by D. B. Magee
Mr. Smith growled low in his throat, annoyed that Bubba would come up with an idea of his own. He waved his hand half heartily. “Go. Check it out then, if you want to waste your time.”
Bubba scrambled clumsily out onto the gangway and jogged across to the ladder. Looking more like a gorilla than a man, he heaved himself effortlessly up the ladder mostly by his arms, using his feet just to keep his knees from slamming into the steel rungs.
Gotcha!” he cried, landing with a heavy thud on the pruning platform. But alas, to his great surprise, it was empty.
Thirty feet below, hearing Bubba’s weighty frame crash down on the deck above, the girls hunched together next to William on the settee, covering their mouths with their hands (Lisa with one, Stacy with two).
Ryan turned the lights off and stepped quietly over to the cavern’s entrance, holding one of the journals as a weapon, while William, continuing to use the Frequency Glasses, whispered updates on the perpetrator’s activities.
The platform above creaked under Bubba’s lumbering movements as he positioned himself for the descent back down the ladder. That’s when he saw them — miscellaneous scratch and pry marks between some of the center boards. Kneeling down, he attempted to peer between the cracks, but it was too dark. He jammed his fingers between two of the boards and pulled, causing the hatch to rattle against the internal locks.
“Boss!” Bubba shouted. “There’s a hatch here! But it’s locked from the inside.”
The kids had been discovered. They began to panic.
“A hatch?” Mr. Smith croaked incredulously. “To where?”
“I think the tree’s hollow, Boss. I think those kids are hiding inside it.”
“Wait there!” Mr. Smith barked. “I’ll try to find something to break it in with.” After scrounging through the attic for a few minutes, he found a toolbox full of old tools. Removing a rusted hammer, he stuffed it in his waistband and then made his way precariously across the gangway and up the ladder to the pruning platform.
“Here, take this!” he growled, passing his staff to Bubba.
Bubba took the walking stick, laid it on the deck, and reached over the edge to offer a hand to his employer.
Mr. Smith slapped him away. “I can do it, you fool!”
Bubba stomped on the hatch. “Here it is, Boss,” he said, once Mr. Smith had had a chance to reclaim his staff and stand up.
The girls gasped.
“A secret and secure hideout like this,” Mr. Smith said with a triumphant grin, “could lead a person to believe there’s something of value hidden down there.” He inspected the hatch. “The little brainiacs are too ingenious for their own good,” he grumbled. “But, now they’ve got nowhere to run.”
Bubba noticed the hammer in Mr. Smith’s waistband. “You want me to rip it up, Boss?”
Mr. Smith handed Bubba the hammer and shook his head. “That may not be necessary,” he replied. Then, using his walking stick he thumped loudly on the hatch. “Hello, down there! My name is Mr. Smith. Your parents asked me to come by and check on you,” he lied. “Is everybody okay?”
Inside the cave, no one answered. The girls held their breath, shaking nervously.
William, seeing everything from his astral perspective, removed the glasses and slunk his way through the dark toward Ryan, who still stood at the bottom of the hollow tree trunk with slits of sun light streaking in on top of him through the hatch above. “They have a hammer,” William whispered. “They’re going to try and break in.”
“Ok,” Ryan said, trying to remain calm, although he could already feel the adrenaline building up inside him. He looked up at the hatch and saw the shadows of the thugs shifting around on the other side.
Mr. Smith tried again, “Hellooo! Can you hear me down there? Don’t be afraid. I just want to make sure you kids are all right so I can inform your parents.”
Ryan decided there was no longer any need to pretend that they weren’t there, since it was obvious that the hatch was locked from the inside. He switched on the light. “Yeah, we’re all right,” he hollered, up. “What’d ya say your name was? I got me a cell phone. How about I make a call to see if you’re really supposed to be here?” Ryan bluffed, hoping this would cause the intruders to leave.
Mr. Smith cursed. “Go ahead! Smash that thing in — quickly!”
Using the claw of the hammer, Bubba began tearing at the hatch. Small splinters of wood started to fly through the air. As progress continued, the splinters turned to chips and the chips to chunks of wood which bounced menacingly off the deck.
Panic heightened in the cave. The girls were too scared to think or move.
Ryan gently grabbed both of them by the arms. “Come on — concentrate! I need y’all to help me figure out how to access that tunnel.”
Lisa pulled herself together and returned to the riddle.
Stacy remained frozen with fear on the settee, her arms wrapped around her bent knees, her eyes blankly following Ryan as he hustled around, trying to find a way past the floor of the safe.
Bubba began kicking at the loose boards.
Ryan threw a fearful glance at the gold hubcap on the safe’s shelf, wondering if he should close the Cryptex in order to protect the precious treasure map from the vicious intruders. But doing so now, he considered, could mean the end to finding a way into the escape tunnel.
The hatch boards began to give. Bubba continued kicking at the loose hatch, until one of the boards broke free and fell, slamming to the ground at the cave’s entrance.
The girls screamed!
Ryan rushed over and retrieved the fallen board to use as a defensive weapon in place of the journal.
Remembering something he’d read the previous night on astral traveling, about lowering one’s vibratory rate to appear as an apparition, William ignored the commotion around him, slipped the Frequency Glasses back on, and once again entered the astral plane.
After a minute of concentration, he succeeded in slowing his breathing and thus his vibratory rate.
“Tell me if you see what looks like a ghost,” William said blindly to his sister, who still sat hunched nervously next to him.
“What are you talking about?” Stacy said with a scowl.
“It’s something I read. I’m going to try it. If it works you should be able to see a ghost image of me. Just let me know if it happens.”
Perplexed, Stacy glanced over to Lisa, who, hearing William’s idea, just shrugged. Stacy returned her attention to her brother as he sat relaxed against the cool cave wall, staring into the twinkling glasses.
“Nothing’s happening,” Stacy said, tensely.
Continuing his painstaking search of the Cryptex safe for some means of access to the escape tunnel, Ryan happened to glance past the safe to the back section of the cave. Taken aback for a moment in surprise, he smiled and called Stacy’s attention to the spectral figure hovering near the wall.
Both girls look to where Ryan was pointing.
Stacy gasped and clutched William’s arm. “That is you, right?” she asked, keeping a cautious eye on the apparition.
William stared at the group through his ghostly eyes. “You can see me?”
“Yes, and it’s pretty spooky!” Lisa said, walking over and passing her hand through his wispy body. “Just what do you plan on accomplishing by this?”
“I have an idea!” William proclaimed. “I’m going to try and slow those goons down.”
Just then, another board hit the floor and bounced past Ryan. He jumped, swinging his two-by-four wildly at the space behind him. “Whoo-ee! That scared me.” He rushed over to the hollow and peered up cautiously, to the hatch. A squat and hairy leg stuck through the few remaining boards. A sense of dread overtook him.
Now, as an astral ghost, William took off and rushed up through the hollow tree trunk toward Bubba, both fists clenched out in front of him, screaming as eerily as he could manage.
Catching sight of this rapidly approaching phantom, panic swept over Bubb
a, and with flailing arms he jumped back, knocking his boss over the railing. The walking stick rocketed to the ground thirty feet below, while Mr. Smith somehow managed to hang on to the platform by one hand, yelling like a scared schoolgirl.
Taking advantage of the pause in the invasion, William snatched off the Frequency Glasses, set them on the settee’s shelf, and hastened over to help with the search for the escape tunnel.
Ryan, just then, was poking around inside the safe, trying to determine if there was any way to remove the shelf in order to access the tunnel below.
Not wanting to be left alone, Stacy leapt off the settee after William. “Wait for me!” she cried.
Seeing the twins heading in her direction, Lisa waved them over. “I need your help with something,” she said as they hurried over. “I’m confused by this.” She indicated the third sentence of the riddle. “Why do you think the word way stands out like that?”
“You’re confused by that?” Stacy challenged. “I’m confused by the upside-down part. How can an exit be upside down?”
“I don’t think it means the exit is upside down,” William said, his face scrunched up in thought. “I think it means the approach, or path, to the exit is upside down.”
“How can either of those be upside down?” Lisa said, now more confused than she had been a moment ago.
Stacy tapped her chin thoughtfully. “The way could mean the method in which to access the entrance.”
At Stacy’s comment, William’s face lit up. He snapped his fingers, remembering that turning the light switch box at the cave’s entrance released the settee and its shelf. He stepped around to the front of the control box and tried to rotate the button box. It didn’t move. He attempted to move it from side to side. This didn’t work, either. He then endeavored to slide it up and down, also to no avail.
Having had no success with accessing the escape tunnel from within the safe, Ryan slunk over to the entrance to check on the situation topside. Hearing the tone of the conversation between the crooks on the platform, he whispered to his friends, “It sounds like they’re getting ready to try again.”
Tensely, Stacy and Lisa stood behind the control box, silently praying that William was on to something.
William looked at them apologetically and shook his head.
Just then another board slammed to the ground next to Ryan. He jumped back.
Lisa gasped.
Stacy shrieked.
William snapped a look over his shoulder at the commotion. He knew that any minute now, the intruders would be upon them. He couldn’t give up. He looked back to his endeavor and stared at the box, the riddle going over and over in his mind. His gaze on the box was so intense that if it had been a laser, it would have burned a hole right through the whole thing. He fixated on the buttons. The top one was labeled UP, the bottom one, DOWN.
It doesn’t make sense, William thought. Why use such a big panel for two buttons? There’s enough space at the bottom of this box for another button . . .
Just then, it hit him. “Wait a minute!” He grabbed hold of the button box. Then, working against spring resistance, he pulled and turned the rectangular box upside down. “Ahaa!” he cried, letting go. The box sprang back into place.
He jabbed his thumb against the Up button (which, of course, was now at the bottom of the box). Instantly the pneumatic cylinders came to life and the safe enclosure began to rise beyond its normal opened position.
CRASH! The last hatch board bounced end over end at the bottom of the hollow tree trunk.
“Hurry up, get down there!” Mr. Smith shouted at Bubba.
The girls began to panic as they watched the top of the safe stop just inches below the cave’s ceiling. The safe’s shelf was now four feet higher than it had been previously, with empty space now revealed underneath.
“Quick! Hand me one of those flashlights!” William said, thrusting out his hand.
Lisa jumped and fetched one from the pile of flashlights and headlamps that were lying in a corner of the cave, and quickly slapped it into William’s opened palm.
William clicked the flashlight on and pointed it over the edge of the safe, into the dark recess below. The beam reflected off of sheet metal, illuminating a tube that ran down, bending out of sight.
“It’s a slide!” William said to the girls. “Come on, hurry—get in!”
“Not me!” Stacy asserted, shaking her head. “I’m not going first!”
Considering the short free-fall, she would have to take before reaching the mouth of the tube, Lisa, too, remained reluctant.
Suddenly, creaking and cracking sounds from the hollow’s wooden ladder resonated into the cavern.
“They’re coming!” Ryan called out. “If you’re gonna to go, you’d better go now!”
Quickly, William spun the rings on the Cryptex, mixing up the combination. He then reset the button box. “Fine!” he snapped. “I’ll go first.” He hopped up on to the edge of the safe and called quietly to Ryan, “Make sure you close the safe on your way out.”
Ryan looked back over his shoulder, “Will do. Now go!”
William nodded, dropped into the darkness, and was gone.
“What’re y’all waiting for?” Ryan yelled to the girls. “Go!” He grabbed one of the broken boards, and with all his might, threw it at Bubba.
Bull’s-eye! The end of the board caught Bubba square in the seat of his pants.
Bubba screamed and tried to scramble over Mr. Smith.
From behind, Ryan could hear William call to the girls from below the Cryptex safe. Then the sounds of shuffling, banging, and tumbling echoed from inside its void.
“Get off of me and get down there, you overgrown lummox!” Mr. Smith bellowed.
“But they’re throwing boards at me!” Bubba complained.
“I don’t care if they’re throwing harpoons at you! Get down there before I kick you off this ladder!”
Bubba began to descend again, this time a bit faster; in hopes of getting to the bottom before too many more boards came his way.
Ryan launched another board. This one hit its target sharply in the elbow.
Bubba cried out in agony.
Ryan peeked over his shoulder. The girls were gone. He hurled one last board and ran for the safe. Jumping up onto its edge he reached in behind the computer and retrieved the gold hubcap. “I’m not leaving you,” he muttered greedily. Then dropping to his seat, he reached over to the control box, punched the down button, and lunged forward into the darkness. Above him, fading from earshot, he heard the pneumatic pump come to life, and the safe closing.
Bubba stopped about six feet from the bottom. “Kid, if you toss another board up here I am going jump on top of you and smash you flat as a pancake!” He waited for an answer. The only sound he heard was the hissing of air. “Kid! You hear me!”
No reply.
“Get down there!” Mr. Smith yelled.
Bubba didn’t even bother to descend the remaining rungs. He simply turned and dropped to the bottom, yelling and growling like a bear. Once on the ground, all he saw was the top of the safe lock in place. He ran to the back of the safe, thinking the kids were hunkered down there. “Got you this time!” he roared to the empty space.
Mr. Smith stepped off the ladder and entered the cavern. “Well? Where are they?”
Bubba shrugged and pointed to the safe. “I think the little tykes locked themselves inside that.”
The Getaway(s)
Freefalling momentarily into darkness, William watched as his flashlight beam reflected off the shiny sheet metal tube, illuminating the steep, smooth descent ahead. Seconds later, he slowed as the tube curved to a gentle end, not unlike a child’s slide, allowing him to simply stand up on the subterraneous cavern floor. His movement triggered an unseen sensor that automatically activated the sub-cavern’s lighting system. A soft, eerie glow revealed a narrow, earthy chamber about a hundred feet long, ending in what looked like a perpendicular tunnel.
“Wow! Look at this — how eerie,” Stacy said, glancing about the cavernous chamber.
Stepping from the slide, Lisa picked up the lighting gear and distributed it. “I can’t believe all of this is right beneath my house, and no one ever knew it.” With one of the headlamps she examined the dense earthen wall close up. “I wonder how much more there is that we don’t know about.”
“I think we’re about to find out,” William said, using his flashlight as a pointer and directing Lisa’s attention to the tunnel ahead.
“Super!” she squealed. “This is getting exciting! I think we should go exploring.”
Stacy threw her hands up and glared at Lisa, her forehead deeply wrinkled. “Have you lost your mind?” She pointed upward. “Have you forgotten that there are men up there, trying to find us?”
Lisa waved nonchalantly. “We’re safe now; they’ll never find us down here.”
Stacy couldn’t believe Lisa’s sudden blithe attitude. “How can you be so calm?” she scolded. “We don’t even know if we can get out of here!”
“Relax, Sis,” William said. “The clues have led us safely so far.”
The very next moment, Lisa and the twins hear a faint hissing of air, followed by Ryan arriving feet first and holding his cowboy hat tight to his head with one hand, while clutching the hubcap from the ship’s wheel in the other.
Staying on the slide Ryan turned quickly on his knees and peered up into the dark tube, listening. A moment later he heard the safe’s top locking into place and then nothing but silence. “Good!” he said, dismounting the slide. “They’re not following.” His eyes darted quickly about as he sized up their new hideout.
“What is that in your hand?” Stacy asked, pointing.
Ryan proudly displayed his prized possession. “The map!” he said, grinning ear to ear. “No sense taking any chances. This thing’s gonna make us rich — once we figure it out.”
