Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews and to those who are reading my story. Here is my new chapter. And don't worry there will be some Hardy Boy kicking butt action coming, and yes I'm working on the next chapter. I'll update as soon as I can. Once again here is my new chapter. Hope you like it. Love to hear you thoughts.
Iola's Treasure 27
Back at Douglas' yacht:
A very disgruntled Jim sat at the bar with a glass of scotch in his hand and his gun lying on the counter. He was still fuming over Douglas and Underwood's orders. "They ain't cheating me out of my millions!"
He heard the sound of heavy footsteps charging along behind him. "Jim, what the hell are you doing?!" Marty demanded. "You're supposed to be watching the fat kid!"
Jim grumbled back. "Jennifer is watching him!"
"Are you stupid or something?!" Marty retorted. "Boss ordered us to watch him!"
Jim slammed his glass down on the counter. "I don't care!" He whirled around to face Marty. "We have bigger things to deal with!"
"Like what?"
"Boss and that idiot Underwood ain't planning on giving us our share of the money!"
"They can't do that! We did all the work!"
"I know!"
"What are we going to do?"
"You stay here. Keep an eye on the fat kid." Jim stood up, picking his gun up off the counter. "I'm going to the island to get our money".
"What about the storm?"
"I don't care! Ain't nothing going to stand in the way of me getting my millions!"
"All covered with cheese..," Chet continued to sing until a boom of thunder startled him upright from the bed he'd been lying on. Taking a quick look around the room, Chet realized he was in the cabin of a yacht.
"Frank! Joe!" He called out. He reached up to feel the side of his head, feeling a bump there. Wincing in pain at the contact he quickly drew his hand away.
"Frank! Joe!"
"They're not here."
Chet looked up to see a young woman with blonde hair enter the room, carrying a silver tray on which sat a bowl of soup.
"Who are you?"
"Jennifer." The girl answered as she set the tray on the night stand. "I brought you some soup."
Chet noticed she had a gun in the back pocket of her jeans. "Where are my friends?"
"Barmet Island," Jennifer said, "looking for those coins."
"What?" Chet gasped, glancing out the window again, realizing for the first time that they were at a wooden dock, not ten feet away from the beach. "The guys are out there."
He watched as the fierce wind blew branches and debris all over the island. The wind was so strong Chet could see the trees almost bending to the ground. Streaks of lightning pierced the dark clouds of the midmorning sky as raindrops began pelting the windows. The ever increasing efforts of the wind caused the ocean's waves to slap against the side of the yacht. The hurricane had most definitely arrived!
"Are Mr. Douglas and Mr. Underwood out there too?"
All color quickly left Chet's face leaving it chalk white when he heard Jennifer's reply. "Yes, and once your friends find the coins; Albert and Richard are going to kill them."
Chet's thoughts raced, I can't just lie here while my brothers are in trouble. I have to do something! But what? The control room! If I can get to the control room I might be able to get the radio and call for help. Chet's resolve was firm. He had a plan. He could do this.
Chet quickly devised himself a plan. His head hurt like hell, but he forced himself to push it aside and focus on helping Frank and Joe. They saved my life and now I need to save theirs.
"Oooh my head!" He threw his hands up to his head and began moaning. "I have such a headache."
"There is some aspirin in the bathroom." Jennifer said dryly, pointing to the door across the room.
"Could you get it for me?" Chet asked holding his head and wincing in pain. "I'm too dizzy."
Jennifer just rolled her eyes and huffed, "Fine." Then she headed into the bathroom.
Chet took that as his cue; he swung his legs over the bed and held on to the edge of the mattress for support. He wasn't kidding about feeling dizzy. His vision was clear enough; he took advantage of the situation as he stumbled to his feet and locked the bathroom door, trapping Jennifer inside.
"Hey!" Jennifer shouted as she began banging on the door. "Let me out of here!"
"Jim! Marty!" she screamed.
Chet noticed that Jennifer had left the other door wide open. He was just about to make his exit, when he heard a man's voice yell, "Jennifer!" followed by heavy footsteps coming quickly down the hallway to the room.
He immediately looked around for something to use as a weapon. Spotting the silver tray, he transferred the soup to the table and picking up the tray, weighed it in his hand. It was heavy; it would work. What could he say? After growing up with the Hardy boys, he'd definitely learnt a thing or two.
Chet hid behind the door holding the tray up high above his head ready to strike.
In another second Marty entered the room. "Jennifer, what…" Chet clobbered him hard on the back of the head with the tray. Marty fell to the floor, unconscious.
Chet didn't waste a single second, he couldn't afford to; Frank and Joe were in trouble and needed help. His lethal weapon in hand, Chet cautiously headed out the door, remembering to lock it before making his way down the narrow hallway to find the control room.
He would get help to his friends as quickly as he could. Hang on guys!
Frank and Joe looked at each other then back at the large tombstone. "A grave vault!" Frank exclaimed, trying to wrap his mind around this latest discovery.
Joe shouted to be heard above the thunder. "Well, remember Hattie's story! She told us that her grandfather had buried the rest of the coins in a vault!"
"I didn't think she meant a grave vault!"
"Do you think the coins are here?!"
"I don't know!" Frank knelt down to examine the tombstone. "On the map, the trail ended at the initials JB". He began sweeping the dirt and grime off Barmet's name. His gut feeling was telling him that they were in the right place. "This is JB."
But something about this was bothering him; he couldn't figure out what it was. It was as if he'd missed something. "Guess there's only one way to find out!"
"Frank, you're not suggesting we dig up this grave?!" Joe objected. It was morally wrong to even suggest the idea.
Thunder continued to boom over their heads.
"I'm in charge now!" Douglas brought himself into the discussion. "And, you're going to do exactly that!"
"This is a man's final resting place!" Joe felt the heat of his anger coursing through his body and begin melting away his fears, just like it'd done earlier. He stared right into the big man's eyes. "We're not digging up a grave!"
"I have had enough of your crap!" Douglas grabbed Joe by the front of his shirt, pulling him to his face. "My plan was working perfectly until you entered the picture! I should've killed you at the old woman's house when I had the chance!"
He continued to glare at the boy. "I want my coins, NOW!"
"What do you suggest we dig with, sticks?!" Joe argued sarcastically. "In case you haven't noticed we didn't bring any tools!"
"I'll bet old man Barmet does!" Douglas fired back immediately. "Richard, take smart-ass here and check out the cabin!" He shoved at Joe, sending him into Underwood.
Quickly, before Joe could move, Underwood's left arm was wrapped around the boy's neck in a choke hold. He smiled smugly at Frank. "It will be my pleasure." There was nothing but malice in the man's eyes.
"No wait!" Frank exclaimed, jumping to his feet, wanting to help his brother. He knew Underwood had been itching to get his hands on Joe. He had to think fast to find a way to stop this. So he just blurted out, "We may not have to dig up the grave!"
Without hesitation, Douglas whipped out his gun and cocked the handle, aiming right between Frank's eyes. "I have no more patience for you as well! Explain now or I will kill you!"
"No! Don't kill him!" Joe managed to scream, struggling to break free.
"SHUT UP!" Underwood spat. Instantly Joe stopped struggling when he felt the point of a gun against the small of his back. "I WILL KILL YOU!"
"Let Joe go and I will explain!" Frank demanded, clenching his fists.
Seeing that Underwood wasn't going to comply, Frank had no choice but to offer his explanation. "Joe's just reminded me of a part in a story that Hattie had told us about her grandfather. She told us he'd buried the rest of the coins in a vault!"
Where was he going with this? Confused, Joe knit his eyebrows together, trying to figure out what his brother was doing.
A thunder boomed over their heads.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Underwood shouted, tightening his grip around Joe's neck and then cocked back the handle of his gun ready to fire a bullet in his back.
Frank wasn't so sure he knew what he was talking about either. He kept going anyway.
"I think Hattie may have gotten part of her story wrong! You see, besides being a traveling appraiser and collecting treasures, James Barmet was also a great storyteller. Hattie is as well; sometimes people like to embellish them and exaggerate to make their stories even better. As a result, sometimes stories aren't always accurate!"
"Get to the point!"
"I think the coins are somewhere near the vault, not actually in the vault!" Frank kept going, praying he was right. "She also said that Barmet acted very mysterious at times; he was a secretive man!"
"You mean like concealing a coin in an old clock!" It suddenly dawned on Joe as to what his brother was talking about.
"Right," Frank acknowledged. Everything was starting to make sense to him as he felt his theory was on the right track. "So why wouldn't Barmet do the same thing with the coins!? What if he buried them here somewhere where we wouldn't think to look?!"
"You're saying the coins are here!" Douglas repeated while keeping his gun trained on Frank.
"Yes!"
"And not in the vault itself!"
"Yes, somewhere near it!"
The silence that followed was deafening as everyone waited for Douglas to speak. He appeared to be mulling over Frank's theory.
The thunder was the only one that gave its response. Suddenly however an evil grin spread across the crook's face, his chuckling breaking the silence. "You had better be right!" He paused, his voice growing cold, "Let's get started!" Frank could see that something sinister was brewing in the big man's mind.
"Richard, do as I ordered before, take the younger Hardy to the cabin! If you should come across a shovel bring it back with you!" Douglas said venomously never taking his gun off of Frank. "Meanwhile, his brother is going to start looking for those coins!"
Frank's heart quickened as he picked up on the meaning of Douglas' words. Underwood was going to kill Joe!
The brothers glanced at each other, wracking their brains; trying to think of what to do while trying to stay calm was not easy. With guns pointing at them, they couldn't take the risk of getting the other one killed.
"Let's go!" Underwood kept a tight grip on Joe as they started backing away, slowly down the hill.
Joe started to struggle again within his grip until he heard Underwood whisper in his ear, voice soft as a snake's hiss, "Come with me now, blondie, don't fight me or you're going to watch your brother die right before your eyes!"
Joe felt his heart still at the thought. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was going to die on the island. The thought of his brother dying flashed through his mind again as his eyes remained fixed on Douglas' gun which was trained on his brother's head.
Every fiber of Joe's being was telling him to fight back; he resisted the urge as he feared for his big brother's life. He had already lost Iola, the love of his life. And he was about to lose his dear friend Hattie.
But losing his big brother, his best friend, partner and soul mate; that was not going to happen. Joe would rather die than let anything happen to Frank. If he needed to take a bullet for him, to keep Frank safe then...there was no other choice, he would do it.
So Joe did as Underwood instructed and started to leave with him. "Okay I'll go."
Frank didn't understand why Joe wasn't fighting back. He was never so submissive. Come on, Joe, he thought, what's wrong with you? I thought you were coming back to me. Fight little brother, fight back. But to his dismay, he watched Joe leave with Underwood, not even putting up a hint of a fight.
He stood there feeling helpless watching in the heavy wind and rain as Joe and Underwood headed back down the trail until they were out of sight.
"Joe!" Frank screamed out. He couldn't move an inch with Douglas' gun in his face.
Frank glared at the big man. "I'll kill you if anything happens to my brother!"
"Find my coins now!" Douglas spat ignoring the threat.
"Damn you!" Frank slowly backed away from the gun, beginning to look for the coins while trying to think of some way to save Joe.
Only a few feet from where the grave sat he came across a small pile of rocks. Staring at the rock configuration for a few moments, Frank suddenly realized that the rocks were in the form of an arrow.
The arrow was pointing to a hollowed out tree stump. He headed towards it, pushing aside the densely overgrown grass. "There it is!" He pointed.
Douglas was there in seconds. Together, they pulled a metal treasure chest out of the hollowed stump.
In the center of the chest was a keyhole in the shape and size of a silver dollar with two swords crossing each in the grove. The chest was locked!
"Where's the key?!" Douglas bellowed.
Joe's gold coin! Frank thought. He'd known the coin was important somehow. The coin must be the key! Joe has the key…
Suddenly he thought he heard a loud Bang!, through the heavy wind and rain. Was that a gun going off or thunder? Bang! There! He'd definitely heard it that time!
God, please let that be thunder! Frank leapt to his feet and started to run towards the trail that led down to the cabin.