by Matthew Rief
“I’ll stay with him, bro,” Jack said, his words catching me off guard. Before I could ask why, he added, “That dingy cell creeped me out as a kid. You know how I am with confined spaces. Besides,” he added, lounging on the sunbed and taking a sip of coffee, “somebody’s gotta stay and keep a lookout.”
I smiled as I scanned the area around us. The scene looked about as threatening as a butterfly exhibit at the zoo, but I knew from experience just how quickly that could change and reasoned that it was probably a good idea.
“We’ll take the radio,” Pete said. “Channel seven. There’s no phone service here.”
Jack nodded, and the rest of us climbed aboard the Zodiac. I plopped down at the stern. Before starting up the outboard, I glanced over at Walt. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet all morning.
“Hey,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “You feeling any better?”
He looked over at me and nodded unconvincingly.
“A little,” was all he said in reply.
“I think you’re gonna feel a hell of a lot better when we find this diamond,” Pete chimed in.
I started up the engine while Pete untied the line.
“You gonna be alright here all by yourself, Jack?” Ange said from beside me.
“Hey, he’s got Atticus,” I said with a grin.
Jack feigned a laugh.
“You guys call me if you run into trouble and need me to save you.” He leaned back and propped his feet up. “But I hope you don’t, ’cause I’ve got some boat bum relaxing to catch up on.”
We cut across the channel and tied off to an empty spot on one of the handful of small docks lining the shore beside the boat pier. Climbing up onto the hardwood planks, we headed onto the white sandy beach toward a footpath that led to the fort’s entrance.
We crossed a narrow wooden bridge with brick supports that traversed a sixty-foot-wide moat that surrounded the entire fort. A middle-aged woman dressed in a park ranger uniform was walking beside the entrance when we approached. She paused and looked us over.
“The park doesn’t open for another—” She cut herself off when she saw Pete. “Pete Jameson?” she added with a smile. “Why I’d recognize that hook anywhere.”
Pete laughed and greeted the woman. One of the many good things about Pete was that he knew just about everybody in the Keys. The woman informed us that the park didn’t technically open until sunrise, but she allowed the exception.
We thanked her and headed up a nearby staircase. Mudd’s old cell was located on the second level, just above the visitor center, between Bastions Charlie and Delta. Up on the second level, I looked out over the center of the fort. Most of it was just grass and trees, with a few sporadic structures around the edges.
Just down the corridor, we turned and came to the walkway leading into Mudd’s old cell. Above the entrance was a wooden sign with white letters.
“Who so entereth here leaveth all hopes behind,” Ange said, reading the words aloud. “Well, that’s comforting.”
Inside, the cell was much larger than I’d expected it to be. I estimated that it was around three hundred square feet. It had solid stone floors, faded brick walls, and a few small windows that allowed the dim dawn glow to bleed in. There was a sign and a placard that contained information about how Mudd had provided medical care during an outbreak of yellow fever in the fort.
“Looks like he redeemed himself,” Ange said.
Pete nodded. “He was eventually pardoned by President Andrew Johnson.”
We spent ten minutes examining every inch of the cell. We were looking for something, anything even remotely abnormal. A loose brick, an unusual feature, a strange marking. But we came up empty.
“Maybe wherever Hastings hid it has been covered up,” Pete said. “There’s been a handful of renovations over the years to keep this place in such great shape.”
A deep uncomfortable feeling overcame me. Maybe we’d come all this way, followed all the clues and narrowly escaped deadly encounters only to come up empty-handed right at the end.
“Well, you guys are sure here early,” a male voice said from behind us.
I turned and looked toward the entrance of the cell. A young guy, maybe early twenties, wearing a park ranger uniform, strolled toward us. He had short red hair and freckles, and his face was reddened from the sun. He wore glasses and had an awkward gait.
He stopped just inside and looked around.
“Ah, checking out Mudd’s cell, huh? You guys have any questions about it?”
I massaged my chin and smiled as I looked over the others.
“I heard he tried to escape,” I said.
He nodded.
“Yeah. A few times, actually.”
“But he never got out?” Ange said.
He looked over at Ange, shooting her an awkward smile.
“Well, officially, no.”
That sparked my interest.
“What about unofficially?” I said, raising my eyebrows.
He paused a moment.
“You know, I’ll let you all in on a little secret,” he said, stepping toward us. “This may have been Mudd’s cell at first, but after an escape attempt, he was taken elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?” Pete said. “Can you show us?”
He smiled, then nodded. He led us out of the cell down to ground level and across to the other side of the fort. We headed into Bastion Alpha, the northernmost fortification. Instead of heading up, he led us into the bowels of the structure and eventually to a ground-level room that was smaller than the Baia’s saloon. This cell only had one tiny window.
After a few minutes of looking it over, Pete found something. He nonchalantly showed us a faded and barely legible symbol on one of the bricks. It was the same symbol we’d seen on the compass, the chest, and the tablet in the Bahamas. The symbol representing the Florentine Diamond.
We all looked at each other and smiled.
“Did Mudd ever try and Andy Dufresne his way out of here?” Pete asked.
The young guy looked back at him, confused.
“Andy who?”
Pete smiled and waved him off.
“Did he ever try and dig his way out of here?” Ange asked, not relying on the young guy having seen one of the greatest movies ever made.
He lit up as he looked at Ange again.
“Through the rock? There’s no record of that. Besides, there’s a cistern under here.” He tapped his dirty tennis shoes on the ground. “Even if he had managed to break through, the only thing he would’ve accomplished was adding a private swimming pool.”
We examined the symbol again. Hastings’s message was loud and clear. We needed to break through the brick and stone. But we sure as hell couldn’t do it with this kid looking over our shoulder.
“Mudd was held captive in this cell for most of his time at Fort Jefferson,” the young ranger continued. “He was held here until 1869, when he was pardoned.”
He kept talking, but we ignored him. He’d been helpful in showing us the new cell, but it was quickly becoming apparent that he wasn’t going to leave us alone anytime soon. If we were going to break through the wall, we’d have to get rid of him.
He stepped out of the small space for a few seconds, going on about something I couldn’t hear and allowing us to talk without him eavesdropping.
“We’re gonna need someone to distract this guy,” Pete said.
Our eyes gravitated to Ange. When she saw that we were looking at her, she shrugged and stepped closer to us.
“Ange, we need you to get rid of this guy,” I said.
She looked over at me and shook her head.
“What? You want me to—”
“Jeez, Ange I don’t mean knock him out,” I said with a smile. “Just sweet-talk him and walk around with him a little bit.”
Nothing distracts a straight man more effectively than a beautiful woman. Pit them up against fast cars, major sporting events, boats, video games, or whatev
er the particular guy’s thing may be. Nothing compares to the effect of a woman. And no woman compares to Ange.
“What if he’s gay?” she said.
“Then we’ve got Logan as a backup,” Pete said, patting me on the back.
She let out a big sigh.
“Fine. But you all owe me for this. Run me around the Keys all week looking for this thing and now I gotta leave right before the big ending?”
“I’ll make it up to you, Ange,” I said.
She winked.
“You’d better.”
The kid returned just as the words left her lips. He was still talking, not having skipped a beat since we’d arrived at the cell. I had to hand it to him, he was sure passionate about history.
Ange slid off her wedding band and dropped it into the front pocket of her denim shorts. She turned around and stepped toward the young park ranger.
“Connor,” she said in her sexy voice. I wondered how she knew his name, then spotted the small name tag on the left side of his shirt. “Could you be a strapping, capable young lad and show me where the little girls’ room is?”
The kid lit up like a firework, and I couldn’t blame him. I’d have acted the same way if a woman talked to me like that when I was his age. I grinned as he struggled to speak. This kid was straight as an arrow.
“Of course,” he said, finally managing to get something out. “This way.”
He turned around, and Ange placed a hand on his shoulder as they walked out of view.
“She’s almost too good at that,” Walt said with a chuckle.
I turned around, turning my attention back to the worn symbol in the brick. Kneeling down, I felt the dried mortar along the edges of the brick, then rapped my knuckles a few times against it with my ear close.
“You think it’s hollow on the other side?” Walt asked.
“Only one way to find out,” I replied.
I grabbed a coil of rope from my backpack. Moving about thirty feet in front of the cell’s entrance, we secured the rope at chest height across the passageway and set up the handwritten sign that said “Area Closed.” The morning ferry from Key West wouldn’t arrive until around 0900, but we wanted to make sure we had the cell to ourselves for the time being.
I moved back into the cell, reached into my pack, and pulled out the sledgehammer. Stepping across to the spot where Pete had spotted the symbol, I dropped to one knee beside the brick wall.
Demolishing part of a historic site for the second time in just a few days, I thought while eyeing my desired target at the edge of the brick.
Rearing back the hammer, I swung it nice and easy, letting gravity and the five-pound head do most of the work. The flat metal face struck the dried mortar with a loud crash, causing broken pieces to fall to the floor and a small bit of dust to burst out into the air.
I continued, relentlessly beating the wall again and again. After half a minute of powerful strikes, I slammed the head into the brick, and it broke free. Instead of falling toward me, it fell back and tumbled into a dark space.
I looked up at Pete and Walt and smiled. Grabbing my flashlight, I switched it on and peered into the opening. I gazed upon a short, narrow crawl space.
Turning back to face the others, I said, “I think we may have just found the way.”
THIRTY-ONE
After five more minutes of hacking away at the old wall, we’d smashed a space big enough for us to crawl inside. Broken pieces of bricks and crumbled mortar rested in a pile beside us. We’d pulled most of it out, allowing us to move inside without having to crawl over the jagged obstacles.
I took one more look around, listening intently for any sign of someone else. When confident that the coast was clear, I shined my flashlight ahead of me and looked back at Pete and Walt.
“You sure you wanna go first, kid?” Walt said.
I smiled. “Fortune favors the bold.”
I was also the youngest of the group and in significantly better shape than the others. It made more sense for me to go first and make sure it was safe. Selfishly, I also enjoy being the first to lay eyes on something that has been lost for years.
Keeping the light shining in front of me, I crawled into the space. Up ahead, it looked like the tunnel ended abruptly. But as I moved closer, I realized that it cut hard to the left and the floor dropped down.
Shining the light around the corner to make sure it was safe, I slid over the edge, landing on my feet. The tunnel was taller in there, but still not tall enough for me to stand up straight, so I kept my knees bent.
I took a few steps down the corridor, then reached a large stone cube at the end. Aside from the random block, there was nothing else. In all directions, the tiny space was completely empty.
“What is it, Logan?” Pete said.
I shrugged.
“I don’t know. The tunnel just ends here.”
“Wait a second,” Walt said, sliding beside us and dropping down to examine the stone. “The symbol.”
He aimed his flashlight and pointed at the side of the stone. There, carved into its flat face, was the same symbol Hastings had put on every other clue and the same one that had led us down into there.
Examining the stone more thoroughly, we saw that there were grooves dug into its sides. I slid my fingers around the back where the stone made contact with the wall. Instead of resting flat against it, the stone appeared to jut into the wall.
“There’s a space behind the stone,” I said, putting the two clues together. Turning to look at the others, I added, “We need to slide it back.”
Fortunately, it appeared to be some kind of artificial rock. I estimated it to be about five hundred pounds, versus the thousands it would have weighed if it were real stone.
The three of us squeezed into the narrow space, and each grabbed along the indent. On the count of three, we pulled with all our strength and just managed to budge the stone. After a few strong heaves, the stone slid toward us again. Just as it inched out of place, the sound of flowing water filled the narrow space.
We froze and listened as the water trickled out and quickly rose up over our feet. Shining the flashlight, we saw that it was pouring out from beyond the stone at a steady rate.
“I think it’s safe to say we found the cistern,” Pete said. He tasted some of the water, then immediately spat it out. “It’s salty. There must be a crack someplace letting seawater in.”
Within seconds, the water reached our knees. Shining through the opening, I saw that the flow was slowing and that there was a foot of headway for us to crawl inside and still be able to breathe. Crouching down, I shined the light as far as I could down the opening. It was hard to tell, but it looked like it opened up to a larger space beyond.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing hold of the stone once more. “We need to keep pulling it back.”
My muscles ached, and we grunted with each pull as we slid the stone farther back. Soon we’d slid it back far enough for us to crawl through. We paused and caught our breath.
“How in the hell did Hastings keep this passageway a secret?” Walt asked, shaking his head.
I didn’t know. It was incredible, to say the least, and it was still unclear whether Hastings had built it or had discovered it and kept it hidden after hiding the diamond. Either way, moving forward was our only way to the diamond. And we’d come too far to hesitate now.
I crouched down and raised my flashlight. Sloshing through the water, I reached a small chamber on the other side and nearly tumbled over a sharp corner. Shining the beam of light, I saw that the water was deep. There was only about a foot of empty space between the water’s surface and the ceiling.
Slowly, I slid over the edge and splashed into the water. It was about five feet deep, reaching up to my shoulders. I scanned my light around the water-filled chamber as Pete poked his head through behind me.
“This guy sure had a flair for the unique and dramatic,” Pete said with a grin.
I smiled back and n
odded. From the wild scavenger hunt he’d sent us on so far, I hadn’t expected anything less.
He shuffled out of the crawl space and splashed into the water beside me. Walt followed right behind him, and the three of us searched the chamber, shining our lights into every corner.
The space for us to breathe was getting smaller and smaller with every passing minute.
“The tide’s coming in,” Pete said. “It’ll be high just before noon, and it’s about a two-foot tidal range right now.”
I glanced at my watch and saw that it was just after 0700.
“This whole thing’s gonna fill up,” I said, looking around.
Pete nodded, and we continued our search of the chamber with increased motivation. If we couldn’t find the diamond before the chamber filled up, the rangers would figure out what we were up to, and our window of opportunity would close.
As I moved across the narrow space, my right foot caught on something, and I nearly tripped. After stabilizing myself, I turned back and shined my light through the water. It only took a few seconds of searching to realize that I’d brushed up against a brick that was raised slightly above the rest. Glancing side to side, I saw that the brick was located right in the middle of the floor.
I smiled as my mind raced back to when we’d first been learning about Hastings and the diamond. The whole search began at his deathbed, when he had spoken to his niece. I thought mainly about what Walt had said were the last words to come out of his mouth.
“Of all the secrets in my life,” I said, recounting Hastings, “I hid the greatest at the bottom and in the center.”
I took in a breath, dropped down into the water, and grabbed the brick. Biting down and aiming the flashlight with my mouth, I squeezed tight with both hands and tried to pull it free. Though it was sticking up a few inches, it was secured in place, and I couldn’t budge it an inch.
I surfaced, unzipped my bag, and pulled out my sledgehammer.
“What’d you find?” Pete asked.
I smiled, shrugged, then took a breath and dropped back down. Three strong strikes were all it took to loosen the brick. Letting go of the sledgehammer, I reached down and grabbed the brick a second time. Gripping as hard as I could, I shimmied it back and forth, then lifted it free.