Rick and A.J. decided to visit the McNary's place first solely because it was the closer of the two places.

"Do you think Roy had something to do with the neighbors moving out?" asked Rick, parking his truck behind a clump of bushes on the edge of the McNary's property.

The old mailbox with numerous dings and dents still bore the previous residents' name.

"Possible," said A.J. as he got out of the truck. "If that's the case, he was either a willing participant in the sabotage, or blackmailing the vandal."

They began to make their way to the main house cautiously.

"If so, what do you think the perp's after besides the cufflink and Roy's bank stuff?" Rick whispered.

A.J. shrugged. "Something valuable?"

"Like buried treasure?"

Sensing his brother's boyish dream and enthusiasm, A.J. had to suppress a giggle. "Rick, the pirates roamed the high seas, not the mountains."

"Coulda been some bandit in the Old West that made away with gold coins and bullion bars."

As they debated and speculated what might be the root cause of this case, they reached the detached garage.

"Hey. Know what I'm thinking, A.J.?"

"Hmm?"

"A vacant house in a city isn't a safe place with squatters and transients and junkies coming and going, but…"

"A vacant house in a rural area is an excellent place for someone to hide."

Eagerly the brothers looked around to find the best way to get into the garage.

There was a door on one side of the garage. Rick cleaned the window covered with grime to have a peek.

He squinted for a moment then his face broke into a grin. "I see a car!"

"Anyone there?"

Shaking his head, Rick started picking the lock. He opened the creaky door slowly and stepped inside with A.J. closely behind him.

In the middle of the large garage there was a lone car: Chrysler Cordoba

Rick put his hand on the hood; it was cold. He tried the door on the driver side and found it unlocked. He slid into the seat and reached for the glove compartment looking for the registration, or the rental agreement.

"What did you find?" A.J. asked when he saw his brother holding a piece of paper.

Rick looked up from the document with a huge grin. "This car belongs to Emmett F. O'Brien of Sedona, AZ."

A.J. scanned the list of twenty-six men. His hands that held it shook slightly with high expectation. As his eyes fell on the name in the middle of the column, his heart leapt up.

"Rick," His elation was palpable in his voice. "We got him!"

"What's he do at ALI?" asked Rick getting out of the vehicle.

"He's a…" A.J. looked up with a puzzled expression. "A geologist."

Rick's face lit up. "What did I tell you—buried treasure!"

"Rick…"

Before A.J. could dismiss his claim, he added, "Or, a mother lode of precious metal."

"You're reaching, Rick," said A.J., shaking his head, but he could not deny that his brother's optimism was catching. Only Rick could talk his levelheaded sibling into something totally outrageous.

"It doesn't seem O'Brien has done any excavation here." A.J. said observing the floor of the garage.

"Let's check out the main building then. The car engine's completely cooled off, so this O'Brien guy must be somewhere close."

The brothers left the garage to size up the house. During the initial reconnaissance, they found a motorcycle hidden behind the bushes by the front porch. It was also cool to touch.

"I know our guy's here. I can feel it." Rick was getting psyched up. "I'll take the front door, you go around to the back entrance."

A.J. nodded. "Give me a moment to get ready—I need some time to work on the lock. Shall we synchronize our watches so we'll be able to enter the premises at the same time?"

After the synchronization was complete, Rick said, "It's about two minutes to ten. We get in on the hour."

A.J. took off with a nod.

Rick climbed a few steps and stood on the porch. He had to tread softly on the creaky boards. He assumed that a lock on an old house like this should be easy to pick and got the burglar's tool out of his pocket again. He also drew his gun.

Getting closer to the front door, he noticed the welcome mat had been thrown out of its rightful place but did not think much of it.

When he set his right foot on the mat, the board underneath gave way. The foot went through the hole and landed and turned awkwardly on a small rock protruding from the ground. The impact sent a flash of pain up his leg making him gasp.

His arms flailing, he fell on the deck. He instinctively unclenched his hands, and the burglar's tool and his Magnum dropped on the deck, skittering away from his grasp.

As he desperately tried to get up, the front door swung open, and the tall, curly-haired man holding a fireplace poker appeared in front of him.

Rick and Emmett O'Brien stared at each other for a brief moment. Seeing the PI's empty hands, the geologist took a quick look around and picked up the revolver. He tossed the poker into the bush by the porch.

O'Brien waved the gun to get Rick to stand up.

"Where's your partner?"

Standing on one foot, Rick remained stoically silent.

"I know he's somewhere around here. Tell him to get over here."

When Rick refused to obey him, O'Brien cocked the hammer and fired a shot to let him know he could handle this firearm.

Though the shot was not aimed at him, Rick could feel the bullet whizzing by.

A.J. was about to open the backdoor when a shot rang out. He froze but only for a fraction of a second. With his heart pounding, he ran back to the front yard with his Smith & Wesson drawn and ready.

As he turned the corner and the front porch came into his view, he saw a tall stranger, undoubtedly O'Brien, standing next to his brother.

He was holding the Magnum to Rick's head.

"Come over here." O'Brien commanded A.J. "Put your gun on the deck slowly and slide it to me."

"Don't do it," said Rick through his clenched teeth. "He has to kill us anyway 'cause we know who he is. Isn't that right, O'Brien?"

"True." O'Brien smiled maliciously. "But you can stay alive so long as you make yourselves useful. And you know I don't hesitate to use lethal force."

There was nothing else A.J. could do but follow the order.

O'Brien caught A.J.'s Smith and Wesson with one foot. He quickly picked it up and pocketed it.

He stared down at A.J. and said, "All right, let's hear it; what do you have on me?"

A.J. opened his mouth but did not know where and how to start.

O'Brien cocked the hammer of Rick's Magnum again. "Ten, nine, eight…"

"We know your name is Emmett O'Brien, and you're a geologist working for ALI." A.J. spoke as fast as he could.

O'Brien stopped the countdown. "So you found the cufflink."

A.J. nodded.

"Where is it?"

"At the lodge we're staying at." A.J. lied trying not to provoke him.

"What else do you know?"

"That Roy was on the take."

O'Brien became animated. "So you found Roy's bank passbook? And a safe deposit box key?"

"Yes."

"Where are they?"

A.J. hesitated for a briefest moment. "In our truck."

It was another lie; they were securely stored in the lodge's safe.

This time, it was O'Brien who was in quandary: should he take both snoops to the truck, or just one of them, or neither? He was, after all, a geologist, and his expertise was rocks and minerals, not criminal activities.

Rick seized the moment of O'Brien's indecision and said to his brother, "You gotta help me get off the porch. I twisted my ankle."

"Sure." A.J. played along with Rick.

"No," said O'Brien as A.J. started approaching. "Your buddy stays here. You are going to show me where the truck is and hand over the banking items."

The brothers' reverse psychology worked, and because O'Brien was not a hardened criminal, he was easy to manipulate. If one of them could stay behind and out of sight, he might be able to break free.

"You," O'Brien gestured toward A.J. "Go inside and get a roll of duct tape. It's in the duffle bag by the fireplace. One misstep, and your partner will sport a couple of holes in the head."

As A.J. placed his hand on the doorknob, O'Brien gave him additional instructions, "Don't try anything cute, and come back here in fifteen seconds, or else."

He raised his left arm to look at his wristwatch. "Okay, go. One…"

A.J. rushed inside as O'Brien continued to count aloud.

"…twelve…"

O'Brien grinned when A.J. scurried back with the tape. He made Rick take a few steps towards one of the porch posts by grasping the collar of his jacket.

"Sit down and hug the post."

Rick lowered himself carefully so as not to aggravate his injured ankle.

"And you," O'Brien motioned to A.J. "Tape his wrists really tight. I'm going to check on it, so you'd better do a damn good job."

After A.J. finished his task, O'Brien told him to step back and tugged at the tape. Satisfied with it, he got off the porch.

"All right, let's go."

He grabbed A.J.'s arm and prodded him with the barrel of the revolver.

Keeping an eye on his brother and the geologist, Rick raised his wrists. O'Brien had been so preoccupied he had not noticed that the end of the tape was on the topside where Rick could easily reach with his teeth. Quietly he began gnawing at the restraint.

Contrary to his calm demeanor, A.J.'s mind was working feverishly to come up with the best plan to break away from O'Brien once they got to the truck. He was becoming more desperate with each step forward. The tail end of Rick's Power Wagon was now visible.

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of flapping wings interrupted his thoughts. He halted to look up and saw a large crow swooping down from the sky.

The crow flew straight to the spot where A.J. and O'Brien were standing. At the first menacing caw, A.J. realized it was coming after him for raiding its nest and ducked just a moment before its attack.

As its target shifted at the last second, the crow flew right into O'Brien's face, savagely gouging his face. It was going for his eyes. He screamed in surprise and let go of A.J. to instinctively protect his face.

A.J. started sprinting taking advantage of the situation.

Realizing that its intended target was fleeing, the crow changed its course and went after him.

His face still smarting, O'Brien tried to take aim at A.J. but fumbled and dropped the gun. He picked it up and raised his arm to train it on the blond.

From his perch, Rick was able to clearly see what was going on and screamed, "Hit the deck! Hit the deck!"

Out of the blue, Pearl appeared from out of nowhere and tackled O'Brien hard—much harder than a regular NFL linebacker would. Had she been a pro football player, she and her spectacular attack would have made the play of the week. She took him down only half a second before the gun went off.

A.J. heard the report of the gun before his body landed on the ground. He had no idea if he had been hit or not.

O'Brien went down with a loud thud. The impact of hitting the ground with a two-hundred-pound-plus woman on his back knocked the wind out of him.

Pearl wasted no time—she straddled on his back before he could catch his breath and started bashing his head on the ground emitting a high-pitched, banshee scream.

Distraught, Rick was also screaming, "A.J.! A.J.!"

Not knowing what had happened, A.J. cautiously took a backward glance then quickly sat up with his mouth agape. "Wow…" He whispered in awe tinged with something akin to fear.

"A.J.! Are you all right?" Rick asked again.

"Yeah, I'm all right." A.J. shouted back.

"Then help her, for God's sake!" Rick yelled at his brother, who was still admiring Pearl's sheer strength.

"Oh, right…"

A.J. picked himself up and ran back to be on her side. In his opinion, however, it was O'Brien who needed rescuing. He picked up Rick's Magnum that had flown out of the rogue geologist's hand when she had tackled him.

"Pearl? Hey, Pearl. It's okay—we got this under control now."

He tried to put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down but hastily withdrew it when he saw her face contorted with rage.

At the same time, she saw fright in his eyes, which instantly brought her back to her senses.

"A.J.," said she, her voice a little hoarse from all that screaming. "Are you all right?"

He nodded and asked, "Are you?"

She looked down at the still form of O'Brien. "I'm doing remarkably well," replied she slowing rising to her feet. "I suppose growing up with a couple of oversized, obnoxious brothers finally paid dividends."

"You know how to handle guns, don't you?"

"Around here, anyone old enough to go to school can hunt, A.J."

He handed the revolver to her after retrieving his own gun from the pocket of O'Brien's jacket. "Here. Please keep an eye on him. I'll go get Rick."

A.J. found his brother still tied to the post of the porch though he had been desperately trying to rip the duct tape off his wrists by pushing the post away from his body with his good foot. The tape was still intact, and his hands were chafed and discolored due to the decrease in blood flow.

"Stop doing that, Rick. You're making things worse."

A.J. found the end of the tape and peeled it off as quickly as possible.

Rick gingerly stood up on one foot shaking his hands to get the blood circulation going.

"How's your ankle?" asked A.J. "Do you think it's broken?"

Rick thought about it for a moment and shook his head. "No, I don't think so, but it's sprained pretty bad, and I can't put any weight on it."

A.J. let his brother lean on him, and stepped off the porch. As they began walking together towards Pearl, he heard a rustling noise nearby and looked around nervously.

"Oh, no!"

He saw his winged nemesis flopping in the undergrowth with an injured wing. He realized that the crow not only helped him get away from O'Brien but also took the bullet meant for him.

He removed his jacket to catch the bird. Seeing its foe approaching with what seemed to be a malevolent agenda, the crow's struggle to escape became more frantic, but it just could not get off the ground. It let out a distressed cry when the jacked dropped and enveloped it.

"Shh… It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

A.J. gently picked up the injured bird wrapped in the jacket whispering soothingly. It twitched a few more times but eventually quieted down suckled by the darkness.

"How bad is it?" asked Rick.

"I think it'll be all right, but I'll let a vet decide if they can patch up the broken wing." A.J. paused cocking his head. "Maybe they can take a look at your ankle on the side too."

"Oh, ha, ha," said Rick humorlessly.

"It's just a thought. I mean, a place like this probably has more vets than regular doctors."

Teasing each other to relieve the tension, the brothers traced the way back to be reunited with Pearl.

She was still standing over O'Brien's prone body holding the Magnum in her hand. He had not moved and was still unconscious.

"I told you to stay away from this place," Rick started to tell her off, but seeing her face fall, his tone quickly softened, "But I'm glad you didn't. Thanks for saving our hides, darlin'. We really owe you one."

She instantly brightened up. To her astonishment, he gave her a quick, one-armed hug and a little peck on the cheek, making her grin from ear to ear.

"How did you find us?"

"I sneaked out of my room and found my old bicycle in the garage. I didn't know which way you'd gone, but I heard a gunshot and pedaled like a maniac to get here."

"Thank goodness that you did. You're our hero," said A.J. to Pearl. "I have one more favor to ask of you though."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Could you ride in the back of the pickup to stay with Rick and O'Brien and keep an eye on them while I drive all of us back to your father's place? I'm sure it won't happen, but I don't want O'Brien to take advantage of my brother's injury."

"Okay…" She sounded puzzled.

"Rick can't drive with a bad foot; you can't drive a stick shift. And I assume there's no phone service here—I'm sure the previous occupant terminated the phone service, so we have to go elsewhere to make a call to the state police." A.J. elaborated.

The brothers unbuckled O'Brien's belt and used it to tie his hands behind his back. He was coming around by then but did not put up a fight to be led to the truck.

While A.J. was pulling O'Brien up onto the flatbed, Pearl squatted and put her arms around Rick's thighs just below the buttocks.

"Hey!"

Before he was able to protest, she effortlessly lifted him up, and his butt landed on the tailgate. He threw his brother a warning glare to discourage him from making any smart-ass remark.

"Loosen up, Rick. There's nothing wrong with getting a leg-up from the fairer sex." A.J. jumped off the flatbed chuckling at his own pun. "One of these days, you'll be able to look back and laugh at this."

He glanced at Rick's scowling face and said, "Or not."

He gave the Magnum back to his brother and picked up his jacket in which the crow was wrapped.

As he settled in a comfortable position on the flatbed, Rick heard A.J. laughing all the way to the driver's seat of the pickup.

This vacation definitely turned out to be a memorable one for all the wrong reasons, thought Rick with a sigh.