Chapter 15
"Hi ladies." Chet greeted. "Did your friends turn green with envy?" Callie laughed.
"Oh yeah. Jennifer freaked royally when she saw my hair cut off. Then really freaked when she saw the piercing and the tattoo. But she absolutely died when she saw the ring. Then when she found out it wasn't from Frank she was blown away. I'd say it had a huge effect. Iola got some pretty intense looks at that necklace I will tell you. I think she pissed off a few people we knew." Chet smiled.
"Now, did you guys go waving your goodies under your not so real friend's noses, or did you see your good friends and just proceed to make them truly green with envy?" Iola smiled.
"Well, our real friends that we saw were pretty happy. But yeah, we tried to go say hello to a few people we knew in the area that don't like us too much." she said with an air of gratification.
"But I am not really into that. I won't be wasting my time to go gloat. I have better things to do. And I would really like to stay the same person I have always been." Chet nodded.
"Good to hear, sis. Cause ya know mom will instill that idea with a little force once she knows." Callie grinned.
"I bet she will." she said knowingly. Mrs. Morton was a solid and decent woman who believed in being a kind, moral and ethical person. She didn't have much tolerance for pretentious types. Chet smiled.
"Well let's see. I think we have a little time to wind down and take a drive."
"Ok." Iola agreed. "It will give me more time to think of what to say to mom over all this." Chet pulled the car back into traffic and headed along the downtown road that converted into Bayview Ave a little further north. After a few minutes the road converted to Bayview as the road closed over to the bay area on the high cliff.
"Nice area up here." Chet started to say. Iola smiled.
"You don't have to tell me bro. But we are still gonna drive past my dream house. What torture." she said. Chet drove a little while longer and slowed down.
"Yep, there it is." Iola slapped the side of the door.
"Damn! I knew it wouldn't last long. Already a sold sign on it." Chet couldn't help but grin. He pulled over into the drive.
"Doesn't look like anyone moved in yet. Why not take a peek up close before the new owners move in? I like historic homes and want to look." Iola grudgingly nodded.
"Ok, but I know I will just get more depressed when I see it can't be mine." Chet parked the car and the three got out. The huge three-story structure was predominantly brick. It had a very old iron gate and a separate garage and a smaller servant's house located further back on the property. Iola groaned looking it all over. Chet led them around the house. They all gasped when they were in the back and saw a perfect view of the bay from high upon the cliff. Iola turned and looked into a window.
"Oh man. Look at all that perfect wood paneling and hardwood flooring. Oh, I can see part of that huge kitchen. It's beautiful. Callie nodded.
"Sure is gorgeous! I am beginning to feel as bad as you are. This house is great and I haven't even seen the inside." Iola kicked a rock along the old brick inlayed walkway. Chet looked over to the side of the house. There sat an in-ground swimming pool with rich and mature vegetation blended within to give it a very stately look.
"Wow, excellent pool." Callie nodded.
"I would love to be able to go take a swim every morning here. God, it is great." Iola looked depressed.
"Yeah, but it now belongs to someone who could obviously afford to plunk down $400,000! Must be nice to be lucky." Chet could resist no more. He cleared his throat and pulled out the copy of the title that was just recorded.
"Hey, Iola, I can't make this out, can you make heads or tails of it to me?" Iola rolled her eyes.
"Having problems reading a report Now of all times, Chet?" she snapped up the paper and looked down at it.
"..and title, without lien or encumbrance, is now and completely transferred to Chester A Morton, IOLA LEANN MORTON? 311 Bayview Ave!" She looked up to her brother, who was smiling like a Cheshire cat and then to the house.
"You mean,, this house,, is,, us? We?" Chet smiled and put an arm around her.
"Yes, this house is now legally owned and titled to me, you and Callie. And I have a quick claim form that gives it entirely to you and Joe. Should you eventually desire to make it legal." Iola threw her arms around her brother and kissed him.
"Oh you! I love you so much. Leave it to my big brother to surprise me like this!" She gasped. Callie smiled to him and kissed him
"You have to be the sweetest man I know. I love you." Chet smiled at all the attention.
"Say, don't you all want to go inside?" he asked pulling out a key chain. Iola grabbed the keys and ran for the door. Callie and Chet looked at her running to the door. She tried three keys before she found the one that opened that particular door. She ran inside and screamed.
"It's beautiful!" She cried. Chet and Callie came in smiling to her. She ran from one room to another like a child on Christmas day opening packages. She came back to Chet and Callie who were taking it in at a much slower pace.
"You know, I think that listing info was wrong, I have counted at least 8 bedrooms and there are 4 and a half baths! And the other rooms. And the kitchen is huge. And the courtyard. It's all so beautiful!" Chet grinned
"I'm sure you and Joe will love it." Iola looked up.
"Chet, look at this house! You guys will have to live here too! There's plenty of room!" Chet raised an eyebrow
"Well Iola, maybe Joe doesn't want to live with another couple." Iola looked back.
"Are you nuts. Joe would be thrilled to have us all here. Not to mention you could probably live here and not see another person who lived here for a week without making a real effort. This place is over twice the size of the farm!" She ran into another room. Chet chuckled. Callie sighed,
"She sure has it set in her mind, doesn't she?" Chet nodded.
"That seems certain. What do you think, Angel?" Callie looked about.
"It's beautiful Chet. I love it. And of course the practical side of me says if you just plunked down $400,000 for this house we have spent our budget for a long while." Chet smiled.
"Well, I was able to get it for a little less." Iola was walking back into the room and overheard her brother.
"What? You were able to buy it for less? Wow. What did you have to pay?"
"$300,000 even." Callie and Iola smiled.
"Wow, $100,000 off!" Callie said. "That is great Chet. This is premium real estate. What a deal!" She wrapped an arm around him.
"You know that none of us would have ever thought in a million years we'd ever end up in a house like this. It's huge. What's the sense of wasting the space? I mean if you think it's ok. I know we now have the ability to buy our own place. But this seems to fit so well." Chet nodded and looked the place over.
"Sure is big alright. I think it could work. It's absolutely beautiful. I guess as long as Joe says OK, then we should do it." Iola smiled.
"Rest assured bro, Joe will flip out when he hears about this." Chet looked around the kitchen. He gave a whistle.
"Two ranges. They must like to cook around here. Two, no three ice boxes. Amazing! Certainly a well equipped kitchen. Well, I don't mean to cut the festivities short, but we need to get moving. Iola, we have to go home and let mom in on things before we continue back to the hollow. She would have our butts if we didn't stop by. Especially with such news." Iola nodded,
"Oh yeah. She will be shocked." she looked at Callie. "She is gonna flip when she finds out her son is officially engaged and both her children own a house." Callie grinned.
"That's the kind of news that is good to spread. Shall we go?" Chet and Iola nodded. They filed out of their new home and Iola locked the door. She turned and kissed her brother again.
"What you have done is beyond words. But thank you so much!" she said as they got into the car. Iola took the wheel and headed towards the area of their farm. They noticed that in that area of Bayview Ave, the homes were rather isolated from each other and the grounds around their house were quite grown and mature, offering it even more isolation. Chet and Callie sat in the back seat, holding hands. Despite all that was good and positive they were a bit nervous about breaking the news of their engagement to Mrs. Morton. Iola was driving fast as usual and they were soon brought to the long drive that led to the Morton farmhouse. Within 2 minutes Iola had the car parked. She smiled to the others,
"Well guys, here it goes." she looked over her shoulder and smiled, then looked towards the back of the house. "And we may be in double luck. That looks like dad's car parked back there, too." Chet gulped. His father was a very practical man. He might think that his son was acting in haste and lecture him. He paused for a moment, and finally nodded to the others.
"Let's do this." He said with determination. They got out of the car and walked up onto the porch. Sure enough, the door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Morton came out with pleased looks. Mrs. Morton beamed.
"Back from the big city already? Wonderful. I was worried sick about you there. More so than if you were back in that hollow." Chet smiled.
"Yep, we got our business done and got out of there. Too many people. Hello, dad. See ya got a little time off work yourself." Mr. Morton smiled.
"Hi, son. Yes. Finally got a couple days off after putting in about 20 straight. I was helping your mother with a little harvesting. So nice to get back to working around the house. Hi sweetie!" he said to Iola. "How are you doing? Hi Callie. Great to see you too!" Callie smiled and waved. Iola grinned to her father.
"Hi daddy. It's good to see you back." she gave him a peck on the cheek. Mrs. Morton looked over to her daughter and raised her eyebrows.
"My, my. Looks like my pretty daughter got a whole lot prettier. She lost some hair I see. Looks great, dear. And my, I love your necklace. It's amazing how real it looks." Iola smiled.
"Well mom, that's probably because it is real." Mrs. Morton gasped.
"Dear lord, Henry. She blew her savings on a necklace. Young lady I thought we taught you better than that." Chet stood there chuckling inward but decided it was time to bail his sister out.
"Ahem, mom and dad. You need to hear a few things first before jumping too hard. Please, sit down." The group all sat at the table on the front porch.
"Well," Chet continued, "when we had to go to the city yesterday it was because we had to return some stolen jewels. Jewels that Callie and I recovered while on the case in Pennsylvania. Three boxes of jewels hijacked from Tiffany & Co. Well, these jewels were worth nearly $40 million!"
"$40 million!" Mr. & Mrs. Morton chorused. Chet nodded.
"Yes, 40 million. Mr. Hardy thought since we were the ones that recovered the jewels that it was important we return them. So, when we stopped by yesterday, that's what we were up to. In any event, Tiffany & Co and their insurance carrier had a reward offered."
"So that's where you got the necklace, Iola. As a reward." Mrs. Morton started. Chet gave a half nod.
"Well, kind of. The Tiffany and Company CEO, Peter Rabinowitz, gave Iola that beautiful necklace and a matching bracelet I may add. They also gave me a nice alligator briefcase and they uh, gave Callie and I this lovely ring," he gestured towards Callie's finger with the very beautiful ring. Mr. & Mrs. Morton gasped.
"That's a lovely ring Callie," Mrs. Morton started, "it very much looks like an engagement ring." Chet and Callie both smiled broadly. Mr. Morton's face broke into a smile.
"While I'll be blasted! That's exactly what it is! Mom, looks like a wedding in the making." Mrs. Morton broke into tears.
"My, this is amazing. You two have known each other for so long. I am just so happy." She got up and hugged the two, as did Mr. Morton, who slapped his son on the back.
"You're my boy." he smiled to Callie. "You have yourself one very pretty bride to be." Mrs. Morton smiled.
"She took a little hair off too. It looks so cute. Oh my, a daughter-in-law!" They sat back down hardly able to contain themselves. Mr. Morton looked over to them.
"Well those are great rewards. Any idea what they cost if you had to buy them? Sorry, I guess your old man is a little curious." Chet smiled.
"Well, Iola's necklace and bracelet retails for over $50,000" Mr. & Mrs. Morton took on stunned looks.
"$50,000 for those two pieces?!" Mrs. Morton asked incredibly. Chet nodded and smiled.
"You aren't going to believe what the ring cost then." Callie placed the ring before them. They smiled.
"It's beautiful." Iola looked down at it.
"Well if you include the sales tax you would be out to the tune of $460,000!" Mr. Morton looked up to her.
"Are you kidding your daddy, missy? $460 thousand dollars! That's almost half a million!" Iola nodded seriously.
"The stones on the ring are perfect, as in colorless and flawless. They make the diamonds worth a great deal more." Mrs. Morton held her chest.
"It's beautiful, but aren't you nervous? I mean it's so valuable!" Callie nodded,
"It makes me a little nervous, but it is absolutely stunning and I would never dream of locking it away." The elder Mortons sat there and looked at the three younger people in awe.
"Well, you cleared over half a million in jewelry for a reward. Not bad for returning some jewels to their owner." Mr. Morton said. Chet gave a half smile.
"Well dad, they did give us a little cash with the jewels." Chet started.
Mr. Morton looked astounded.
"Why, that is amazing. Maybe they gave you a little something you could put towards that boat I heard you bought." Chet smiled.
"You could say that, dad. They gave Callie and I a little more than that." Mr. Morton eyes widened.
"Don't keep us in suspense son. Tell us." he was on the edge of his seat. Chet looked over with a tilted head, anticipating the shock of his forthcoming statement.
"Well, they gave Callie and I $3,850,000.00 dad." Mr. Morton and his wife looked stunned.
"They gave you nearly $4 million dollars!?" Iola nodded.
"Yeah dad, they issue a reward equal to 10% of the value of the recovered items." Mr. Morton stood up and took a breath.
"Wow... And I mean wow, son. You are full of news aren't you? This is great." Iola smiled and wrapped an arm around her brother.
"What is great I think is this." she pulled out the paper Chet had given to her earlier at the house. She handed it to her father. He scanned the paper and looked up.
"This says you all own a home!? Well I will be darned. 311 Bayview Ave. That's out north along the bay. I can't picture it as I don't know the addresses, but a lot of those houses are pretty nice. Sounds like a good investment." Iola nodded.
"Chet got $100,000 off the price and we all intend to live in the house. Well Joe and I and Chet and Callie that is." Mrs. Morton looked up.
"All of you? Is this house big enough for two growing couples?" she asked with concern. Chet let out a flurry of laughter.
"Well mom, it's pushing 8,000 square foot and at last count a confirmed 7 or 8 bedrooms." Mrs. Morton smiled broadly.
"Well, well. That sounds plenty big. This is just simply amazing! An engagement, some good financial security and a new house. It's a miracle." Chet smiled.
"Maybe, or just good luck. But good luck or not, we do have to head back to the hollow. We have some items for Mr. Hardy and they are imperative to getting the missing captain and Bill back." Mr. Morton nodded.
"Of course. Work must go on. Am glad to see you haven't lost those valuable ideals. But at least come in for a bite first." Chet nodded. He needed no second invitation. He followed Iola in and Callie came in behind him. Mrs. Morton looked over at Callie as she entered and gave a slight laugh.
"Looks like my daughter in law to be got herself branded." she pointed to her back. Mr. Morton grinned.
"Looks like it." he laughed. "Glad it's hidden a bit there, dear." Callie looked over her shoulder and blushed.
"Well, I finally figured I wanted one. So, there it sits. Chet likes it a lot." Mr. Morton grinned as she walked through the door with her crop top high above her navel and hip hugger jeans sitting low.
"I'm sure he does, my dear. I really approve of what you've done with yourself. You're quite the pretty lady. My son is a lucky man."
After an hour of eating and discussing their future it was time to go. With Mr. Morton promising to call the utility companies to have the power and phone turned on at the new house, they waved and left. Callie and Chet sat back while Iola drove.
"Well, that didn't go too bad." Iola said. "I think dad was really excited." Callie sighed and lay her head on Chet.
"I feel better. Your family is so understanding." Chet smiled.
"They have their moments, but are usually pretty cool about things." Iola sped towards the docks and was soon parking at the Hardy boathouse. Chet pulled the parcel of fake jewels out of the trunk. Iola meanwhile was rooting some of her and Callie's more appropriate clothes out and putting them into a single bag. She also took out the two PPK pistols and gave one to Callie.
"Here you go, Cal. Back to the bush." She said as they joined Chet as he finished packing the boat up. Chet looked to the two ladies. He gave a slight laugh when he looked at Callie.
"Say Cal, hip huggers and crop tops are not great for concealing weapons." he commented noticing she had tucked the gun in her waistband. Callie smiled.
"This is true, Chet. But, I couldn't think of anywhere else to stick it." she said with a wicked grin. Chet smiled.
"I see your point." he laughed and went back to checking the boat out for takeoff. Satisfied, he turned the motors over and checked his gauges. All appeared well and Iola set the time lock on the door. The door slid open and Chet maneuvered the craft out of the boathouse. Chet motored over to the fuel dock and filled his tanks. They got out on the bay and he opened the throttle significantly and headed towards the Atlantic, and subsequent river channels that would take them to Black Hollow. Chet looked over his shoulder and looked admiringly at Callie with her dark golden blonde hair blowing in the wind. Her crop top clinging adequately, and mesmerized him almost as much as her crystal-clear smile. She was truly beautiful. He felt as if he were the luckiest man on earth. He even looked to his sister who herself was quite beautiful as well. He knew Joe was going to be knocked out by his sister and her new look.
He sped along keeping close to the coastline. The weather that late afternoon was warm for the season. This suited Chet well as he disliked the overcast and rain when he was boating.
Chet set a course and relaxed for a bit. He turned to the girls.
"Little better weather than the first trip out, huh?" Iola nodded.
"This is super. I'd like to think it wasn't just the fact that I'm wearing a pricey necklace or that you just gave me the house of my dreams. It really is the simple things in life. But, I suppose they become more visible with lack of stress in one's life. I hope you guys don't lose track either. I mean you two have the control and power over nearly $4 million. You need to be careful as that can be just as much a curse as a blessing." Callie smiled to her friend.
"It is wise to keep such things in mind. But, damn it feels good to not worry about certain things that have been alleviated by the situation at hand. But there are still stresses and concerns for me. Like Bill being kidnaped. I mean here we are getting a ton of cash and having the time of our lives. And Bill is at the mercy of some maniacs." she thought about it quietly. It plainly scared her. Chet took her hand.
"It will be alright, darlin'. We will get him back safe, no matter what." he claimed. Callie took great security in this statement. She knew Chet would do all he could for his friend.
Another hour and a half brought them into the deep river areas that would lead them into the hollow. It was early evening. Chet checked his fuel gauges.
"Think I will refuel at Treeport, even though I'm still at half full. Doesn't hurt to be safe." Within twenty minutes the small town of Treeport came to view. Chet motored into the fueling dock. Iola and Callie got up to stretch their legs. Chet topped his tanks off and the group went to pay. At the end of the dock Chet pulled out some cash and handed it to the attendant. The attendant, a man of about 45 and sandy colored hair looked Callie and Iola up and down and wasn't too subtle. He did stop short upon noticing the nickel-plated pistol emerging from Callie's waist. He cleared his throat and averted his gaze promptly. Chet smiled at this and gestured for the girls to follow him up towards town.
"I think we'd better take a chance and see if that hunting and sports store is open and get you an proper holster, Cal. That dude down there probably thought he was a goner with that gun and tattoo." Callie giggled wildly at the thought of her image actually putting fear into a man. Iola half smiled.
"He deserved it after he was so obviously mentally undressing her." Chet grinned as they walked.
"He had his eyes on your booty too, sis." Iola reddened.
As luck would have it, the store was still open. Chet led the way in and walked up to the counter. The salesman, who was also likely the owner, was the same man who had sold Chet his supplies the last time he was in. He smiled to Chet,
"Hey there, run out of hand grenades yet?" Chet chuckled.
"Luckily, no. We were just trying to get the lady fitted for a holster." he said gesturing to Callie. The man looked over to her and smiled at the PPK bulging out from her low riders. He chuckled briefly.
"That gun sticks out like a dent in a Jaguar, doesn't it?" he asked hoping his analogy didn't offend. Callie smiled and was reddening with embarrassment by the second. Chet himself gave a hearty chuckle.
"You hit the nail on the head there. Not to mention I'd hate her to squeeze off a couple rounds and inadvertently place that heater back on her tailgate and cause a fire." Iola gave her brother a look of disapproval.
"Tailgate? What a man." She smirked. The owner gave a grin, and winked at Chet. He started to root around under the counter. He finally pulled up a piece of strapped leather.
"That's a .380 PPK, right?" Callie nodded. The man smiled and held the holster up.
"This one would accent nicely I think. It's a thigh holster."
"Thigh holster?" Chet questioned. The man smiled.
"The ladies tend to like them. They came into popularity after the Tomb Raider video game and movie became popular. Remember the character, Lara Croft has a couple magnums strapped to thigh holsters?" Chet nodded, fondly remembering the movie with Angelina Jolie.
"Oh yeah. Say Cal, what do you think?" he asked holding it out to her. She took it and sure enough it strapped snugly to her thigh and her weapon fit perfectly. Callie nodded approvingly. Chet smiled. It was a lot nicer of a fit that in her pants.
"We'll take that. And Iola, do you need one?" Iola looked questionably at it then looked up.
"I will take an ankle holster if you have one." The man smiled.
"But of course." He fished one up and handed it to her. Iola tried it and it fit fine. She nodded,
"This will do." she said with a smile. Chet looked around the store. He picked up a box and brought it to the counter. Iola raised an eyebrow.
"You must be kidding? More ammo? Chet, have you noticed back at the camp? In the boat? In the other boat? there are more boxes of ammo than we'd ever need?" Chet grinned.
"This isn't ammo. It's tear gas." he defended. The man smiled.
"Highly concentrated, yet non-lethal. Will make anyone who comes in contact with it surrender, but quick. But, will only render them powerless for an hour or so. No permanent damage can occur with this stuff." Iola nodded.
"Well, I guess if it beats blowing a place to smithereens it's a good idea. Especially with Bill and the captain in danger." Chet nodded.
"That'll do it, sir." He handed the man a bill.
Soon they were making their way back down to the docks. Chet looked at Callie and her new holster. She seemed to like it.
"Nice look Cal, no more dents in the jaguar." he smiled. Callie turned red.
"I can't believe you guys." she said with a laugh. Iola looked down towards the boat. Out in the water she could see a smaller boat, but it struck her strange that the boat did not have its running lights on and therefore was considerably harder to see. Had it not been for the lights reflecting from the town dock, she doubted it would be visible at all. She cleared her throat as they walked.
"Don't look now guys but if you hadn't noticed there's a strange boat out on the river without it's running lights on and they appear to be just hanging out." Chet gave a slight nod.
"Oh really." he said scanning the river area out of the corner of his eye. After scrutinizing the other boat, he grunted.
"They appear to be watching us through field glasses. They will undoubtedly follow us." Callie gave a shiver.
"Back to work I see." She said as they finally reached their boat. Chet started the motors.
"Don't pay any attention to them. Let's see how far behind they follow." The three sat down and Chet pulled from the dock. He continued back down the river. Sure enough, the mysterious craft started to follow them.
"What should we do, Chet?" Iola asked. Chet pondered this. He finally looked up and smiled slightly.
"Thin the herd." Iola you are pretty good with a rifle. There's a 30-06 with scope under the cargo bay water cover. It has armor piercing shells loaded just in case they have their hull protected, which I doubt."
"Gonna make em go swimming?" Callie guessed. Chet smiled.
"Seems like a nice idea. With those type shells at this range it should rip a fairly nice chunk out of the bow if you hit it right sis." Iola nodded.
"Callie, lay down next to Iola in case they return fire. Just before you fire I will kill our lights so if they try, it will be damn hard. Especially with side arms." Iola nodded and she and Callie crawled to the rear of the boat. Iola slipped the rifle out from under the rain cover and checked it over. She peered through the scope.
"Inferred scope. Thanks Chet for being prepared. I can see them pretty well thanks to that. Hold the boat as still as you can." she called out. Chet nodded and hunched down. A moment later he reduced the throttle down to idle and the boat cut power and forward momentum. This afforded Iola a much more stable shot. Chet then abruptly cut the lights.
"Now Iola." Iola took careful aim on the hull of the other boat which had also cut power as to not come up too close on them. Iola smiled, sure of herself and fired. Crack! Crack! Two shots broke the silence of the night. Suddenly, voices came from the other boat.
"Think we got em, bro." Iola said assuredly. "They don't sound too happy and they seem to be panicking." Chet stepped the throttle back up and the boat swung back down the river. Iola took out their own field glasses from the locker and trained them in on the other boat. She smiled.
"Oh yeah, they are going down. Whoa!" she exclaimed ducking immediately. A moment later they heard a couple shots whistle in the vicinity.
"Spare no speed, bro!" Iola commanded. Chet threw the throttle full out and chanced the lights. The boat rocketed ahead. No further shots were heard and soon they were out of sight of the other boat which was taking in water but fast. Iola returned the rifle to its spot and she and Callie came back up front.
"Great job, Chet!" Callie sighed heavily. "Glad we are away from them." Chet nodded.
"They should have a nice swim back to town. Serves them right for sinking the Sleuth! One can wonder if they got a radio message to their fellow goons before their ship went under."
"I hope not." Iola said. "Otherwise we are likely to see more bad guys coming up river." Chet nodded.
"Be on the lookout." The others nodded. They were soon in the hollow by the look of things. The darkness and dense canopy of trees high above gave them an unsettling feeling. Chet looked down at his radar screen and flipped the tracking device on. Sure enough, a bleeping indicated he was within range of the camp. He flipped on the radio.
"This is C24 calling any affiliated parties. Come in, over." A few minutes later the radio crackled.
"This is FH51. We read you, over."
"Good evening. Is your position drastically different than 40 hours ago? Over."
"We have been all over, but ironically, we are back in the same place. Big developments. Will you be returning soon? Over."
"According to the radar and my memory, perhaps an hour, hour and a half."
"Very good. Will expect to see you. Please bring the items discussed earlier. They may be needed. Over and out." Chet hung up the radio. He looked at the others.
"Major development?" Iola repeated. "I wonder what that's all about..." she mused. Chet shook his head.
"No idea. Though the very fact they are back in the camp that we were at when we left suggests something. Perhaps they had reason to return to that odd little cabin where we found the jewels." Chet stepped up the throttle a bit and maneuvered the boat expertly through the narrowing river channel. He was obviously determined to get to camp as fast as possible. About 40 minutes hard maneuvering brought them to an area where Chet could tie the boat off. They removed their supplies and quickly and methodically covered the boat up so it was not visible. Chet checked his weapon. He pulled out a flashlight.
"Oh, let's have that mini radio and radar unit, sis." Chet requested. Iola brought out the radio and turned on the radar beacon. The bleeping was indicating that the camp was about half an hour or so off which indicated it was likely right where they left it when they departed. Fortunately, they had found a closer spot to dock on the river, so there would be less of a walk involved. Chet used the flashlight sparingly. They had been moving swiftly and then slowed down when the terrain got more rugged and steep. Chet and the group stopped to rest for a moment. Callie took out a water bottle.
"These supplies are heavy." Chet grunted. "I bet the fake jewels weigh more than the real ones." Callie nodded.
"These clothes and such are pretty hefty too." she said passing the water around. Another two minutes and Chet got back up from his hunched position.
"Ok, let's do it." he took out the radio and flashlight, and the group continued on. The beacon signal got considerably more constant and soon they were seeing vaguely familiar signs that they were near their camp. Chet and the girls scanned the area more frequently as they went along. Soon the landscape became quite familiar despite the sheer darkness. Iola pointed ahead.
"Looks like a campfire to me, huh?" Callie nodded.
"No doubt. But let's be careful." Chet nodded as they walked slowly towards it. All looked peaceful from one hundred yards off. Then a voice came from the darkness.
"Chet?" it called. Chet sighed with relief after a moment of apprehension. It was Mr. Hardy's voice.
"Yeah. Just us." he called back out softly. Mr. Hardy emerged from behind some foliage. He came up to the three smiling.
"Good to see you back so soon. I take it that Tiffanys was able to speed up the process of duplication or perhaps had duplicates on hand." Chet gestured and nodded.
"The latter for the most part." he said with a sigh. Mr. Hardy looked over Callie and Iola. He gave a smile.
"Good evening ladies. I see even a brief stay in the big city didn't keep you from a refresher of appearance. Very nice."
"Thank you, sir." the girls chorused. Chet looked around.
"What's the big development, sir? And why do you happen to be right back here? We thought you'd probably be miles from here by now." Mr. Hardy smiled.
"We had a workout I can promise you Chet. But we were able to track some of the gang this evening and we suspect that part of the gang may be held up partly in that cabin over the rise. But we are also playing the theory that there may be an entryway in the cabin to a tunnel perhaps. Frank is camped out very close to it keeping it staked out. We have figured not to do anything until he returns up here in the morning with a report." Chet nodded.
"That could be a break. Anyway, can we go back to camp? We are bushed. If nothing is pressing at the moment?" Mr. Hardy nodded.
"I'm sure. That is a lot of distance you covered in a short time. You all deserve some sleep. Joe and Kelly are staked out about 500 yards to the east. Tony is sleeping just below the rise. So, if you want, the tent is empty. We can exchange stories more in the morning. Go get some rest." Chet and the girls nodded gratefully and headed to the camp. They quietly vanished into the tent. Chet dropped the bag of supplies and the parcel of fake jewels and took his suit off, doing his best to keep it wrinkle free. He lay down on one of the air mattresses. Callie soon had her clothes off and joined him. She kissed him deeply.
"Goodnight sweetie. I love you." She smiled and they laid down. Chet wrapped an arm over Callie's smaller frame which made her feel comfortable and they soon were sleeping. Iola had peered around hopeful that Joe might return. However, tiredness finally caught up to her and she threw her clothes off and fell onto the other air mattress.