Treasure of the Dead

Chapter 34

“Looks nice enough.” Bones shielded his eyes from the sun with a hand as he stood on the deck of the Sea Foam looking at a small island in the distance. Ringed with white sand beaches, the interior was elevated and covered in greenery, with a few towering palms poking through the top of the forest. It hadn’t taken much research to locate this small island owned by the doctor. Located off Haiti’s west coast in the Gulf of Gonâve, it was too small to appear on most maps, and when it did, no name was given for it.

“Looks can be deceiving.” Willis squinted as he, too, took in the destination for their extraction mission while Maddock minded the helm.

“Yeah,” Bones said, “I mean, take you as an example. You look like a big tough guy, but we all know in a fight I could take you down, no problem.”

“Anytime you want to back that up, you let me know.”

Maddock interrupted the verbal sparring. “All right, kids, I think this is as close as we can get to the island without attracting undue attention. We’re going to have to swim it from here. Let’s get the gear ready.”

Maddock glanced up at the water’s surface as he gripped the handles of his underwater scooter. A three-foot long torpedo-shaped craft, it ran silently on battery power and allowed the diver to cover long distances with minimal exertion. Bones and Willis flanked him on identical machines. Maddock saw the outline of palm trees through the water and knew they were very close to the beach. He looked for a cluster of boulders he’d seen in a satellite photo of Avila’s island compound provided by Jimmy Letson. He found the cluster off to their right and turned toward it, the scooter dragging him effortlessly through the roiling water.

He sought the rocks because they protruded from the water, and that would provide cover, something to hide behind and shield them from anyone who might be looking as they broke the surface with their scooters. The trio reached them and by that point the water was so shallow they were barely concealed beneath it. Maddock popped his head up into the air and was relieved to find that the rocks did in fact block direct line of sight to the beach.

They waited there for a couple of minutes, listening while Willis faced out to sea, Bones watched to the left and Maddock to the right. After detecting nothing threatening, they ditched the scooters and the scuba gear out of sight on the bottom and walked around the rocks.

Willis grinned widely as they made their way. “Just like old times.”

Bones said, “This isn't what I expected when you told me we'd be treasure hunting, Maddock.” But his smile said that he relished the excitement, even the danger.

Maddock held a hand up and they crouched there a moment, knowing from Jimmy’s intel that Avila’s stronghold would not be unguarded. Sure enough, they eyed a guard armed with some type of long gun, probably an automatic rifle, walking the edge of the beach where it met the forest.

“A single guard?” Willis shook his head slowly as though he could not believe it.

Maddock pointed to the middle of the island, where the elevation was highest. “Don’t think this will be the only one. This is just the perimeter detail. The main house will be heavily patrolled.”

They waited patiently for the guard to pass by their position and make his way further down the edge of the beach. Then the trio of amphibious warriors dashed across the beach to the outer perimeter of Avila’s compound, where a rusty barbed wire fence blocked the way through the forest. While Bones made short work of a section of fence with a folding multi-tool, Maddock’s gaze went higher, scanning the trees.

“See something?” Willis whispered while he watched the guard walk far down the beach. “Guard’s gonna turn back this way soon.”

Maddock pointed about fifty feet to their left, where a break in the foliage — either a very wide path or a narrow clearing — offered obvious transit through the bush. But then he raised his finger, moving it up from the same spot, where a boxy object was just visible high on the trunk of a coconut palm tree.

“Camera. We’ll have to cut through the dense foliage.” Maddock pointed into the jungle, where the closely spaced trees would shield them from the camera’s lens.

“Keep our eyes open for more, too.” Willis’ gaze travelled through the rain forest canopy, seeking additional optics, but finding none. “Clear as far as I can see, which isn’t far.”

Maddock signaled they should move out and the three of them crept into the greenery. The trio moved with a high degree of stealth, avoiding loud footfalls. They were sneaky to the point that small animals were occasionally startled by their seemingly sudden appearance, birds and rodents retreating hastily.

After covering nearly half a mile, Bones, who had taken Maddock’s right flank, held up a hand. Willis and Maddock eyed him expectantly. “Hold on,” came his whispered reply. Suddenly Maddock understood why Bones was feeling on edge.

“It’s awfully quiet, isn’t it?”

Bones nodded. “Too quiet.”

Suddenly a face peeked out from the foliage above their heads and Bones pointed it out. Two intelligent eyes stared at them, but they weren’t human. A monkey. It dangled by its hands and swung to another branch, giving them a good look at the whole body. A large primate, nearly as tall as Bones, its fur was black and white, with bright blue eyes, making for a striking appearance against the green canopy.

“Weird.” Bones watched the animal hang from its new branch. “Weren’t we just talking about how monkeys went extinct in Haiti hundreds of years ago? And now here are some more — different kind — on a different island.”

Willis shrugged. “I guess they came back.”

Maddock advised they should just keep moving. They started out again through the underbrush, but then the creature dropped onto Bones. “What the heck is it with me and these things?” He panted as he contorted and gyrated in an attempt to throw the beast from his body. Willis helped pry its arms loose from the bear hug it had around Bones’ midsection, and then Bones was able to spin away from it, leaving it to stand on the forest floor in the middle of the three men, eyes level with them.

“Three to one, baboon boy, get outta here!” But it seemed Willis’ taunt served only to threaten the monkey, for it charged at Maddock, who threw a right cross at it only to have the monkey block it with its left forearm. Bones stepped up and kicked it aside with a well-placed right boot. The monkey, similar to a Capuchin, but much larger, staggered backward yet held its ground. It sprang toward the three humans again. This time, Bones, knowing that suffering a solid blow to the head could be fatal, took decisive action.

He removed his dive knife from the sheath worn on his calf and held it by the blade. The monkey stepped forward, shockingly human-like in its movements, and swung at him with its left hand curled in a semi-fist. Bones ducked the punch and answered with an uppercut right hand holding the knife butt first. He slammed the steel butt into the monkey’s chin, sending the new world primate into the air briefly before it landed on its back. Bones was prepared to attack again, Willis and Maddock backing him up, but the dazed animal lay there, eyeing them but not making a move.

“Stay down if you know what’s good for you!” Bones wagged a finger at the defeated beast. Maddock was already eyeballing their forward track, searching for cameras, movement, anything, while Willis pondered the monkey.

“It ain’t normal for monkeys to be so aggressive. I’ve been around a bunch, in Africa, southeast Asia… sure they can fight, like any animal if you mess with it, but we’ve been jumped by two different kinds of monkeys since we’ve been in Haiti, and everybody keeps saying there used to be monkeys here but not anymore. What gives?”

Maddock looked away from the trees and ground up ahead, satisfied they were not being observed. He considered the primate, which now rolled to one side and scampered off into the underbrush while Bones flipped it a silent bird. “What worries me is that monkey betrayed no emotion while it attacked.”

Bones nodded, making eye contact with Maddock. “Like those freaking zombie people” Bones said. “You don't think…”

Rustling noise ensued from the plants behind them, the way they had come. Maddock spun around and took in the source of the ruckus.

“More monkeys! Run!”