Chapter 2

Infernal Place

"Hey, any chance I can take a shower?" asked Nathan.

Vargas didn't reply. With hands cuffed, Nathan passed by the guardhouse.

"Morning boys!" Nathan said, "Or is it evening? It's hard to tell down here."

Vargas shoved his finger towards the staircase, "Get up the stairs!"

Nathan obliged, and began walking up. At the top of the staircase, a guard opened a metal door.

Nathan smiled and nodded at the guard, "Nice to see you," he said, meaning it.

The top of the staircase led to yet another staircase, which was the entrance to the prison itself.

"Ah, it's bright!" Nathan said trying to adjust his eyes, "And humid too."

Vargas chuckled, "Welcome to Panama."

Vargas led Nathan out into the prison yard. The inmates there shouted taunts at Nathan in Spanish.

Walking away from them Vargas said, "Looks like you have some fans."

Nathan huffed, "Yeah, my adoring public…"

Vargas led Nathan down to the main prison building. Nathan was about to enter the house when Vargas restrained him and began speaking in Spanish to the door guard.

Nathan chuckled, "I do speak a little Spanish you know…wait, what exactly did you say?"

Vargas shoved Nathan into a narrow hallway, "You'll find out soon enough."

The main building was long, with hallways leading in different directions. Nathan saw two guards ruthlessly beating a prisoner. They passed them, Vargas shoving Nathan towards different rat infested corridors.

Nathan was about to go towards the warden's office when Vargas restrained him, "No, no. Not that way."

He opened a huge wooden door and beckoned for Nathan to follow, "After you."

Nathan looked. The door opened to a large staircase leading down into the sewers.

"Yeah this isn't sketchy at all," Nathan said.

Vargas didn't reply.

"Go left," Vargas said as Nathan entered the sewer.

Nathan obeyed, and after a bit, they reached the end of the hallway that led to the outside.

"Through here," Vargas said.

"Alright…" said Nathan as he was suddenly taken back by the area. There was a large tower across the ravine that was overgrown with vines. It looked like it was several hundred years old. The surrounding area was also quite beautiful. There were tall trees, and the sky was a perfect cloudless blue. It was like going from night to day.

"You going to take these cuffs off or what?" Nathan said.

"I want in." Vargas said simply.

Nathan didn't understand. "In?"

"Bring me whatever you find up there." said Vargas pointing up to the large stone tower.

Nathan chuckled, "Now come on Vargas the deal was just to get us in and out of here, that's it."

"Just?" said Vargas, "I'm sticking my neck out for you."

"Yeah," said Nathan, "and Rafe is paying you a lot of money for your trouble."

"True," said Vargas, and then holding up a yellow envelope he continued, "But not nearly enough."

Nathan looked at Vargas and frowned, "Hey, you were told not to open that."

"Yes," said Vargas, "I was also told not to take bribes, not to bring anyone here, and not to beat on my inmates." He held up the envelope, "But here we are."

Nathan sighed in frustration. Vargas, putting on his glasses dramatically, took out the paper.

"Hey, just be careful with that," Nathan said, "it's over three hundred years old."

Vargas huffed and began to read the paper, "I was a member of Captain Henry Avery's crew," Vargas looked at Nathan, "You know who that is?"

"He was a pirate," said Nathan.

"The pirate who pulled off the biggest heist in history, and got away with it. I looked him up."

"That's great," said Nathan but can we-"

"Over four hundred million dollars' worth of gold and jewels!" Vargas interrupted, "All from one single ship, uh…the Gunsway."

"Yeah," said Nathan, "I'm very familiar to the story. Can we get on with the point?"

Vargas continued reading, "Uh…I occupy the highest cell in the Spaniard's prison. I hope you will someday find your way into this infernal place, bear my cross, and discover the riches of paradise."

With finishing pomp, Vargas dramatically put the glasses back in his pocket, and looked at Nathan expectantly.

Nathan shrugged. "What?" he said, "What do you want?"

Vargas rolled his eyes, "The riches of paradise!"

Nathan himself rolled his eyes, "Oh for—It's a metaphor!"

Vargas pointed at Nathan and shook his head and finger, "Oh no, no, no, no, no! You and your friends didn't pay to get into this infernal place in search of a metaphor. I want in!"

Nathan said, "Alright. I'll tell you what. You let me go up there, check out that prison cell, and if there's still anything there after three hundred years, you can take this up with Rafe. Now come on!"

Nathan turned around and shook his arms. Vargas unlocked the handcuffs. Once he was free, Nathan looked at Vargas, "The letter?"

Vargas looked at it, reluctant to give it away.

"Por favor?" Nathan pressed.

Vargas gave the letter over with a grunt. The breeze fluttered past Nathan's hair as he considered his plan of attack.

"How you going to get up there anyway?" Vargas asked.

"Climb. Oh of course, unless you want to do it since you want 'in' and all."

Vargas gave Nathan a look, "Just don't break your neck, eh compadre?"

"Yeah," said Nathan, "Hey did you bring what I asked Vargas?"

Vargas shuffled around and replied, "Uh, yeah I did. Hid it over there under the work table…uh, by the crates."

"Great, thanks." Nathan said before he set off.

The area he was at was right next to the ocean. They were on a cliff edge that had multiple levels. There was an inlet of the ocean far below. He walked down to where Vargas had talked about. There was a crowded work area with crates everywhere. On the other side was a worktable. Sitting on the work table was what Nathan was looking for.

"There you are," he said as he picked up the tool.

It was a grappling hook. Sam had taught Nathan how to use one when they were kids. He walked over to the closest place as possible to the old tower. The tower sat atop an island that was about fifty feet away from where he was standing. The Spanish had put it on this tiny isolated island to keep the prisoners inside from escaping, including pirate captains. The islands surrounding the inlet weren't really islands in the technical sense, but tall rocky spires that towered out of the inlet. The island with the old tower was right in front of him, and a tiny spire with a tree was between him and the old prison.

He got out the grappling hook and swung it around and around before flinging it onto the tree branch. It held. He huffed and then leapt off the cliff. He swung in a broad arc and at his swing's apex, he yanked on the cord sharply and the hook slipped off the branch perfectly. He landed on the tall tower spire with a crash. After getting up and dusting himself off, he looked around.

The tower was right to his left. It stood tall, and was in utter disrepair. It was a crumbling ruin, and the top of the tower was his goal. That was where Captain Henry Avery's first mate had been incarcerated in. Fortunately for Nathan, it's state of disrepair and crumbling also gave him plenty of places to grip the walls. There were dozens of ledges. Mapping out the ledge's locations, he formulated a route, and when he found one, he began scaling the side of the tower.

Since he was quite experienced in climbing, he scaled the wall with relative ease. Aside from a few ledges that crumbled a bit more than Nathan liked, most of them were solid enough for him to hoist up.

"Man, wait till Sam hears about this," Nathan said with a chuckle.

Hanging on to a ledge near the top, he looked out over the inlet.

"Well at least Burns had a good view before he was executed…"

Once he got near the top, he saw an open window. Climbing over, he entered the tower. The inside of the tower was dark, and water dripped down the walls and ceiling. It reeked of mold and decay, the wood covered in moss, and the crumbling stone covered in mildew and water. A family of rats scurried away at his approach. There was just enough light for him to see by, and soon his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"Hard to believe there were dozens of pirates holed up in here just waiting to be hanged."

Another quick look and he said, "OK, where to…"

He went down the creaking wooden staircase to a lower level, just to see if he could find anything. Inside was a note that had been sitting on a table. The note was from a prison keeper or somebody similar. It was dated for September 18, 1696.

The note read, "I hanged the first of Captain Avery's crew this afternoon, in full view of their cohorts. A gratuitous act perhaps, but one that stokes fear in their hearts for what follows. The sorry pirates threw themselves at my feet, begging for mercy. One day, I hope to hear those same pleas from their elusive captain."

Nathan put the note down and then walked back up the stairs. The first mate was imprisoned in the uppermost cell with the most security. One of the stairs broke in half when he stepped. He kept his balance, and walked to the very top. The floor of this upper level was almost completely gone. It had dropped out years ago.

"I can't believe this place is still standing," said Nathan, "The Spanish sure knew how to build a sturdy prison. Wonder how many pirates died here…"

He looked around the rickety floor but there wasn't another staircase to the top level. It had probably just rotted away. He went back to the window, he would have to climb up the side of the building to the very top to get to First Mate Burn's cell. Crawling out the window, he made his way up more ledges until he reached the very top, Burn's cell. When he did, he was immediately taken back by the size of it. It was far more massive than any of the other cells in the lower levels.

"Burn's cell," Nathan said admiring, "It's more like a suite!"

The cell walls were covered with strange symbols. There were Greek letters corresponding with Roman numerals. He saw a sun and moon, which he knew were alchemy symbols for gold and silver. Suddenly he remembered he had seen a sun on the letter he had gotten off of Vargas. He looked at Burn's note. Indeed, in the top corner, there was a sun. Curious, he flipped the note over. Sure enough, there was a moon on the other side. It was only half of the moon though, while the entire sun had been on the first half. There was also a Greek letter half on the other side. He folded the note, and the sun and moon halves met. The note's Roman numeral were X and II. The walls of the cell were made of stones, and some of the stones had Roman numerals scratched on them.

Nathan looked for numeral X. There was a stone with the number X on it. He tried to take the stone out, but it wouldn't budge. Confused, he looked for the stone with the number II on it. When he found it, it wouldn't budge either. He thought for a bit, and then he realized that the number he should be looking for was XII.

He looked, and found a wall stone with the number XII on it. He pried open the stone. It came out after a bit of working. Nathan reached into the opening and after a bit of feeling around, he felt something small and metallic. He brought it out, and was extremely surprised to see what it was. It was a small handheld golden crucifix. The Christ figure was made of pure gold, and the cross was made of blue painted wood with brass accents.

Nathan reached in the hole again, but there was nothing else aside from this small piece of treasure, though Nathan was still confused to why it was here. Why a crucifix of all things? He looked, but there was nothing left for him to find. All of the other stones were set. Nothing to be done, he would have to go back to Vargas without the treasures of paradise.

"You made it," said Vargas with folded arms and an expectant face, "What did you find?"

Nathan didn't face Vargas, instead staring into the sky.

"Drake?" said Vargas, annoyed.

Nathan sighed and turned to face Vargas, "Place was picked clean," he said. "If there was a hidden clue up there I couldn't find it."

"Are you sure?" Vargas said, "Were you looking in the right place?"

Nathan shrugged, "You know…maybe I missed something in the letter. There could've been another tower that collapsed centuries ago."

Vargas swore under his breath.

Nathan decided to probe deeper, "Are there any plans to this place? Any blueprints or whatever?"

Vargas thought for a moment, "Uh…There could be. There's a bunch of old files and stuff."

Nathan nodded, "OK, great! Great. Go through those and see what you can dig up. Meanwhile I'll talk to Sam. He's our Avery expert. Maybe he can make sense of this whole mess."

"Right," said Vargas, "I'll look into the files. Turn around."

Nathan did, and Vargas cuffed his hands again.

After a bit, they returned to the prison yard. Just before entering the yard, Vargas said, "Alright, when you're done talking to him, you come and find me."

"You got it," replied Nathan.

Now that they were back, Vargas once again resumed his act. Shoving Nathan into the yard he shouted, "If I catch you fighting one more time, it's in the hole for you!"

Nathan nodded, and then said under his breath, "OK, Nice acting Vargas…Almost as good as mine."

Nathan smiled and walked over to the other end of the yard. In it was Sam. When Sam saw Nathan he came over quickly, "Oh man they worked you over! You alright?"

"Just another day at the office…" Nathan said. Sam's naturally slicked back hair gave him a slightly wild appearance. It was an interesting contrast to Nathan's short but immaculate hair. Sam had a small tattoo of the outline of a bird on his neck.

Nathan began to try and walk away, but Sam stopped him, "Hey wait, whoa! You're not going to leave me in suspense are you?"

Nathan nodded and replied as he walked away, "You were right…"

Sam laughed gleefully and caught up with Nathan, "No we were right! You helped me just as much to try to get into that tower. I know Captain Avery's treasure is somewhere near here…Now we just have to find Rafe and-"

"Ah Rafe," Nathan said with a sigh. "Come on Sam. Like you said, we did this. Now some rich imbecile comes in on the tail end and…"

"Look Nate, how long have we been trying to get in here?"

Nathan shrugged, "We had some leads."

"No we didn't!" Sam said, "Not one! So like it or not, no Rafe, no Vargas, and no getting in here."

Nathan said, "Yeah, and about Vargas, we have a problem."

"What kind of problem?" said a voice.

Nathan looked to see who it was. It was Rafe Adler. Rafe was about the same age as Sam, with a narrow face, striking green eyes that always seemed half closed, and a smirk on his face. His hair was jet black and combed back against his head. He had a charming personality, and always seemed cool and collected, though he had a decided unpredictable streak.

"Did he let you into the old prison?"

"Yeah he did," replied Nathan, "After he read the letter."

Rafe lowered his head and he moaned. "So how much does he know?"

"Enough that he wants a cut," Nathan said.

Sam growled, "Look Rafe if anybody else finds out about this then…"

Rafe shook his head and raised his hand, "Look I'll work it out with Vargas, don't worry. Let's just get on to more important matters."

Nathan looked around, "Let's uh, find somewhere a little more…private."

The three men walked over to a building in the corner of the yard rarely visited by anyone.

"OK," said Sam, "What do we got?"

Nathan took the crucifix out of his pocket. Sam gasped in admiration and Rafe reached for it. Nathan let him take a look.

Rafe began talking almost to himself, "Wood with gold and silver inlay. It's well made." He chuckled, "It's hollow. Now why would one of Avery's men go through the trouble of hiding a cheap crucifix?"

Nathan corrected him, "It's not a crucifix."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Nathan explained, "Well technically a crucifix is a representation of Jesus. This isn't Jesus."

Rafe examined the crucifix more closely.

He smiled when he realized, "Yeah you're right Nate. He doesn't have a crown of thorns, and he's tied to the cross, not nailed…Well if it isn't Jesus then who…"

Sam took the cross and looked at it. There was a faint inscription written on the cross and he read it aloud, "We receive the due rewards of our deeds."

Nathan thought for a moment. "That's the penitent thief!"

"You're right," said Sam, "But what's the connection?"

Rafe shook his head, "Hey guys, let's just pretend I skipped all of Sunday School, what are you guys talking about?"

Sam decided to elaborate, "OK, during the crucifixion, Jesus is placed between two thieves. OK? One of them mocked Jesus, the other one," he pointed to the crucifix, "this guy, was penitent. He accepted his punishment with grace."

"And Jesus brought him to Heaven," Nathan said, "The Catholics named him Saint Dismas."

Suddenly, Sam started laughing, and he covered the back of his head with his hands.

"What?" said Nathan, "You figured it out?"

Sam pointed and said, "There is a cathedral of Saint Dismas…in Scotland."

Nathan's eyes widened and he said, "Wait, wait, the last sighting of Captain Avery was in Scotland!"

Sam nodded with an excited look in his eyes, "It can't be a coincidence."

Rafe chuckled, "You know I had my doubts about you two but…"

He handed the crucifix to Nathan, "Let's find Vargas and get out of this Hell-hole."

The three treasure hunters began walking out when somebody stepped in front of them. It was Gustavo and a bunch of other burly men with him.

Sam sighed, "Let me guess this is the guy you picked a fight with?"

"Yeah I didn't know he had so many…friends."

Gustavo started yelling at him in Spanish, and though Nathan's Spanish was rusty, he could tell he heard the words bleed, kill, and enjoy.

Sam stepped in front of Gustavo, "Hey man, let's just,"

Gustavo shoved Sam aside, "OK then," Sam replied before punching Gustavo in the face.

A brawl broke out. Nathan was suddenly being choked by a man, which he elbowed in the ribs to bring down.

He saw Rafe punch a guy out and shout, "Come on Nate did you have to pick the most popular guy in this joint?!"

Nathan saw at least six guys had come, and each of them were an equal match. Nathan was charged by a man, and he dodged right before the guy lunged, Nathan, using his momentum against him, punched him in the back of the head and knocked him out.

He heard Sam yell, "Nate! I could use your help here!"

Nathan ran over to see Sam being ganged on by two men. Nathan ran up, and kicked one of them in the back. The man fell over, and Nathan finished him off. Suddenly, Nathan saw the massively powerful Gustavo, and he was heading right for Nathan. Nathan tried to dodge, but Gustavo grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the wall trying to choke him. Nathan was able to slip out of his grasp and knee him in the gut. Gustavo grunted in pain and Nathan landed a massive pummel to Gustavo's ear. With a yell of pain, Gustavo hit the ground. Nathan was about to finish him off when two men grabbed each of his arms. Nathan struggled, but the men were too powerful. Gustavo got up, his one ear dripping blood, and he unsheathed a knife as he headed towards Nathan.

Suddenly Gustavo was clubbed in the head by a man wielding a massive stick. It was Vargas. Another skull shaking blow and Gustavo was knocked out cold. Vargas began shouting at the men in Spanish, and several other guards came in the room. One of them pushed Nathan against the wall and cuffed his hands. The guard whipped out the crucifix and Vargas took it.

Vargas glared at Nathan, "Are you bringing in contraband?"

"Vargas," said Nathan.

"Who do you think you are?!" shouted Vargas.

Nathan, Sam and Rafe were then taken away.

They were led to Vargas' office. When all three were in the room, Vargas demanded the other guards leave so he could talk in private. When they did, Vargas locked the doors, holding the crucifix in his hand.

"Took you long enough!" Rafe snarled, "We almost got killed!"

"You still might," said Vargas in a tone of voice Nathan didn't like at all. Vargas took a pistol out of his holster.

"Vargas," said Rafe, "Seriously?"

Vargas looked at the crucifix and said in a mocking tone, "Oh I didn't find anything, must be in a different tower…"

He tossed the crucifix to Nathan, "Well?" he demanded.

Nathan didn't say anything, and Vargas pointed his pistol at Nathan.

"Hey! Vargas come on! It's worthless, OK!"

Vargas' face went far angrier, "You think I'm an idiot!"

Rafe stepped in, "Vargas hey! If you want to renegotiate that's fine but stop acting like a third world thug! Put the gun away!"

Several tense seconds passed, and Vargas lowered the pistol with a chuckle.

"We're uh…Willing to give you ten percent."

Vargas laughed, "Think half."

Nathan was incredulous, "Hey we're doing most of the work here! Twenty! You can't find it without us."

Vargas stood there for several seconds, thinking.

"Twenty-five. Equals."

Rafe sighed, "Twenty five. Does that sound fair you guys?"

"Yeah sure…" Sam said visibly angry.

Nathan shrugged, "Hey four hundred million divides nicely into four."

That was that then. Nathan sighed.

Rafe held out his hand for Vargas to shake, "Then we have a deal."

"Yes we have a deal," said Vargas, "and if you ever cross me again-"

Suddenly Rafe pulled out a knife and stabbed Vargas in the side. Vargas tried to shoot, but Rafe stabbed viciously and ripped the gun out of Vargas' hand. Vargas collapsed to the ground, dead. Nathan didn't have time to react.

"What are you doing!?" shouted Nathan, "Are you out of your mind!? You can't just kill him!"

"We're sticking to the plan," said Rafe.

"Was this part of the plan!?"

"Just follow me!"

Rafe opened the door to the main building, "Guys we're heading to the lighthouse! Vargas said the boat is right under the lighthouse!"

Nathan could hear guards trying to break down the door. He ran over to a window. Guards began shooting him. He hid behind a wall. How did it come to this!

Nathan looked at Rafe, "How could you do that Rafe!"

Rafe didn't answer, just hid to avoid the bullets.

"Twenty five percent isn't worth a man's life!"

Rafe looked at Nathan, "It's worth far more than his!"

The guards stopped and Nathan lunged out the window and dropped down ten feet to the ground below. By now, sirens were sounding all over the prison, and people were all alerted. Nathan jumped over to a ladder and climbed up, bullets flying. On the rooftops, Nathan jumped from building to building. Each of the buildings were less than fifteen feet high. Nathan tried jumping a roof, but slipped and hit the ground. When he did, he saw several guards, but they were unarmed. There were only two, and Nathan began fighting one of them. Sam jumped down to help Nathan, but Rafe didn't, he went on ahead.

After beating the two guards, Nathan looked at Sam, "Where's Rafe?! I thought you trusted him!"

"I do," said Sam, "To a point…"

There was a vent below one of the buildings and Nathan entered. "He's going to leave without us isn't he?" shouted Nathan.

"Not if we're quick!" replied Sam.

They crawled through the vents.

"Ah, this place is like a maze!" said Sam.

"Yeah it's like they don't want us to leave or something."

Nathan emerged out behind the building where he saw Rafe.

"Rafe!" shouted Nathan, "Kick down that ladder for us!"

Rafe, who was on the rooftop, kicked the ladder down. Once again they were on the rooftops. Sam was on the building behind Nathan. The gap between the building and the prison wall Nathan was on was too far for Sam to jump. Nathan went prone and gave his hand.

"Come on Sam! Jump! Grab my hand!"

Sam jumped and Nathan grabbed him. A rain of bullets hit dangerously close to Nathan. Suddenly, Sam looked at Nathan, but Nathan saw something was wrong. Sam coughed, and blood came out. Nathan saw the bottom of Sam's shirt now had a massive red spot as the blood seeped in. He had been shot.

"No! Sam!" shouted Nathan. Sam's grip weakened.

"No!" shouted Nathan, "Sam! Don't let go! Don't!"

Sam's eyes closed, and his arm slipped. He fell down to the ground and crashed into a shed.

"No! Sam!" Nathan yelled.

Nathan breathed hard and tried to go down to Sam.

Rafe held him back, "Nathan! No, don't!"

"He's still down there!" Nathan cried desperately.

"No Nathan, he's gone!"

Nathan, still prone on the prison walls clawed at the ledge, trying to get to Sam, "No, I can't. He's still down there!"

"Nate!" Rafe said, "Your brother is dead. Either come with me or join him!"

Nathan couldn't move. He felt paralyzed, "No…Rafe please help!"

"Have it your way!" Rafe shouted as he abandoned Nathan and leapt out of the prison.

Nathan, with tears in his eyes got up, sobbing, and began running down to the end of the wall. Rafe was well ahead of him. He jumped into the thick jungle, and then slipping down the cliff, he saw the boat. He jumped off, and plummeted down the cliff. He only stopped screaming when he hit the water.