The Lost Treasure Map Deluxe Book Collection (2017 Edition)

by V Bertolaccini

  Bryson watched the copy of himself and realized that he could learn a lot of things from it and about himself, and saw all the advantages of it being there. If it was there to do harm why did it not just kill him?

  His first thing to do was try to communicate with it and somehow get information about its mission.

  Merton and Mortimer took Mitchell further up the corridor and communicated in whispers with him, decided on something and returned, and they took him and the thing down to the empty dinning room, and closed the door behind them, and offered the thing food that Bryson normally ate and they all ate their breakfast, with Bryson sitting opposite them directly in front of the thing, occasionally watching it with some amazement. He had never fully known what he had been like until now – even though it had a great deal of different reactions – mainly due to it being a stranger and unfamiliar with many things – and Bryson slowly accepted it was something else in his body, and realized the potential again, as well as the others as well, and them actually getting information from the thing haunting the place.

  Yet after more observations he realized that it could be something else – and not the thing haunting there!

  None of them said anything to it and waiting for something to happen, and Bryson wondered what would happen and sat chewing pieces of his food, considering what he would do if he was it in different scenarios and when he finished he considered what the others would do, until he felt that he had considered everything, and was surprised that something else actually happened instead and the dinning room door swiftly swung open and two archeologists entered with startled faces – and stared at the two versions of Bryson facing each other across the table with amazement and laughed – and even thought of changing what they had planned to do but went through with it anyway.

  Both of them sat next to Mitchell and one of them removed some documents and placed them on the table in front of him, and Bryson recognized him as the archeologist that had been at the tomb when they had taken it up into the room and found the tomb had the name William Randall engraved on it.

  “We had both skeletons examined to see if they are genetically linked to Bryson’s blood sample you gave us?” the archeologist announced. “To prove what one was William Randall and what one was not William Randall!”

  “As William Randall is marked as being in a tomb at the other castle and in the tomb here ...” Mitchell continued further, vaguely amused, watching the thing along the table from him.

  “That’s correct!” he replied, almost laughing hideously for some reason that baffled Bryson – who wondered which one had been the authentic one – thinking the archeologist would now tell them that it was neither.

  “We even had the results checked again after receiving them!” the archeologist firmly replied.

  “And what ...?” Mitchell moaned.

  “Well! They are both William Randall!” the archeologist announced, handing the documents over to them, shrugging and wondering again why the stranger looked like Bryson.

  Chapter 17

  The Two Randalls

  Bryson recalled examining the features of the skeleton in the tomb at the top floor and comparing it with the other skeleton at the last castle and knew that they had been the same.

  The other version of him had seemed to react for a brief moment when it had been told!

  Bryson was astonished and realized that there had been two William Randalls and that they had not been twins! Mitchell had suggested that they had been twins and that the accounts of them had for some reason missed out details of them, which was common in historical accounts as Bryson had learned on many occasions, but the archeologist had firmly declared that they had not been twins and had been identical – and that the documents affirmed that they were of the same person.

  It was strange as he now had to think of there being two William Randalls at two castles and he wondered what had happened to create such a situation? How did the William Randall at the top floor die? And why had he been put where he had been? And what had people at the time thought of it, and he wondered if they had thought of it as witchcraft? There had been accounts of it at the last castle, and he even thought the occurrences there had been responsible for putting so much accounts of witchcraft into the history books – as they had been the only proper accounts of witchcraft happening – as far as he was concerned!

  For a moment they had all silently watched the other him at the table as he had finished his meal and Bryson had started going through the problems that might surface and that they might keep identifying it as being him and vice versa, and he had wondered what would happen if it started claiming it was and how he could explain to people who had not witnessed what had happened what was happening? They could barely explain anything there to the police already and they insisted in knowing everything there!

  He wondered what it was classed as? If it had not been for the strange appearance it had made in his room he could have taken it for something else! He might have thought the disturbance had done something with time and allowed an earlier or older version of him to appear!

  Bryson could not realize who was more amazed him or the others, and he dared not let the other him out of his sight in case it did something that he would get the blame for!

  “Just tell me – what the hell you are?” Mitchell demanded once, finally trying answer at least one of his queries.

  “I do not know!” it announced, clearly not knowing.

  “I never knew you had a brother?” Mitchell continued, amused, trying to think of what he was missing. He clearly thought there was a hidden joke!

  “I don’t remember anything!” it continued, not knowing what to do now.

  “What? You lost your memory? Where did that happen?”

  “On my way back here!”

  “Back here!” Mitchell replied, and laughed loudly. “What? You are claiming you were here and left ...?”

  “Of course! I awakened – up there!”

  The stranger pointed over in the direction that that had come from, from Bryson’s room, and Bryson tried to detect if it was now following an act to cover up its identity.

  Mitchell heard a noise from his communication device and picked it up and started talking to someone.

  Bryson wondered what would happen if the thing made copies of all of them? They would be breaking the law if they tried to do anything to them! What could they do with them? Could they prove that they were aliens?

  Bryson decided to keep the thing near him! But not to near! He was not going to sleep with it near him! Yet the thing could have easily have already killed him in his opinion!

  “That’s strange!” Mitchell announced, leaving the room. “A lot of the stuff on the people here has been erased from our files!”

  Bryson immediately wondered why Mitchell had files on the people there, and as if they knew about it. It was strange! They had brought Mitchell there to find the treasure and basically help them with anything dangerous – and he was now running things further than anyone else – and seemed to have connections in the police as well as in the military, where he seemed to be still a major figure for some reason, which he had claimed he had no longer anything to do with – and all the men working for him had treated him as being far more than ex-military, and some had even given him a high up military title and salute.

  Bryson watched Merton and Mortimer follow him out and leave him alone with the thing, facing him across the table.

  “So what’s your name then?” Bryson finally asked jokingly, realizing that he had to talk to it and he had been in far worse situations there already – like going through the vortex ...

  “Bryson!” it joked back, making him gag for a moment.

  “We could be twins?” he replied, not just joking but seriously trying to solve the problem of what to do with it, for the moment.

  “Alright!”

  “My name is Bryson so you’ll have to choose another ...”

  “Call me Thomas!” it r
eplied, making him gasp again, knowing it had deliberately used his first name knowing that it had not been told to it, and he thanked it for letting him know it.

  “Choose another!”

  “Call me William then!”

  “Alright!”

  “Maybe we can do each other a favor ... We could have information that we both want?”

  “You are perfectly correct!”

  Bryson observed how human and identical it really was and tried to establish the differences in it to establish what it was really like and he saw differences in the way it used its features.

  Chapter 18

  The Thing from the Tunnel

  Bryson wondered if the thing was automatically carrying out a programming given to it by what was in the second tunnel, even though it was capable of being human and doing human things it was like it was carrying out a plan, which he never fully knew what and left it as it wanting to gather information.

  It seemed to like finding information on what it could and checking for anything of interest, abnormalities, and he watched it examining things. And even though he could not get if it was hiding anything he avoided questioning it.

  He was starting to think Mitchell was part of scheme to carry out some very illegal activity there. Yet what could he be up to there? Unless he intended to take the treasure away and disappear with it?

  He even considered there was something of else of value there and if he intended in taking it back without anyone knowing of it! But what was it? Perhaps he had heard of something being there from accounts of there – which had been hidden away from them? Pendleton and his two treasure hunters had known things that had not been told to them! Yet that was not an illegal activity and it was even up to him whether he told anyone of it – and he was sure that it was something else!

  Though he would be bothered if he did take the treasure without him knowing about – even if he never got any of it – as he wanted to find it and see what it was more than anything!

  Many items there were being kept and sent out by many of them that thought that they had great hidden value, but he knew that they never as he had them checked out by his friend and Bryson had not found anything worth taking except for glamorous and curious ornaments to remember the place.

  They started searching the rest of the top floor and the area the police had warned them not to go in, and searched everything while checking nothing deadly was there.

  He started noticing Mitchell had more interest in the William Randall tomb and insisted in having it removed from there – by having the windows of the room removed and having it lowered down to the ground on ropes, where it was taken away by a helicopter. All the people he had contacted about it valued it as of being of little value and he wondered if he was going to have it checked for something, and it having something hidden in it.

  He was sure that he would even discard it before they left there, especially if they found something of real value. Since he had been at the last castle he had gotten to know many explorers, who had made explorations all around the world, as it interested him greatly, especially after him finding the last treasure, and he had started to believe there were treasures about and he was amazed that a lot of treasure hunters and people interested in exploration had met with him after hearing of his discover of the treasure, and they had him recollect and give his account of what had happened.

  Mitchell was an explorer and had heard of his accounts and had been told many things about him by the scientists.

  Bryson was unsure how far they would go there and how it would end, and wondered if they would keep going searching there for months and wondered how long he would stay there until he had enough of it and was positive that there was nothing there, and if they could solve the disturbances there.

  He knew how valuable the place was though and would try to get what he wanted somewhere before he left.

  There had to be something of value there and they were all keen to find what was hidden away there enough for something to happen, and he briefly wondered if what existed could be let loose on the world? Nobody knew what was holding it there or what it really was!

  Bryson searched the rooms with William and watched him search and how he did it. Yet he still could not grasp some major thing about him, and never really knowing what he was doing or looking for being that thing, but he still could not believe it actually was it. It surely was created by it, separate from it, to carry out work.

  If it was seriously dangerous, and it started doing things against them, they would have to do things legally against it – because as far as everyone there was now concerned it was human – and he also thought it was human now and that they could end up having serious problems.

  What if it really was different and an alien and could breed? Could such creatures start to take over the Earth?

  While they were searching a room Mitchell had appeared at the door, and started searching objects there, like he was checking if they were missing anything.

  “Do think there is anything here?” Mitchell asked it, trying to get his views about it.

  It just laughed like Bryson, over some hidden joke, either about it or about him, or something that they had not grasped.

  “I have checked almost everything here,” Bryson replied. “Nothing here is anything of value! What do you think William? Could there be anything of value about here?”

  It looked over at him, still slightly amused, with its amused expression, and replied, “Out here! I don’t think so!”

  His reactions were little! If he was what he claimed why did he not act more like him? Yet why was he not like a twin and even doing things differently? It once had him searching his memories of his relatives that had been like him!

  Chapter 19

  The Killer

  Bryson stood at a room window and watched the snow come down heavily and he knew that it was the start of another blizzard hitting region, and watched it cover the wood in front of the castle.

  Somewhere in the lower castle he heard a heavy thud that sounded like an explosion of something and he felt its shudder go through the castle stone.

  As he started to wonder what had caused it a strange black figure, covered all over in black clothing, rushed out the castle at a speed he thought was staggering, and he wondered if he was an eminent sprinter.

  Then he watched the figure enter the wood faster than he thought possible and wondered what he was missing, and stood more confused when another figure appeared below and started blasting rounds of bullets at him in the wood with one definitely hitting him – especially going by the confidence of the policeman and the way he stopped and his various reactions.

  Bryson left and put on a thicker jacket and rushed down to the lounge and to the front door, where he saw a group of policemen who recognized him immediately as they were the same police that he had followed into the tunnel and out into the wood after the killer.

  One of them turned and even gasped when he saw him, and Bryson was sure something was going to happen there as they were getting ready to do something.

  They rushed out into the wood and invited Bryson to follow them and Bryson followed them, checking that it was not going to turn dark, but he was sure that they had at least an hour before it did turn dark.

  He immediately started showing his presence and went up to the front of the group to question the policeman that recognized him, that he remembered talking with when they had chased the killer into the tunnel.

  While they scrambled through the snow he heard two policemen in front of them giving panic-stricken replies and he wondered why?

  They clearly believed that they were chasing the killer out into the wood, and they were glad to see Bryson there again and knew that he knew the ground more than them.

  The man had been in a large hooded black jacket that he had used to cover his face and nobody had seen his face, and he had shot and killed one of the policemen in the castle.

  It was believed that he had ente
red the castle and police surveillance equipment, put there to catch him, had alerted them to him being there!

  A blue light flashed over the wood from behind them and he watched it illuminate the wood slightly, making him realize it had become dimmer, and he wondered if it was entirely the snow falling, thick trees, and heavy clouds doing it.

  It turned worse than he had imagined as the police were rushing about back at the castle getting ready to begin a full-scale operation in the wood to get the guy. Yet he realized that though it could have them out there in the dark that a police helicopter could catch him!

  The killer confused him as nobody yet had seen his face, which was clearly covered up, and the speed of the man was incredible and that of a top athlete. Had the guy increased his running speed to get out of being caught and he wondered how long he could run at that speed and he knew that the police about him thought that he would slow down eventually.

  The speed of him was the main thing that they had underestimated the last time and that he had managed to get out into the wood and have his footprints covered up by the snow, and with them running after him fast through the tunnel.

  When Bryson saw his footprints he was surprised again! Though they were normal shoe marks their placement was strange and placed differently than he had seen before! Yet it could have been him rushing through the deep snow and through the blizzard, and he still seemed to Bryson’s disappointment to be still traveling at a fast pace and he wondered where the hell he was going to out there anyway.

  He had survived in the wood the last time and seemed to know it and where he was going. If only the helicopter would turn up!