SINS of the FATHER

by Marshall Huffman

  “Don’t be a smart butt,” Kate said.

  “I’m just saying.”

  “Look, safety is always the key. The worst thing in the world is not being prepared. That’s why we have three flash lights each. You never know what you are going to run into. You may only get one chance to make it right,” she admonished.

  “I get it,” Alan said at last.

  They went to the diving area and found wet suits. It took almost an hour of huffing and puffing to finally find one that they both settled on.

  “I’m whipped,” Alan announced.

  “Wuss.”

  “Nice talk. I’m starved too.”

  “Okay, I’m comfortable with what we have. Let’s put this in the car and find someplace to eat. Then we can find a place to stay. I don’t think you should tackle the grotto today. You are going to need to rest up. Tomorrow is soon enough,” Kate said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Alan spent a restless night. He was worried about descending into the abyss tomorrow. He didn’t want to act like a big baby but the idea of falling 30 or 40 meters without knowing what was under the water wasn’t too appealing either.

  He ate slower than normal and took longer to load the car than usual.

  “Are you stalling?” Kate finally asked.

  “No. I’m just making sure we have everything we need. There is a lot more gear than we usually have,” he replied.

  “While you finish, I’m going to go get us something to take along to eat. Who knows how long we might be out there.”

  “Good plan. I won’t be too much longer,” he assured her.

  One of the things he had been thinking about was the gun he took from Clouse. He wanted to make sure it was useable. He finally found two zip lock bags, Not ideal but it would have to do. He had to take the silencer off to get in in the bag. He zipped up the top and put it under the front seat. He decided he would put it under his wet suit when they got there.

  He was finished, looking at the map when Kate came back with a bag full of food.

  “I should have eaten before I went there. I think I bought half the store,” she said.

  “It looks like it,” Alan replied and tore a chunk off of the end of one of the baguettes.

  “Everything ready?’ Kate asked.

  “Whenever you are.”

  “Let’s do it,” she said.

  **

  “What in the world could they be up to? Did you see all that stuff Lang loaded in the car?” Durr asked.

  “I assume it has something to do with the grotto. Maybe it is another one of their adventures. Ms. Gerber has extensive rock climbing experience from what I found out about her,” Brandt told him.

  “Maybe it is more than just that.”

  “We will just have to wait and see. They will have to come back up at some point. Once they descend we can go over and just wait.”

  “And if they find the gold?” Durr asked.

  “We will cross that bridge when we come to it. I find it hard to believe someone just dumped it there. Anyone exploring the grotto would have found it by now,”

  “I’m not so sure. It is a long way down.” Durr replied.

  “No use guessing. We will just have to wait and see what happens.”

  “Nadel and Finkel. What about them?” Durr asked.

  “Once they descend we will circle the area. I want to make sure that having fun is all they are doing.”

  “What about Lang?”

  “What about him?”

  “You know what I mean,” Durr said.

  “Like I said. We just have to wait and see. If he causes no problems we will give him a small reward. If not…” Brand said leaving the sentence unfinished.

  “And his grandfather’s diary?”

  “Yes. That is a dilemma. I don’t know exactly what we will do about that just yet,” Brandt pondered.

  **

  “I feel silly in this thing,” Alan said indicating the harness.

  “You would feel a heck of a lot worse without it, I can guarantee you that,” Kate told him as she pounded in the last of the pitons.

  “So we just go out there and jump in and hope that rope holds.”

  “Not exactly but I’ll bet you don’t care what the rope cost now do you?”

  “Not as long as it holds,” Alan agreed.

  “Unless you weigh over 550 pounds I think it’s pretty safe,” Kate assured him.

  “I don’t know. I’ve been eating a lot of French food.”

  “In that case, I’ll let you go first to see what happens,” she replied.

  “Just don’t let me fall,” Alan said.

  “Now. What we are going to do is go out to the roof or overhang. Then we will drop our lines down. Then all we have to do is abseil down into the grotto.”

  “Abseil. Like drop down.”

  “Controlled. Like we did at the sports shop. Just do exactly as we did there and everything will be just fine.”

  Alan followed her over to the edge hesitantly.

  “Hold the belaying cam closed, put your feet on the face edge and lean back,” Kate told him.

  “Are you crazy.”

  “Come on Alan. Either we do this together or I go on and you can wait here.”

  “Alright,” he said looking over and emulating Kate.

  “Slowly walk down the face until just your toes are on the rock.”

  Alan did as instructed.

  “Now we are going to push off and drop down. As soon as you shove off, release some of the pressure on the belaying cam and once you are clear of the face of the rock, clamp it back down. Don’t worry about swinging around for a few seconds. That’s pretty much normal. Watch,” Kate said and shoved off.

  She fell about ten feet then came to a halt.

  “See? Nothing to it. It’s fun,” she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls.

  Alan took a deep breath and pushed of. Nothing happened. He was right back where he started.

  “Don’t forget to loosen the belaying device,” Kate called up.

  He realized he still had a death grip on it. He took another breath, shoved off and heard someone scream. He remembered to clamp off the device but he was a good twenty feet lower than Kate.

  “See? Wasn’t that cool?” Kate said grinning from ear to ear.

  “Who screamed?”

  “You did,” Kate said.

  “I did not,” Alan said indignantly.

  “Now the rest is really easy. We just loosen the cam and slowly drop down,” Kate said and started descending.

  Alan stayed alongside of her until they were just a foot or so above the water.

  “Want to just drop in or go in slowly?” Kate asked.

  “I hate getting in cold water. Fast is better for me,” he told her.

  “Then release and go,” she said.

  Alan let loose and dropped in the water. He was shocked by the warmth. It wasn’t nearly as cold as he had expected.

  Kate’s head emerged a few seconds later laughing.

  “I thought it was spring water. It’s salt. I got a mouth and nose full,” she said spitting.

  “I don’t get it,” Alan said floating on his back.

  Between the wet suit and the saltwater it was easy to float like a bobber.

  “They are called zawns. It’s fed by a channel from sea water.”

  “We’re quite a ways from the sea,” Alan said.

  “Evidently not as far as we thought. Anyway it is pretty pleasant,” she said and started swimming to the ledge that ran around the pool of water.

  “It’s bigger than I thought,” Alan said.

  It was difficult to make out any words. The echo reverberated every sound.

  Kate pulled herself out of the water and Alan followed a few seconds later looking around. He could see fish from time to time.

  “Well, here we are,” Alan said at last.

  “Yep. Got a plan?” Kate asked.

  “I guess we split up. You
go that way as far as you can and I’ll go the other. You know what we are looking for so just keep a sharp look out.”

  Kate went one way and Alan the other working their way slowly along the narrow ledge. A half hour later they were right back where they started.

  “That was a huge waste of time,” Kate said.

  “So it appears. We don’t know one thing more than we did. Kate, I think it’s time to give this up. Let someone try to figure it out. I just don’t have a clue as to what to do next,” Alan confessed.

  “Maybe you’re right. Either we got the coordinates wrong or we are simply at the end of our rope.”

  Alan laughed suddenly.

  “What?’

  “End of our rope,” he said.

  “Metaphorically you dweeb.”

  “Well, that too.”

  “Ready to head back up?”

  “Might as well,” Alan said.

  He was just getting ready to dive in when he saw an arrow inscribed in the wall directly across from him. The light was hitting it just enough to make it out.

  “Wait,” Alan shouted, pointing.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  “What do you think it means?” Kate asked.

  “I don’t know but it is manmade.”

  “It is pointing to the water I guess.”

  “Looks that way to me.”

  “I don’t get it. How could we find coordinates in the water?”

  “Maybe we won’t. Maybe we have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Alan told her.

  “No way. Do you really think so?”

  “Only one way to find out. I’m going to dive down and see what I can find.”

  “How deep it is?”

  “I don’t have a clue but it looks fairly shallow. I’ll let you know in a minute,” he said and dove in.

  He was back in less than ten seconds.

  “It must be pretty shallow,” Kate said when he popped to the surface.

  “No, it’s not that. The wetsuit and salt water are fighting me. I can’t get very far down. I need something to weigh me down.”

  “Take off the wetsuit. That will help,” she said.

  “Only if you will,” Alan said treading water.

  “Alan.”

  “Okay, okay,” He swam over to the ledge and between the two of them he was able to wiggle out of it.

  “This is ridicules,” he said standing there naked.

  “It’s my turn to get even. Now go,” she said slapping him on the butt.

  He dove in and pulled his way to the bottom. It was no more than twenty feet deep. He grabbed a rock and held on to it when he felt around. Without a mask, he couldn’t see much. The salt water stung his eyes. He swam back to the surface and floated.

  “Anything?”

  “Not sure. Hard to tell without a mask.”

  “Wait here. I’ll be right back,” she said and dove in.

  Within minutes she was heading back out of the grotto to the top. Alan didn’t even bother to ask. He just lay there taking it all in. It was very peaceful. A few minutes later she was lowering herself again.

  “Don’t tell me you have a mask,” Alan said.

  “Not exactly. I have a salad container. I dumped the salad in a bag. You can clean out the container and then hold it to your face.”

  Alan rolled over and looked at her.

  “What? Do you have a better idea?”

  “I guess not. Give it to me,” he said.

  She tossed him the container and he held it up to his face. If he sucked in through his mouth and nose it would pretty much conform to his face. She was right, it was better than nothing.

  “Here it goes,” he said taking three deep breaths before placing it over his mouth and nose and sucking it in.

  He dove down and found the water pressure actually helped hold it on. It wasn’t great but he could see a hundred times better. He swam around, and pulled himself from rock to rock, looking for anything out of the normal. He found nothing.

  “Nothing he said,” breathing deeply when he came to the surface.

  “You want me to give it a try?”

  “Yeah. That would be great,” Alan said.

  “Hold it. Wait. Oh no buster. You just want me to take my wetsuit off.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake Kate, am I that kind of guy.”

  “You bet you are.”

  “It was worth a shot. I’ll be back in a few,” he said and dove down again.

  He was on this fourth time down when he noticed a crop of rectangular rocks. He picked one up and almost sucked in sea water. It was a gold ingot. He couldn’t believe it. He looked around quickly and saw at least twenty of them. He had actually found the gold.

  He had to swim back to the top this time. Gasping he placed the gold bar between his legs and pulled himself over to the ledge.

  “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Kate said bending down and grabbing him by the arm.

  “Kate,” he gasp.

  “What. What is it? Are you hurt?”

  “No,” he managed to get out and reached down and struggled to pull the gold bar up so she could see it.

  “Oh my God. You actually found it. I can’t believe it. Where. How? I mean,” she stammered.

  “I saw maybe twenty or so more down there. I guess that is where they tossed them to keep them from falling into someone else’s hands,” Alan told her.

  “How much does one of these weight? I can hardly pick it up.”

  “Usually around fifty pounds.”

  “Fifty pounds? Isn’t gold sold by the once?”

  “The price is quoted by the ounce. Fifty pounds is 800 ounces.”

  “What is an ounce worth?” She asked.

  “Last time I saw it was going for something fourteen hundred and fifty dollars an ounce.”

  “You’re talking about over a million dollars right here,” she said looking at the ingot.

  “Something like that.”

  “And you saw twenty of them?”

  “Maybe a few more. I didn’t really have much time to look around,” Alan said.

  “Twenty million dollars. That is hard to grasp.”

  “Yes it is,” Alan said.

  “So now what do we do?”

  “Well, I think we should throw it back in with the others.”

  “What? Are you crazy? A million dollars?” Kate exclaimed.

  “Hear me out. We go back to town. Get scuba gear and anything else we can think of to pull it up with. We’re talking about a half ton of gold. We need some plan for not only getting it out of here but transporting it once we do. They we have the problem that my grandfather and the German’s had. What to do with it.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that. I just hate to throw it back in. It isn’t every day you hold a million dollars in your hand. And gold on top of it,” Kate bemoaned.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  When Kate and Alan emerged from the grotto the first thing they noticed was that Brandt and his men were standing there.

  “What the hell,” Alan said.

  “Mr. Lang. Did you enjoy you’re adventure?” Brandt asked.

  “Look. I’m getting a little tired of you just dropping in like this. You want to follow us, that’s fine but I’m getting pretty darn tired of answering questions each time we do something.”

  “I see. So this was nothing more than another adventure for you?”

  “Brandt, I am going to tell you this just once more. Finding the gold and diamonds are your problem. I’m now officially done with all of that. Kate is teaching me how to do some climbing. Later we are going to tackle a more challenging place but this was a good learning curve for me. We will probably do it again a time or two. You can pitch tents and watch if you like or better yet, get your own gear and learn as well. It’s quite invigorating,” Alan said.

  “I’m not much for sports like that. Skiing is more in line with what I enjoy.”

  “Where is the diary? You have had it
long enough,” Alan said.

  “I regret to tell you that we don’t have it,” Brandt said.

  “You don’t have it. I see. And exactly why is that Mr. Brandt. You gave me your word that you would return it in the same condition I gave it to you in and now you are telling me you don’t have it?”

  “A man called Victor Kluge was one of our group once but he decided, like Clouse, he wanted it all for himself. We gave the diary to our expert but unfortunately Kluge went there and killed our man and took the diary. He has it now,” Brandt replied.

  Alan just looked at him.

  “I know. I apologize. I am a man of my word and this does not set well with me. I will track Kluge down at some point and get the diary back.”

  “So you say. It sounds like he is just as bad as Clouse when it comes to killing.”

  “Maybe worse,” Brandt replied.

  “So what now? We stand here looking at each other? Kate brought some food but I doubt it is enough for all of us. You are welcome to sit there and watch us eat but you may want to turn away when we get out of our wetsuits unless you are voyeurs as well,” Alan said.

  “Your point is taken Mr. Lang. We will be off now.”

  “I see that Durr has binoculars. Does that mean I will have to hold a towel up for Kate? You can look at my butt all you want,” Alan said.

  “No need to get insulting Mr. Lang. We understand your suspicion and anger. We will certainly pull back. Not entirely, but back enough to give you all the space you need.”

  “Now nice,” was all Alan said and started peeling off his wetsuit again.

  Thank goodness he had put it back on even though Kate said he didn’t need to. She might enjoy the view.

  **

  “That could have gone better,” Brandt said as they climbed back into the car.

  “He was a little tense.”

  “To say the least.”

  “It’s hard to blame him. I’m sure I would feel the same,” Finkel replied.

  “Do you think he was telling the truth? This is just a kind of training for something bigger?” Brandt asked.

  “He looked like he was telling the truth but who really knows for sure what anyone really is thinking.”

  “Any word on Kluge?”

  “So far no one we have talked to seems to know where he is.”