A Hoarder of Treasures by N L Cameron

Author:N L Cameron [Cameron, N L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The following night, as soon as the sun set, they set out from Bettina’s house and made their way back to the mine.

Although it was the third weekend in December, it was warm enough here in southern California that they needed only light jackets. Jessamine wore an uncharacteristically fashionable hoodie and Helena had wrapped a cardigan around her waist in case she needed it, though she didn’t think she was going to.

They had discussed bringing weapons but Bettina argued that carrying a knife or a gun was likely to escalate conflicts with any thieves they might encounter. “If we get held up,” she said, “we’ll cooperate and, hopefully, they won’t murder us. I don’t think Bentworth wants to kill us.”

It was small comfort and it left the little group feeling vaguely unsettled as they got into her car and began the twenty-minute drive to the mines, each carrying a backpack loaded with trail mix, water, a first aid kit, and other necessities.

“Not that I think we’ll be needing any of it,” said Gertrude. “I just wanted to be prepared for all contingencies. If we somehow get stuck down there and it takes them three days to find us… well, I’d like to have enough to eat and drink in the meantime.”

“I’m not worried,” said Helena. “We’ve all been on this trip at least once now, some of us more than once. The first trip is the hardest.”

Jessamine was less hopeful. “Last time we were dealing with Kellan, who wouldn’t shoot a bear to save his own life. I’m not sure Bentworth’s new hire will be so accommodating.”

“I’m sure they’ve been given strict orders not to kill us,” said Gertrude. “They’re like bounty hunters, and he’s like Darth Vader intoning, ‘No disintegrations.’”

“I’d feel better about it if you had proof for any of this,” said Bettina. “I mean, besides what you’ve seen in eighties’ movies.”

Again, they parked the car about five hundred yards from the entrance to the mine behind a row of shrubs. The sun was a sliver of reddish-gold on the horizon and a cool wind was blowing in from the sea. Bettina opened the trunk and was unloading the backpacks when Jessamine froze suddenly with an air of hesitation. She looked, Helena thought, like a ferret listening for the footsteps of a predator.

“I don’t know what it is,” she said. “I just had a vision… of a paraffin lamp and an old man being thrown over the walls of a castle. I have a terrible feeling. I think I ought to stay here and watch over the car.”

Bettina turned a helpless look at the others. “Did any of that make sense to anyone else?”

Helena felt they were wasting their time arguing. “If it would make you feel better, you can wait here. It doesn’t require four of us to retrieve whatever is waiting in the shaft.”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving Jessamine out here, alone and unarmed,” said Bettina. “If we start splitting up, that’s how they get us.

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