Once she had taken a few deep breaths, she eased her head around the doorsill and looked in. On the floor in one corner was a human skeleton, and another was lying on the old bed next to it. She nearly laughed as she considered that she had almost emptied her revolver in a moment of panic. What would the children have thought if she had shot at a bunch of birds or a human carcass?
The fleeting thought passed, but she giggled as it went through her mind and she quickly regained her composure, chastising herself for thinking such frivolous thoughts. “Those kids out there were looking for guidance and leadership, not some silly school girl joke.” She reminded herself that she had to stay focused.
As she looked inside, she saw an old pot-bellied wood stove on the opposite side of the cabin with its chimney still intact. She moved inside with caution, her pistol pointing up and both hands on the cocked weapon. There was a makeshift cupboard against one wall covered with old burlap bags tacked in place. On the floor next to the stove was a pile of sticks, “kindling”, she suspected, for the stove. She lifted the burlap away from the cupboard and there were about fifty cans of food stacked in neat little rows on the shelves.
There was a old, reusable tin with a screw-on lid full of coffee and several cans of evaporated milk. None of the staples looked very old. On the wall, hung by rusty nails, were skillets and a few pots and there was a makeshift sink and counter top made from old wooden boxes. A few books were lying on the floor near the old bed.
Against the wall were three rifles, several boxes of shells, and jeans and shirts on each of the skeletons. Around their waist was a pistol belt and revolver. The skeletons both had watches on their wrists and it was apparent that no one had been by here and found this treasure trove. Up above the bed was a large nest the size of a football, and the wasps inhabiting it were busily coming and going and meandering on the outside. She kept an eye on them as she moved around.
She walked out of the cabin, stood by the doorway, and motioned for the children to come to her. They all approached quietly, not as ordinary kids, but like little robots devoid of happiness, stoic and displaying no emotion.
She stood leaning against the doorway, watching them come toward her and she thought about them more in that moment than at any other time prior to this very second. It seemed she was too busy trying to keep things together to be bothered with talking or interacting with any of them for fear she might forget one little detail that would cause one or all of them to be killed.
Here she was a twenty-six year old woman with a degree in accounting from the University of California at Los Angeles and about to finish her third year as a Federal Special Field Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and she was suddenly out in the mountains bordering the High Desert with twelve children. She found this almost bizarre beyond belief! When they reached her, she raised her palm up for them to stop and they did.
“Is there anyone among you afraid of dead people?” she asked.
Almost all of them raised their hands. She studied them and saw that two boys appeared to be serious and didn’t have their hand ups; they were both a bit older than the rest of the children.
“You, and you,” she pointed to them, “Come here in the cabin with me.”
Almost through the door, she turned and called over her shoulder as an afterthought,
“The rest of you stay there and don’t move; we’ll be back out in a minute. And stay away from the edge of that cliff!”
Once inside, she pointed to the dead bodies, studying the faces of the two boys as she spoke,
“We need to get rid of these bodies, but we need to search them first and find out what’s on them. Then we need to bundle them up in something and get the bones out of here so the others won’t be scared, understand? Watch out for the wasps, don’t piss them off.”
They both nodded in clear understanding.
“What’s your name?” she asked, speaking to the boy closest to the door. “Let’s start with you first.”
“I’m David Driscoll, but my friends call me Davey.”
She looked at the other boy and he said,
“I’m Tom Wyatt.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
They both moved their heads from side to side.
“I’m sorry, boys,” she said sincerely.
“Let’s get this done so we can eat; there’s enough food here to feed everyone.” She felt a deep sadness for these children. They had lost everyone they loved and trusted.
They moved quickly to take everything that was serviceable from the dead and put the bones in an old sack over by the cupboard. The two boys carried the sack outside and Beth guided them around the back of the cabin to place the sack on the ground. She handed one gun belt and pistol to Tom and the other pistol and belt to Davey. She said in a soft voice,
“These are yours from now on. Look around for the bullets when we search the cabin later.”
She went outside and found the children patiently standing there waiting. “Anyone hungry?”
The smiles brightened up their faces like turning on a light switch in a dark room. The children suddenly became children and were excitedly talking and crowding to get in the door. She had to tell them not to crowd and as they went in, each and every one of them looked around and pushed forward. Beth shouted above the noise they were making in order to be heard.
“This is Tom Wyatt and this boy is David Driscol; they are our helpers. This young man is Matthew Dempsey and he’s my personal assistant. We must work together as a group and as a team; does everyone understand? Also, don’t do anything that will make the wasps up there angry, okay? If we leave them alone, maybe they’ll leave us alone, but I don’t trust them.”
Everyone nodded and smiled and one boy said, “Where’s the food?”
She went to the cupboard and pulled the fourteen cans of baked beans off the shelves. She examined them and none appeared rusted or were swollen, so she took the small Swiss knife she had in her pocket and flicked out the can opener tool. She took down one of the pans hanging on a nail and poured the beans into it. Six cans later it was nearly full and she reached for another pot, opened the nine cans of Spam, chopped the meat into small pieces, and added it to the beans. They dug in with their fingers and ate ravenously.
There were also fifteen cans of peaches, so they each got one can and kept the other two for later. They tipped the contents into their mouths and ate slovenly; those peaches tasted mighty fine. Beth looked at Glory just as she finished her peaches, and the little girl let out a huge belch. Everyone laughed about it, including Glory.
They sat with their backs to the rough walls of the cabin and were content. That was the most food any of them had eaten in a week. The three boys, Davey, Tom, and Matt walked out the back of the cabin. Beth surmised they were showing off the bones of the bodies and she was lost in a day dream when the boys came back.
She was suddenly tired and it wasn’t because of her period, she hadn’t had one of those in a couple of months. She knew she wasn’t pregnant, that it was just the lack of nutrition and water and, of course, the added stress had done a number on her. Matthew touched her on the shoulder and made her jump. It scared him because he had seen her in action and he was slightly afraid of her; he knew she was nobody to fool with.
“What is it Matthew?”
“We found something.”
It was difficult getting up, but she managed and wearily walked out of the cabin after the boy. He didn’t say anything as he walked straight away. A few hundred feet behind the cabin was a large cave in the side of the mountain. It’s opening came into view as she approached, but because of the way it was positioned, she was certain it could not be spotted with a telescope or any other viewing aid. She saw that Tom and David were already inside the old mine.
“Look around,” she said as she got closer, “and see if you can find anything to light our way.”
“There’s a lamp in the cabin,” Davey chimed up.
She nodded and he ran to fetch it and soon returned with the lamp. She dug down in her pack and got out a single match from her pack and carefully put the rest of them away. She set the lamp down, took the glass mantle off, and raised the wick.
“Here goes nothing.”
She struck the match and quickly cupped the flame with both hands, brought it to the wick, and watched the lamp come to life. She turned the wick down and put the mantle back on the lamp. The mantle was loose so she had to be careful not to drop it as she walked. The four of them eased into the mine slowly and carefully. She knew these old mines had open areas that fell straight down hundreds of feet and there would be no surviving that kind of fall. Slowly their eyes became accustomed to the dim interior and as they walked, it occurred to her that leaving those children unaccompanied wasn’t a good idea, so she said to Davey,
“Go back and make sure the children are safe. We shouldn’t leave them unattended.”
His facial features were a little difficult to see clearly but she heard the disappointment in his voice,
“Aw gee, do I hafta?”
“Yep. You know it’s best; I don’t want one of them falling off the cliff or wandering off and getting lost; scoot mister.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He was gone and they continued inching into the mine. The mantle was warm enough now not to smoke so she turned the wick up for more light. She thumped up against something hard and bending down, she saw that it was a metal box with an open padlock, and the lid was open as well. There was something else next to the box, another skeleton that was fully dressed. The shirt had a large blood stain on the front and there was a revolver lying on the ground next to one of the boney hands.
She looked down in the box and found fifteen leather bags. One was lying on the ground next to the dead man and the glittering gold dust sparkled in the dim light. She picked the bag up and spilled a little of the gold, so she quickly closed the bag with the draw string. It was heavy maybe five or six pounds, possibly more; it was hard to tell.
Her training led her to conclude that when the bombs went off, the three men decided to terminate their partnership and they ended up killing each other in the process. She wondered how they knew about what had happened from way up here unless one of them had just returned with groceries from down below and brought the news back, as well. No one would ever know the full story, but one thing she did know… there was a fortune in gold here. Regardless of what had happened here, the gold was real enough.
They picked the leather bags out of the box and carried them, two at a time, to the entry of the mine and then returned to retrieve the box. Beth guessed wrong, it wasn’t fifteen bags; it was actually thirty bags of gold stacked one on top of the other. She did a quickie calculation in her head at sixteen ounces to a pound times about five or so pounds to a bag and maybe, depending on the market of gold, about five hundred dollars an ounce and that came to about forty-eight thousand dollars a bag times thirty. There was a whopping one million, two hundred thousand dollars sitting at their feet.
In a real world that might mean something, but with everything in such a chaotic state she wasn’t certain if the gold was of any value at all. She figured they should take three of the bags with them and bury the rest here. If there were ever a need, she could always come back because she didn’t know if or when a bag or two might buy them out of an unpleasant situation.
They searched the other body and stripped everything from it as well… another pistol and belt, a jack knife, matches, a wrist watch, and a great cowboy hat for someone. After they buried the box and noted the position via triangulation and using her compass and pacing off the distances, she carefully noted the places on her map and made herself a few notes; she knew she could find this place again. She decided to call it a night. She still wasn’t through exploring that old mine but they walked back to the cabin for now because everyone was tired. Some of the children were already asleep when they got there. The buzzing of the wasps was all she heard, but soon she sat down with her back to a wall and fell asleep too.
The morning came quickly; it seemed they only went to sleep a little while ago. Beth had the boys and a couple of the girls help prepare their breakfast of green beans, stewed tomatoes, okra, and fruit cocktail, followed by ample water. She decided to go back into the mine and this time, because she was thinking a little clearer, she posted sentries with rifles from where they had come.
She stepped out of the cabin into the blazing sunshine and saw it was already hot. Staring off into the distance at the blue sky, she saw a few white puffy clouds drifting toward the East and a hawk looking for its breakfast. She had to pee, so she went toward the mine and turned right into the trees. That’s when she saw it. A burrow that was still tied to a tree, and it had died right there. The poor thing probably simply starved to death. Now it was little more than a pile of bones with some of the hide still covering its skeleton. She felt sad. This place was a tragic tale told in death and misery over riches, and, for this little burrow, neglect.
It was the same old story she had seen many times at the Bureau; it was always about money or sex or both. She was hardened by the life she led but she was good at what she did. She heard the nasty little comments by some of the other agents when she was in training and vowed to best them all; she finished at the top of her class. She body slammed one guy in particular during a Judo class, hurting him and putting his attitude about her in proper perspective. She smiled as she recalled the incident.
In the morning when everyone was fresh and had a good night’s sleep, they would move on. She found a good place to pull her jeans down and empty her bladder. It felt good and when she was done she got herself presentable and walked away. She wanted to check out the mine a little bit during daylight hours. Back at the cabin, she laid down the rules about wandering off and going over toward the cliff. The boys were placed on guard and she, Matt, and Davey went to the mine.