PREDATOR ISLAND (Sea Lab Book 2)

CHAPTER 17

As Dylan reached into his backpack for the map, Sarah kept staring at the jungle surrounding the park ranger station. Sunlight filtered through the tops of a few pond-apple and purple coral trees, their leaves dispersing the glow at various angles to the floor of the rainforest. Deeper in the wilderness, the tree line on the outer perimeter of the camp thickened into a dense grove of tangled branches and intertwined ferns at ground level. The further she looked into the jungle, the darker it became.

Dylan zipped up his pack and unrolled what looked like a piece of parchment paper. "This map dates back to the early eighteen-twenties. Maybe you haven't heard the story, but a woman named Mary Welsh had a map—not this one—but another one that she got from a British naval captain turned pirate, named Bennett Graham. She was a member of the crew. She was captured and imprisoned. Years later, authorities tried to use her to find a loot of buried Spanish bullion. Over three hundred and fifty tons of gold. Worth over a hundred and sixty million dollars today."

Tony whistled. "We could split that six ways pretty easy."

"The good news is they never found it. The map she used had landmarks that had long since grown over and changed since her time on the island. Not long ago, park rangers stumbled upon a large stash of gold and silver, among other things. But this island has been rumored to be the burial place for a number of treasures over the centuries, from pirates galore. If this map is the real deal, then we believe Bennett Graham's treasure is still here. Somewhere. We just have to find it."

"How would you describe the couple you bought the old map from," Sarah asked.

"Sketchy at best," Savannah replied.

"And you trusted them?"

"We weren't focused them. Our eyes were on this." Dylan held the map out for all to see.

"But who were they?" Sarah persisted. "What kind of people were they?"

"They were husband and wife. Rough around the edges, like they spent more time in seedy hotels on the move. Their hair was greasy. I suspect they hadn't showered in a while. By my estimation, they were hard up and in desperate need of cash."

"That's why they parted with the map so easily," Savannah said.

"How much?" Jake asked.

"Why does it matter?" Dylan replied.

Tony drew close and leaned over the map. "It means a lot. Look at that thing; the edges are crinkled up. The surface is aged, almost yellowish, dirty brown. It looks like the real deal. So it matters how much you sold it for."

"Five grand," Dylan said.

Jake turned to him. "Seriously?"

"What?"

"Don't you get it?"

"No, I don't."

"You gave them the money they needed to charter a boat, stock up on supplies, and come back for a second shot at the prize. Only this time, they'll let us do all the heavy lifting."

"Don't be so negative," Dylan said. He cocked his head to the side. "You strike me as a glass-half-empty kind of guy."

"My intuition has served me well," Jake replied. "It's kept me alive."

"It can slow him down," Sarah said.

Jake scrunched his brow. "Really?"

"It's the truth, but it's a good trait because your plans are usually well thought out."

Rachel broke her silence. "Wait a minute. Our plan was to find out why the Costa Ricans evacuated the island. I think we know why. There's a land predator of some kind here. It killed...no wait...it slaughtered the park rangers. It ate them like they were hors d'oeuvres. What do you think it'll do to us?"

"By the looks of it they were picked off one at a time," Tony said, "running for their lives."

"Do you see any predators around?" Dylan asked.

"No, but that doesn't mean there's not something out there."

"Whatever it was, maybe they killed it?" Savannah said. "Maybe they haven't had a chance to re-establish a base camp here. It was a pretty horrific event."

"And they just left their buddies here to rot," Tony said. "I don't buy it."

Sarah added, "Tony's right. They'd at least come back and clean up this mess."

"There could be another reason why they haven't come back," Jake said. With everyone's attention, he continued. "People can be superstitious. There are all sorts of jungle legends in South America. There has to be a good explanation for all of this, even the map. By the way, how did the married couple find it?"

"They were diving off Cocos and discovered it on the ocean floor, rolled up in an old wine bottle, sealed water tight with a cork." Dylan pointed at the bottom right-hand corner of the paper. "It's signed by Captain Bennett Graham himself."

"That's why we were diving near the empty chest we found. And so happened to find that piece of gold. You planned it all along."

"I'd chalk it up to a lucky find. We didn't plant anything for you to stumble across."

Rachel said, "It's a good thing the pirates found it in that chest. If the bottle was water tight, it would've floated to the surface."

Dylan smiled knowingly.

Sarah studied the looping curves of the cursive writing. "Where do we start?"

"Glad you're onboard."

"I'm not concerned with your treasure. There's another ranger station on the other side of the island. I figured we could go along for the time being, eventually check out the other camp, try to find out if there are any more bodies."

"Whatever works."

As everyone crowded around, Sarah could see that the map contained a crude drawing of the island, highlighted with various points of reference. The references were identified by symbols that appeared to be landmarks. Off to the left side of the paper was a list of numbered keys. Clues.

Savannah weaseled her way in next to Dylan. "The first key sounds like a riddle, but it's really a marker that will lead us to one of the locations on the island." Her voice cracked as she read aloud. "Three claws fall upon glass cloaking the truth."

Dylan tapped a drawing of a waterfall on the map that resembled claws. "My guess is this is referring to a waterfall. Now, as you can see, all the landmarks are positioned around the shoreline, around the perimeter of the island and not depicted in their proper location." He nodded to the crude outline on the piece of parchment-like paper. It showed an empty jungle interior with sketches of waterfalls, mountains, rivers, and caves.

"But there are waterfalls all over the island," Jake said. "We passed one at the beach."

Dylan rolled up the old piece of paper, returned it to his pack and pulled out the modern map of the rugged terrain. As he unfolded the store bought version, Sarah let her eyes skim the perimeter of the camp to the east. That's when she saw a break in the undergrowth.

"We could go that way," Sarah said. "Looks like a trail. I could barely see it to begin with...with all the untamed wilderness creeping in around us."

Dylan winked. "I noticed it earlier. I was waiting for the right time to point it out. If you look here on the map," he let his finger touch a curling blue line, "there's a river due east, running south. That trail seems to head in the direction we need to go."

"Lead the way then," Jake said.

"I never thought you'd ask."