Chapter 10

Not All Treasure is Gold

Without much else to do with her time, Jacqui began taking pictures of the carvings on the walls, sending them to Riley's cell phone so he could put them on his laptop for Emily to examine. She'd been pleased when Jacob had printed out photographs of her notes that he'd made before leaving the cabin with her. "I didn't want Dr. Major to be the only one with your notes."

"Thank you, Jacob." She'd patted his hand and tucked the printouts into the satchel Ben had thought to bring along. Now, with Jacqui's pictures, Emily began working to translate the carvings as well.

Up front, Jacob was driving with Riley in the passenger seat. The redhead kept his eyes mostly on the road, but he watched out of the corner of his eye as the dark-haired man periodically checked his phone and sent the pictures to his laptop, which he'd grudgingly entrusted to Ben. During a lull when blue eyes gazed blankly out the windshield, Jacob asked, "I don't know if Jacqui's told you this, but I'm the only family she has."

Riley started at the sound of Jacob's voice, but answered quickly enough, "Yeah, she said you two lost your parents when you were teenagers."

"Exactly." Jacob nodded, pausing to change lanes so he could get around a slow-moving semi. "So, it's my job to ask what your intentions are towards my sister."

"Purely honorable," Riley replied, even as he fidgeted with his seat belt.

Jacob smiled wryly. "Why do I not believe you?"

"What?" The shorter man stared at Jacob in puzzlement.

Smirking, the redhead explained. "You're fidgeting. That suggests that your intentions are not purely honorable."

"I certainly have no intention of using her, and then tossing her aside if that's what you mean," Riley retorted, blue eyes glinting with anger.

He risked taking his eyes off the road long enough to reach over and pat Riley's shoulder. "That's all I wanted to know." He returned his attention to driving. "I want Jacqui to be happy. If you can give her that happiness, I'll be content. If you hurt her, though, you will pay."

"Hurting Jacqui is the last thing on my mind," Riley informed Jacob. "Trust me."

"Oddly enough, Riley, I do."

* * *

Jacqui frowned when her next picture message failed to go through. Then she noticed that she had no signal. She sighed and stuffed the phone into her pocket, unwittingly plunging herself into darkness. "Smooth move, Jacqui."

At that moment, she distantly heard her captor's voice, cursing as he realized that she was gone. After the sound of running footsteps faded, Jacqui moved deeper into the caverns, feeling her way along the tunnels as they twisted and turned, sloping downwards. Riley, Jacob, I hope you get your asses here soon!

* * *

A tense silence filled the SUV as they finally reached Mount Shasta. They pulled to a stop out of sight of the cavern entrance referred to on the map. They climbed out and slowly made their way towards the entrance. Jacob stopped them when he noticed the tall, muscular man standing just outside the cavern entrance, talking on a cell phone. "He must have realized Jacqui's missing. We better take him out."

"We'll do it," Ben whispered, indicating himself and Riley. "You get the others into the cave and start looking for your sister."

Jacob eyed both men. "You can fight?"

"I was in the Navy," Ben informed him with a hint of offended male pride.

Riley drew himself up. "I can hold my own in a fight."

"Okay. Just subdue him." Jacob moved back so Ben and Riley could move forward and rush the man. "We don't want to sink to Dr. Major's level."

"Yes, Sir." Ben tossed a salute and the two men readied themselves.

Just as their target hung up his phone, Ben and Riley charged, tackling him high and low. While the three scuffled, Jacob hurried Patrick, Emily, and Abigail past them and into the caves. "You know where to go. We'll be right behind you."

Abigail glanced back just before they turned a corner in time to see Riley cold-cock the guy, and then shake his hand out with a grimace. Smiling to herself, she hurried to catch up to Patrick and Emily.

They walked along the tunnel for a good fifteen minutes before it opened up into a sort of antechamber. Patrick lifted up his lantern to better illuminate it as Emily looked around with a look of wonder on her face. "These are the pictures Jacqui sent us. We're on the right track."

* * *

Jacqui stopped when the sound of several pairs of booted feet walking along echoed through the tunnels. Is that Dr. Major? Has he arrived already? The female voice made her eyes widen. That has to be Riley and the others! Turning around, she went back the way she'd come, her heart pounding with the anticipation of seeing the others, especially Riley. When she noticed light up ahead, she hurried, better able to see where she was going.

She burst into the antechamber just as three men appeared at the other entrance, two of them looking as if they'd just been in a fight. Between them were three other people: two women and a man. Jacqui only had eyes for one man, though: "Riley!"

"Jacqui!" He grinned, relieved, and rushed towards her. They crashed into each other in the middle of the chamber, embracing tightly. His voice was rough as he murmured in her ear, "I was so worried when you stopped sending us messages."

"I lost my signal," she explained, breathing in his scent. "Too deep underground, I guess."

He'd have replied to that, except Jacqui disentangled herself enough to lift her head and kiss him properly, uncaring of their audience. Riley was surprised, naturally, but recovered quickly and responded to the kiss with enthusiasm. Eventually, they ran out of air and had to pull apart, gasping for breath.

"It looks like you get the girl this time, Riley." The tall, dark-haired man commented, his arm around the younger blonde woman.

Riley smirked as he turned to address his friend. "You're just jealous."

Jacqui noticed her brother at that moment and turned to hug him tightly, very glad to see him. He returned the hug just as tightly, resting his cheek against her hair. Both of the men in her life were safe. She couldn't ask for more than that.

* * *

Dr. Odysseus Major stood over Arnold Wilf as he lay bound with duct tape on the ground. He crouched down and ripped the tape from his associate's mouth. "Explain."

"I'd just finished talkin' to you when I was ambushed, Sir." Arnold held still as Roscoe cut the tape binding his hands. "By two men. I heard other voices, but I don't know how many others were with them."

Major stood and took a few steps away, thinking. Behind him, Roscoe cut the tape on Arnold's legs and helped him stand up. "Apparently, I was mistaken about these people. No matter. We will deal with them when the time comes."

He turned back to the two men and, without warning, punched Arnold. "Boss!"

"Don't fail me again." That was all Major said before he turned and stalked back towards the suburban. "Show me that other entrance you found."

* * *

Jacqui and Emily led the way through the tunnels, working together to translate the writing and pictures they found on the walls. At first, the younger woman had felt intimidated to be working so closely with the older woman, but Emily's calm, matter-of-fact attitude soon put Jacqui at ease, especially once she understood the basics of the language.

Then the tunnel they were following opened up into a huge cavern with a gorge running across it with a rope bridge spanning it. Very faintly, they could hear the sound of running water. Patrick, who'd been walking behind them with the lantern, stated the obvious. "There must be a river at the bottom of that gorge."

"Yes, thank you, Pat." Emily's voice was dry, but fond. "It looks like we'll have to use the bridge to get across."

"I don't like the look of it," Jacob muttered, moving around the others to tug experimentally at the ropes.

Ben sounded apologetic as moved up beside him. "We don't have much of a choice. I think we should send the ladies across first."

"Why?" Riley demanded, his hand finding Jacqui's and squeezing gently.

Jacob answered for the other man as Jacqui returned the squeeze. "They weigh less, so the bridge is less likely to break.

"Oh." Riley's expression turned sheepish. "Right."

The three women exchanged glances and, at a nod from the other two, Jacqui stepped forward, releasing Riley's hand. Jacob still stood by the bridge and took his sister's hand when she drew near. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Don't look down. Keep your eyes on the other side. You'll be fine."

"Thanks." She managed a small smile and stepped onto the bridge, holding tightly to the ropes. Swallowing hard, she began to cross the bridge, her heart pounding hard in her chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the other side, turning to wave the others across.

Abigail crossed next, with Emily right behind her. When Ben started to cross, however, the ropes protested and gave way, taking him with them. Abigail gasped, reaching out for him futilely. Working together, the other men pulled Ben up to rejoin them. Once he was safe, Jacob called across to the women, "You go ahead, ladies! We'll find another way to get across!"

"Be careful, all of you!" Abigail called back, visibly relieved that her fiancé was safe.

Turning, they continued across the cavern to another tunnel, following it for several minutes before it opened into a huge cavern full of scrolls, parchment, and animal skin documents. "Oh, oh my God!"

"It's a library!" Abigail exclaimed in a hushed voice, awed and amazed.

Emily's face shone with delight as her gray eyes took in all of the knowledge represented in this single cavern. "We've found the Dead Sea Scrolls of Native American civilization!"

"It would seem the 'precious treasure' they were referring to wasn't gold or jewels at all," Jacqui observed, her heart swelling with scholarly pride. "It was knowledge." The other two women nodded in agreement. The three moved further into the cavern, looking at all the documents in front of them with a hunger that had nothing to do with food. Playing her flashlight over the shelves of books, Jacqui noticed one scroll in particular that appeared to be more recent than any of the others. "I think I found something!"

"What?" Emily and Abigail hurried over to Jacqui's side as she carefully unrolled the scroll. "It's a history."

"Of what?" Abigail asked, peering blankly at the document. She'd been at a complete loss while the other two had translated the language, so she had no idea what she was reading now.

Finding a smooth, relatively clean surface at the perfect height for reading something, Jacqui and Emily set down the scroll and began to make notes on what they were reading, occasionally conferring and correcting each other as they needed. After a few moments, they compared their notes one last time and nodded.

Emily explained for Abigail as Jacqui continued working, quickly typing the entirety of their translation on her phone. "It's a history of the Spaniards' arrival in the area. The Shasta Indians had only ever used gold for jewelry and decoration, never currency. The Spaniards, however, mined all the gold they could find and took it away. Then they sealed up this place so no one else would ever find out about it."

"And, incidentally, the Shasta Indians' entire store of knowledge," Jacqui added, having finished her typing and tucked her cell phone away.

At that moment, three men stepped out of the shadows. Jacqui only recognized her captor, but she assumed the other two were Dr. Major and his other associate. The man with the gun pointed at them spoke smoothly, "Thank you, Ladies, for that information. You've been most helpful. Roscoe, tie them up."

End