As she pulled into a parking spot Ben woke up, “where are we?” He asked.
“Just a little detour,” Lacey said. “I don’t want to freak you out but the blue van is back.” She pointed to the far end of the parking lot, where the van was idling.
“Oh my gosh! What are we gonna do?” Ben began to panic.
“Okay, let’s think about this. This guy obviously wants to steal the treasure from us, and somehow he knows exactly where to find us. I mean nothin’ else makes sense, right?” Lacey said as she stared at the blue van.
“Yeah, but how does he know?”
“Beats me.” Lacey said, “but we could act like we are gonna stay here tonight. What if we get a room at the lodge, then we’ll unload a bag or two, make it look like we are just gonna stay. He’ll probably get a room too, and then when he’s in his room, we can sneak out. I wonder if there is another way around the lake.” Lacey grabbed the map from the console and unfolded it. She found Diamond Lake and just as she was about to speak Ben said,
“Yeah, look right here.” He pointed to the screen of the cell phone.
“How did you find that?” Lacey asked.
“Well it showed me where we are now, so I just zoomed out on the map, and see right here, we were on highway 230 that would take us south from here to highway 62, but highway 138 goes west. He would never think that we would go that way.” Ben smiled, this new cell phone made things so easy!
“Okay, so let’s do that, one of us will keep watch on the van, as soon as he’s out of it and not paying attention we’ll get out of here.” Lacey opened the car door, stretched then met Ben on the other side. “Ready?” She asked.
“Yep, let’s loose this guy!” They headed toward the lodge office and checked in.
The man in the blue van picked up his cell phone, it rang only once before the man on the other end picked up.
“Yeah, what’s the ETA?” He asked.
“Looks like they’re staying the night at Diamond Lake. That just doesn’t make sense.” he told the man on the other end.
“Hmmm…well after their little fiasco at Crater Lake, maybe they need to rest. They haven’t slept in days.” He looked at some pictures on his desk. “Well, just don’t lose them, and please, stay out of trouble, we don’t need that type of publicity, ya know.”
“Yes, sir, again, I’m sorry about that.” The man tapped the steering wheel nervously.
“There is just a lot of money riding on this; we need them, so keep your distance until the time is right.” The man hung up his phone and threw the pictures on his desk, if this didn’t go perfectly, he would be in a lot of trouble.
16
Ben peeked out the curtains of the hotel room. “Hey Aunt Lacey, Blue Van Man is getting out.” Lacey ran over to the window and peeked out,
“Blue Van Man…I like it, good name, buddy,” she smiled at Ben, “okay perfect, let’s let him get settled.” She sat on the edge of the bed; it was hard to resist just laying back and falling asleep. Her only motivation at this point was keeping Ben safe. She had a feeling that when this was over she would never be allowed to take Ben anywhere again. Heck, she may even be blacklisted from the family, especially once her parents heard about all this drama. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
“Okay, he just walked out of the lodge, looks like he has a room key.” Ben followed the man with his eyes. He didn’t want to make any movement; he couldn’t let the man know that they were watching him. “Okay, yep, he’s got a bag, he’s walking…unlocked his door…the door’s closed, perfect! Blue Van Man—you’re going down!” He yelled as he slid away from the window. Lacey was resting her eyes while sitting on the bed. “This is it, he won’t think that we would leave this soon, we should go now.” Ben said as he nudged his aunt with his foot. Lacey opened her eyes, she looked completely worn out.
“Okay, but as soon as we get to 1-5, I need to get a coffee.” She stood up grabbed her bag and peeked out the window once again. “Good to go.” She said, and then opened the door slowly. They both slid out and snuck to their car. It was only ten feet away, but it felt like a mile. They kept their eyes on the man’s hotel room window, there was no movement. They climbed in the car, started it and slowly left the parking lot.
“Sweet!” Ben exclaimed.
“We are awesome!” Lacey yelled. She turned onto Highway 138 and began heading west toward Interstate-5.
The man had just taken off his shoes; he was stretched out on the hotel room bed, when his phone began to vibrate. He jumped up, “great, what now?” He said to himself. He looked at the screen of the cell phone; on it he saw a blue dot moving along the map on the screen. “What?” He yelled. “What are you kids up to?” He ran over, grabbed his shoes and nearly fell over as he was moving so quickly in an effort to get them on. He would have to convince his boss that he deserved a bigger cut of the money, this was becoming ridiculous. The man grabbed his duffle bag and ran out the door.
“Oh man, Blue Van Man is gonna be so ticked tomorrow when he sees that we aren’t there.” Ben said as he laughed and shoved some Doritos in his mouth.
“Serves that jerk right.” Lacey said, and then grabbed a handful of chips as well. She looked over to the left and watched the water for a moment. It was too bad that they didn’t have a chance to see more of the lake; they could have had a lot of fun there. She would have to take Ben and Megan camping there after this whole treasure hunt was over. They could bring their bikes and ride all the way around the lake. She was lost in thought when suddenly Ben yelled,
“Shoot! Look, he’s behind us!” He was turned in his seat looking out the back window.
“What?” Lacey said as she adjusted the rear view mirror so she could get a better look. “How on earth did he know we left?” Lacey began to panic, as soon as she rounded a corner in the road she veered to the left, drove through some shrubs and was on the bike path. It was just wide enough for her small SUV; she doubted that Blue Van Man could fit his huge vehicle on the path. She increased her speed, and then told Ben to tighten his seat belt.
The man rounded the corner, when he couldn’t see the green SUV he picked up his phone, pressed a button and the map appeared again. He looked at the dot; it was now moving parallel to the highway. He looked over to the left and saw the bike path, that had to be where they had gone. The man saw a clearing in the small trees and shrubs that lined the highway and eased the van onto the path. It would be a tight fit, but he thought he could make it.
Lacey was driving like a crazy woman, the path was narrow and winding, she was so scared. How on earth did this guy find them again? She looked in the rear view mirror once more and sure enough the blue van was behind them on the bike path, this was becoming insane. She thought of the options, they could try to lose this guy, but that hadn’t worked so far on this trip. They could call the police, but he had already been arrested for starting the fire, and the firefighters knew that he was following Ben and Lacey. So obviously that wouldn’t work either. She looked at Ben; he was looking behind them, and totally overcome with fear.
Lacey focused on the road ahead and just in time, there was a bicyclist about thirty feet ahead. She honked the horn and slowed down. The bicyclist jumped in fear and nearly crashed. He hadn’t expected to see a car out here. He pulled off the road and threw his hands in the air as they zoomed by him, “Sorry!” Lacey yelled out her window.
The bicyclist sat back on his bike and began to peddle, when all the sudden he heard another horn, he swerved off the road again, just in time to see a large blue van barrel past him. “Crazy psycho!” He yelled with a shake of his fist. He turned once more and stared behind him, trying to guarantee there was no other vehicle about to run him over.
Lacey gripped the steering wheel, trying to come up with any way for them to escape this guy. Suddenly a sign appeared in the distance, “What’s that sign say?” She yelled at Ben. Ben turned and read it,
“Narrow bridge ahead.” He looked at his aun
t.
“Well I guess we’ll find out how narrow.” She slowed her speed a little and saw the bridge in the distance. She thought they could make it; it would definitely be tight though. As she came up to the bridge she had Ben look out his window and she looked out hers trying to get a perfect view of the available space, she slowly inched onto the wooden bridge, the hand railings scratched the side of her car. “Oh man!” She said as she made her way across, the sound of the wood against her doors and the flexing of the bridge under the weight of the car was enough to make both of them nauseous. Finally they made it across. The pathway forked, Lacey looked at Ben. He grabbed the cell phone, hit a button and suddenly an aerial photo of their location was on the screen, he looked at her and yelled,
“Go right!” Lacey turned the steering wheel and sped off, hopefully toward freedom.
The man in the blue van approached the bridge slowly, “they made it across, I should be able to.” he said to himself. He looked at his cell phone and saw that the blue dot was moving toward the right now. He slowly moved onto the bridge, his van was just a little too wide and the railings began to break apart from the force of the van. Thinking it would just cause damage to the railings he preceded over the bridge, he was right in the middle when he felt the bridge flex, then all of the sudden there was a huge snapping and crackling noise. Suddenly his van was falling straight down into the creek bed. It slammed into the rocky creek bed with a loud crash. He let out a small scream, and then realized he was okay. He could just put it in four wheel drive and climb out of the creek, he thought. Just as he put his hand on the shifter there was an incredible bang and suddenly the car fell even lower to the ground. His ears rang from the sound; he opened his door, stepped down into the water and saw his four blown out tires. How was he going to explain this one? He wondered. Just then the bicyclist peddled up to the now destroyed bridge.
“Are you okay?” The bicyclist yelled.
“Yeah, hey can you give me a lift?” The man asked sheepishly.
“Yeah right!” The bicyclist turned his mountain bike around on the path, then looked back and yelled, “That’s what you get for bringing that huge beast onto the bike path, ya crazy psycho!” He shook his head and continued to peddle away.
The man looked at his van, it was resting on its rims, he hadn’t thought about a weight restriction on the bridge. He jumped in, slammed the door and suddenly the air bag exploded in his face. He pushed the rough fabric away from his face and yelled “really?!” as he slammed his hands on the steering wheel. Blue Van Man looked around making sure no one was watching. Embarrassment flushed his cheeks. After taking a moment to regain his composure, he grabbed his phone and camera, then climbed out and headed up the embankment of the creek. Once on the path he looked at the screen, then followed the dot and headed toward the right. At least he had put the tracking device on the car when Ben and Lacey were at the coast, even on foot he would never lose them.
Lacey and Ben turned off of the bike path onto Highway 138; they didn’t know if Blue Van Man was still behind them, they just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
“Somehow he knows exactly where we’re going.” Lacey stated in a concerned tone.
“Yeah, but how?” Ben pondered.
“Something just isn’t right about all of this, well let’s get to the Oregon Caves as fast as possible, and get done with this thing. Once we have the cash we will need to get home, before this guy can steal the money from us.” Lacey adjusted her rearview mirror; she was constantly checking it now to see if they were being followed. “Why don’t you try to sleep Ben, we have about four hours.” Ben reclined his seat and tried to focus on resting, his mind raced and his body ached, but somehow he managed to drift off.
“You what?” The man on the phone screamed. “Are you insane? Why would you chase them down like that? The point of the tracking device was so you wouldn’t let them know they were being followed, you idiot!”
“I know that sir, but I wanted to make sure that I got good pictures, if we want this to work we have to have plenty of documentation. Please just send another car for me, I promise I will be there when they find the treasure.” Blue Van Man was breathing hard as he walked the perimeter of Diamond Lake; according to the GPS unit on his cell phone he had only half a mile before he would reach Highway 230. If he could get another car, he would be able to catch up to Ben and Lacey just in time.
“Okay, I’m sending a car, but after this we will have to seriously talk about your upcoming contracts, I don’t know if I can have such a liability under my employment. So where are you?” He demanded. Blue Van Man gave him the location, and then hung up his phone. He had to catch up with those kids, before it was too late.
Lacey picked up the green cell phone and dialed her sister’s phone number. Ben’s mom answered immediately, she had been waiting by the phone in case of an emergency.
“Hey sis, we are almost there, will you come? I can give you directions. We are being followed and we think this guy wants to steal the money from us once we find it.” Lacey rambled.
“Yeah, let me get a pen, when do you think you’ll be there?”
“Within two hours, it’s at the Oregon Caves, ya know, over by Cave junction.” Lacey sighed deeply; she wanted this trip to be over so badly.
“Okay, we’ll start heading that way, should I call the police?” Ben’s mom asked.
“They didn’t do anything last time, so I wouldn’t; I think we just need to have enough people to scare this guy off.”
“Okay, well I’ll get everyone ready and we’ll see you over there. Be careful Lacey.” She pleaded.
“No worries, we’ll be just fine, just be there, okay.” Lacey said.
“Yep. We’ll be there.” Ben’s mom wrote down the instructions. She then picked up her phone and dialed the number off the business card that she received from the Cocoaliscious Cereal man.
“This is Stan.” The man answered.
“Oh yes, this is Stephanie Conner, I just wanted to let you know that Ben and Lacey are about two hours away from the Oregon Caves.”
“Yes, I know I was just going to contact you Mrs. Conner. So will your family be there?”
“We are on our way as soon as I get off the phone.” She smiled; the excitement was building through her entire body.
“See you there Mrs. Conner.” Stan Berton hung up his phone, this would be one of the biggest publicity stunts ever, he began thinking of all the revenue this treasure hunt was going to rake in for his company. He smiled brightly, collected his wallet and cell phone then walked out of his office and announced to everyone that he was on his way to deliver the grand prize.
17
Ben looked around the empty parking lot of the Oregon Caves National Monument, “I thought you said Mom was coming.”
“She said she would be here, maybe they’re just running late.” Lacey looked at her watch; they would soon run out of daylight. “Well let’s go to the location, grab the prize then we can wait for them here at the car.” Lacey scanned the parking lot area, then looked as far as she could in the distance to see if Blue Van Man was anywhere in sight. When she saw nothing her heart slowed down a bit, they were safe for now.
Ben pulled out the cell phone and pushed the GPS button. An aerial photo came on the screen showing their exact location. The screen was also indicating that the prize was only six hundred feet away. They both smiled, and then headed in that direction.
The ground was covered in rock and shrubs. The air was moist and a small breeze blew pine needles around Lacey and Ben as they approached the spot indicated on the screen of the cell phone. They reached the exact spot and looked around, there was nothing. Just rock and moss blanketing the ground, they began to dig, lifting rocks and pushing them to the side, still they found nothing.
“Do you think Blue Van Man got to it before we did?” Ben asked.
“I don’t know, this just doesn’t make sense. Can I see the cell phone?” She reached
toward Ben. He handed her the phone and continued to kick rocks in frustration.
“I don’t get it; we are right where it is supposed to be.” She pushed a button and the aerial photo disappeared; now only the coordinates were on the screen, but there was one other number that didn’t make sense. “Hey what do you think about this number?” She showed it to Ben. Next to the longitude and latitude coordinates was the number -200’.
“I have no clue, but it isn’t here.” Ben said, with an almost angry tone. Then his face brightened, “Hey wait, duh! We’re at the Oregon Caves!” Ben started walking back to the car.
“Wait up.” Lacey said as she jogged over to Ben. “Yeah, okay, why does that matter?” She paused, “Oh do you think it is in a cave? Yeah that makes sense, negative two hundred feet! So the prize is two hundred feet under the surface.” She looked at Ben; her face had taken on a fearful expression. “Ben I don’t do caves, I can’t go underground like that.”
“Just think, this is our last one, it won’t be too bad…please Aunt Lacey, please!” Ben begged.
“Okay but we need flashlights, and what if there are bats?”
“Well, we’ll just be really quiet so that we won’t wake them.” Ben tried to calm his Aunt, but inside his stomach was churning at the thought of being underground with bats and other creepy animals. “We’ll be okay,” he said reassuringly. He grabbed his aunt’s arm and pulled her toward the gift shop, “they should have flashlights” he said, and he hoped they would be able to tell them about any other scary creatures that would be lurking underground.
Ben walked out of the gift shop and adjusted the light on his hard hat, “pretty cool that they rent this stuff out!” He looked like a miner in his bright yellow hard hat, with a flashlight mounted on the front of it; in addition, a carbon monoxide detector was hanging around his neck. If the oxygen level got to an unsafe level the alarm would sound on the detector, they were instructed that if this happened they needed to get out of the cave as quickly as possible.
Waypoint: Cache Quest Oregon (Waypoint Book Series) Page 10
