Treasure for All

11. Articles

As soon as the sun had completely set, the HALA sailed away from the port and out to the sea. Once Mingi made sure it was a few miles from the shore he switched the gear into flight mode. The wings expanded from the sides of the ship with it's usual clambering noise, and the center of gravity shifted as the ship picked itself up out of the waves into the cool night air. The oxygen shield was switched on, and Mingi set the course to Italy to autopilot.

Yunho finished cleaning up the kitchen with thoughts of Dalia swimming around his mind. San fixed a warm bath for his wife to help ease her back pain, and Grace-Anne and Seonghwa discussed wedding plans over a glass of red wine before bed. Wooyoung and Dinah played a few rounds of poker with Yeosang and Phoebe at the dining table. Mingi and Taeran turned in for the night, and the captain and his fiancée also crashed into dreamland after continuing their smooch session when he returned from the meeting.

Jongho busied himself with a workout session before bed. The weaponry storage room was connected to the small workout room beneath the captain's quarters, so it was easy access for him to care for the weapons and build his strength whenever he was finished with his daily chores. He lifted a few weights and did some push-ups and crunches, but what really distressed him was the punching bag in a corner of the room. The bag had clearly seen better days since Jongho had began using it to release any anger he was feeling. Using it helped him to control his anger and not use his hands against other people. However, he sometimes couldn't help it if he came across someone who thought it would be a smart idea to mess with him or anyone else on the crew. The punching would be replaced with the perpetrator's body or face.

Beating the bag senseless typically cleared his head, but this time something was poking him in the back of his mind. He tried to ignore it, but the thought was interrupting his focus that he had to stop throwing punches and take a break. He unwrapped the tape from his hands, grabbed his water bottle, and sat down next the bag.

Earlier, he was returning to fixing a faulty weapon when he overhead Yunho and Dalia's exchange. He didn't really think much of at first when he believed Dr. Steinbeck had sent over with something. That was until she had said that she could get fired for giving them whatever she brought. She was in a hurry to return to her boss, and Jongho was now starting to understand why Taeran didn't trust people.

Questions filled his head. What did Dalia have that she claimed Hongjoong needed to see? Why did she come at this time of night? And why would she be fired for doing so? Was the archaeologist not as nice as they thought?

Jongho didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he was starting to feel that something wasn't right.

He rose up, and decided to trust his instincts. Once he turned the lights off in the workout room, he dashed back to his room, and logged onto his laptop at his desk. He immediately began his own investigation on the acclaimed archaeologist Dr. Steinbeck.

Once he typed the professor's name into the search bar, a plethora of news articles popped up. Most of them were about his exotic discoveries in various countries, some talked about things in his personal life such as his wife's passing, but one article in particular caught his eye.

New Information on the Missing Eight Released

Jongho clicked on it and almost didn't believe what he was reading. The article explained the disappearances of eight other scientists who had worked with Dr. Steinbeck on his discoveries. They were all gifted archaeologists, but around the time of the discoveries of different artifacts they somehow mysteriously disappeared one by one.

However, each of the missing eight turned up dead months later. The first scientist to disappear was Dr. Jacob Reinhart had gone missing just before a lost statue was dug up in Peru, and his remains were found in a ditch about two miles from the dig sight. Yasmine Gonzalez and Dr. Terry Lowry disappeared when a lost stone was unveiled in Kenya; they're bodies were discovered in duffle bags in a dumpster. Dr. Yvonne Reynolds and Prof. Francisco Bianchi's corpses had been excavated from a sewer system in Scotland after the discovery of a king's lost crown had made headlines. Dr. Ogata Junichi, Prof. Devoreaux Woods, and Dr. Stefania Burzinska went missing in Japan during a dig for a jade sculpture that had been buried beneath a temple; their bodies were found bound in Ceram wrap, trash bags, and masking tape and hanging by their feet in and abandoned temple. Despite all of the obvious injuries found on the deceased, their autopsies revealed they all had the same cause of death: a gunshot wound to the back of the head at point blank range from a 9 mm revolver bullet.

An investigation had gone out to find the weapon, but all of the leads had turned up dead. No one had reported of any gunshots or suspicious activity surrounding the time of the murders, which was suspicious. A video of Dr. Steinbeck popped, and when Jongho had clicked on it, he found it was an interview about to case of the missing eight.

"It's really a pity what happened to them," he had said. "They were all talented in their line of work. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to discover such hidden wonders of our world."

Jongho noticed the professor's behavior throughout the entire video. His voice didn't quite match with the sorrowful words he said. It sounded too rehearsed, and there was almost no emotion in his voice despite his face pulling the many sad faces he could conjure up. Dr. Steinbeck was also shifting in his seat a lot, a nervous behavior one would have if they were hiding something.

As soon as the video finished, Jongho quickly printed out the articles and dashed to the captain's bedchambers. He knocked rapidly before Hongjoong answered the door in his pajamas and bathrobe.

"May I help you?" he asked groggily.

"I don't know what Dalia sent you," Jongho said quickly, "but I had a gut instinct and did some more research on Dr. Steinbeck. You don't have to call a meeting now, but just look over this and see if this helps any."

Hongjoong took the articles from the younger boy and eyed them over for a few seconds. He nodded his head and said, "We're having a meeting first thing after breakfast."