Buccaneer

Chapter 12

Dane sat, dumbfounded, gazing up at Avery, who seemed almost as shocked by her words as he was.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you. This wasn’t how I wanted to do it.”

Dane looked from Angel, who was likewise speechless, to Bones, who frowned, and then his face split into a broad grin.

“I can totally see it!” He pounded his fist on the table, threw back his head, and laughed. “The hair, the eyes, the thing you both do when you’re thinking hard. I should have figured it out.”

“How?” Angel asked.

“Our father,” Avery said, settling back into her chair and studiously avoiding Dane’s gaze, “spent a lot of time here. Sometimes he was with his wife, but other times he came alone. He and my mother had a fling; two ships meeting in the night and all that. They didn’t carry on any sort of long-term affair, but he sent money every month and made sure I had everything I needed. He even helped me with college.” Her eyes grew moist. “Once every summer, he would spend a few days with me. We’d always do something related to his pirate research. I suppose that’s why I chose my the career path I did.”

“So, this is more than an academic pursuit,” Angel said. “This is personal.”

Avery nodded.

“Say something, Maddock,” Bones urged.

“Sorry, I’m just shocked. I never…” He trailed off, lost in dark thoughts. He’d never dreamed his father would lead a double-life.

“Let’s leave these two alone,” Bones said to Angel. “I think they’ve got some talking to do.” He rose from his seat and headed out the back door onto the deck. Angel gave Dane an encouraging smile and followed her brother out the door.

“I’m not lying.” Avery said after a lengthy silence. “I’ll take a DNA test if you want me to.”

“I don’t guess I want that.” Dane said. “Bones is right. It’s kind of obvious once you know what to look for. How long have you known about me?”

“All my life. I don’t mind telling you I’ve hated your guts for as long as I can remember. You got my dad fifty one weeks out of the year. I got the leftovers. And now, after all the times he and I spent researching Kidd’s treasure, I find out it was you he wanted to share it with.” Her tears flowed freely now, but her eyes shone with resentment.

Dane nodded, unable to summon any words of comfort. He couldn’t blame her for feeling like she did.

“So, how do you feel about me now? Still hate me?”

“I haven’t made up my mind yet.” Avery managed a tiny laugh. “You’re bossy as hell and you don’t listen to anyone but Bones. That much I’ve already figured out.”

“I’m not bossy, I’m decisive.” He grinned. “And I do listen, it’s just that everybody else is wrong most of the time.”

“We really are an awful lot alike. Creepy.” Avery wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “So, what else do we have in common? Are you as unlucky with the ladies as I am with the guys?”

“Maybe.” Before he realized what he was doing, he was telling her about his wife, Melissa, and her tragic death; a subject he studiously avoided even after all these years. Then it was on to his ex-girlfriend, Kaylin, and, finally, his current sometimes-girlfriend, Jade. “Things just aren’t working out between us. Sometimes I think Jade and I are too much alike, you know?”

“I’ve got to hand it to you, Maddock. I never suspected you had that many words in your vocabulary, much less you were the kind of guy who would talk relationships for ten minutes straight.” She reached out, tentatively, and took his hand. It was a good feeling: companionable and comforting.

“That’s the longest I’ve ever talked to anybody about relationship crap,” he said, knowing he sounded a bit too much like Bones. “Is this typical sibling conversation?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m new at this too. Are we good?”

“Yeah,” he said after a long pause. “I think we are. It’s still weird, though.”

“Totally,” she agreed, slipping her hand from his grasp.

“How about we bring the two peeping Toms back inside and let’s make a plan for getting to whatever Dad wanted us to find?”

Bones and Angel were making no effort to hide the fact that they were watching Dane and Avery through the window. When Dane motioned for them to come inside, they bounded through the door like children headed to recess.

“This is so cool!” Angel said. “Now I have somebody who can understand what I go through with this assclown.” She glared at Bones, who feigned innocence and his heart.

“Time’s short. Let’s get to work,” Dane said.

“Bossy,” Avery said to Angel in a confiding tone. “I just told him about that.”

“They don’t listen,” Angel said in a mock-whisper. “You have to learn how to push their buttons to get what you want. I’ll show you.” She smiled at Dane, eyes sparkling, and winked.

Once again, he found himself feeling uncomfortably warm, and hurried on.

“It’s going to be me and Bones going in. You get it, right?”

Avery gave a grudging nod.

“What can you tell us about this spot on the map?” Dane asked.

“We’ll have to compare it against contemporary maps and photos.” She couldn’t hide her guilty expression. “I lied. I have no idea what spot on the island this correlates to.”

Dane buried his face in his hands. “Why me?”

“Just kidding. I know exactly what this spot is.”

Bones and Angel burst out laughing and Angel high-fived Avery.

“Fine,” Dane sighed. “Fill us in.”

“The spot here is in the swamp.” She pointed to the mark that denoted what they presumed was the entrance to the passage. The swamp was a triangular body of water that virtually cut the island in two.

“I thought the swamp had been investigated and dismissed as a possibility,” Dane said.

“Sort of. Back when portions of the island were privately owned, someone tried to drain it. As the water receded, he found what looked like a wooden shaft rising up out of the water, but when they investigated it further, it turned out to only be a few feet deep. He gave up his efforts to drain it any further. After that, there were disputes over the swamp between the different people and groups who owned parts of the island. Eventually, the government took control and, since then, the swamp has been ignored.”

“Do you think this map is pointing to that shaft?” Bones asked. “If we have to dig, there’s no way.”

“It’s not. Look here.” She pointed in turn to six circles. “These indicate the locations of huge granite stones that form what we call the Oak Island Cross. The width of the cross,” finger hovering millimeters above the aged map, she traced the line, “is 720 feet, with the center stone perfectly centered. The distance from the center stone to the bottom of the cross is also 720 feet, and 360 to the top. Everything is perfectly proportioned except for this one.” She pointed to a circle between the middle and bottom stones.

“That’s the entrance,” Angel whispered.

“This stone ought to be halfway between the center and bottom stones, but it isn’t. Researchers have always wondered why it alone is disproportionately spaced. Now we know.” Avery looked around the table, her expression triumphant.

“Is it in the swamp?” Bones asked, leaning down for a closer look.

“It juts out into the water,” Avery said. “I’ll bet there’s a hidden passage underneath it.”

“What if the stone is covering the passage? They’ll never be able to move it.” Angel pursed her lips and tugged at her earlobe. It was one of her little habits that made Dane smile.

“I guess we’ll find out.” Dane’s eyes drifted to the bottom right corner of the page. “What are these symbols?” A tiny block of glyphs, triangles, circles, squares, some incomplete or slashed through with diagonal lines, had escaped their notice.

“They look like the same glyphs that can be found on the stone that was discovered in the pit back in the 1800’s.” Avery gave the symbols a long, appraising look. “This uses some of the same symbols, but it’s a different message entirely. No wonder no one has ever been able to make sense of it!” She sprang from her seat and hurried into her bedroom, returning shortly with a battered briefcase.

Dane’s eyes widened when he saw the case. “I remember that.” It had belonged to his father. Dane could recall being surprised when Hunter Maddock had returned from one of his research trips with a shiny, new briefcase instead of his beloved old one.

“Dad always had this with him whenever he visited,” Avery explained. “When I was little I used to like to play with the clasps. As I got older, I guess I came to associate it with the good times we had together. He gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday. I hope it doesn’t make you feel weird.”

“It’s cool. He told me the airline lost it. I’m glad it’s still around.”

“Anyway,” Avery said, opening the case and extracting a folder, “here are some possible translations of the original stone. Maybe they can help us figure it out.”

“What about this?” Angel held up the other paper that had been in the envelope. “It’s got a bunch of those weird symbols plus a code.” She flipped the paper around for the others to see.

“That looks like the cipher in The Gold Bug,” Dane said, reaching for the book that lay forgotten on the table. He flipped to the pertinent page and turned it around for the others to see.

“No way!” Avery’s eyes grew wide. “Do you think Dad translated the runes, and then encrypted them?”

“Definitely.” Dane was certain of it. “He would have thought it added to the fun and made it more secure in case the wrong person stumbled across it. Besides, to the average person, it looks like a long math problem.”

“Do either of you know how to break this code?” Bones asked. “Because I hated Calculus.”

“I’ll bet there are plenty of Gold Bug decryption sites online,” Avery said. “Bones, want to grab my laptop?”

“Only if you sit on my lap top.” Bones had scarcely gotten the words out when Angel hit him over the head with The Gold Bug.

“Get the computer, you creep.”

Ten minutes later, they had their translation.

“Shaft south,” Bones read. “Tunnel divides. Lower shaft. Third tunnel north. Upper shaft.”

“What do you make of it?” Angel asked.

“I think there are a maze of tunnels in this part of the island,” Dane said, “and these are directions for navigating them.” He looked up at Bones. “You up for a swim?”

Bones grinned.

“Let’s do it.”