The Treasure Hunters (12 page)

“I’ll ask this only once more and
then I drop you. What does the map say? Or shall you find out just how far this
pit descends into hell?”

His words sparked a memory in her
terrified brain. “T-That’s it. Trust your fears. Descend into night. I swear
that’s what it said!”

He studied her for a long, drawn
out moment. Then he pulled her back from the edge and threw her behind him. Her
legs were shaking so badly she doubted she could stand anyway. Ramzee lay on
his stomach and shuffled along in the loose gravel and dirt, holding the
lantern low, until he stilled.

“I’ve found it,” he announced.

Ice poured through her veins. He
rose from his belly and walked back over to them. He cut through the rope
binding her wrists with his machete, and thrust her over to the man she’d
mentally dubbed as Spider Thug, due to his bushy facial hair and overall
disgusting odor.

“She’s your complete responsibility
now. Understand?”

While the Spider Thug smiled evilly
and nodded at her, Merridie felt her anger returning. It pushed the fear away. Ramzee
might be the stuff of nightmares, but his hired crew, she could handle.

She watched as the men prepared to
go over the side. Ramzee went first, followed by the Spider Thug, who turned to
help Merridie. It seemed like he made sure his hands touched every part of her
body to steady her, and she wanted to vomit. But she wouldn’t give him the
satisfaction because he knew what he was doing.

As the rest of Ramzee’s men fell in
behind them, Merridie took a discreet look behind her, making sure no one was
paying too much attention to her. Just as Spider Thug took the next step down,
she shot out her foot and tripped him. With a frightened cry, he lost his
balance and fell from the stairs, into the black pit. She watched him fall,
until his torch snuffed out in the blackness. All that remained of him was his
cry, the echo bouncing all around until it faded off. A small smile played on
her lips until she caught Ramzee looking at her angrily.

“Be careful,” she said, making sure
to keep her eyes wide and innocent. “He tripped.”

Ramzee pursed his lips but all he
did was to turn back to the stairs. Merridie wondered how she could possibly
make him trip, but before she could flesh out any coherent plan, Ramzee held up
his hand to halt everyone.

They stood in front of a cave.

“Finally,” he
said,
excitement in the tone of his voice. As Merridie stepped into the chamber, her
eyes were drawn to the smashed crate. “
Dardon
was
here! God damn it, he took the treasure!”

“No we didn’t,” Sin said as they
stepped into view from behind a stone table.

“Wait,” Merridie said. “Is that a
skeleton?”

“There is no treasure, Ramzee,” he
continued, ignoring Merridie’s question. “His treasure was his family.”

 
“Liar!”
Ramzee roared
and charged Sin, his fists already flying. Merridie winced. This was not how
she pictured finding a long-lost treasure, and she only hoped that Sin came out
the victor. Otherwise, they would be joining that skeleton.

Chapter Twelve

“Where is it? What did you do with
it?” Ramzee demanded. He had a hold of Sin’s shirt.
“Vouleigh’s
treasure.
I know you did something with it. All that’s here are some
awful paintings and bones.”

“That is the treasure,” Sin told
him. He elbowed Ramzee’s arm right at the elbow and he let go of him.

As the two men faced off, Merridie
leaned over to whisper in Ruby’s ear.

“So where’s the treasure?”

Ruby looked at her. “Just like Sin
said. His treasure was family.”

They stared at each other, and a
lot of emotions crossed through Merridie’s eyes, the strongest being anger. But
they all boiled down to acceptance.

“Damn,” she muttered.

Ramzee pulled back his fist and
punched Sin across the jaw. Ruby made a knee jerk reaction to rush toward him,
but one of the hired guns yanked her back. Merridie grabbed the man, but
another man grabbed her, and then a chain reaction started. Merridie turned and
punched the man in the nose and blood poured as he fell back and hit his head. Ruby
spun and did the same to her captor. Ramzee turned his head to see the commotion
and Sin grabbed him, pulling him directly into the stone wall. Ramzee’s forehead
connected, knocking him out cold. There were three men left, and they clearly
didn’t know what to do without their leader. Merridie kneed one between his
legs, Sin punched another, and the other one scrambled back to the opening,
disappearing quickly up the staircase.

Merridie flexed her knuckles as she
turned toward Ruby. “So where’s the treasure?”

Ruby blinked. “I already told you,
there wasn’t any. His family was his greatest treasure.”

Merridie’s eyes narrowed. “I
thought that was for that asshole’s benefit.”

“No, it wasn’t. It’s the truth.”

“Figures,” she snorted. “Damn it!
All of this, for nothing.
Well then, how the hell do we get
out of here?”

“Back the way we came.”

“I found a passage, a side door.”

“Then we’ll use that.”

****

Ruby threw her hand over the edge
of the cliff and tried to find something to grasp onto in order to propel
herself over the edge.

“Push me up a little more!” she
said.

Sin grunted but before he could
reposition her, a hand grabbed her arm. She gave a startled scream before she
looked up and saw Asia’s smiling face. He pulled her up with ease.

“Ruby!”

“I’m okay, Sin. It’s Asia.”

Merridie was next and then Sin,
although Asia grunted a little as he pulled the heavier man up.

“Where’s Eden?” Ruby asked, looking
around.

“She’s safe,” Asia assured her. “I
left her on the beach. I saw Ramzee and followed him to a secret door in this
mountain.”

“He’s down there, out cold, so we
need to get out of this place,” Sin told him.

Sin urged them on, but a second
later, the sound of a gun clicking reverberated through the cavern. They all
turned to see Ramzee holding a pistol on them. Fear spiked through Ruby when
she saw that the gun was trained on Sin.

“Not again,” Ramzee muttered as his
men joined them. “You will not trick me again out of my merchandise!”

“First of all, there is no
treasure,” Sin said. “Second of all, you’re the one who put the
Paradise
up for collateral in a game of
chance.”

“You cheated.”

“And you’re a sore loser.”

“You took something from me,”
Ramzee said coldly. “Now I’ll take something from you.”

He turned his gun until it pointed
it at Ruby. She gasped and froze, not sure what to do. Every instinct urged her
to turn and run but the look in Ramzee’s eye told her he expected her to do
just that, and he had no problem shooting her in the back.

“Ramzee!”
Sin yelled. Ruby jumped and she looked at him. He let fly the machete that had
been attached to Asia’s belt and it flew end over end, to imbed itself into
Ramzee’s chest.

His finger jerked on the trigger
and the gun fired. The bullet lodged into the wall next to her and Ruby
screamed as she fell away. When Ramzee’s men appeared they took one look at
their dead leader and went for their pistols as well, but Asia, Merridie and
Sin hurried over. Merridie did what she did best and brought the man to her
knees with a swift kick between his legs. Fists flew and one by one, the men
fell in broken heaps.

“Ruby,” Sin said and hurried over
to help her stand. He wrapped his arms around her and she hugged him back tightly.
“Are you all right?”

“I want to get out of here,” she
said, and even she heard the shaky tone in her voice.

“All right.”
He looked over at Asia. “Can you lead us out of here?”

“What about them?” Merridie asked,
waving her hand in the direction of the unconscious men.

“Leave them a lantern. If they
don’t find their way out, then let that be God’s judgment for doing business
with a pirate.”

Asia led them back through the
tunnel, over the small chasm that Ruby and Sin had jumped over, to a side port
hidden in the wall face. They all squeezed through the passageway door and ran out
into the jungle. For a moment, Ruby just stood there and absorbed the warmth of
the rays on her skin, loving the brightness and life flourishing all around
her. She shivered, despite the heat. It was hard to let go of the fear that
that utter blackness could’ve been her tomb, and that they’d left men behind,
to be ghostly roommates to Jean-Pierce
Vouleigh
.

Asia led them
though
the jungle and a few minutes later they arrived on the beach. Ruby looked
around but couldn’t see Eden.

“This is just wonderful,” Merridie
said as she walked up to the shore. “Anyone have any ideas? I really don’t want
to swim for it.”

“Not particularly,” Sin replied
wearily.

“So, Ruby,” she said, crossing her
arms. “What’s on your agenda for us now? Back home to England?”

Ruby smiled and shook her head.
“Doesn’t matter where we go, England or America.
We could
even go on another treasure hunt.”

Merridie gave her a droll look.
“With what?
Our boat sank!”

Ruby laughed.
“Ever
the optimist,
Merri
.
I’m sure glad this
adventure hasn’t changed a hair on your head.” She looked at Sin and Asia,
including them. “All that matters is that we have each other. That’s all we’ve
ever needed. It’s our greatest treasure.”

“Oh my lord!”
Asia muttered.

He gazed was fixed toward sea so
Ruby followed it. Her mouth dropped open. There was another
boat,
one that looked just like the
Paradise
,
only this one had Eden standing at the helm, managing the wheel, waving
frantically at them.

“You know, after stealing a boat,
there’s going to be no living with her,” Merridie said.

“Yes, maybe we should talk to her
about her kleptomania problem.”

“You think?” Merridie said
sarcastically.

Ruby suddenly hugged her, catching
her off guard. “Are we treasure hunters now?”
Merridie’s dour face suddenly broke into a huge smile. She glanced at Sin and
Asia and laughed. “You know,” she said. “Traipsing over the Atlantic might not
be enough.
Wherever you want to go, Ruby!”

Sin grabbed Ruby’s hand to pull her
into his body to plant a big kiss on her lips. She melted against him and
wrapped her arms around his neck. When he pulled back, he smiled down at her,
his blue eyes soft and full of emotions.

“Only if you marry me,” he said.

Her heart skipped a beat. “Are you
asking?”

“I actually want to order you to
never leave me, but I suppose I must do the gentlemanly thing.” He dropped down
to one knee. “Ruby, I know we just met, and this might seem daft, but I feel as
if you filled some type of void in my life. It’s hard to explain…”

“The other half
of your soul?”

His head cocked. “Yes. It feels
like that exactly.”

“Yes,” she said, “it does for me
too.” Joy bubbled inside her and she couldn’t contain it. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

****

Eden couldn’t tell exactly what Ruby
was shouting, but she could hazard a guess when Sin got down on one knee. And
by the sounds of happiness from Ruby, it was good news. Hmm, perhaps she had
the best engagement present. In any case, she couldn’t wait to show them her
surprise. She looked down at her feet and eyed the four chests filled with gold
coins, jewelry, and antiques. Contentment filled her as she continued to wave.

Chapter Thirteen

Ruby stared out the windows of her
new shipping office that looked over New York Harbor. It had been three months
since she’d last been here, but a lifetime had happened in those months. And
today, her world would change even more.

There was a rap on the door and she
turned from the windows, straightened her skirt, and bid the person to enter. Alford
Densey
stepped inside. Although his clothes were
impeccable and his hair neatly combed, an air of desperation hovered around
him. He took one look at her and his jaw dropped in surprise.

“Ah…Miss Talcott,” he greeted.

“Hello, Mr.
Densey
.
Actually, it’s Mrs.
Dardon
now. I just got married.”

She held up her left hand, where a
shiny diamond ring glinted.

“Congratulations.” He looked
confused. “But I thought I was here for a job interview.”
“You are and you aren’t.”

“I don’t understand.”

Ruby indicated the office room. “This
is my new importing and exporting company, Paradise Shipping––and yes, I do own
it. No shareholders. And as much as I might have been angry over your easy
defection, I do know when it comes to shrewd business negotiations, there is no
one better. My father entrusted his company to you.”

“Your father was a brilliant man.”

She smiled. “Yes, he was. So, Mr.
Densey
, I may be entrusting the day to day operations of
this company to you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be monitoring you and
dropping by unexpectedly from time to time.”

“I––I have the job?”

He stared at her with a mixture of
fear and hope. She nodded. He couldn’t hide the overwhelming relief on his face
at her confirmation. Talcott shipping had shut down in
mid
November
, so that meant Mr.
Densey
had been out
of work for two months. Compassion melted some of her anger.

“Thank you, Miss, ah, Mrs.
Dardon
. I can’t begin to tell you how much this means to
me.” He stopped and gulped in a deep breath of air. He appeared to fight against
crying, and her anger melted a bit more.