The Keepers of the Rose Page 15
Three of them sat in the small red speedboat briskly traveling away from one of the many rundown docks that dotted the waterfront of Western Shore. Anna stood at the controls letting the wind cycle through her long hair. It was her first time at the helm of a boat in many years. Since she and Rock parted ways, her time in this environment was considerably diminished and she realized she missed the freedom of the open water. Behind her, Sayla whooped in excitement and Peter relaxed in the afternoon sun. The man she met at the Black Pearl that first night she came face to face with Malcolm Cooper was delighted when she called him, though it wasn’t for the exact reason he had in mind.
She looked at the dim clock on the dash covering the glare with one hand. It read just after 2pm. They were right on schedule. “We’re almost there,” she called back to her two passengers. Peter held a thumb’s up sign in response.
On the right side of the craft, Oak Island’s Toudrey’s cove meandered by. They were close enough to see the aftermath of the explosion at the dam almost a full month ago. The beach was littered with broken materials and badly fractured equipment. Most of the items looked to still be in the area but not in the neat ordered stacks as they were intended. It looked like a dump.
She turned the boat towards land as they moved beyond Toudrey’s cove and slowed their speed to look for the exact place Rock specified on her map the night before. She cut the motor when they were no more than thirty yards from the edge of the island.
“There,” Anna said pointing to a tree cocked at a 45 degree angle jutting out over the water. “That’s it.” Anna smiled to her passengers. “Peter, your up.”
Peter immediately started putting on his gear. He zipped up a dark navy blue wet suit with black fins and tossed on a pair of bright yellow goggles. Sayla helped him with his tank and in just a few minutes he was sitting on the edge of the boat, ready to flip in.
Anna sat across from him, “thanks for helping us out,” she said.
“Anything for a beautiful lady,” he smiled and Anna felt herself blush. “Just make sure that the other boat gets here, I don’t want to be walking the full length of that damn island in diving gear.”
“They’ll be here in about twenty minutes.”
“How about a pint later on this evening,” he asked.
“Perhaps, but that’s for a later discussion. You better get down there so we can go.”
Peter popped in his regulator and flipped overboard. Anna gave him a minute to clear the boat and then started the engine and churned into the bay. She and Sayla zipped straight North for almost twenty minutes and then they coasted to a stop to wait it out.
“What exactly is the plan here,” Sayla asked.
The question surprised Anna. “You mean nobody told you?”
“Well, Nate told me that Rock thinks he found the treasure and that we were going to help get it today, but that was all. Then, this afternoon you said come on we better get to the boat. And now, we just dropped off that nice guy in the water, alone, and left him.”
“I can’t believe Nate didn’t tell you everything last night. Rock told him.”
“Start from the beginning, please,” Sayla said.
“Rock thinks he found the treasure of Oak Island.”
“I know that part.”
“Well, he told me last night that he found three chests in an underwater cave just off the spot near Toudrey’s cove, where we dropped Peter. But, he’s being tailed by Delega everywhere so we developed a ruse to get them off his back.”
“You’re serious? And you all thought not to include me in this small detail.”
“I thought Nate would have told you.”
“He didn’t, I think he was too busy trying to get something else.”
Anna shrugged. “Well, a man with that on his mind doesn’t think of much else.”
Sayla laughed. “So what are we doing way out here?”
“We are waiting. Right about now, Rock and Brett will be toppling overboard in the exact place we dropped off Peter. Rock will once again enter the underwater cavern and this time retrieve what he thinks is the treasure of Oak Island. However, when its time to go, Brett and Peter will return to the boat with nothing in hand. Then they’ll leave the area and Delega’s boat will follow them. At this point we will return and safely pick up Rock and take him back to land.”
“You guys are like international spies. But won’t Delega’s people notice its Peter on the boat and not Rock?”
“Not if they are using the exact same style gear, same colors, same brands. And if Peter never turns his face to Delega’s boat and then goes below deck, like we’re paying him to do, they will never know.”
“I like it. Did he tell you what it was?”
“He doesn’t know. But we’ll know soon enough.” Anna checked the time. “And it’s about that time we start heading back.”
Anna fired up the boat and they sped back towards Oak Island. When they pulled in, nobody was around. Anna shut off the motor and they silently waited. Behind her, Sayla scanned the waters for any sign of Rock.
Without warning, something flew up into the boat and landed with a resounding thud. Anna reached down and picked up the heavy object. It was a flat plastic case. She opened it up and a plastic bag was sealed within and something large and flat was inside of that. She set it down as Rock started trying to climb in. Sayla began helping him load another case into the craft. He looked exactly like Peter when he toppled over just fifty minutes earlier, right down to the bright yellow goggles. The look was uncanny.
“Shit,” Sayla said lunging towards the water. Her legs kicked up into the air and for a moment and Anna thought she would fall overboard, but she toppled back in with a disgusted look on her face.
“What happened,” Anna asked.
“I dropped my cell. Crap. I had everything in there.”
Rock was almost in the boat but stopped, “want me to try and find it?”
“Thanks, but that’s not going to help, it was on so the circuits are fried anyhow. I’ll just have to get another one when we get back.”
When they finally pulled him on board, Rock slumped against one of the chairs and took off his mask. He winked at Anna, “We got it. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
Anna started up the boat and they headed for shore. She pulled into the docks a few minutes later and they quickly unloaded the gear. Anna returned the rental keys and paid for the quick outing. She raced back to the parking lot and found them sitting in a beat up blue Ford pick up truck. Sayla was bouncing in the middle and Rock was behind the wheel, revving the engine. She climbed in.
“So where are we going,” she asked shutting the door. “And where’d you get this clunker?”
“I am taking no chances at this point. What we have is somehow very dangerous,” he said pulling out of the parking lot and onto the highway. “I bought this truck for a few hundred dollars unknown to anyone and I rented a small summer house for the week. Paid cash up front so it’s not really on record yet. That’s where we are going.”
“You think our cars are tracked?”
“Your house was monitored, and those cars all have GPS. You really don’t think they could find you if they wanted to.” She realized his point and didn’t argue.
They drove out of Western Shore and followed the coast. They finally turned off lighthouse route when they were nearing Blandford, a town on the opposite side of the bay from Western Shore. It was located on the Aspotogan peninsula between Mahone Bay and St. Margaret’s Bay. It was a quaint little town, rugged but beautiful.
Another few minutes and Rock pulled into the dirt drive of a small run down house. It looked to have been abandoned from the outside. “Here we are,” he said cheerfully.
The house used to be blue. The old coat of paint was wearing thin and chunks of it were peeled off and lost, exposing a white layer underneath. Weeds grew from beneath the foundation
to snake along the outer the walls and the cement walkway was broken and uneven.
“You’re right, I don’t think anybody is going to find us here,” Sayla said.
“We’re not going to stay,” Rock asserted. “This is just where we are going to keep the items while we study them for a short time. The trick is going to be acting natural back in town until we decide what exactly is the next step.”
The front door creaked open as they entered. Rock switched on the light and to Anna’s surprise, the place looked almost clean and orderly. To her right, dusty old couches sat against the wall facing a coffee table, fireplace and even a television set from the 80’s complete with manual dials on the outside.
“How much did you get this place for,” Sayla asked.
“It wasn’t much,” Rock replied. “But it didn’t have to be. This is all I wanted.” He walked by them into kitchen and laid down the two dark blue plastic cases on the table. “Now let’s take a look,” he said in a voice that cracked with excitement.
Chapter 14
Nova Scotia, July 2012