The smashing of his own torch gave Dan one crucial advantage. Zak’s eyes would be focussed on the dim light of the shaft ahead. Hopefully he wouldn’t see the dark-clad figure of a fallen phantom. As he approached, Dan thrust out his leg. Zak’s feet connected. Crash! Zak fell like a large, toppled tree. Dan was up in a second. He aimed his foot hard into Zak’s ample belly. He groaned in agony and Dan, remembering to pick up his cutlass, ran off towards the welcoming light of the shaft.
‘Now for the home straight,’ muttered Dan, ‘a few yards to go and I’ll be safe.’
His terror of Zak imbued him with extra strength and determination, but Zak would not be far behind. Dan was now running with no torch – he would have to head for the weak pillar of light ahead and pray that he would not stumble over anything else. It was impossible to see the tunnel floor. As far he could remember, this stretch was reasonably smooth. Please God let me find those rungs easily, prayed Dan, as he arrived below the shaft.
He could see John’s face looking down anxiously, but it was unhelpful as it blocked the light.
‘I’ve got no torch I can’t see the rungs,’ shouted Dan, ‘get out of the light. Zak’s right on my tail.’
John stepped away from the hole and grabbed a torch to help Dan. He tried to shine it without actually getting in the way of natural light.
Where, where were the rungs? Dan skimmed his hands round the curved sides of the shaft in desperation. His fingers found them before his eyes did; it would not have been a difficult task, even in poor light but for the circumstances. Reluctantly, he let the cutlass drop to the floor rather than allow it to delay him. He needed both arms free to pull himself up. He had a few precious seconds before Zak’s strong sweating paws would be on him. He had to get up fast.
With the strength that comes from pure fear, Dan hauled himself up one rung after the next. His head was almost at the top now and John was waiting with arms outstretched to pull him to safety.
Dan felt the most sickening tug at his ankle. Zak was right behind him! Desperately, he tried to wriggle his trapped foot free, but Zak pulled on his leg with brute force. Holding on tight with his hands, Dan kicked out wildly with his other foot, seeking to push the toecap of that heavy old boot hard into Zak’s ugly face.
He thought he connected with something but Zak’s beefy arms closed around his outstretched leg like a giant clam. Only the grip of his hands now stopped him from falling as Zak wrenched him downwards.
Dan’s palms were becoming slippery with perspiration. He tried to put a hand out to John who was reaching down as far as he could into the shaft. Their fingers almost met, but not quite. Dan’s arms were being all but dislocated by the force applied to them. They couldn’t hold out for long. One after another, his exhausted fingers gave way and he lost his grip. ‘Aaaagh,’ he cried as John looked down in dismay. Dan fell from the shaft wall, taking Zak with him to the tunnel floor.
Dan fought to shake off Zak as they landed hard on the ground, jolting Dan’s hat off. Fortunately, Zak took the worst of it, his fat belly cushioning Dan’s fall, but Zak was on him in an instant.
‘I’ll teach you to try and make a fool out of me, you little scumbag,’ snarled Zak. ‘Have that for a start.’
His clenched fist punched Dan hard in the stomach, winding him and making him double up in agony.
‘I’ll land a few more blows on you later after I’ve had the shag that girl was promisin’ me and taken away your treasure.’ Zak reached into his pocket. ‘Luckily I’ve still got some tape left,’ he said, twisting Dan’s hands behind his back and binding them swiftly.
‘Now for that gob of yours, so we don’t ’ave to ’ear no more nonsense about disturbin’ your tomb and such like. You scared the life out of Jake, poor bugger’s scampered off like a dog. Mind you, you don’t look ’alf so menacing without that daft pirate hat on.’
Zak wrapped the tape tightly around Dan’s mouth and shoved him to the floor. ‘I’ll be warnin’ your friends that if they give me any grief, you’ll be the one who suffers.’
Dan lay on the ground, wriggling and squirming in vain to get free. A visceral anger coursed through him but he was helpless. He was at Zak’s mercy and so were the others. After having been so clever – or thinking he was – he had wrecked everything. Their treasure would be stolen and Louise and possibly even Emma molested – Dan’s heart went cold at the thought.
It was entirely because of him and his sentimental desire to do the right thing. He had seen the look the others had given him – yes even Emma. It was a look of wearied resignation at his insistence on returning to the danger zone. They had only needed to close the lid tightly on that shaft and hurl every heavy object they had over the top of it. But he had prevented that.
Zak flicked his torch over the ground – Captain Felipe’s bicorne hat lay on the tunnel floor. He picked it up and placed it on his own head.
‘Is it sideways on or fore-and-aft?’ asked Zak. ‘I think fashions changed over time. I’ll do as you did and wear it sideways I think. Now, where’s your precious little cutlass disappeared to? Aah, I know, you must ’ave dropped it before you climbed the shaft. Oh yes, ’ere it is!’
Zak grinned at Dan. ‘Will I do, do you think?’ he asked. He stood over Dan brandishing the cutlass menacingly. ‘Time for some fun, see ya later!’
With that Zak strode under the shaft and, putting his hand over his mouth to muffle his voice, called up, ‘I’m ok, Zak’s legged it, I’m coming up.’
The voice sounded indistinct to John, Louise and Emma waiting anxiously at the top. John had wanted to go after Dan but was unwilling to leave the girls alone. If Dan had been caught, it made no sense for him to be, too. He had told the girls to return to the lighthouse and bolt the door but both, bravely, had refused.
John’s heart leapt when he heard Dan say that Zak had legged it and he was on his way back up, although the voice didn’t sound quite like Dan’s. He peered anxiously into the shaft. Sure enough, the now familiar captain’s hat on top of his head was slowly ascending, accompanied by a cutlass. It must have been the echoing effect and Dan’s nervousness that caused his voice to distort.
When the cutlass appeared first through the hole followed by the iconic hat, the others cheered and applauded their friend’s safe return.
Then joy turned to horror! It wasn’t Dan’s smooth, fine-featured face which smiled back at them from beneath the hat but Zak’s rough-cheeked jowly mug. He didn’t attempt to get out of the hole straightaway but paused with his head sticking out, for maximum effect.
‘Well what a reception, I thank ’ee most kindly,’ said Zak, doffing the hat. ‘Right, shall I take ownership of the treasure straightaway, or do you want a final gaze at it over a cup of tea? I say, don’t it look beautiful in those crates? Will you look at that? You know I often think I’d ’ave made a good smuggler and wrecker, back in the old days.’
He grinned round at them all.
‘Oh I say, missy! How are you? I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on,’ he said, leering at Louise. ‘Sorry we was so rudely interrupted earlier by that loony in fancy dress. Are you still up for some fun?’
Louise glared at him.
‘Where’s Dan?’ demanded Emma, ‘what’s happened to him?’
‘Dan? Who’s Dan? Oh you mean the ’oly ghost? Dan the ancient mariner?’ hooted Zak. ‘He’s gone back to acting school, sweetheart, see if they can bring him on a bit. I think it’s a lost cause personally, although maybe he’d ’ave a chance playin’ the pantomime villain at Christmas, with a bit more practice.’
‘Where is he,’ repeated Emma, slowly, and the others were surprised at the cold, steely quality of her voice.
‘Ok, ok, I was only jesting. Truth is, I stabbed him luv,’ said Zak, matter of factly. ‘He’s a gonner. I must say this cutlass is jolly sharp considering its age. Don’t worry I wiped it clean on that awful old sailor’s coat he was wearing, I won’t drip blood everywhere.’
‘Y
ou killed my Dan, my lovely Dan,’ screamed Emma, her voice contorted with anguish and fury.
‘Well, he don’t look very alive to me, with his tongue lollin’ out and all. You can go and check if you like. Now I don’t like to invite myself in,’ said Zak, beginning to haul himself from the hole, ‘but I could really do . . .’
‘Aaaaagh you bastard!’ Emma yelled.
Her eyes wild, she grabbed one of the heavy iron spades that John and Dan had used to lever up the flagstone and rushed at Zak. Before he could bring up his hands to protect himself, she raised the spade high above her and brought its rusting blade down with all her might onto his head.
The anger and adrenaline which coursed through Emma’s slight arms gave her strength ten times greater than normal and the force she applied was murderously brutal.
The age-old bicorne hat disintegrated as the spade smote Zak’s skull with a horrible clang. His eyes crossed weirdly for a second then rolled in their sockets. Zak toppled forwards, his body lolling over the side of the hole. Emma nudged his shoulder hard with her foot and he fell with a great thud and clatter of cutlass to the tunnel floor.
Chapter XVI
For several seconds, no-one spoke.
Then John said: ‘Girls, Zak looks like he’s out for the count. I will go down to see what’s happened to poor Dan. Let’s stay silent for a minute to see if Jake turns up or if there’s any sound from Zak.’
They could hear nothing. Emma was sobbing and distraught but Louise was determined to stay calm. John took one of their powerful new torches and shone it into the shaft. Zak was lying where he had fallen. John climbed down, still holding the torch in one hand. He had mastered the tricky rungs by now.
He swept the beam along the passageway. No sign of Jake. Dan lay trussed like a Christmas turkey, as the others had been, with Zak’s strong adhesive tape. He was alive! Zak had played a cruel trick telling them that he had stabbed and killed him.
John looked around for the cutlass to release Dan. He flashed his torch at Zak and saw it lying alongside him. Blood trickled from Zak’s head forming a small pool in a dip in the tunnel floor. John trained the torchlight directly onto his wound. The sight made him shiver. That was one heck of a blow Emma had delivered. John picked up the cutlass and deftly began to chop his way through the tape binding Dan’s ankles and wrists. He unwound it carefully from Dan’s mouth.
‘Am I glad to see you,’ said Dan, grabbing John’s arm and giving it a squeeze.
‘Come on,’ said John. ‘Let’s get straight up the shaft and push the flagstone over this hole double quick. Sorry, I should have asked, are you ok? Are you ok to climb the rungs?’
‘Yes I’m fine,’ said Dan. ‘Better than that big lump anyway,’ he said, glancing towards Zak. ‘Do you think we ought to check if he’s ok?’
‘No,’ replied John, firmly. ‘He’s knocked out and he’ll take a while to come round. When he does, he’ll have an almighty headache and serve him right too. Jake can mop his brow when he turns up, and that could be any time.
‘Let’s not spend a second longer down here. The girls are our concern, not him. They were distraught when Zak’s ugly mug peered over the top of the shaft instead of yours. He told us you were dead, the vile creature. Emma is beside herself with grief.’
‘Poor Emma,’ said Dan. ‘So what happened to Zak? Did he lose his footing and fall?’
‘More or less,’ said John. ‘Come on, we can talk later. Let’s get out of here fast. I’ll go first so I can help lift you out the other end.’
Dan was not in as good shape as he claimed. He was weak and bruised and his fingers struggled to grip the iron rungs. He could barely manage it – but the thought of falling down the shaft into the tunnel alongside an angry, injured Zak propelled him upwards. As he reached the top, he put his hands out on either side to heave himself from the hole and couldn’t do it. John reached under his armpits and dragged him.
‘Dan my love, oh my love,’ squealed Emma with delight and relief, tears rolling down her cheeks. She flung her arms round him, only he was too stiff and bruised to hug her back. ‘Dan, that miserable brute said he’d killed you. Oh my love, I thought I’d lost you.’
While they embraced passionately, John forced the lid over the shaft before turning to them apologetically, ‘I’m sorry to interrupt but we have work to do. We’re still in danger. Dan if you’ve got any strength left at all, can you help me with this flagstone? It weighs a ton.’
Dan broke away and pushed his tired muscles into action again. Louise also lent a hand and between them, they dragged it into position.
‘It’s good that it’s so heavy,’ panted John. ‘It means that there will be no way those pair of thugs will be able to lift it from the shaft below – not even their hefty arms will be strong enough.’
‘Just to be sure,’ said Dan, ‘let’s drag a couple of heavy boxes over the spot – that way, if we need to go back down, we can easily see which flagstone to move.’
The slightest physical effort was painful for Dan and he winced as they moved boxes and general clutter over the flagstone. Emma saw the physical pain he was in and yearned to hug and kiss him again. But she knew that the serious business was not over. The treasure was still in danger and so, potentially, were they.
‘We need to get the treasure to the lighthouse and store it as securely as possible. ‘Is there somewhere safe we can put it, Louise?’ asked John.
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘The lighthouse safe to be precise. It’s difficult to find and very robust. I would guess there would be room in it to store the ingots and coins at least.’
Louise and Emma went ahead to open up the lighthouse. As they stepped from the outbuilding into the bright daylight and smelt the fresh sea air with its tang of salt and seaweed, they looked at each other, and hugged.
‘I’m so glad that is all over,’ said Emma to Louise. ‘I feel shaky with it all. I’m still in shock from what that evil man said about Dan. Thank heaven it wasn’t true.’
‘Come on,’ said Louise, ‘putting her arm through hers, everything’s going to be fine now. Let’s do as John says and get the lighthouse open, kettle on and once we’ve got the treasure safely stowed inside we can relax.’
John and Dan set about moving the two brimming crates. They were surprisingly heavy, but so much of it was solid gold and silver, of course. Dan was sore and weary beyond words but a good feeling was creeping over him. He too felt a cheer in his heart as he stepped from the outbuilding. The breeze felt heavenly as it ruffled his hair and sent bracing sea air flooding into his nostrils. His heart rejoiced at the glorious daylight and vast expanse of sea all around, so wonderfully open and free after the dark claustrophobia of the tunnel.
Perhaps it was the rush of oxygen into his lungs or just his rising morale, but Dan’s desperately weary arms seemed to find new strength as he staggered along the path with John, holding a crate between them. As they returned for the second one, he reflected on how a day which was twice poised to end in disaster seemed to be turning out well after all.
Inside the lighthouse, Louise opened a cupboard in the kitchen and poked about. The others had never noticed the secure metal door to a safe, controlled by a combination lock.
‘Fortunately,’ smiled Louise, ‘I know the combination, my parents made me memorise it. Right, those big crates won’t fit in. Let’s transfer the ingots and coins into cardboard boxes, that will have to do for now.’
Their hearts fluttered as they sifted through the precious metal. The shiny gold and silver coins and dull but rich yellow of the gold ingots were an incongruous sight now that they no longer lay in an old ship’s chest alongside the belongings of a ship’s captain. The treasure looked strangely out of place.
‘It belongs to a different era, not to our own,’ said Louise, mystically.
‘More to the point,’ said John, ‘it belongs to us. We are the finders and have taken ownership. Now at last we have brought it to safety.’
There were other miscellaneous artefacts too, which they had not had much chance to look at, salvaged by Captain Felipe from the stricken ship: a couple of pewter tankards, what looked like old, heavy dinner plates, bangles and various other trinkets – even metal coat buttons. These sundry items would have some value, not as precious metal but as fascinating curios from a long-lost wreck. They put what they could in the safe but not all would fit in.
‘Let’s leave the rest in a box in the middle of the lounge as a decoy,’ said Emma. ‘That way, if anyone breaks in to look for the treasure, they might think that was the lot and make off with it, not realising the far more valuable stuff has been locked away.’
‘Clever thing,’ said Louise, rubbing her shoulder.
‘I don’t feel very clever,’ replied Emma. ‘I just feel like a cup of tea and a biscuit and try to get back to normal.’
‘Let’s do that,’ said John. ‘Our final task is to move the rest of the items into the lounge as Emma suggested. ‘Then why don’t we take a pot of tea and biscuits into the lamp room and relax for a while? It would also be a good vantage point to watch out for anyone seeking to get to the island by boat.
‘Not that I think that’s likely,’ continued John, noticing the girls’ alarmed faces. ‘My guess is that Zak will take a while to recover from his clobbering and Jake seems to have run a mile from the scene.’
Dan smiled. ‘Yes, I think Jake’s pretty certain that those tunnels are haunted – I doubt he’ll be back for a while. Zak may no longer believe in the ghost of Captain Felipe, but I think Jake will take a lot of convincing that I was just a rather bad fake.’
‘Nonsense, you were a very good pretend phantom,’ said Emma, giving his arm a squeeze. ‘And the most adorable, handsome one I’ve ever known.’
Never had the noise of a kettle boiling and the gurgle of steaming water filling a teapot sounded more welcome to John, Dan, Louise and Emma as it did right then. They took their brew up the spiral staircase to the lamp room, Dan leaning heavily on the rail as he did so.
Wreckers Island (romantic suspense) Page 12
