Waypoint: Cache Quest Oregon

by Shauna Rice-Schober[thriller]

  “That sounds good; we just need to get this thing before tomorrow morning. If those divers find it, we won’t be winning anything.” He kicked another rock into the water and watched the ripples advance further and further across the lake, funny how such a small stone could have such an impact on a huge body of water, he thought to himself.

  “Yep, I know.” Lacey dipped her fingers into the water then shivered and pulled her fingers out shaking them fiercely. “Dang, that water is cold!” They looked at each other then both immediately yelled “Not It!”

  “Well one of us has to go.” Ben said.

  “Yeah, and I think you should, I climbed the tree remember, and I’m still recovering from my…tummy troubles.” Lacey whined.

  “But what if it is super deep; I can’t hold my breath that long, and what if I need your help?”

  “If you don’t come back immediately, I’ll swim out and look for you, remember they designed this treasure hunt for kids, it won’t be too bad.” She tried to reassure him.

  “Do you remember what just happened to us? This thing has been crazy!”

  “Okay Ben, I know it’s scary, but c’mon, please.” Lacey said.

  “Oh I’m not scared, I mean this has been awesome, it’s just so cold.” Ben said trying to cover the fear in his voice. “But since you are such a wimp, I’ll go.” He smirked as the words came out of his mouth.

  They waited a few more minutes until the tour boat had finally gathered all the tourists and began to make its way back to the lodge. Ben pulled his shirt off and handed it to Lacey, and then he took the GPS unit from his pants, checked the screen once again, to make sure this was absolutely the right place. Once reassured he handed that to Lacey and started walking into the water. He breathed deeply trying not to scream from the cold. Once he was about ten feet from the shore the water was past his shoulders, he began to swim as quickly as he could. He was just praying that he wouldn’t die from hypothermia.

  He reached the log and grabbed onto it to steady himself for a minute. He had to relax in order to take a big enough breath before diving under. His breathing was quick and shallow because of the cold water, and his entire body felt like it was being pricked by a million needles. He took a huge breath then plunged himself under the icy water.

  Once under the water his body almost began to relax, he kept a hold of the log and used it to direct his path. He also thought this would be the best way to make sure he didn’t swim right past the clue. About five feet below the surface hundreds of fish were swimming; they were huge and seemed to have no fear of Ben at all. A few swam right to him, investigating the visitor. They must not get a lot of visitors here, he thought to himself.

  He was about ten feet down and saw a bright green iridescent box chained to the log about another ten feet ahead of him, he was amazed at how well he was holding his breath, strange he thought, but continued to pull himself lower until he had the box in his hands.

  The box was attached with a thick metal chain, there was no way Ben was breaking it, so instead he tried to open the lid. He worked at it for a few seconds and it wouldn’t budge. He was starting to panic, but again forced himself to stay calm. He turned the box in his hands and realized that built in to the bottom of the box was a strange combination lock. Instead of numbers the dials were made up of letters. Above the dial there was an inscription that read, “What cell phone company makes you a winner?” Ben looked at the question; he was almost annoyed at how ridiculous this was. Not only did they put this clue deep in freezing cold water, but now they are asking questions about cell phones! He let go of the box and swam quickly to the surface.

  Lacey was taking her shoes off as he emerged from the water. “Oh thank God, I was just about to go in after you!” She yelled out to him.

  “You won’t believe this, the box has a combo lock on it, and there is a question about cell phones.” He yelled back.

  “Cell phones?” Lacey thought out loud, “what do you mean? What does it say?”

  “Um, like what company makes you a winner?” he replied. The cold was beginning to bother him; he was amazed at how much colder it felt at the surface. “What do you think?” He yelled back, “and hurry, it’s freezing out here.”

  “Um, how many letters?” Lacey asked loudly.

  “What? Letters? I don’t know!” Ben started getting aggravated, “what does a cell phone have to do with this whole thing, why would they care?”

  “Oh! Oh! Try United Cellular, remember it was on the case at Devil’s Punchbowl!” Lacey yelled as she jumped up and down with excitement.

  Ben took another breath of air, and then pulled himself under water. He kicked as hard as could, grabbed the green case, flipped it over and began to spin the dials; there were no spaces so the two words ran together. As he spun the last dial to the letter “R” the case popped in his hands and the lid opened slightly. He lifted the lid, inside was a green iridescent cell phone that matched the box. Ben pulled it out, and then looked at the rest of the box, there wasn’t anything else inside, so he let the box go and kicked his way back to the top.

  As he emerged he tossed the phone toward the beach, Lacey ran out into the water and grabbed it. “What are you gonna do?” She asked, and then said, “What is this?” She held the phone up.

  “Dunno, that was all that was in the case, it’s probably ruined being in the water, I don’t think I was supposed to open it down there.” He treaded water another few seconds. “I’m gonna go back down and see if I can undo the log, so it can go back to floating around the lake.” He said. Before Lacey could ask why, he was under water again.

  The fish came to him welcoming him once more; they swam next to him and investigated his face and hair. He batted at them, but they were relentless, he didn’t see any teeth, so assumed they were all friendly, he hoped anyway.

  He reached the bottom few feet of the log and saw that there was another large chain linked around the bottom, it was connected to something, he couldn’t tell what was acting as the anchor, because the chain disappeared into the deep dark water below him. He grabbed the chain and began to shimmy it back and forth, then slipped it down a few inches at a time. The log was slippery like a rock, so the chain was moving with ease. As soon as he had it within an inch of the bottom of the log he felt and enormous tug on the chain. He loosened his grip for a second, and then once again began to move it down, all of the sudden the chain pulled him down with an amazing force. It happened so fast he couldn’t even think to let go. The chain was pulling him faster and faster into the dark deep water. He turned his head to look up, trying to gain some bearings, as he did his wrist wrapped in the thick metal. It was as if a giant was pulling on the other end, and Ben was his catch.

  Lacey played with the cell phone; she pressed the standard red button and the phone vibrated to life. “Sweet, it still works!” She said loudly to herself. She turned it over in her hand and analyzed the back of it. On the battery pack there were two things engraved under the United Cellular emblem, they read: ‘Water proof up to 2,000 feet and New GPS capability.’

  Lacey flipped the phone over in her hand and saw that there was a voicemail. “Well that’s weird.” She pressed the blue button that had an envelope on it, assuming that was the voice mail button. A woman’s voice came on the line announcing there was one new message; Lacey hit the number one button to listen to the message as she was instructed. Just as a man’s voice came over the phone she heard a loud whoosh of water. She looked up toward the Old Man, it was as if someone was pushing it up out of the water, it shot a good twenty feet, straight up out of the water. Then with a loud splash the Old Man flipped horizontally and was now on its side.

  “Oh my gosh!” Lacey yelled. First of all what on earth just happened, second of all, “Where’s Ben?” She yelled, as she looked around, praying that for some reason this was a joke. Realizing she was all alone, and there was absolutely no one there to help her, she shoved the cell phone in her pocket and ran into the ic
y water.

  Ben continued to fight the chain as it pulled him deeper and deeper into the water. He wiggled his hand, trying anything to loosen it and free himself, the more he fought, the tighter it seemed to become. He felt the water go into his nose, it burned as it went down his throat. His eyes became blurry, the fish that had been following him were now falling behind, even they couldn’t keep up with the incredible speed at which Ben was being pulled into the depths of the lake.

  For some reason Ben kept hearing the park ranger over and over in his head saying that the lake was the seventh deepest in the world. He looked up, and saw nothing, just blackness above him; he looked down and saw the same vastness. He closed his eyes and tried to relax; even if he could get his hand out he would never be able to swim all the way to the top. The water was now coming in his nose with ease, he opened his eyes once again and saw a bright light, he inhaled deeply, there was no use fighting it now.

  15

  Lacey furiously swam around the log; she dove under every few feet and looked around to see if she could locate Ben, she saw nothing. As she popped up the last time she saw a green and white boat approaching quickly. She raised her arms waving for help, the boat slowed down and drifted to her.

  “Help! My nephew was down there, and then all the sudden the log popped up and now I can’t find him!” The two men pulled her out of the icy water. Then immediately radioed for help. Lacey determined from their matching uniforms that they were park rangers.

  “What was he doing down there?” One ranger asked.

  “We were geocaching, one of the geocaches was connected to the Old Man, when he saw that there was a chain around the bottom holding the log, he said he was gonna go down and try to release it so that it could float free again.” She was now sobbing and shivering severely.

  “How old is he?” The one holding the radio asked.

  “Nine.” Lacey said with an ashamed tone, she couldn’t believe she had let him go in alone. She sobbed even harder.

  The ranger with the radio keyed in a different code then said, “Station 1, have divers on site look for nine year old boy, in the vicinity of the Old Man, over.”

  “Divers?” Lacey shivered as she spoke.

  “Yeah, the divers were trying to release the Old Man today, it’s been stagnant for over a month now.”

  “I thought they were coming out tomorrow.” Lacey said with a confused tone.

  “Who told you that?”

  “The tour guide, on the boat.”

  “Oh, he doesn’t know what he is talking about, we tell these guys and they just let it go in one ear and out the other.” The ranger said as he shook his head. “Don’t worry; if your nephew is down there, these divers will find him, they even have a mini submarine equipped with medical equipment in case of emergencies.” He patted her shoulder trying to reassure her.

  A diver in a bright yellow wet suit approached Ben quickly; he had spotted his bright blonde hair from about thirty feet away with his diving light. He grabbed Ben by the back of the neck, then took the respirator from his own mouth and shoved it into Ben’s. Bubbles started coming out of Ben’s nose sporadically. The diver held Ben tightly and tapped his face, trying to rouse him. Not having any luck he took his dive light and turned it on and off three times, signally to the mini sub that he had an emergency.

  The sub sped over to them; it looked like a large silver missile in the water. An electric door on the sub’s side slid down into the frame of the unit. The door didn’t lead to the inside of the sub, but to a compartment that was waterproof. The diver pushed Ben through the door and into the small space. As the main door slid back up and locked into place a sudden pressure came from the floor and all of the water was sucked out through the floor panels. From the outside of the sub the water shot out of the bottom with amazing force. As soon as the water had drained an interior door opened and the diver pulled Ben into a small room with a table. He slipped out of his dive gear. As another man ran over with an oxygen mask and placed it on Ben’s face. He grabbed his arm.

  “Any vitals?” he asked the diver.

  “Couldn’t tell, this kid has been in the water too long, might be going hypothermic on us.” The diver began to strip Ben’s clothes off and started putting warm dry blankets on his body, while the other man checked Ben’s pulse and blood pressure.

  “He’s got a good pulse, looks like you got to him right in time; let’s get this kid warmed up.” The diver continued to cover him with blankets, while the other man radioed to the surface.

  It took over a half an hour for the submarine to surface the lake; they had to advance slowly in the water to prevent dangerous pressure changes. As the sub emerged it glided on the water’s surface. Lacey looked up from her seat on the ranger’s boat; the captain of the sub gave the ranger thumbs up, indicating that Ben had regained consciousness. Both vessels headed toward the mainland and docked.

  Ben’s mom ran to the phone and answered it, “Hello.”

  “Hi, Mrs. Conner?”

  “Yes, this is she.”

  “This is John, I’m a ranger at the Crater Lake National Monument, we have your son here, and wanted you to know that there has been an incident.”

  “Okay, what happened? Is he okay?” She began to panic.

  “Well, he is now, but he nearly died. Our problem is that his aunt says she has permission to take him, but considering her poor judgment we would like you to come and get him.”

  “Poor judgment? Is she there? Can you put her on the phone?” She demanded.

  “Um, well, yes, I suppose.” He handed the phone to Lacey.

  “Hey Sis.” Lacey said sheepishly. “So don’t get mad, but Ben almost drowned, in Crater Lake, but he’s fine…and this is the last clue, we are so close…please, please can I keep him another day?” She begged as if she were asking for an ice cream cone.

  “So he is okay? Why don’t you put him on the phone.” Ben’s mom didn’t know what to do, every motherly instinct she had said to drive up there and get him, but she also knew that this wasn’t just a game, this was huge and they were so close.

  “Hi mom.” Ben said quietly. His voice was scratchy, and he was completely exhausted. All of the tests came back fine, he was ready to go, he just needed to convince his mom that his aunt wouldn’t let him get hurt again. “It was my fault, not Aunt Lacey’s, and we just have one last place to go, please…we are just so close to winning that ten thousand dollars.”

  “Well, okay. But please be careful!” Ben’s mom smiled at the thought of the money, if he only knew, she thought to herself.

  “What?” Ben was shocked that she had said yes. “Yeah, I’ll be careful okay, I love you mom.”

  Now Ben’s mom was the shocked one, “I love you too, Ben.” She hung up the phone and cried; he hadn’t said ‘I love you’ in three years.

  “Okay, she said yes.” Ben said to the ranger. He shook his head, clearly frustrated that Lacey would be allowed to supervise this child, but there was nothing he could do, so he opened his office door and led them out to the lobby of the ranger station. They waved and thanked the man again for rescuing Ben, then practically ran out the door.

  Lacey pulled the green cell phone from her pocket, she showed Ben that it was in fact waterproof; she just needed to listen to the voice mail. She went through the prompts, and then put the phone on “Speaker” just as the man began to talk.

  “Congratulations, you have made it so far, the journey is almost over! Just press the blue GPS button that has a globe on it to see your next destination.” Lacey pressed the blue button on the phone’s keypad. Instantly the screen lit up and an aerial photo came up. The picture was incredibly clear, they could even see trees and bushes on the ground. On the screen there was a red dot with coordinates next to it, they read “42 degrees 05’44” North, 123 degrees 24’21” West” Under the coordinates was a screen button option that said “Find Route” Ben pressed the button and instantly a step-by-step list of instructions came
on the screen. He scrolled through the instructions; they began at their exact location by the ranger’s station at Crater Lake and led them all the way to the Oregon Caves National Monument in southern Oregon.

  “Cool, that’s close to home.” Ben said as he started to walk back to the car, they climbed in, started the car and were on their way.

  “Why don’t you get some sleep, you’re gonna need your rest.” Lacey said. She looked over, Ben was already asleep. Lacey turned the radio on low and turned the temperature up, just in case Ben was still feeling cold. She looked at him and smiled, then thanked God one more time for allowing Ben to survive. She grabbed a tissue from the console and wiped the tears off her face, she looked in the rearview mirror to see how puffy her eyes were, she looked horrible. She readjusted the mirror just in time to see a familiar vehicle behind them. It was staying back off her tail, but as it rounded a corner she knew immediately that they were in trouble. How did he get away from the police? More importantly, how did he find them?

  Lacey increased her speed, she didn’t want to make any sudden moves, and she definitely didn’t want the freak in the blue van to know that she knew they were being followed. She looked at Ben and decided for the time being she wouldn’t wake him. He needed to recuperate, and adding more fear to his stressed body would only make matters worse. She continued to increase her speed, trying to be mindful of the road, but also wanting to get away from the blue van. After fifteen miles there was a junction for Diamond Lake, Lacey made the turn and sped down the road following the signs for the lodge.

  As she pulled into a parking spot Ben woke up, “where are we?” He asked.