The Elusive Treasure
Chapter Eight
The Rivals Plot
As he started up his vehicle, Lou glanced over at Scotty, noting his beaming expression. "You've been looking forward to something like this, haven't you?"
"Sure have!" Scotty replied grinning with an enthusiastic nod. "I've been waiting to do this for a long time!"
"But you never thought it'd be so close to home, didja?" replied Lou, as he eased his truck and tailored boat onto the boulevard. Breezy and the others followed in her "big rig" towing that big old boat. "I mean, you always hear of stuff like that turning up in the Caribbean or the South Seas. But right here in the middle of suburbia? Who would have known?
"Yeah, talk about your strange occurrences." Scotty agreed. "Think Lars and those punks will try anything to stop us?"
"Good point, bud. They're probably still trying to get their act together. Or, they might have tried themselves already, with a grungy old runabout and substandard gear", Lou replied. He picked up the microphone. "Green Machine, this is Red Rover. Will be pulling into the Arco here to check fuel for the boat, will continue on to the launching ramp in a few," he advised.
"Red Rover, Green Machine," Breezy's voice came over the CB. "Sounds like a plan. Will do the same for my boat, and pick up some grub for the troops before we move out."
They pulled in to the gas station and gassed up the Whaler's fuel canister. Lou went to speak to Breezy and the others. "We'll continue on now, and will wait at the site for you to catch up with us."
"You guys be careful. See ya in a few!" said Breezy as the others waved a greeting.
Lou got back in and resumed their drive towards the harbor. "You've been unusually quiet, bud," Lou noted. "What's on your mind?"
"Well... I was just thinking... How deep do you think we'd have to go?"
"Well, the chart says the depths for the area in question start at 12 feet, and go down to 27 feet, so our air should last an hour or more, depending on what we need to do. Remember when we were checking out that reef at the Flats? That was deeper than this, and we were down there for over an hour!"
"Oh yeah! Almost forgot about that!" Scotty replied, breathing a sigh of relief. "So as long as we don't have to do too much, we shouldn't have any problems."
"Exactly. And if we need to get more bottom time, we could use the Whaler to head over to the dive shop on the Embarcadero and get refills, then go back down at our leisure."
"Great. Now all that's left to do is find the treasure." Scott held a hand to his chin. "I wonder how much it weighs... We'll probably have to use a crane or something to fish it out."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. That's why we've got lift-bags that you can fill from your secondary mouthpiece. Remember when I recovered that motorcycle that had fallen off the Pacific Avenue Bridge?" Lou replied. "Iused a lift bag," he said, smiling.
"Yeah, I remember that certificate Shirley gave you. You sure saved her that time!" Scott said, smirking at Lou.
"Well, here we are," Lou noted, as he pulled his vehicle onto the boat-launch. Carefully he made a U-turn at the water's edge and backed the trailer into the water next to a wooden quay, then parked the vehicle and set the brake.
Breezy came along just a few moments later, and expertly backed her boat into the water on the other side. Eagerly all the kids piled out and assisted with final preparations to set out on their expedition.
"Hey, what's that over there?" Scott said, pointing to his left. Everybody turned and saw a group of people standing on a dock. In the water nearby was what seemed to be a submarine. It was a bright yellow color with several windows including a roundish one in the front. The hatch was open and people were coming in and out of it, carrying boxes of various sizes. The crew was a mix of adults and kids. From what everyone could tell, there were two bikes parked nearby. Two members of the crew seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. A third member was standing nearby.
"That looks like a sub from Sea Crest." Sam commented. "I guess Oliver must be doing some expedition. He shouldn't bother us."
"But Izzy Lopez is with 'em" Otto pointed out. "What might they be up to?"
"Who knows?" Reggie shrugged.
"Whatever they're doing, it looks like he's got some kind of paper with him." Twister pointed out. Indeed, from what they could tell, the elder Lopez Brother was reading some sort of brownish paper.
"It's nothing Twist!" Otto scoffed.
"I don't know..." Scott said, rubbing his chin. "Whatever he's looking at, it seems important."
"What do you mean?" Rod asked him.
"Look closely."
"Relax people!" urged Lou. "Let's not get in a panic," he said, handing Rod a small pair of binoculars.
The boy focused their attention on the brunet, who just pushed his little brother away. Iggy was trying to take a look at whatever Izzy was reading.
Twister took up his camera, and engaged the zoom.
The bigger brother soon turned his back towards him. The redhead was then able to see part of Izzy's sheet. He was just barely able to make out...a red X?!
"Dudes!" He gasped as he put down the camera. "He's holding a treasure map!"
"WHAT!?!" Everybody else shouted.
"Twister's right!" Rod acknowledged, putting down the binoculars. "He does have a treasure map!"
"No way! He can't be after the same treasure!" Otto exclaimed.
"Maybe he's going after some other treasure...?" Breezy offered.
"It's too hard to tell from here." Twister said, looking through the camera again.
"Somebody has to go and get a closer look." Reggie said.
"I'll go!" Rod volunteered, raising his hand.
Everybody raised an eyebrow at him.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Sam asked. "You don't know what he's capable of. If they catch you—"
Before he can finish, Roderick stepped out of the Whaler and walked casually on the pier. He made sure nobody saw him and quietly arrived by a crate near the place the Lopez Brothers were standing. Roderick crouched behind the crate and eavesdropped on the two boys.
Izzy was talking with Oliver, and were having an argument about a certain piece of paper, while Iggy witnessed the verbal confrontation, watching alternatively each of the kids.
"I tell, you, Oliver!! The treasure must be somewhere in this area! I made all the calculations, and I know the chest must have sunk here!"
"Pffft! What do you know about the bottom of this harbor, Lopez?? Believe me, there are no caves in that area you're marking. Just a flat sandy bottom. I've been there countless times! The only caves are located about 20 or 30 meters north of this place"
"Ok, maybe I'm a bit off target here; but we can make a pass over the bottom with that sub and look for caverns or holes, right?"
"That we can do, if we hurry. The tide is about to change, Izzy"- said Oliver, looking his watch.
"Is it?" - said Izzy, looking at the sea (nearly seeing Roderick, who quickly ducked behind the crate). "I don't see a change..."
"What a shoobie..." - said Oliver, rolling his eyes.
"WHAT???" - roared Izzy.
"Just look at the water lever on the pier, genius! See how it's been slowly crawling up from the lowest towards the uppermost mark on those logs??"
"Ah. I see..." Izzy climbed on the crate to have a clearer look at the rising tide, giving Rod a chance to look at the map on his hand.
Roderick gasped; it was a perfect copy of their map! But there was no other copy of the scroll when they found the chest. How could Izzy get this document?? He had no time to wonder; Izzy stepped down off the crate and went to the sub, where Oliver was finishing preparations. They were about to launch the sub, and Roderick knew he had to hurry. He waited until the coast was clear, and hurried towards the ship. But as he neared the pier, he noticed a group of teenagers, walking decidedly towards him.
Roderick recognized them immediately, in spite of their strange clothes; they were Lars and his goon squad. Rod didn't want to be caught - Something told him he better stay out of the Lasers' sight, so he made a quick dive and hid behind a bench, just in time. Fortunately, none of the teens saw him, and they sat right on the bench.
"This was a very good idea, Lieutenant Piston" - said Lars, with a deep, scary voice. It was not his usual voice; it sounded... weird, scary.
Rod looked at them carefully. They were all dressed like pirates, and Lars was even wearing a black patch over his left eye. He was giving instructions to his crew.
"That dream was a revelation, guys. After that, I knew the meaning of this map, and knew right off the bat where the treasure was. And seeing Piston execute my dorky brother was really exciting..."
Roderick gasped. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! "I better try to find out what these guys are up to" - thought Roderick. He peeked carefully over the bench and to his surprise he saw that Lars was holding yet another copy of the map!! "What the..." - he thought – "And where did he get that map??"
"Now, this is the plan, guys: We'll let the Rocket dorks do the search and find the treasure, and when they hoist the chest on board, we'll board them and force them to surrender it to us. If they don't...." Lars gave a frightful laugh that made Roderick feel cold in his bones. This was Lars, but he wasn't the same Lars he knew. Something strange had happened to him. The look on his eyes was frightening; it was...
... like... like something had possessed him and was in control of him!!
"Everything is ready, captain" - said Pi - "I got a vessel that can get close to the dorks without them noticing. It's an old barge used to clean the undersides of ships; just the kind of ship you can find on a harbor like this."
"Excellent. Let's get moving, gentlemen. We have a treasure to recover." Lars and his crew stood and walked towards the old wharves; near the place they had rented their boat from that old fishmonger, Harris.
"Whoa... this is heavy!!" - thought Roderick, seeing the goon squad as they walked away - "I'd better warn Lou and the gang. We might have some action in store!" Roderick stood when he was sure nobody could see him and started running at full speed towards the ship.