The Lost Treasure Map Series

by V Bertolaccini

  He even considered there was something of else of value there and if he intended in taking it back without anyone knowing of it! But what was it? Perhaps he had heard of something being there from accounts of there – which had been hidden away from them? Pendleton and his two treasure hunters had known things that had not been told to them! Yet that was not an illegal activity and it was even up to him whether he told anyone of it – and he was sure that it was something else!

  Though he would be bothered if he did take the treasure without him knowing about – even if he never got any of it – as he wanted to find it and see what it was more than anything!

  Many items there were being kept and sent out by many of them that thought that they had great hidden value, but he knew that they never as he had them checked out by his friend and Bryson had not found anything worth taking except for glamorous and curious ornaments to remember the place.

  They started searching the rest of the top floor and the area the police had warned them not to go in, and searched everything while checking nothing deadly was there.

  He started noticing Mitchell had more interest in the William Randall tomb and insisted in having it removed from there – by having the windows of the room removed and having it lowered down to the ground on ropes, where it was taken away by a helicopter. All the people he had contacted about it valued it as of being of little value and he wondered if he was going to have it checked for something, and it having something hidden in it.

  He was sure that he would even discard it before they left there, especially if they found something of real value. Since he had been at the last castle he had gotten to know many explorers, who had made explorations all around the world, as it interested him greatly, especially after him finding the last treasure, and he had started to believe there were treasures about and he was amazed that a lot of treasure hunters and people interested in exploration had met with him after hearing of his discover of the treasure, and they had him recollect and give his account of what had happened.

  Mitchell was an explorer and had heard of his accounts and had been told many things about him by the scientists.

  Bryson was unsure how far they would go there and how it would end, and wondered if they would keep going searching there for months and wondered how long he would stay there until he had enough of it and was positive that there was nothing there, and if they could solve the disturbances there.

  He knew how valuable the place was though and would try to get what he wanted somewhere before he left.

  There had to be something of value there and they were all keen to find what was hidden away there enough for something to happen, and he briefly wondered if what existed could be let loose on the world? Nobody knew what was holding it there or what it really was!

  Bryson searched the rooms with William and watched him search and how he did it. Yet he still could not grasp some major thing about him, and never really knowing what he was doing or looking for being that thing, but he still could not believe it actually was it. It surely was created by it, separate from it, to carry out work.

  If it was seriously dangerous, and it started doing things against them, they would have to do things legally against it – because as far as everyone there was now concerned it was human – and he also thought it was human now and that they could end up having serious problems.

  What if it really was different and an alien and could breed? Could such creatures start to take over the Earth?

  While they were searching a room Mitchell had appeared at the door, and started searching objects there, like he was checking if they were missing anything.

  “Do think there is anything here?” Mitchell asked it, trying to get his views about it.

  It just laughed like Bryson, over some hidden joke, either about it or about him, or something that they had not grasped.

  “I have checked almost everything here,” Bryson replied. “Nothing here is anything of value! What do you think William? Could there be anything of value about here?”

  It looked over at him, still slightly amused, with its amused expression, and replied, “Out here! I don’t think so!”

  His reactions were little! If he was what he claimed why did he not act more like him? Yet why was he not like a twin and even doing things differently? It once had him searching his memories of his relatives that had been like him!

  Chapter 19

  The Killer

  Bryson stood at a room window and watched the snow come down heavily and he knew that it was the start of another blizzard hitting region, and watched it cover the wood in front of the castle.

  Somewhere in the lower castle he heard a heavy thud that sounded like an explosion of something and he felt its shudder go through the castle stone.

  As he started to wonder what had caused it a strange black figure, covered all over in black clothing, rushed out the castle at a speed he thought was staggering, and he wondered if he was an eminent sprinter.

  Then he watched the figure enter the wood faster than he thought possible and wondered what he was missing, and stood more confused when another figure appeared below and started blasting rounds of bullets at him in the wood with one definitely hitting him – especially going by the confidence of the policeman and the way he stopped and his various reactions.

  Bryson left and put on a thicker jacket and rushed down to the lounge and to the front door, where he saw a group of policemen who recognized him immediately as they were the same police that he had followed into the tunnel and out into the wood after the killer.

  One of them turned and even gasped when he saw him, and Bryson was sure something was going to happen there as they were getting ready to do something.

  They rushed out into the wood and invited Bryson to follow them and Bryson followed them, checking that it was not going to turn dark, but he was sure that they had at least an hour before it did turn dark.

  He immediately started showing his presence and went up to the front of the group to question the policeman that recognized him, that he remembered talking with when they had chased the killer into the tunnel.

  While they scrambled through the snow he heard two policemen in front of them giving panic-stricken replies and he wondered why?

  They clearly believed that they were chasing the killer out into the wood, and they were glad to see Bryson there again and knew that he knew the ground more than them.

  The man had been in a large hooded black jacket that he had used to cover his face and nobody had seen his face, and he had shot and killed one of the policemen in the castle.

  It was believed that he had entered the castle and police surveillance equipment, put there to catch him, had alerted them to him being there!

  A blue light flashed over the wood from behind them and he watched it illuminate the wood slightly, making him realize it had become dimmer, and he wondered if it was entirely the snow falling, thick trees, and heavy clouds doing it.

  It turned worse than he had imagined as the police were rushing about back at the castle getting ready to begin a full-scale operation in the wood to get the guy. Yet he realized that though it could have them out there in the dark that a police helicopter could catch him!

  The killer confused him as nobody yet had seen his face, which was clearly covered up, and the speed of the man was incredible and that of a top athlete. Had the guy increased his running speed to get out of being caught and he wondered how long he could run at that speed and he knew that the police about him thought that he would slow down eventually.

  The speed of him was the main thing that they had underestimated the last time and that he had managed to get out into the wood and have his footprints covered up by the snow, and with them running after him fast through the tunnel.

  When Bryson saw his footprints he was surprised again! Though they were normal shoe marks their placement was strange and placed differently than he had seen before! Yet it could have been him rushing through the deep snow a
nd through the blizzard, and he still seemed to Bryson’s disappointment to be still traveling at a fast pace and he wondered where the hell he was going to out there anyway.

  He had survived in the wood the last time and seemed to know it and where he was going. If only the helicopter would turn up!

  Their confidence was suddenly increased by the discovery of the killer’s blood on some of the snow, showing that he had been wounded and that they had not imagined it, and they collected some and examined it and Bryson was amazed that it actually looked different and as though the person had something on the wound that had altered it somehow – and he wondered if they would trace and catch him if he got away.

  Through one of the police communicators he listened to the police back at the castle communicate with the police somewhere else and he listened to their exchanges with interest and heard them mention a helicopter coming out.

  When it finally appeared it was far darker and they saw its light racing over the trees, going towards the castle, and he wondered how long it would take to reappear over them. He wondered where the guy was going to and why he thought there was no danger being there in the wood at night? Had the guy originally intended to stay in the castle at night? And where was he going to now?

  He decided to accept that the person knew of the disturbances and deaths that had occurred in the wood and wondered if he had made a mistake being there at night or if he had some means of avoiding it, and Bryson started considering all the things available to him. Yet there were few and going by the direction that they were going in that he might pass part of one of the tunnels or there might be another, if there was an entrance to it there.

  When he saw one of the police with a map of the region he examined it and saw that there was a small place about twenty miles out across the wood in front of them and he wondered if the guy intended to go there, and he thought he might have made a mistake as if he reached there surely they could be waiting for him. Yet would the guy attempt to get there at night or did he have a hiding place?

  The heavy blizzard, going deep into the thick wood, started obscuring their view the darker that it got and they tried to catch up with the guy more.

  The snow glowed brightly in their lights, from their lights beaming out, and Bryson spotted the beam of light from police helicopter beam through the wood as it followed their path to them, and he wondered what would happen?

  It was turning too dark and he grew tired from the evening spent searching the castle and he remained confused at what the police knew about the disturbances there and if they would make the mistake of staying there in the dark night and he could not think of a proper way to tell them of the dangers that existed there!

  To his disappointment the helicopter flew straight overhead blowing up all the snow at them and throwing the blizzard about it, and it raced away into the distance, and he tried to hear what one of the others in front of him was talking about on his communicator, but could not, and was happy to see the helicopter return and stop at a place ahead of them – where he saw it land on an empty region of ground in the trees.

  Away in the distance they watched three of the police using their lights to search for something beside the helicopter, and the police around Bryson all tried to see what was happening, through all the trees, and they raced towards them.

  The policeman with the communicator hollered to them to go faster – now with his communicator blaring out at full volume with the frantic voices of the police over at the helicopter.

  Another policeman eventually grabbed it and started to use it to speak to one of the men there, that he knew, who told them to come over as fast as they could.

  Chapter 20

  The Death

  Bryson rushed over to the helicopter, going in front of the rest of the police, determined to find out what happened, and was blinded by the helicopter’s bright light blasting through the blackness and he waited until he saw where the police from the helicopter were and moved over to them, standing away in the distance around something in the vegetation.

  Bryson rushed over, sensing that it was needed for some reason, almost blinded by the mixture of intense lights and darkness, considering everything that he was up against and attempting to observe every place at the one time.

  He listened and all he noticed was the wind blowing the trees about the police ahead, with snow blowing around wildly.

  Then just before he reached them he darted over to them and one of them turned and shone his torch over him, and one of the other police there acknowledged that he knew Bryson and that he was with them.

  In all the footsteps in the snow Bryson suddenly noticed the killer’s footprints and that they staggered around and he saw that he had collapsed where the police were standing around, and he saw a trail of blood to him, from him clearly being shot by them.

  They had attempted to fix his wound with bandages, and when Bryson stood beside them he saw that he was close to death.

  Yet the police still had their hands on their guns at their sides!

  By their reactions he was sure that they did not have a clue what they were dealing with for some reason and he searched for the reason. It was dark, within the grounds of the castle, and they had chased a vicious killer and had shot him.

  From the helicopter they had easily traced him out into the dark wood, blanketed in deep snow.

  The clothing of the killer was thick and wrapped around him, almost entirely covering him, and Bryson froze trying to see his face – expecting him to pull out a gun and start a gun battle.

  When he saw that he had been handcuffed Bryson moved to his side to see what the problem was, and saw his face, and watch heaps of snow falling about him from the pine trees.

  Bryson’s heart exploded, beating faster than he had ever felt it beat, when he saw its facial features!

  He watched the figure almost fall over sideways, barely able to stay alive, and he saw its blood and that it was different.

  The other police that were with Bryson strolled there, not shining their lights there – as though not daring to – approaching in wonder as though they were going to meet the devil himself.

  When one of the police standing around him shone his light there they all were dumbstruck, and wondering what it was?

  Bryson stared down in horror at what he was positive was a genetic cross between a human and some sort of alien, crippled on the ground!

  It resembled some form of ghost, with it giving weak splutters from its form of mouth!

  “Do you know what it is?” one of the police muttered, slightly shivering and gritting his teeth with the cold.

  And they waited for Bryson to say something!

  “I want to talk to it first!” he pleaded, and they moved back as he knelt down beside it.

  “A scientist!” its weak voice muttered, and Bryson nodded in agreement, knowing that it could speak his language.

  “Where did you come from?” he asked confused.

  “A gateway threw a few of my species here years ago! They were trapped here, unable to return. I’m one of their experiments, and crossed with them and your species! I am the last of them! They were unable to return after all! They also made me to handle your species, communicate with your species, your outside world, and I was to find a way for them to return home! They built those tunnels you used to find the castle! They were built to get about the wood safely!”

  “Were you watching us?”

  “I used their technology to detect you and follow where you were going ...”

  “Why did you kill the people here?” one of the police finally asked, amazed at what it was. “And where were you going to?”

  “They could’ve killed me ...! My species were killed here ...!”

  “There was a skeleton in a large dome cavity within the tunnel,” Bryson continued. “How did that happen?”

  “Some of the people of my race still worshiped ancient gods! They gave the sacrifices to the gods, believing that they had been p
unishing them putting them here!”

  Bryson saw it was weakening and decided to alter the subject!

  “What were you looking for in the library that he found? You left all the books disrupted!”

  “I have been trying to find a way back to my world to tell them what happened – and you found more information, which I had to check ...”

  “Did you discover anything?”

  It pulled out a crumbled bit of paper and allowed it to fall at its side, unable to move any further.

  Bryson instantly picked it up and examined it.

  “It’s a page from a diary? There’s nothing really on it?”

  “It’s more! It’s definite proof of the diary of your ancestor – William Randall! I’ve been searching for it for most of my life.”

  He stared down at its body cringing onto life, with blood pouring from its mouth, and it fell over dead and Bryson strolled away watching the confused faces of the police, wondering what they really thought of it.

  Chapter 21

  Another Death

  At a top floor room window Bryson observed most of the police leaving in helicopters and was amazed to see the body of the alien being put aboard a military helicopter and Mitchell shaking hands with a high-ranking officer and Mitchell handing him his report and being handed documents and his orders.

  Bryson knew there was far more behind it and Mitchell, and the military being there, and he left it there as he knew he was going to get information about it! Mitchell was being far more open than he had been, and would be if he intended to be secretive, and he wondered what Mitchell would have put in his report for when he had gone into library tunnel and through the vortex.

  He even considered searching his stuff to have a look at what he had put down! What had happened to him? Had it been just the same? He thought of ways to get him to reveal what he wanted, realizing that it might not be secretive any longer.