A Man of Fortune

4: The Grave of Henry Avery

 We had left the warmth of Italy a few hours ago in Sully's plane, and now Nate, Sam and I were stood on the coastline cliffs of Scotland, the cold wind whipping against our faces. Up ahead in the distance was the cathedral where there were cranes and the loud sound of heavy machinery vibrating through the air. "Rafe's really going all in isn't he," Sam said. Just seeing the cathedral was enough to make me shudder, remembering what life was like back then.

"Looks like they're just at the cathedral though, so we'll have that graveyard all to ourselves," I said, peering through my binoculars in the direction of our goal.

"Hey Sully, we're good to go here," Nate spoke through a walkie-talkie.

"Okay kid, happy hunting," Sully's crackled voice spoke through it. I looked down to the water where I saw Sully's tin can of a plane bobbing, him standing in the door.

"We'll see you in a few," Nate said before strapping the walkie-talkie to his belt.

"Let's go pay our respects to captain Avery, huh?" Sam suggested, jumping right into action.

"I don't understand, if the treasure was there then surely Rafe would've stumbled upon it, by accident or on purpose?" I asked as we walked through the gorgeous countryside of Scotland.

"Well he's been checking the wrong area all this time," Nate said, pulling out the scroll of the grave we found in St Dismas' cross from his journal.

"Okay, fine, but the last time we were here was thirteen years ago. He could've expanded the search since then," I counter acted.

"True, but he wouldn't of been trying so hard to get the cross unless he was stuck," Sam said.

"And that's another thing, this cross... if Avery made more than one, each of them containing this scroll then he effectively made multiple invitations to come and find his treasure! He might as well have just painted a big X on a map," I said. "Look, all I'm saying is that I don't think the treasure is in Scotland. I think there's something more to it."

"Well the only way to find out is to go in," Sam said. He was right, the only way we were going to find out more was by figuring out why Avery would hide a scroll of his grave in a wooden cross. "It's a strange place to bury treasure though... a Scottish cathedral?"

"By the time Avery would've sailed here this place would've been deserted," Nate said.

"And with a massive bounty on his head it's not a bad place to hide," I added.

"C'mon, down here," Nate pointed to a very unstable looking steep path. He stepped on it and slipped, the gravel underneath him giving way causing him to slide down to the bottom. "Ow, ow, gravel in my ass," he groaned, standing up and dusting himself clean.

"Down we go," Sam said, following his brothers lead and I slid down a moment later. We took turns to repel down a cliff, however when we were at the bottom we saw something we did not want to see. "What's all this?"

"Excavation equipment... look, Shoreline," I pointed to one of the barrels plastered with Nadine Ross' army-for-hire logo.

"Looks like Rafe's expanding his search," Nate muttered.

"Whoa get down!" Sam shouted and I ducked behind a crate instinctively. Up ahead a few Shoreline mercenaries had already spotted us and began shooting. There were only three though so it didn't take us long to exterminate them, but I was slightly worried that the shooting may have attracted further unwanted attention.

"Nice to meet you too Shoreline," Nate scoffed. "Seems like they were expecting us."

"And like they're searching away from the cathedral," Sam said.