Unearthly Power (20 page)

The rain from the previous day left the ground wet and the air thick with humidity. Alex decided to let Sean start the conversation. If he tried to get any specific information from him, when he was not ready to provide it, it would be like pulling teeth. It was more frustrating than just being patient and waiting for it to happen. When it was clear Sean was comfortable with their route, he started the conversation without actually talking. He reached into his pocket and took out the remaining gold coins and held them out to Alex.

“Where did you get those?” Alex asked wide eyed.

“Where we buried the professor.”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a bunch of coins and some other objects buried at the bottom. I saw them when you went for the rope.”

Alex stared at the coins while they spoke. “You mean there were more?”

“Yep.”

“Why in the hell didn’t you tell me? We could have brought them all out with us!”

“First off,” Sean said as he turned his head to take a brief look at him, “we didn’t know if we were in fact going to make it
out.
Second, the tide was turning and we didn’t have much time.” Before the sounds of protest could fully escape Alex’s mouth he continued, “Third, we probably wouldn’t have been able to carry the weight. What would it have been like if we got the treasure only to have it lost again? Or, what would anyone we might have run into have done if they saw it?”

“We still could have brought some more with us,” Alex said in a voice
showing partial resignation, still not convinced his partner had made the right decision. “And why did you wait until now to tell me?” he asked sharply.

“Because we didn’t need to have this discussion at the time; we had other things to deal with.” Knowing his friend was upset, he offered the one piece of information he had decided would appease his disgruntlement. “We will go back for the rest when all of this is over.”

Alex turned to look at him.

Sean did the same. “Okay?”

Alex smiled, but then, just as quickly as it came, it disappeared. “How are we going to find an underwater island in the middle of the Atlantic?”

Sean turned back to face traffic. “It shouldn’t be hard. I know the position our boat was in when we had to leave it.
I know the location the Carters’ boat was in when we were on board. The tides were moving east by northeast. I think we can narrow down the general area within a few days of searching. We’ll just run a circular search pattern between the hours of noon and 3pm for as many days as it takes,” he said confidently. “The tides will have to uncover the island eventually.”

“You think it’s going to be that easy?” Alex asked with a heavy note of doubt in his voice.

“Certainly.” Sean said as he turned and smiled at him.

Knowing it was better to let the subject drop for the time being, Alex changed the direction of the conversation. “Where do you think these came from?”

“Don’t know. I couldn’t make out any of the inscriptions, but I’d guess some pirate or privateer found the place handy to keep his cache secure. What better than a disappearing hideout?”

“Yeah.” Alex said, accepting the likelihood of such a scenario. He turned the coins over in his hand examining each of them in turn.

Sean reached out his hand. “Give me half and you keep half. Don’t use them unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Alex handed him a few of the coins.

“I’m guessing they are worth around eight to ten grand each. One should be enough to get us everything we need for now. I’ll have to find a coin dealer who looks as if his business can deal with us. We’ll probably only get a fraction of what it’s worth from them, but we need some cash now.”

Alex agreed, being somewhat mollified by the act of having a few of the valuable coins in his possession. Sean didn’t tell him he had already given one to the Carters. He didn’t think he would protest, especially after everything they had done for them, but he knew his friend well enough not to give him too much to think about at one time.

After driving up and down practically every street in the center of town, they finally saw a sign for a coin dealer. They parked the truck, locked it, and went inside.

It was your typical coin shop full of see-through glass cases holding a wide variety of coins of different denominations from different eras. Other collectibles hung along the wall on the opposite side of the store. A middle-aged man sat behind the counter and welcomed them into the store.

“Can I help you boys?”

“I’m not sure,” Sean said as he approached the man and placed one of the gold coins on the countertop. “What do you think I could get for this?”

The man took up the coin without expression and examined it closely. He nodded his head sharply, which caused his bifocals to drop from their previous position on top of his head. After turning the coin over several times he said, “Never seen one before. I’d have to do a simple test to see what quality of gold it is,” he said as he looked over the rim of his glasses at Sean.

“Sure, go ahead,” Sean said, playing along.

He looked over at
Alex and rolled his eyes indicating he was willing to play the game with the man. Alex grinned and busied himself looking at the various displays.

When
the man was finished with his examination, he didn’t feel the need to provide Sean with the details on what the carat purity level of the gold was. For the one coin, Sean wasn’t going to worry about it.

“It’s gold,” he said as if it was somehow a surprise.

“I know,” Sean said. “Is it something you’d be interested in buying?”

“I dunno. Depends on what you want for it. I don’t really know anything about its origin, so the best I could probably do is give you ninety percent of weight value.”

Sean looked at him wondering if he treated everyone like an ignorant fool who walked into his shop. “Can I see it?” he asked.

The man was still looking at it and said, “Oh, sure.”

Sean took the coin and started to walk out of the store.

“Hey wait a minute! I thought you wanted to sell that thing,” the man said desperately.

Sean stopped and turned around. “Mister, I’m not stupid. I know this coin is worth more than ten times its weight value. If you still think you might be interested, we may be able to deal. If you want to talk nonsense, I’d best look somewhere else.”

Realizing he was dealing with someone with a little knowledge of its value, the store owner changed his attitude. “I think we might be able to do some business. Let me see it again and I can take a look on my computer and see what I can find.”

Sean handed it over to the smiling man before he disappeared behind a corner. As the minutes rolled by, Sean was getting impatient. He wasn’t much of a negotiator or shopper. His time in stores was limited to finding what he needed and then purchasing it. It wasn’t a pastime for him.

When the man finally returned he said, “I could only find some sporadic information on the coin. How did you come by it? Maybe if I knew that I could be more precise.”

Good try
, Sean thought. “I’m only here to see if you are interested in buying it, nothing else.”

Seeing he wasn’t going to get any additional information the man offered, “Two-thousand. Probably more than I should, but you look like a nice fella.”

Sean looked him in the eye and held out his hand indicating he wanted the coin back. The man was unwilling to hand it over. “Eight-thousand,” Sean countered.

“Eight-thousand?
”

“Yep, eight-thousand.” Sean affirmed.

Beads of sweat started to form on the man’s forehead and a serious look came over his face. It was obvious to Sean that the man before him, whose soft body indicated he saw little to no activity outside of his shop, relished this sort of game.

“Three-thousand.”

“Sorry, I don’t think I could take less than seven.”

After licking his lips the man said, “Four. But that’s as high as I go.”

Sean looked at him, realizing he would get a little more, but unwilling to give this man too much of a bargain said, “Five. I’m not interested in any other offer. You either give me five, or give me back the coin. That’s it.”

The man looked between the coin and the person standing on the other side of the counter. When he had done it enough times to satisfy some unasked and unanswered question in his mind, he nodded his head and walked back around the corner. After several minutes had passed, he
returned with money in his hand. He counted out five-thousand dollars in a variety of denominations after he had Sean sign the transaction papers which included a photo-copy of the coin itself.

“You drive a hard bargain,” the man said.

Yeah, and you will make at least double what you paid for it.
Sean thought to himself as he returned the man’s smile, accepting the compliment as he was supposed to.

Before they reached the door the shop keeper called out, “If you come across anymore of these,” he said as he held it up, “stop back in and I’ll see what I can do.”

Sean nodded his head and waved to him. He turned to Alex and said, “Like that will ever happen!”

With money in hand, they next found a shopping center. They purchased several sets of clothing and undergarments. They each bought a pair of low-cut casual work boots and a pair of leather tennis shoes. They piled their purchases in as few bags as possible and continued on. Toiletries, snacks, and a road atlas all found their way into their shopping cart. Before they left the last store, Sean
purchased a disposable cell phone.

They returned everything to the truck at around lunch time. There was a bar and grill nearby
, so they walked in. It was a comfortable and clean place, yet one that showed the signs of being in business for quite some time. Instead of what might be considered a ‘bar’ crowd, it was filled with businessmen and women who were apparently on their lunch breaks. Sean and Alex slipped into an open booth and opened the menus. They both chose the daily special and were pleasantly surprised when their overly-friendly waitress put the plates on the table. “Here ya’ll are. Will you gentlemen be needin’ anythin’ else?” she asked in her heavy southern drawl.

“No, ma’am. These look great,” Alex replied.

“If you do, just holler,” she said exposing a mouth full of teeth before she walked away to attend to other patrons.

The burgers were some of the best they ever had. Nothing was left on their plates by the time she returned to give them their ticket. They
put their money on the table, finished their drinks, and left to complete their business.

Instead of considering a local dealership, they decided to go to the airport for the rental car. Sean reasoned it would be easier to return it to the same company at another airport. They didn’t know if they would be back, exactly where they were going yet, or how long they would be there.

When the young man behind the counter asked them if they would like insurance, Sean said, “Oh absolutely. You just never know.”

He looked up at Sean and smiled. He seemed uncomfortable at the response, but looked down once again as he continued to enter the information into the computer. “How long will the rental be for?” he asked without looking up again.

“Make it two weeks.”

When he was done with his typing he asked, “What card would you like to use?”

“No card, cash.”

As if this news was
somehow disturbing, the man said, “We usually like to have a credit card to secure the rental.”

“But we can still get it without a card, correct?” Sean asked.

Not happy with the hassle of a cash transaction, the man walked over to a drawer and took out a self-duplicating form. “If you fill out this credit check, I will enter it into the system. When it clears,” he said assuming it would, “we can proceed with a cash transaction.”

Sean wasn’t sure how good his credit was. He knew Zybinski was less than happy when they last saw each other, but he didn’t know if that meant he had done anything about it yet that would affect him now. Sean filled out the form and handed it back to the young man.

They waited long enough to be made uncomfortable, but it turned out that his credit was sufficient to rent the vehicle. Once he had the keys, he handed them to Alex. They walked out to the mid-sized sedan and Alex drove him back to the truck. They followed one another back to the Carters’ residence.             

             
T
hey sat together for an elaborate dinner that evening. Rosie had surprised them with her culinary skills. They thought it was a result of their initial hunger when they first met, but she was indeed a first rate cook. After Alex commented on the fact, her husband provided the answer.