salvtore both appreciated and found annoying.

  “Details.” He reached for his cup of espresso, his eyes never leaving Kennedy’s.

  “Breaking the encryption on his office computer was child’s play, but all the files dealing with the Amazon expedition pertained to the trip he was supposed to take with his students—not the one he actually took. He had no computer at home. It’s either hidden, been destroyed, or he’s taken it with him. No paper trail, either. He clea
ned up after himself nicely.”

  “What about his phone records, credit card charges and such?” Salvatore took a small sip of the hot, dark liquid, its bitter taste a perfect match for the information Kennedy relayed.

  “Nothing helpful in the phone records. We believe he used a disposable cell phone for whatever calls he needed to make. We’re still working on obtaining the rest of his credit card information, though what do we have doesn’t reveal much.” He drew a sheet of paper from a manila envelope and slid it along the table to Salvatore, who eyed it dispassionately. It was a copy of a credit card statement with a charge for a round-trip ticket to London highlighted. “Thornton went to London several months before his expedition. While this doesn’t tell us anything specific, it suggests that the painting is of significance. Percy Fawcett was from the U.K. after all.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Not yet, Sir, but we are still working.”

  “I expect nothing less.” Salvatore nodded and returned his attention to his son, Alex, who sat chewing his lip and staring daggers at Kennedy. “And what of the man we have in custody? Thornton’s colleague?”

  “A waste of our time.” Alex’s voice was scarcely audible across the long conference table. “He knows nothing.”

  “What did he tell you?” Salvatore took another sip and waited.

  “Thornton gave him the picture with instructions to use it to find him should Thornton not return from the Amazon. The man’s a Literature professor, a school teacher, he didn’t know what to do with it, so he passed it off first chance he got.”

  “And he confirms that this picture is the only piece of evidence Thornton left behind?”

  “Yes.” Alex feigned a yawn. He thought his reticence made him look strong and aloof, but it served only to make him appear childish. More and more, Salvatore had considered the likelihood that Alex would not be a suitable choice to take the reins of ScanoGen. Alex was not half the man his brother had been. If only…