by Katie Ashley
“Lane, remember what we talked about staying strong and keeping it together,” he warned.
“That could take hours, and we’ll never find it in time. And Jensen…he’ll…my dad.” And that’s when the anger broke into raw emotion. The world spun around me, and I had to fight to find my breath. Even then, it came in ragged pants, and I felt like I would hyperventilate.
Maddox jerked me to him, crushing me against his chest. I gave over to my emotions then and let the desperate sobs roll through me. He only let me cry for a minute before his fingers gripped my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. “Now listen to me. We’ve come too long and too far for you to lose it now. I want to see the Lane who was going to kick Jensen’s ass not thirty minutes ago. Okay? And look, if we start running out of time, we’ll call Jensen and explain. That’s part of having a plan. Going to pieces is not. Got it?”
Snubbing and sniffling, I brought a hand across my running nose. “You’re right. Flaking out isn’t going to get us anywhere, so I’m sorry. And even though I said it before, I’ll really try to keep it together this time.”
He brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, surprising me once again with his tender side. “That’s my girl.”
I smiled up at him. “You know, after what you said in the truck and now here, you’re pretty good at the whole tough love thing.”
“Just be glad you weren’t in my platoon. I would’ve kicked the shit out you to get your focus back.” At my outraged look, he chuckled. “I’m military, remember?”
Smacking his arm, I said, “Yeah, well, don’t ever forget I’m a civilian.”
He grinned. “Point taken, Princess.” After rubbing his hands together, he gazed around the cave. “All right then. Let’s get back to work.”
Maddox then handed me another flashlight out of his bag. I clicked it on and started pointing the beam around the walls for any clues. While I did that, Maddox put the lantern down and then kept his flashlight beam to the ground and examined it for any burned marks.
A flicker of something with wings caught my attention. Shit, the last thing on earth we needed right now was a flock of rabid bats. I craned my head and shone the flashlight up to the top of the cave. I wheezed out of a sigh of relief when I didn’t see any winged creatures staring back at me with beady eyes.
But then my heart stopped and restarted. I squinted my eyes to see a discolored patch of the cave ceiling right above me. It looked…blackened.
“Maddox!” I cried.
He whirled around. “What?”
“Look up there. Does that kinda look like burned marks on the cave roof?”
Stepping over to me, he kept his gaze trained on the ceiling. “Yeah, it does.”
“Think it means the sacred fire was somewhere around here?” I tapped my foot along the ground, hoping that I would magically hear the hollow spot where the treasure was buried.
“I sure as hell hope it does.” Maddox brought his gaze off the cave ceiling and then swept it along the floor. He repeated the action several times. “Okay, it’s got to be somewhere along here.” With one foot directly in front of the other, he walked a small perimeter that could have allowed for the smoke stains.
Taking the shovel’s head, he started tapping it on the floor like I’d tapped my foot. I stood stock-still not wanting to miss the telltale sign. And then it happened. It wasn’t quite like the sound that hollowed out wood made, but it was definitely different. Maddox jerked his head up. His wide-eyed, open-mouthed gaze mirrored my own. “Shit, I think this is really it,” he murmured.
Wanting visual proof, I beamed my flashlight over to where the shovel was. I gasped at the sight of large fissures in the ground where the rock had once been cut or broken. Time and the elements had fused it almost back together. There were also the signs of burned indentations where the fire had been. “It is. Start digging,” I cried.
Maddox snorted. “This isn’t exactly dirt, you know.”
Excitement surged through me to where I squirmed all over like a puppy. “I don’t care what it is. Just make a hole or something.”
Giving me an epic eye roll, Maddox brought the hard edge of the shovel down on one of the cracks. He kept repeating the process, banging a trail that widened the crack until the rock started crumbling away. I dropped to the ground and started frantically picking up the broken pieces and flinging them behind me. Maddox joined in as well, freeing and hurling away rocks. Finally, we’d cleared away enough of them that I could actually see inside the hiding place.
“I need some light.”
Maddox held both the lantern and the flashlight over me as I peered down into the hole. Tentatively, I reached out and stuck my hand inside. I tried ignoring my overactive imagination that thought anything from spiders to scorpions to snakes could be in the hole. When my hand brushed against something, I squealed and jumped back.
“What is it? Did you find something?” Maddox demanded.
“I don’t know. But I definitely felt something.” I drew in a quick breath and then plunged my hand back down in the hole. This time I didn’t freak out when my fingers bumped against something. “I think it’s a bowl or something.”
“Let’s just hope it’s a pot of gold,” Maddox mused.
I grasped hold of what I assumed was the bottom and started wiggling it to the surface. It was so light I began to wonder if the treasure had spilled out. When I finally got it to the surface, I thrust it in front of the lantern beam. The image I saw sent my scream echoing off the cave walls. Immediately, I threw it to the ground.
The wide gaping jaw of a human skull grinned back at me.
“W-What the hell?” I questioned.
Maddox bent down and picked it up. He turned it sideways, examining it in the light. He held it out to me, but I scrambled away. “There’s a bullet hole in the back.”
I gasped. “So that’s…Avery Jensen?”
“It has to be. Who else could be buried here? Pretty Fawn jumped off the waterfall cliffs.” Maddox then shined the flashlight down in the hole.
“Is there more of him down there?” I asked, a shiver reverberating through me.
“I don’t know. It looks like there’s some kind of material—maybe clothes or something.”
I inched closer to Maddox and the skull. “You think she buried the gold with him?”
“Well, according to the legend, she buried part of it and then so did her brother, Notley.”
“Oh that’s right.”
“Okay then. Let’s see what we have.”
He wiggled his fingers toward the hole. I was glad it was him and not me. The last thing I wanted was my hand down some dark hole, grasping for more skeletal remains.
His fingers tried grabbing the fabric. After he was able to pinch enough into his hand, he started pulling it out of the hole. “Omph! Man, it’s heavy!”
“That’s a good thing, right? I mean, the heavier it is, the more likely it’s the gold and…well, not part of Avery.”
Maddox snickered. “I hope so.”
The closer it got to the surface the more I was able to see the intricate weaving of a blanket. It appeared more the size of a hand towel or baby’s blanket. The once vibrant red and black design had faded and was covered in a gray film of ashes and dust. Something else crisscrossed over the blanket in spattered splotches. “Um, is that what I think it is?”
“Yep. It’s blood,” Maddox replied.
I gulped. “Oh man. That’s intense.”
“Here,” he said, shoving it at me.
It was already weighing my hands down before I could protest. There could have been anything in the blanket from gold to Avery Jensen’s withered heart. With trembling fingers, I worked to untie the knot around the blanket. Once it was freed, I peeled back the first layer. My breath hitched in my chest when I did the next one. Then relief flooded me followed by excitement. “Oh wow!” I murmured, as the beam of light flickered across what seemed like hundreds of shiny gold nuggets.
/> Maddox collapsed back on his butt, overwhelmed with actually seeing the treasure. “For some reason, I thought it would be coins…I had no idea it would look like that.”
I dug deeper into the blanket. “Oh, there’s coins too.” I plucked a couple out to show him.
He took one and held it up against the lantern. “I’ll be damned! Pretty Fawn must’ve been some princess to have that big a dowry.”
“Well, her dad was the Chief. Guess he didn’t want to spare any expense when it came to showing how much he loved his daughter…” My voice choked off then—overcome with emotions of my own father.
Maddox tossed the coin back onto the blanket and rose to his feet. “Okay, we got what we came for. Let’s close up shop, call Jensen, and get your dad back.”
“Um, what about him?” I asked, glancing between Maddox and the skull staring up at me from the ground.
“I guess we put him back.” He eyed the hole again before plunging his hand inside. After feeling around a few seconds, he shook his head. “I think it must’ve just been his skull.”
I widened my eyes in horror at the thoughts of Pretty Fawn bringing Avery Jensen’s severed head to the cave. “What do you think happened to the rest of him?”
Maddox shrugged. “We’re talking about an Indian warrior and his buddies pissed at a white man for romancing one of their women. Sure they shot him, but who knows what else they did to him to torture him.”
A chill ran over me. “Okay, that’s just too creepy. Can we please get out of here? Now.”
“Hold your horses, scaredy-pants,” Maddox said.
“Scaredy-pants? I don’t think I’ve heard that since we were kids,” I replied, wrapping the gold back up in the blanket like I had found it. I then shoved it all into purse. There was no way I wanted to worry about dropping any of it or losing it on the way back out to the truck.
When I glanced up, Maddox was grinning at me. “What?” I questioned.
“I was just thinking that this is the only time I’ll ever be glad you carry a giant ass purse.”
I laughed. “You got that right.” The zipper strained against the contents, but somehow I managed to get it closed.
Just as I stood up, a gun went off, sending the bullet ricocheting around the cave walls. I screamed and covered my head while Maddox dove on top of me, knocking us to the ground. We stayed motionless until the bullet lodged in the rocks above us.
“Oomph,” I muttered as Maddox rolled off of me and sprang back to his feet.
“Who’s there? Jensen?” Maddox called, his voice echoing through the cave. I raised my head and peered into the dark.
An image formed in my mind just as Maddox exclaimed, “Jesus West! What the hell are you doing? You could have killed us, not to mention yourself! Opening fire in a cave? They nixed that shit in Basic!”
West stepped into the lantern light. The shadows played off his face and highlighted his shrapnel scars, making him appear menacing. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m cutting in on the treasure. What the hell does it look like I’m doing?”
Maddox and I exchanged a worried glance. “How did you know about the treasure?” Maddox demanded.
With a wicked grin, West pointed the gun at me. “I knew last night you two were awfully serious about that dumb book. Then after Lane got tequila tipsy, she totally blabbed that you guys were hunting for hidden gold.”
My eyes widened. “I did?” Everything that had happened between those four shots of tequila and passing out was a total blur. Shit, shit, SHIT! What had I been thinking?
“Oh yeah, you did. At first, I thought you were shitting me. But I decided last night after you two went to sleep, that I’d snag Lane’s clothes out of the dryer and bring them upstairs. That gave me an excuse to sneak into your room in case one of you woke up. Thankfully, you didn’t. So, I read your notes.” He laughed and shook his head at me. “I couldn’t believe you’d been telling the truth. I knew then I had to follow you to get in on the treasure.”
“Look dude, we just can’t cut you in—” Maddox began.
“Oh hell yes you can. With that gold, I’m gonna get out of workin’ for my old man and actually do what I want for a change.”
“But you don’t understand. Armed men are holding my dad hostage until we bring this gold to them!” I cried.
“Yeah, well, that’s too freakin’ bad. The way I see it, there’s one armed man standing in front of you right now that you should be worried about.” He waved his gun at me for good measure.
Desperation rose in my voice. “But they’ll kill him. They really will. They already tried to kill Maudie, and they won’t hesitate to do it again.”
West shrugged. “Sorry sweetie, but I’ve seen men blown to pieces right in front of me—one more dead guy isn’t going to matter much to me. We’ve all got our own problems, ya know? Any hope I had of getting out from under my old man and out of Calhoun got shot to hell the day that bomb went off. So your little sob story does nothing for me.” He held out his bag. “Start dividing up the gold. I figure you guys can have half, and I can have half.”
I glanced over at Maddox. He dropped his gaze briefly down to the brick-sized rock he still held in his hands from clearing away the hole. Then he looked back to me. Immediately I got his meaning. I gave a slight nod of my head in agreement.
Then everything around me shuddered to a standstill. My arm reached for West’s bag in slow motion while Maddox threw the rock as hard as he could. When it smashed against West’s hand, a crack echoed throughout the cave. I momentarily cringed at the thought of all his broken bones.
West screamed before doubling over in pain, sending his gun flying behind him.
“Let’s go!” Maddox shouted, grabbing me by the arm. As we rounded the corner, I glanced over my shoulder to see West still clutching his hurt hand that was now bleeding. I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he started fumbling for his gun to come after us.
“Are you sure we aren’t running straight into a dead end?” I asked, my voice echoing through the cave.
“No, it has to come out somewhere. And wherever it is has to be better than back there with West.”
With the dim light of the flashlight, I could barely see what was right in front of me let alone what was farther ahead. The air started to get damper, and our feet sloshed through the wet ground. It was at that moment I started to get a bad feeling we were too close to the waterfalls.
We turned the corner and were immediately blinded by sunlight and a thundering noise. Our shoes skidded to a stop just before the cave edge. I peered over to see where the rapids of the falls flowed into a stream. It had to be at least a sixteen foot drop.
Maddox grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to him. “Okay, we don’t have much of a choice here. We’ve gotta jump,” he called over the roar of the water.
My eyes widened. “Are you insane?”
“What other choice do we have? The only other way out is a dead-end with West taking the gold!”
When he took a step closer to the edge, I shook my head wildly in fear. “But what about Pretty Fawn? If I remember the legend correctly, the whole cliff jumping didn’t end up too well for her.”
“She couldn’t swim. We’ll be able to make it to the shore.” He held his hand out to me. “Here give me your purse. The gold will weigh you down too much.”
Dumbly, I pulled the strap over my head and handed it to Maddox. Instantly, I felt lighter. He tossed it over his neck to fit across his shoulders. “Okay. Let’s do it.” At my continued hesitation, he smiled. “Trust me.”
At the sound of footsteps, I realized I didn’t have any more time to debate my options. I turned back to see West’s shadow bobbing closer. His voice echoed through the cave toward us. “All right, I’m through playing fucking games! Give me the bag with all the gold or I start shooting!”
Wit
hout another thought, I grabbed Maddox’s hand. “I trust you.”
“Then jump.”
I can’t describe what it felt like to take that jump off the solid rock into thin air. My legs flailed desperately to connect with something. We began freefalling, the air rushing up at us as the water grew closer. Our clothes and hair whipped and rippled against us, but all the way down, Maddox kept hold of my hand. We only broke apart when we plunged into the water.
I plummeted down through the murky depths of the river. When my legs skidded along the bottom, I opened my eyes and searched above me for light, desperate to reach the surface and Maddox. I started frantically kicking my legs and pumping my arms, forcing myself upward. The closer I got to the light, the further away it seemed. My lungs burned and ached for oxygen. Silently, I thanked God that Maddox had taken the gold, or I think I would have continued sinking.
When I finally broke the surface, I gulped in air, wheezing and sputtering. The raging rapids pitched and tossed me back and forth, dunking my head under and causing me to swallow water. Once I got my head up again, I kicked with all my strength to stay afloat. “Maddox!” I shouted, scanning the water for him. I craned my neck, searching frantically for a sight of him. I couldn’t find him and a wave of fear crashed over me. Finally his head bobbed up a few feet ahead of me. My heart restarted as happiness surged through me.
The rapids began to calm and flow smoothly. Maddox swam up beside me. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.”
“You got the gold?”
He patted the purse at his side. “Still got it.” He grinned. “I told you to trust me, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
Maddox grabbed me in a bear hug and whirled me around in the water. “I can’t fucking believe we just jumped off that cliff.”
“Me either,” I cried, before dissolving into hysterical laughter. “And we’re actually alive.”
“I never doubted we’d make it for a second.”
“Ha! Easy for you to say, Mr. I-used-to-jump-out-of-planes-in-the-Army.”
