Seeking Dangerous Treasure

Chapter 16

Hayden remained perfectly still. He'd been such an idiot to be caught off guard like this. Not to mention, why bring Thor if the dog was going to be tied to a tree? Still, Thor's bark was intimidating.

The man who approached continued to point the gun. His hands shook. He wasn't experienced at holding people at gunpoint.

If Hayden could keep the guy talking, then he could possibly unleash Thor to detain him.

"Shut the dog up or I'll shoot."

"Please, don't hurt him. He served in Iraq. I'll give him the command." Hayden told Thor to sit and stop barking. Thor whined and followed the commands, as if he was still a soldier in the US military.

The man hiked closer but kept his distance. Smart man. He glanced at the hole. "You found the map."

"Who are you?" Kelsey stood and crossed her arms. "I mean, I know you attacked me. Ransacked the house and shot at me."

"When the Realtor didn't make headway, I tried to buy the property from you, but you wouldn't listen."

"Oh, so you were the belligerent guy on the phone," Kelsey said.

Oh, not good. If this guy gave them too much information, he wasn't about to let them live to tell the world.

"Please tell me what this is about. You told me to find what was hidden and give it to you. Well, I've been searching. I found a map. We're digging—for what, we don't know. Just tell me what this is about."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry about all that. My uncle and your grandfather worked together at Key Technologies. They worked on a special project and stored something valuable away. Hid it. But time got the best of both of them."

Hayden struggled to believe the man's words. Kelsey's face had turned pale.

"Why now?" Hayden asked. "Why not come forward years ago?"

"Because my uncle told me on his deathbed. He'd been suffering with dementia for years, but he had moments of clarity. Before he died, he told me about the project, only he couldn't remember where it was hidden, or what it was about precisely. Just that it was valuable."

"And you believed him?"

"Yes. I confirmed that he worked with your grandfather. As I said, this was one of those moments where he was doing well, except he'd long forgotten the details and hadn't thought of the project in decades, but he wanted me to look for something of value. He wanted me to know about it before he died. So I tried to find out from Ivy. She didn't know about it, but she mentioned how her husband enjoyed his job as cartographer, and she'd often thought he'd been working on a treasure map as a side project."

"So you started digging."

"She passed away. You wouldn't sell."

"Why didn't you just ask me for help instead of threatening me? You didn't threaten Ivy, did you?"

"I knew that you once you found out there was treasure to be had, then you would keep the treasure for yourself once you found it. As for Ivy, I never threatened her. I gave her that lab. She needed a friendly dog, she'd said. I befriended her."

"No wonder Chickory didn't bark when you came into my house! She knew you. But why didn't my grandmother mention you?"

"She didn't believe what I told her. Then she died, and I tried to buy the place from you. Now you're digging for it and I want it. I deserve it, since my uncle told me about it. You wouldn't even know if it weren't for me."

"Why did you try to kill me at first?"

"What are you talking about? So I searched the house. I threatened you, but only a little."

Hayden had slowly crept closer to Thor and unleashed him. "Fass!" Attack!