Everyone looked at each other, not sure what they were going to find, but excited that this geocache seemed to be extra special to the Cache Master. Ben couldn’t wait, he lifted the lid to the box, inside was another manila envelope. He picked it up and felt around, feeling nothing strange he gently tore open the end of the envelope, then held it upside down, the contents slipped out onto the metal table.
There was a brass key, which Megan instantly grabbed, Ben picked up a plastic folder that contained a torn piece of old aged paper inside, and Lacey and Trent grabbed a small stack of papers and began reading them, Lacey cleared her throat, “Okay guys, this is someone’s Will.”
“Will? Like someone left something for us when they died?” Megan asked.
“It says, ‘This is the last Will and Testament of Roy Morgan, whom ever has accessed this is the current beneficiary by Alaska state law to the contents of this Safety Deposit Box,” Lacey scanned the document looking for more information, then added, “Okay it says here in the ‘personal messages to heirs’ section: Thank you for playing my game, if you wish to continue your prize will be grand, I trust that anyone who can make it this far has the strength and courage to make the ultimate decision for the final prize.’” Lacey looked at the other contents, “Megan, what do you have?”
“Another key, but the waypoint on it is really different from what we’ve been following, I don’t think it’s around here.”
Lacey looked at Ben who’s eyes were wide with amazement, “What about you, Ben?”
Ben turned the plastic folder over and held it up for everyone to see, “I…I think I have half of a deed to somewhere, like a piece of land?” He handed the folder to Trent who looked more closely at it.
After a few seconds Trent’s jaw dropped, “this…this…” he shook it in his hands excitedly, “Okay guys, do you remember what I told you about the Pebble Beach Mine?”
“Yeah, about the gold? But we went there, there was nothing there.” Ben said curiously.
“Not yet.” Trent replied. He held the folder up, “You guys, this is half the deed to that land, if you find the other half of this…the land is yours. Which means the gold mine is yours too!” He handed the folder to Lacey. Lacey looked at Ben and Megan,
“How much gold did you say was in that mine again, Trent?” She stared wide eyed at him.
He shook his head almost unable to articulate the answer, then finally said, “Two hundred billion dollars.”
28
Lacey hugged Megan at the end of the security line at the airport, “You sure you don’t wanna fly home with us?” Megan asked for the tenth time.
Lacey held Trent’s hand firmly, they looked at each other and smiled. “No Megz, I’m gonna stay up here for a while, someone’s gotta get the RV, plus I need to look at the campus up here.” Megan blushed when she saw Trent kiss the top of Lacey’s head.
Ben’s mom pulled her sister aside, “Lacey, you sure about this?”
“Of course.” Lacey replied.
“Okay, but really, you’re gonna switch colleges? I mean it’s really cold up here!”
“Yeah, but I really like it up here.” She smiled and then nodded toward Trent who was shaking Ben’s dad’s hand. “Plus, it’s not like we aren’t gonna see each other in a month.” She held up the small brass key.
“True, and thank-you Cache Master for choosing someplace warm this time!” Ben’s mom laughed. “I can so do Hawaii!” She giggled again.
“Yeah leave all the hard, dangerous geocaches to us.” Lacey joked, “I see how you are, you’ll only do tropical places,” she nudged her sister, then leaned in and gave her a huge hug.
“Thank you for keeping my kids alive.” Ben’s mom whispered in Lacey’s ear.
“Of course, I mean c’mon I don’t think I could handle that lecture if something happened to them.” She winked at her sister. Ben’s dad grabbed his mom’s hand and pulled her into the line at security. Lacey gave everyone goodbye hugs then turned, grabbed Trent’s hand and began walking away.
The flight home seemed quick, it helped that Ben and Megan instantly fell asleep as soon as they were in the air. They walked sleepily through the Medford International Airport in Southern Oregon. It was small so their walk to baggage claim was less than five minutes.
They waited for their luggage to fall down from the conveyor belt onto the circular belt; luckily they only had a few bags that they had retrieved off the RV the day before. Ben and Megan’s dad loaded the bags onto a luggage cart and headed out the sliding doors and into the parking lot. They were all happy to be home, but still excited and nervous about their next trip. They quickly loaded the car, climbed in and were on their way home.
“Can I use your phone to text Lacey to let her know we made it home?” Ben asked Megan. She sleepily tossed her phone to Ben who began typing a message. As their car pulled into their driveway Ben noticed a large dark colored sedan park on the street in front of their house. “I wonder if it’s someone from the cell phone company, wanting all our pics from the trip?” Ben said to no one in particular as he stepped out of the car. Everyone got out and headed toward the sedan. As the door opened and a tall man emerged from the driver’s seat, Megan instantly froze in her tracks. Ben noticed his sister’s hesitation and paused waiting for the man to turn around. Their parents continued to walk toward the vehicle.
“Mom, Dad, wait!” Megan called out. The man turned around and just as Megan suspected her worst nightmare had come true. She began crying as she watched a bandaged and beat up Henry raise a gun up and point it at her parents. They instantly froze and lifted their hands.
Ben shook as he typed a quick message to his aunt, “911…we have a major problem.” He almost screamed when the phone vibrated in his hand, he tapped on the screen then read the text,
“Here 2.” Was all it said.
THE END.
Waypoint Alaska Page 16