All of the men were relatively young and in extremely good shape, Jayden noticed, as well as being of either middle eastern, Greek or Spanish descent. Each of them carried the same model of spear gun, as well as having a dive knife strapped to a calf. Jayden passed a hand over his own knife to make sure it was still there, but didn’t see how a single knife would be of any help against two foes with spear guns. The element of surprise would be his strongest weapon. That, or simply staying hidden, but with Hunt and Maddy unaware as to this new development, he didn’t see how that could last long.
For now he remained frozen against the ground, holding his breath so as not to disturb the grass around him and give away his presence. The Treasure, Inc. hunters talked in low tones, and Jayden thought he caught a few words of Greek, but couldn’t be sure. He was glad the men were in conversation, though, since it meant they weren’t fully focused on their surroundings, compromising their situational awareness.
The pair of treasure seekers walked past Jayden, not fifteen feet away, continuing on toward the water. Jayden dared to glance left, looking for the other pairs. He spotted one, the two men moving steadily toward the beach where they would find Hunt and Maddy with their noses in an ancient scroll. Craning his neck awkwardly to look back in the other direction, Jayden could not find the other team. He waited silently in his prone, hidden position for another two minutes, racking his brain to come up with the best course of action.
If possible, he decided, it would be best to reach Hunt and Maddy before any of his adversaries, and without being detected. But how to do that? The most direct route would take him past the pair of foes already heading that way, so that was out. To his right was where the other pair had gone, so he opted to move to the hillock and then straight across the islet to the coast, where he could then follow the beach around to Hunt’s position.
He low-crawled through the scrub until he reached an area where there was simply not enough vegetative cover to conceal him. He would have to do a mad dash to the thick cover of the hillock. Rising to a kneeling position, he pushed off the ground and sprinted to the copse of scraggly little trees. He scrambled up to the vertical chute exit, slowing as he neared the apex. What if they left a lookout posted? He heard no signs of human presence, though, and so he broke through the last layer of foliage into the chute area.
Here there was dive gear on the ground, where the Treasure, Inc. hunters had shed some of their equipment — masks, weight belts…no tanks, though, he laughed to himself, since those were not able to carried up that last vertical section. He couldn’t resist peering down into the chute, where he saw a couple of dive tanks at the bottom, but that was it.
Jayden crept to the opposite edge of the hillock and stealthily moved through the foliage there until he could see out across the other side of the islet. The other team was in the distance now, moving fast toward the beach Hunt occupied!
Got to go!
Jayden’s military training allowed him not to let the sense of urgency compromise his need for stealth. He proceeded slowly yet deliberately to glance behind him, checking the position of the other team. He found them, moving toward the beach on that end of the island, where the boat….the boat!
It was moving toward Hunt’s beach now, and would be there soon. A plan coalesced in Jayden’s mind as he slipped through the foliage toward the quarter of the island that was unoccupied. He didn’t have time to entertain the details of it, only that he had some inkling of what he would do when he got there. He ran faster and louder than he knew he should, but figured he had that luxury given that the Treasure, Inc. goons had gone in completely different directions than him. His feet pounded across the low-lying island and soon he could see the shore, the blue, sun-dappled ocean beyond. He swiveled his head left and right as he ran, but saw no one, so he kept on running, kept on striking his feet against the earth until it turned soft with the sand spraying up around his wetsuit boots.
He dropped to his knees and breathed deeply, taking in great lungful’s of air until he wasn’t about to pass out. The he rose and, after looking left and seeing no one, he ran to the right. Running on the sand was hard, but quiet as well as being below the line of sight for most of the island. He flashed back on his naval training, of being made to jog through the sand until some of his fellow cadets were vomiting, and smiled at the memories. You can do it, he told himself, this isn’t even as bad as that…
Then he was rounding the island’s curvature as the beach continued around toward the side Hunt and Maddy occupied. Would he reach them before Daedalus’ thugs? The thought tortured his oxygen-starved mind as he sprinted down the sandy strip. He leapt over a heap of driftwood and sidestepped a pile of dried seaweed before continuing on his frenetic way.
Up ahead he recognized a palm tree that leaned way out over the beach he saw earlier. Hunt and Maddy were only a few yards inland from that point on the beach. But as he came closer to the tree, his heart sank as two dark-dressed figures came into view on the opposite side of the tree. The pair of armed scouts walked at a normal pace, not hurrying but not leisurely, either. And their heads were on a swivel, Jayden could see. It was a matter of minutes until they sighted Hunt and Maddy.
Jayden acted decisively, ducking off of the beach into a stand of high nettle grass that offered minimal concealment, but which was better than nothing. He elbow-crawled through that until he was far enough away from the beach that he could stand without being seen. Then he ran toward Hunt and Maddy’s position.
He found them in the same spot in which he’d last seen them, still hunched over the ancient scroll, in deep discussion about its finer particulars. Jayden scuffed a foot on the ground to alert them to his presence, which he thought would be not as loud a way to do it compared to using his voice, which might carry on the wind to the beach.
Jayden was pleased to see Hunt reach for his knife before looking up to see the source of the noise. When he did see Jayden, he started to relax but Jayden knelt beside him and whispered, ”Keep your knife ready. Two tangos coming up the beach right over there. Four more in two pairs on different parts of the island.” He pointed in two different directions to indicate the last known positions of the other two sub-teams.
Maddy looked like a deer caught on the road in headlights. Jayden pointed to the scroll. “Put it away, hurry! If they see it, they’ll take it.”
She rolled it back up while muttering something about improper handling procedures, and then stuffed it back into the hexagonal door chamber. Jayden spotted one of his coconuts on the ground and picked it up, testing its weight in his hand.
And then they heard the crunch of foliage under booted feet as Daedalus’ deadly explorers walked up from the beach. Jayden didn’t know if they had somehow given their presence away or if it was simply bad luck, but either way, there was no time to think about it. One of the men went rigid as he made eye contact with the three people a few yards away. His associate was quicker to act, raising his snub-nosed spear gun and pointing it right at Hunt.
Jayden hurled the coconut at the man wielding the spear gun. He raised the shaft of the spear to deflect the organic projectile, but missed. The green nut smashed into his Adam’s apple, causing him to stagger back. Meanwhile, the other gunman drew his weapon while Hunt raced for the staggering man.