“Guess it’s not all that pristine after all,” Jayden said.
“Much better than when I tried this on Santa Monica Beach, back in the day.”
“I’ve been there. You probably dug up some of my old cans! Hey, maybe we should break for lunch,” Jayden suggested. “I saw a little seafood place down in town that looked pretty decent. Maybe we could—”
“Hold up. Somebody’s coming.” Hunt’s gaze was directed down at the single road which had led them up here. A vehicle of some kind was on its way up.
“Let’s put the gear away.” Hunt moved to the SUV and stashed his detector and shovel inside while Jayden did the same. Then he closed the hatchback and took out a point-and-shoot digital camera and began taking shots of the scenery. Jayden hammed it up, backing up against the view.
“Get a couple of shots for my Mom, would you? I am on vacation, after all.”
Hunt laughed while clicking off a couple shots as the vehicle — they could now see it was a station wagon-SUV hybrid — drove up to them. But as he watched, he saw Jayden’s face transform into a mask of fright.
“What’s wrong? Who are they? Is it Daedalus?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know who it is. But look!” He pointed past Hunt, who turned around and looked. There, lying on the ground, was the bronze head.
“Crap!” Hunt moved to it, but the SUV’s tires were already crunching over loose rock as it drove onto the site. There was no time to pick up the artifact and carry it back to their vehicle without being seen.
“Do something, Carter. They’re here.”
Hunt eyed the bronze head as it sat on the ground, about ten feet from the edge of the crater’s hill. Having a feeling he would regret the action, but not knowing what else to do, Hunt gave the heavy head a hard soccer kick, which sent it rolling toward the edge. It came to rest a couple of feet away.
“Keep going,” Jayden called, “I don’t think whoever it is paying attention yet.”
Hunt walked over to the head with as casual a gait as he could muster in case he was being observed. Then he booted the bronze head one more time, this time sending it rolling down the side of the crater. He did his best to take note of where exactly it had gone over the side, so that they could track it down after they were alone once more. At the same time, he didn’t want to attract suspicion or even interest by appearing overly fixated on one particular spot, so he didn’t linger long. Keeping the camera in front of his face, Hunt turned around and began ambling back over to Jayden.
“It’s a rental,” Jayden said in a low voice.
“Does that mean anything?” Hunt continued to make a show of snapping off touristy pictures.
“Only that it’s probably not a local.”
The vehicle pulled to a stop such that Hunt had his back to it and Jayden was eyes on. “Family of four, two kids in the backseat, I think we’re safe.”
The front doors opened and a tall man with a jovial demeanor got out along with a woman wearing a loud sundress. Both of them were sunburned a rosy pink. The woman told the kids to wait inside, no doubt to make sure these strangers atop the volcanic crater were not bad people.
Hunt put down the camera and he and Jayden walked over and introduced themselves with fake, though American-sounding, names. The couple introduced themselves as the Willinsons, from St. Louis, Missouri, and immediately put Hunt at ease that they were not related to Treasure, Inc. or Maddy’s disappearance. The mother opened the rear doors and soon the kids were running around the site, exploring loudly.
“So this is the highest point of the island, according to my travel guide,” the woman said, taking in the majestic view. Hunt said that’s why he and Jayden had come here, too.
“You can really see the difference between the green and blue lakes from up here,” the husband said. Then he added, “There’s the bridge, honey — see? — dividing the two lakes.”
“Bridge?” Hunt asked, squinting below.
The family man turned to him. “Yeah, there’s a bridge right between the two lakes. We drove across it earlier. Even down there you can see the difference in the water color, green on one side, blue on the other, Pretty striking. Can see clear down to the bottom, lot of big boulders down there, it looks like.”
Hunt and Jayden exchanged glances. “Interesting,” Hunt said, “maybe we’ll check that out.”
“You should,” the wife chimed in. “You’ll get some great pictures. Nice to meet you fellas, I’m going to set up for our little picnic.” She excused herself and went to her rental car. After a little more small talk that centered around the best places to eat what kind of food in town, the husband did the same and then Hunt and Jayden were left standing together, looking down on the legendary lakes.
“Looks like metal detecting is out until these guys leave. Should we check out the bridge?” Jayden asked.
“What for?” Hunt was irritated that their search was cut short, for one thing. And for another, the bronze head now lay somewhere down the mountainside.
“I don’t know, the guy said he could see boulders down there in the water, kind of reminds me of the flooded pyramid chamber we dove.”
Hunt thought about this for a few moments but appeared unmoved. “I think the first thing we should do, as soon as we have the chance,” he said, glancing over to the picnicking family, “is to climb down that hill and get the head back.”
The urge to walk to the edge and look down was difficult for Jayden to suppress, but Hunt convinced him to wait it out while they pretended to take more tourist pictures. The time seemed to pass very slowly, but not half an hour later, the family packed their belongings back into their rental car and said loud goodbyes before driving back down the mountain.
As soon as their vehicle was no longer in sight, Hunt and Jayden walked to the edge of the crater.
Chapter 10
“I don’t see it.” Jayden walked up to the edge of the drop-off and stood next to Hunt.
“Me neither.”
“You sure this is where you kicked it off?” Jayden’s gaze swept the steep hillside below. Scrubby vegetation covered the mountain, with a few small evergreen trees here and there dotting the inclined landscape.
“Yeah, see there’s where my foot came into contact with the dirt. He indicated a scuff mark made by his shoe.
Jayden eyed the spot, then stepped a little closer to the edge and continued looking for signs of the bronze head. “We’re going to have to go down there, then, because I don’t see it.”
Hunt concurred before adding, “See that plant there? Looks like it got recently crushed, so it could be that the head rolled down that way.”
“Might as well start there, “ Jayden agreed. The pair of ex-military men began picking their way down the steep hill. As far as they could tell there were no vertical sections, and they could face downward while they moved, not needing to face the cliff as with rock climbing. Still, it was no walk in the park; hands were needed to steady themselves, and twisting an ankle was a constant threat.
“Watch for snakes,” Hunt said.
“What? Are there snakes here?” Jayden looked around nervously.
“I don’t know. Seems like there could be.”
Jayden made a spitting noise. “Geez, Hunt, I’m supposed to be looking for a bronze head, now you want me to keep an eye out for snakes, too?”
“Well you’ll be of no use if you get bitten by a poisonous snake.”
They continued their slow and cautious descent down the hill. About two-thirds of the way down the terrain became less steep, making the going easier, but at the same time more overgrown with thorny scrub brush, making it harder to see the ground.