The Emerald Quest (8 page)

“That’s it!” Noah said.

Anthony set his flashlight down and searched for footholds. He climbed up the rock wall until his head was even with the hole. “Shine your light up here.”

Noah complied. “What do you see?”

“It’s a box! Just like Juan Carlo described. It’s not very big. I think I can get it.” He grunted and groaned, reached in with one hand and dragged out a small metal box.

“Here, take it.” Anthony lowered the box. “Hurry, my legs and arms are hurting.”

Noah grabbed the box, almost losing his balance in the process. He put the box between himself and the cave wall, pressing against it.

“Okay, hand it to me,” Anthony said when he returned to the ledge.

Noah put a hand underneath the box and eased it over to Anthony.

“Got it.” They made their way back to the cave entrance, where the ledge was wider.

“Is it in there?” Noah asked eagerly.

“There’s a padlock on it.” Anthony pulled at it. “I can’t get it. Let’s take it outside and find a rock, and I’ll try to break the lock off.”

Anthony crawled out of the entrance. Noah pushed the box out, then crept out himself, blinking in the harsh sunlight.

“Quick!” Anthony waved at him. “There’s another patrol boat.”

They ran and hid until the boat passed by.

“Let’s open this before another one comes by,” Anthony said.

“Here’s a good rock.” Noah handed a softball-sized rock to Anthony.

Anthony seized the rock and slammed it against the lock. He hit it again and the lock snapped. Anthony pulled away the broken pieces and gently opened the lid.

Inside were moldy papers, a stack of old money, and a small leather pouch that was weathered and cracked.

Anthony stared at Noah with eyes wide. Anthony picked up the pouch. Leather pieces flaked away as he opened it. Inside they saw two round pieces of glass. They had etchings on them, and one had a tiny shaft of metal sticking from its center.

“We found it,” Noah breathed slowly, relieved.

Anthony nodded in satisfaction. He took out one of the glass pieces, holding it by its edges. Lines ran across its surfaces, and they could see tiny lettering. “Fascinating,” he murmured.

Reality set in as they heard a boat again.

“A boat shouldn’t be patrolling again so soon,” Anthony said. He hurriedly put the glass piece back in the leather pouch. He placed the pouch in a pocket of his swim trunks. “They must be getting suspicious. We’ll leave the box here. I don’t want to carry it back through the water and ruin anything else in it. If Juan Carlo wants it, he can come back for it later.”

“Let’s go,” Noah said. “We have to get back before the kidnappers call again.”

They both knew Noah was right. They were running out of time.

They rushed back to the cache where they had hidden their diving gear.

“Watch for those sharks,” Anthony said as they dressed. He stooped down and splashed water on his chest, washing off the blood.

“This isn’t good,” he scowled. “A shark can smell blood from miles away.”

“At least it’s not bleeding anymore,” Noah said.

Anthony forced a small smile. “Just watch my back.”

They stepped into the water and swam back to the
Explorer
.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE SCUBACRAFT

 “This is amazing!” Juan Carlo said. “Just think. This has been in my family for almost two hundred years.”

Noah and Anthony had swum back to the
Explorer
without incident. Juan Carlo had said that a patrol boat had gone by. He had waved at the boat as he fished, and after watching the
Explorer
for a few minutes, the boat sped away. Anthony and Noah were now showing Juan Carlo the etched-glass pieces.

“Where is the spyglass?” Juan Carlo asked. They had brought the spyglass tubing with them, storing it in the safe. Noah fetched it. He took the spyglass out of the box and handed it to Juan Carlo.

“This must be how it works.” Noah watched in fascination as Juan Carlo carefully twisted the end of spyglass, loosening it. Then he popped the lens out. Juan Carlo switched it with the etched-glass piece with the metal rod in it. He attached the two etched pieces of glass to the rod.

“Ingenious,” Anthony said in awe. He was piloting the boat as he talked, but he had a hard time keeping his eyes on the water ahead of him.

“We can shine light through it at home and project the map onto a wall,” Noah said. “But how will we know how to rotate the glass pieces?”

“We’ll just have to play around with it,” Anthony said. “We’ll be at the harbor soon, so you won’t have to wait long.”

***

Back at the house, they fixed lunch and ate quickly.

“I’ve got a diving light,” Noah said as he chomped on a tuna sandwich. “Let’s turn out the lights in the living room and shut the blinds. We can shine the light through the spyglass and project it onto the wall next to the bookshelves.”

In a few minutes, they were ready. Anthony turned off the lights.

“Here we go.” Juan Carlo held the spyglass up while Anthony shined the powerful diving light through one end of it. An image with lines and curves appeared on the wall, like a pencil drawing.

“Wow,” Noah said. “It works.”

“But it doesn’t make sense,” Juan Carlo said. He twisted one glass piece for a moment. “Does this image mean anything to you two?”

Noah and Anthony shook their heads. Juan Carlo fiddled with the spyglass some more, but it didn’t help.

“Juan Carlo, you said that there’s supposed to be lines on the map that will tell us where to look. ‘X’ marks the spot, remember?” Noah asked.

“Maybe we don’t have it projected on the wall correctly,” Juan Carlo mused.

“Let me try,” Anthony said. He turned the pieces slowly. “Hey, there are notches on the edges of the two glass pieces. I didn’t notice that.” He lined up the notches and studied the wall. “I have no idea what that is.”

“It’s some islands, but it doesn’t look like Key West.” Noah taped pieces of computer paper to the wall. “I’ll trace it.”

He took a pen and drew lines on the paper. As he worked, he knew he was tracing a map of some of the Florida Keys. But since there were so many islands in the Keys, he couldn’t tell which ones he had drawn. He also traced some Spanish writing on the map.

“How could someone write that small on the glass pieces?” Noah asked.

“He must’ve used a magnifying glass to help him,” Anthony suggested.

“Extraordinary,” Juan Carlo said.

Noah finished tracing the map and they put the spyglass back in the box. Noah glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost time for the phone call from his parents’ captors.

“I still don’t see any lines that would mark a specific place on the map,” Anthony said.

 “We must still be missing a piece that attaches to the etched-glass pieces,” Noah sighed.

Juan Carlo nodded. “Alfonso must have kept it with the spyglass.”

“Then it’s still somewhere around the wreck,” Noah said. “But we don’t have time to find it now.”

“Let’s talk to Chief Burton about what to do,” Juan Carlo said.

“What else can we figure out before the police get here?” Anthony fingered the writing on the map. “That’s Spanish, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Juan Carlo nodded. He stood up and went to the wall. “This means –”

The chime of the doorbell interrupted him. Noah raced to the door.

Chief Burton stood on the porch with Detective Shaw.

“Come on in,” Noah said. They followed him into the kitchen.

“Have you heard anything?’ Chief Burton asked. “Anybody following you?”

“Not that I know of,” Noah answered.

Juan Carlo introduced himself to Chief Burton. Chief Burton and Detective Shaw sat down at the table.

“We’re still missing one part of the spyglass,” Noah said.

Chief Burton grimaced. “Okay,” he said after a moment. “Tell them that. It could buy us more time. By the way, we found the Honda. It was abandoned on a street on Stork Island.”

“Did you find any clues as to what happened?” Juan Carlo asked.

Detective Shaw spoke up. “Nothing. No sign of foul play. And no clues either. The car was wiped clean.”

“What about the kidnappers?” Noah asked. “I still have to talk to them.”

“Here’s what we’re doing,” Chief Burton said. “We’ve got taps on the phone line. When the kidnappers call, try and keep them on the line as long as you can.”

“What do I say?” Noah asked.

“Ask for more time. Tell them you haven’t found the spyglass yet. Ask how your parents are. Tell them you want to know if your parents are hurt in any way.”

“Okay,” Noah said.

Just then the phone rang. Noah picked it up and hit the speaker button.

“Hello?”

“We will do the exchange tonight,” a low voice said. Everyone in the room held their breath.

“But I don’t have the entire map,” Noah said.

“You do, and you will bring it to us.”

“I want to know if my parents are okay,” Noah raised his voice.

The caller ignored him. “You and Anthony take the
Explorer
out to the Marquesas Keys at midnight tonight. Anchor a mile off the east coast. Noah, you will swim due east from the boat. Bring the map with you. A boat will pick you up. Once we know that you have brought what we want, we will tell you where to pick up your parents.”

“But I can’t swim and carry the map as well,” Noah said.

“Don’t deviate from the instructions in any way. No police. We will be watching. If you want to see your parents again, do as we say.”

Brrr! The sound of the dial tone filled the kitchen. Noah stared at the phone, his jaw hanging open.

“He’s smart,” Detective Shaw said. “He knew to keep the conversation short. That’s why he didn’t answer any of your questions.”

Chief Burton’s cell phone chirped. “Yeah?” He nodded a couple of times. “I’ll be in shortly.” He hung up and turned to them. “No luck on tracing the call. He didn’t stay on long enough.”

Noah frowned.

“It’s okay, son,” Chief Burton said. “You did the best you could.” He stood up. “Anthony, how long will it take to go out to the Marquesas Keys in the
Explorer
?”

“About half an hour.”

Detective Shaw rubbed his jaw, thinking. “Here’s what we’ll do. I’m sure they’ll be watching, so we can’t have a patrol boat anywhere around. But we can keep in touch with the
Explorer
by radio.” He turned to Chief Burton. “We’ll get a stand-in for Noah, someone to take his place. That person will swim out instead of Noah.”

“I have to go,” Noah said. “Didn’t you hear them? If anything goes wrong, what’ll they do to my parents? I can’t let anything bad happen to them.”

“They could be bluffing,” Detective Shaw said.

“It’s a chance we’ll have to take.” Chief Burton bit his lip. “Shaw, find me a stand-in. Officer Perez is small and thin. We could use him.” He put a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll put a waterproof transmitter in a pair of swim trunks so we can keep track of the stand-in. We’re going to get everything set up and I’ll come by here later today.” He turned to Anthony. “You can pilot the
Explorer
. You and the officer will drive from here, just in case anyone’s watching.”

“Okay,” Anthony said.

“You do exactly like they said. We’ll have the officer deliver the spyglass. Once they have that, they should release your parents.”

“Are you sure?” Noah asked, worry in his voice.

“Yes,” Chief Burton smiled at him hopefully. “They want the map, not your parents.”

Noah forced a smile in return, but he was scared that things would go wrong.

***

“That’s not going to work,” Anthony said after Chief Burton left. “A stand-in isn’t going to fool the kidnappers.”

Noah lip trembled. “I don’t want anything to happen to my parents. I don’t care what Chief Burton said, I have to deliver the map.”

“It is too dangerous for you,” Juan Carlo said.

“No, it’s not,” Noah said. He turned to Anthony. “We can take the
Explorer
out there. Dad has some transmitters that we can put in my swim trunks, so you can track me. I’ll deliver the spyglass and they’ll let Mom and Dad go. Then we’ll call Chief Burton and let them know what happened.”

“I don’t know,” Anthony hesitated.

“Come on!” Noah said. “You know we can do this. You take me out there, I’ll give them the map, and then you can call Chief Burton. It’s the only way!”

“I don’t know.” Anthony rubbed his jaw.  “Juan Carlo’s right. It’s too dangerous. If something happened to you, I could never face your parents.”

“I can do this,” Noah pleaded. “If the police are spotted, who knows what’ll happen. We have to do this ourselves.”

Anthony nodded slowly. “Okay, let’s do it.”

“But –” Juan Carlo said.

“Noah’s right. Trying to use a stand-in won’t fool the kidnappers,” Anthony interrupted him. “This is the only way to get Noah’s parents back safely.”

Juan Carlo muttered in Spanish. “Sí. But if anything happens to you or Noah, I don’t think I can forgive myself.”

“We’ll be fine,” Anthony said.

Noah thought about those words later, when things did go awry.

***

At ten o’clock, Noah and Anthony drove to the marina. Chief Burton had called that afternoon and said that Officer Perez, the stand-in for Noah, would come by at eleven and go with Anthony to the marina. By leaving earlier, Noah and Anthony avoided Chief Burton, who would surely put a stop to their plans.

Phil Harris was not happy about having someone interrupt his night watch. But Chief Burton had obviously cleared things, because Phil gave them little trouble, other than a snide comment about them showing up earlier than he expected.

Anthony and Noah untied the
Explorer
in silence. Anthony turned on the boat’s lights and guided it past other vessels out into the open water. Noah stared at the dark water as they cruised toward the Marquesas Keys.