Another month passed, with three more coins found in the swamp. Each of them had been sent off for dating and other tests to make sure they were legitimate. Tonight, we would finally discover the truth of them, at our weekly meeting.
The twins’ restaurant—or rather, their parents’ restaurant—was a nice, small pizza place with a cozy feel to it. There were booths and tables together, situated across the checkerboard tile like any other parlor I’d been to. Towards the back of the room, the counter blocked the opening to the ovens and preparation area. The few times I’d been here for meetings had left me eagerly anticipating the next time we would come and eat while we discussed work.
It was amazing to me that I’d been able to stay so easily. Before, work meant going to the university library and helping students all day. Now it meant excitement and adventure. With the way I’d taken to everything since finding the first coin, it was no wonder Mom had been afraid I’d skip out on her and throw myself into the pit like Dad had. Still, I’d expected at least a little flak from someone about staying. But, no, the university had filled my spot easily, promising to keep me on for however long I wanted. It probably wasn’t hard for them to find someone to work my shifts with all of those people looking for jobs. Millie, my strangely energetic, elderly next-door neighbor, had agreed to keep watching the house, having already received a key from me when I left. My friends all wanted to know what it was like to search for buried treasure. Not one person had said anything negative to me. I halfway wondered if it was because I’d just lost a parent and none of them wanted to tell me anything bad.
Lost in my thoughts about home, I followed Dad back behind the counter, through the kitchen, and into the back room, where Scott and Mark were already waiting, pizza in hand. The twins were just finishing up cleaning the oven.
“Evening,” Scott mumbled around his food. Beside him, a package that appeared to hold all of our coins sat on the table, making me practically hum with excitement.
“Have you read any of the statements, yet?” Dad asked, taking a seat.
Shaking his head no, he tried to catch the cheese hanging out of his mouth with his fingers. “Wanted to wait till we were all together.”
Taking my own seat, I drummed my fingers on the table, feeling extremely jittery.
“Mike!” Eric suddenly appeared in the doorway, alarm on his face. “Duke McCrery just parked outside and is coming up to the door!”
“What?” Mark practically yelled. “What the hell does he want?”
“I don’t know, but he’s got a man in a suit with him.”
“Great,” Dad mumbled, standing up and following Eric to the front of the store. The bell on the entrance rang and a distinctly western accent started speaking loudly.
“Howdy, Michael,” the deep voice said. “How are you this evening?”
“There’s no need to be polite,” Dad answered grimly. “I can see your lawyer standing next to you. What is it you’re trying to pin on me now, Duke?”
Curiosity getting the better of me, I rose from my own chair and went out to see what was going on. Mark and Scott followed suit. There was indeed a lawyer out there, a black briefcase that matched his suit held tightly in his hand as he pushed the rim of his glasses up his nose with the other. He looked nervous, but that may have been because the man next to him was absolutely fearsome. Duke McCrery appeared to be in his late forties or early fifties, and was almost positively from Texas, based off the way he spoke and the clothes he was wearing. It felt like I was home in Arizona looking at his cowboy hat, button up white shirt, jean pants, and his boots. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were spurs hiding back there somewhere as well. Every inch of him looked like the classic cowboy.
“Well now,” Duke spoke again, grinning wide. “I’ve just bought out your company, Michael, and I’ve come to take over the meeting.”
“Excuse me?” Dad’s eyes narrowed as his arms folded over his chest.
Waving his arm at the lawyer, who immediately set his briefcase on the nearest table and opened it, pulling out a stack of papers, Duke took a seat, relaxing like he was at the beach without a care in the world. “I bought out all of the shares you already sold and all of the ones that were still available to buy. I’m now the largest shareholder in your little company, which makes me the boss. I’m going to have to ask y’all to step down and let my crew go to work, seeing as how you don’t have a say in the matter.”
At this point, the lawyer stepped forward, handing what appeared to be a detailed copy of every one of the purchases to each member of the group. Everyone except Dad had gone a pale white as Duke spoke and now they were all shifting uneasily, not knowing how to handle the news.
“You bought out each share except for the ones we held personally?” Dad asked.
“Yes, sir.” Duke laughed. “How do you like them chickens?”
“You are not the largest shareholder,” Dad interrupted him forcefully. “I am. Since that leaves me in charge, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Excuse me?” All appearance of friendliness instantly disappeared from Duke as he sat up, eyes narrowing dangerously. “Did you not hear what I said?”
“I did.” Dad nodded as he carefully folded up and ripped the report given to him into pieces. “I started this company, though. When I did, knowing there would be some conniving skunk like you who tried to weasel their way into things, I set the shares up so that no one would ever own more than me. I’ve always been the majority shareholder, and I always will be. If you want to run this company, you’re either going to have to buy out me—which will never happen—or I’m going to have to be dead.”
Duke’s face turned a dark red color as he listened, his jaw working furiously as he ground his teeth together behind closed lips. “You’re lyin’.”
“Wanna bet?” Dad’s grin was so happy, I almost felt bad for Duke. Then again, I didn’t really understand the whole feud and what had happened between them so far. No one had ever told me and I’d never asked. “I imagine when you were out buying stocks from all my backers, you came across a set that had an unidentified amount that was held by an anonymous donor.”
At this, Duke stood, slamming his fist on the table in a fury. “Come on, Malcom,” he growled to the lawyer. “Our business is finished here.”
At this, Mark started outright laughing, the smile on his face having grown larger each second Dad was speaking. The twins had thrown their papers away as well, while Scott simply stood there, a piece of pizza in his hand that he must have gone back and gotten at some point. The two shamed men left the building and Dad turned around to look at us all, sighing heavily.
“Don’t celebrate just yet,” he told Mark, motioning for us all to follow him back to the office. “If McCrery has bought out all of the other shares we’re still in deep trouble.”
“Why?” I asked, taking a seat at the table again. “If you hold the majority all the time, there’s nothing he can do, right?”
“We don’t want him to own anything,” Dad explained. “I wouldn’t put it past him to show up again in thirty minutes with a court summons, accusing us of cutting him out of something he’s paid money in to. We need to contact our donors and buy back their loyalty again.”
“It’s not really loyalty if they’re willing to sell off for more money, is it?” Everyone laughed at my comment, and the air in the room lightened some as eyes fell on the coin box once more.
“It’s not,” Dad agreed, “so we’ll just have to be the higher bidder. But, for now, we have more important things to discuss. Scott?”
“Right,” Scott spoke. “Let’s open up these coins!” Pulling the individually sealed bags out of the box, he kept one for himself, handing the others to Dad, Mark, and the twins. “Sorry, Samantha,” he said, smiling. “Not enough to quite go around.”
“That’s okay. I just want to know what the verdict is,” I replied with a laugh.
“Let’s fi
nd out.” Dad eagerly pulled open his sealed bag, the other men following suit, and the room fell silent as they read over the reports. “It’s real!” Dad laughed, pulling the coin out and looking at it like it was his own child.
“Mine, too,” Scott confirmed, grinning from ear to ear.
“Same,” Mark crowed, looking like he was ready to jump up and start dancing again.
“Ours is as well,” Kevin added excitedly. “Four coins all from the sixteen hundreds! Can you believe it?”
Elated babble filled the room as we all took the time to peruse the coins, this time with an added reverence of knowing that they were all real and very old. Once everyone had examined each one and a good thirty minutes had passed, Dad called us all to order. “I know we’re all excited and that these came from the swamp,” he said, holding his hands up for silence. “But I think we need to start focusing on The Treasure Pit.”
“Why?” Mark asked, surprised. “The swamp is the first place we’ve ever actually found something. Why stop now, when there could be loads of coins down there?”
“The amount of time and money we’re spending to pump out the bog because it keeps refilling is adding up. I think, if we’re going to continue putting that amount of effort into it, we should do it somewhere where we know we’re going to find more. These coins were in the swamp, yes, but will we find any more? No one can say.”
“But there’s still the fact that we found something there,” Mark argued. “I don’t think we should give up on it because you want to dig in the pit some more.”
“It’s not just that,” Dad said, his voice lowering considerably, even though we were the only ones around. “I think I’ve finally come up with a way to keep it from flooding, besides covering any tunnels we find. It’s a method that’s never been tried before, but I need some extra money to get it going.”
“And you think this method will work better than the others?” Scott asked skeptically. “We haven’t ever had much success in getting the water level below ninety feet.”
“This will do it,” Dad insisted. “I’m sure of it.”
“What is it?” I asked, not sure on why he wouldn’t tell us.
“Not here,” he said quietly. “Not after Duke has been here.”
“What, do you think he put spy microphones all over the place?” I laughed, but stopped as soon as I realized they all thought that was a possibility. “Are you serious? He didn’t even come any further than the first table.”
“He comes in to eat once a week,” Kevin explained. “As soon as he found out we were meeting here.”
“That is insane.” How many crazy things could one person believe?
“It may be,” Scott agreed. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Okay then.” I shrugged, deciding to let them be crazy on their own. I’d find out what this method was eventually.
“You’re sure this will be better than working in the swamp more?” Mark sounded skeptical, but he seemed to be open to the idea.
“I do.” There was raw honesty in Dad’s voice as he answered and a look in his eye that said he truly believed whatever he had planned would work. After a moment, Mark nodded and extended his hand to shake.
“I’ve always trusted your judgment,” he said. “We’ll stop searching in the swamp for the time being.”
Swept Away (The Swept Away Saga, Book One) Page 8
