PREDATOR ISLAND (Sea Lab Book 2)

CHAPTER 10

After waiting a few minutes in silence, Jake crept into the hallway and knocked on Tony's stateroom door. Seconds passed with no response. His eyes and ears spied the corridor for any sign of Dylan and Savannah. Then he heard muffled voices from inside Tony's room. He was supposed to be alone.

Jake wondered who was in there with him?

His friend's nervous grin appeared in the crack of the doorway. "What can I do you for?"

"What?"

"I mean, what's up? What do you need?"

"I need you and Rachel in my room, now."

"What's he need me for?" a voice said from inside Tony's room.

Tony rubbed his forehead. Frowned. Then grinned sheepishly. "We were just playing cards."

"Yeah," Rachel said, appearing beside Tony with an equally jittery smile. "Cards. I had a full deck."

"You mean a full house." Jake narrowed his gaze, a slight tilt to his chin.

"Right. That's what I meant."

"Anything you two need to tell me?"

"Nope," Tony said. "Just a good ole game of five card draw."

The best Jake could tell, the two appeared to be fully clothed. "You must've had a royal flush."

"How'd you guess?"

"All the blood's rushed to your face." He snorted. "Come on. Follow me."

Once Tony and Rachel shut the door behind them, Jake gave Sarah the nod to spill her story about what she overheard. She seemed tentative, but she managed to spit it out with only a few starts and stops.

"Well?" Sarah said. "What do you think?"

Tony paced around the room, his eyes darting back and forth like he was on a caffeine rush. "Sounds like a treasure hunt to me. It's the only thing it could be. Did they say why Costa Rica pulled the park rangers?"

"No."

"Then there's the map," Jake said. "Savannah is convinced it's the real deal."

"What kind of map?" Rachel's chin dropped. The whites of her eyes grew large. She looked at Tony.

Sarah replied, "They didn't say, but I have my suspicions."

"It's a treasure map," Tony said. "It's the only thing it can be. What about the pirates?"

"I don't know, but I've got a bad feeling about it all."

Jake bit his lip. Pointed a finger at Tony. "It's been a while since we've been on one of your hunts."

"I didn't see you complaining much when we went looking for Atocha's lost treasure."

"That's because the stern castle of the Spanish galleon was never found by Mel Fisher. A billion dollars in gold had my attention."

"It was a lot more than that."

"But we never found it."

"We're not going on a treasure hunt," Sarah said. "That's ridiculous."

"And I'm not going on that island," Rachel added. "I don't know about any of you guys, but I have no desire to rot in a prison in Central America."

Jake sat on the edge of his bed, placed his elbows on his knees, his fingers laced together and sagging while he thought. He shook his head. "The island is a three day boat ride from the mainland. If they're abandoning the place, they probably won't be hanging around. The warning might be just to scare people away. Or, there could be real danger. But I doubt it."

Sarah's hand went to her hip. "You're not thinking about going to the island, are you?"

"Look. Right now, we don't know much of anything. We only have suspicions. We'll just have to go on the dive, act like nothing's up, and wait for them to make their move. This all may come to nothing. But the whole time, we keep our eyes peeled and ears open. If anybody hears or sees anything, bring it back to my room and we'll talk about it. Is everyone clear on that?"

Tony perked up, failing to hide his enthusiasm. "They call it Shark Island because of the hammerheads and other species that frequent the surrounding waters. But speaking of pirates, it has a rich history of stolen Spanish gold."

"They should probably call it, Pirate Island," Jake said.

"Or Gold Island," Sarah replied.