Lawyers, Guns & Money

They all sat at the entrance to the old mine holding torches Nightlinger had fashioned. It was decided that since the tunnels were big enough for wagons, they would do their cursory search on horseback to speed this up.
Curry looked over at Heyes, “ Well, do ya feel lucky?”
“ I was born lucky.” Heyes smiled and heeled his horse forward.
The hooves echoed eerily as they split up to search their assigned passageways. Clem was fighting off spider webs and Heyes would stop occasionally at a section of wall that interested him and use the pick to test its sound; looking for any hidden enclosure.
Ox and Nightlinger snaked this way and that, their passage had so many offshoots. They carefully marked each one searched and continued on what seemed like an incline. They picked at every crevasse and fissure looking for anything. On they pressed, their arms weary from holding the torches. “ This jus’ ain’t no regular mine.” Nightlinger finally said.
“ What makes you say that?” Ox inquired.
“ Thar ain’t no rails, no marks o’ carts to haul regular stone o’ coal. Nope, this’n jus’ ain’t normal.”
The Kid had found a fissure in the wall that would hold their torches, so they grabbed their saddlebags and canteens and found a fairly dry patch on the ground to eat lunch. They had found no clue at all in the endless tunnel they had taken. Their path had been fairly straight and on an uphill incline.
“ Do you think anyone has found anything?” Vic finally broke the silence.
Curry just shook his head. “ We won’t know anything until everybody gets back to camp tonight, so it’s best not to dwell on it.”
“ I know, you’re right.”
“ What’d you say?”
Vic fell for it, “ I said you’re right.” This time her voice was loud enough to echo the words through out the cavernous tunnel. She picked up a small rock and threw it at him.
Ox and Nightlinger were the last to return for the day. By the way they came plodding in on their horses, the rest knew they had found nothing as well.
“ Well, what were the odds that we would find anything on the first day out? We have to be reasonable about this.” Heyes was trying to put it in perspective for everyone.
“ And we have to be patient.” Curry added.
Clem and Vic looked at each other exhausted, “ I’ll flip you for dinner.” Vic said, suddenly digging in the Kid’s pocket for a coin. “ Call it.”
“ No, since I cooked breakfast, you should cook dinner.”
“ I made all of the sandwiches for lunch and filled the canteens.” Vic protested.
Heyes and Curry just looked at each other; neither one wanting to expend the energy to referee the argument.

Mr. Nightlinger suddenly jumped up and grabbed the dutch oven. “ I ne’er seen such fussin’. We’s only on the firs day! I’ll make ya’ll ma beans n cornbread an ya’ll better be happy ta git it.”
“ Well, I’m not doing the dishes!” Clem announced as she went to go freshen up.
“ I’m going to go look for a better place to sleep tonight!” Vic stormed off.
“ Reckon we ought to go after them?” Heyes wondered.
“ I’m too tired. Let’em go.” The Kid put his head in his hand.
“ I was hoping you’d say that….”

The first day turned into the first week without any luck. The girls continued to snipe at each other and eventually Clem refused to cook at all. The entire party was getting edgy. The tunnels began to look like ceaseless turns and dead-ends; more resembling a maze than a mine. They had become increasingly damp and foul smelling. The tunnel Ox and Nightlinger had been working had gotten so steep, the horses couldn’t get footing on the stony floor. They had been abandoned in favor of rope rails along the side to help them in and out each day.
By the end of the second week, Ox had been sent with two horses a half-day’s ride back to fill the water pouches. Heyes griped that the girls were using too much water washing up and Vic griped that the boys were using too little. They had not seen daylight at all; they were in the mine before daybreak and out after dark. They only had food enough for another week and then the journey to Basilwood, the closest town to their location. Yet, as each team returned for the night, there was always anticipation that this was the time something had been found.
Vic was still playing traveling bedroll; unhappy with any location they tried. They had been so bone-weary each night that neither had woken in the middle of the night to rouse the other for lovemaking. Even though she dutifully spread her dust each night, her sleep was restless; but if she was dream walking, she couldn’t remember any of it. She just knew that she woke up just as tired as when she went to bed.
They all seemed to be wearing out. The web of tunnels was never going to end. Heyes and Clem would fight the entire day while searching. So did Vic and the Kid. Ox and Nightlinger would just work in silence, preferring not to waste any words at all.
Two and a half weeks, only a few more days to go. Heyes tried to keep the group with the original plan of stocking up in Basilwood and continuing until they had mapped the entire mine; but Clem dissented; wanting to return to the ranch to rest and re-think her options. Power struggles were beginning. Ox and Nightlinger just sat and watched; they were getting paid to be there as long as Mr. Jones and Miss Vic told them to.
The Kid didn’t know what to do with Vic. Most times, she seemed on the verge of exploding. Heyes wasn’t having any better luck with Clem, she seemed on the verge of collapse. Even the horses were starting to get restless and more skittish about entering the darkness each day.
That night, Curry woke up suddenly; he listened for any noise or movement that might have caused him to stir. He propped up on one arm and looked around camp; no one and nothing else was moving. Each night, it seemed that the bedrolls had gotten a farther distance from each other. Heyes and Clem weren’t sharing theirs together anymore. Ox and Nightlinger just tried to blend into the edges of the darkness outside the embers of the dying fire.
Vic was on her side, facing away from him, black curls spilling down her back; and her ass was resting next to his groin. Curry bent down to smell her hair and ran his hand over her hips, to her inner thigh, between her legs. He pulled her slowly toward him. He felt her awaken abruptly and clamped his hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream. Settling her ass closer so that she could feel his hardness in the cleft of her cheeks, he whispered in her ear, “Do you want it?” She threw her head back against his chest and nodded. Her hand glided over his hips and down his thigh.
“ I have to keep you quiet, so we don’t wake anyone else.” She nodded. He kissed her ear and her neck where he knew she liked it the most, but kept his hand over her mouth. He slid his other hand down to her ass and began to rub it lightly. Keeping up his attention to her neck, he would lick, nibble and suck on her. Curry could feel her breath getting faster. He tucked his hand into her panties and lowered them as far as he could. He brushed back past her ear,
“Ssshh.”. He freed his cock from his long johns and began to snake it between her legs, seeking her center. The tip of his cock was rewarded with soothing contact with her wet opening. He kept his hand over her mouth and impaled her slowly. He could feel her stifle a cry in her throat and her breath became faster still. Purposefully, he slowly drove in and out; not bothering to make sure he was fully engulfed. It had been so long without her; it had been too long.
“ I’m going to touch you now.” Her hand grabbed his thigh. Back between her legs, he began to rub slowly, and he could feel her breath coming in gasps. She continued to keep her cries trapped inside. He continued to keep his hand over her mouth. He was fighting down his orgasm. He didn’t want to finish this quickly; he wanted to linger in her as long as possible. He prolonged this moment by making sure he didn’t rub too quickly between her legs. He was maddeningly slow; her head began to thrash and he had to increase the pressure on her mouth to keep her still. He had thrown his head back, feeling the cool night air circulate around him. Time granted them pardon and they hung there like that endlessly. Enraptured with each other. The contractions started on his cock slowly and lightly, and she was starting to fight against his hand. That excited him and he responded with a deep thrust; she raked her nails up his thigh and the contractions were coming stronger now, pulsing around him and drawing him in, tempting him to follow. He kept the steady thrust and she continued to milk his seed from him. He could see tiny points of light in front of his eyes and he wasn’t quite sure where he was, except that he was with her. A wave of rapture passed through his body and he bent his head to be near hers. “ I love you.” He whispered.

Everyone noticed the attitude change in Vic the next day. She was bright, chipper, and easy going. Heyes thought she looked like she was glowing. He felt a stab of jealousy. He knew she and the Kid had managed to have each other somehow. He saddled his and Clem’s mounts after breakfast, watching them the whole time. A touch here, a whisper there; they weren’t going insane anymore. Just the rest of us, he thought begrudgingly.
Another day in the earth, swallowed by the mountain, each party set about the search. Another musty lunch; more dust in the eye when the pick was swung. Heyes thought fleetingly about burying the pick in the Kid’s head. It was then he knew they needed a break. Maybe Clem was right, go back to Black Cove and rejuvenate themselves. Re-think their options. Maybe six million would be enough to pay for the warrants would go away. Or, maybe he should take a large stake from that and gamble. Where were those big games again? That much money behind him, he could afford to play until he beat them mercilessly. My God, I’m losing my mind.
He took Clem out of the mine early that day, they needed a break and she seemed grateful. He suggested a walk, but she just wanted to wash up and lie down. He was sitting at the back of the wagon, playing solitaire, when the Kid and Vic rode up and started to unsaddle their horses. He looked over at the Kid and could tell without asking how their luck went that day.
Vic brought out the last of the ham and started dinner; Curry joined Heyes with the cards. Vic could hear the screaming before she could see Ox galloping down the road. He was on about something, where was Nightlinger?
Vic started screaming and running toward Ox, “ Where’s Nightlinger? What happened?”
Heyes and Curry immediately followed her. They saw Nightlinger first, galloping a furlong behind Ox. Ox had stopped where Vic was and was telling her something that made her run to Nightlinger. He paused briefly and then helped her up on the back of his horse. They raced to Heyes and Curry, and they could see that he was wet, dripping wet. “ C’mon!” Vic yelled as they passed the pair and stopped at the wagon. Clem had woken up grouchy with all of the commotion.
“ It was jus getting’ deeper n deeper an then I jus slipped inta the water and my han landed on this!” Nightlinger was explaining breathlessly as he held up a tattered leather pouch. Ox was beaming with pride. “ Mista Jones, look!” he promptly deposited the wet mass in the Kid’s hand.
Curry looked at Vic in astonishment. Heyes was going mad and took the pouch from the Kid and opened it. The look on his face was magical. Clem crowded in to see what the contents were as Heyes spilled them onto the back of the wagon. All eyes were on the circles of gold.
“ Gold!” Clem screamed and scooped up a handful.
Heyes and Curry just looked at each other and then took up the whooping with Ox and Nightlinger. Vic picked one up and held it in her hand, turning it over and over. “ It’s a Spanish doubloon.” She looked at the celebration going on around her and just shook her head in disbelief. “ How did a Spanish doubloon get to Kentucky?” The Kid picked her up and started to swing her around in circles. “ How did it get wet?”
Curry stopped cold and looked up at her. “ What?”
“ How did it get wet?” Curry slowly put her down and yelled, “ Stop!” All eyes turned to him. “ Mr. Nightlinger, how did it get wet?”
“ Wa’ll like I says, it’s in da water.” He explained.
Vic cocked her head to one side and took in this information momentarily. Then she took off, running toward Prancer; and swung up on him bareback, taking off for the mine. The men mounted up quickly to follow. Clem just sat down and started counting the coins.
Vic lit a torch at the mine entrance and started galloping in with the men right behind her. She raced as fast as her thoughts as she followed the passageway assigned to Ox and Nightlinger. They galloped on until Mr. Nightlinger yelled. “ Stop! This is wher we has to leave da horses. It too steep now. Lets me go firs, Miss Vic. Jus hold onta the rope now.” They traversed down the incline, running, sliding, clambering down the rope. It seemed to go on for miles, and the stench was insufferable. The walls of the tunnel were beginning to sprout moss in small patches until it was nearly all covered. “ Okay, sees the ripple? They sum kina drop off n it just turns real deep.”
Vic started to take her clothes off, “ Ox, get me a hundred and fifty feet of rope.”
“ What are you doing?” came Curry’s stern warning.
She looked annoyed, “ Gentlemen, do you know how to make a pearl necklace?”
Heyes looked amused and appreciative the more clothes that came off. “ Well you take big pearls and put them on a little string…”
“ The pearls come from oysters that come from the bottom of the sea. A really dark one. When I was in Japan, I wanted a pearl necklace made out of pearls I had gathered myself, so some of the local ladies taught me how to dive. Now, something’s in that water and if one of you gentlemen is more qualified to jump in and get it, then start stripping.” Vic stood with her hands on her hips, in her underwear.
The Kid looked displeased, Heyes was wide-eyed and Ox and Nightlinger looked like they’d seen it before.
“ Okay then,” she took one end of the rope from Ox and tied it around her waist with a square knot.” If I tug on this, then I’m disoriented and you need to pull me back. Okay?”
Ox nodded as she stepped into the water, when she had waded out to her waist, she disappeared underneath the dark water. They all watched as Ox fed rope out to the water. And they waited. And waited.
Heyes cleared his throat, “ she can hold her breath a long time.”
They could see ripples and a swirling in the water but nothing else. Ox fed out more rope.
And they waited.
“ Are you sure you haven’t felt a tug?” Curry asked, “ Here, let me have that thing.” He snatched the rope from Ox and stood looking at the water.
Vic came bursting through the surface of the water and started to swim toward them. A gold link chain flew through the air and landed at Heyes’ feet. He bent down and picked it up; it must have been three feet long and the links were massive. It was so heavy. “ Oh my God.”
Vic was already back underneath and the Kid kept feeding her line. Clem had finally caught up with them and was gushing over the chain in Heyes’ hand. A goblet was next, gold and encrusted with rubies at the lip and the base. A gold necklace with a sapphire the size of an egg in it. Clem was going wild. A stack of gold charger plates. A cat statue with large diamond eyes. Heyes was carefully retrieving the items and wiping them clean with his bandana. Two bracelets, one of them three inches wide and inlaid with diamonds, the other with rubies. Golden oil lamps.
Vic broke the surface again and seemed to be struggling to make it back to the edge of the water. Curry pulled on the rope until she was in waist deep water; but she just stood there, panting for air with her hands on her hips. “Somebody help me with this.” She stammered out. The Kid immediately waded out to her and together they lifted a small trunk and began to make their way to water’s edge. Heyes pried it open and inside, more gold coins.
Nightlinger picked up the discarded gold chain and ran it through his fingers; it was so cold, so heavy, so foreign to anything he had ever touched. Its worth was unfathomable to him. Slowly he placed it around his neck and a smile crept across his face.
Clem was dressing herself in the jewelry once Heyes had it cleaned off. Both bracelets, the sapphire necklace, and she was coddling the cat with the diamond eyes. Vic lay at the water’s edge, trying to catch her breath just watching the surreal scene unfold. Heyes’ hands digging through the trunk of gold coins, watching them flash as they fell again into the trunk. Her heart was beating wildly, she was shaking; the water had been so cold. Warm, strong hands were on her shoulders, a familiar voice.
“ Vic, are you with me?” The Kid had taken his shirt off and was sitting her up so he could put it around her. She looked at him with deadened recognition. “ You are freezing. Let’s get you back to camp.”
“ No,” she pushed his hands off. “ One more. It’s just scattered on the bottom. No pile. I’m going to go as far as I can go and then you pull me back. I want to see if I feel a pile.”
“ No.” the Kid said firmly. “ Enough for today.”
“ If I don’t do it now, it won’t get done, ‘cause there’s no way I’m gonna go back in again after today.” She stood up and took his shirt off. “ When I pull, you pull, okay?” she called over her shoulder as she waded out one last time and disappeared under the surface.
He felt the rope being pulled through his hands, at first quickly, then more slowly. She had about fifty feet left and he considered pulling her back now; she’d never know, right? For some reason, he couldn’t. “Ox, get ready to help me pull this in, we’re going to do it fast.”
Ox took up a position behind him, grabbing the rope and waiting for the signal to pull. They had reached the end of the rope and Ox waited for Mr. Jones to say something. And waited. He didn’t understand why he was waiting. Then he felt a big tug on the line and Mr. Jones yelled, “Pull!” He pulled hand over hand for all he was worth. Ox had the odd thought that he hoped they weren’t pushing water up Miss Vic’s nose, she wouldn’t like that.
They saw the tip first, a long skinny piece of metal rising up out of the water followed by Vic’s hand. Then she finally exploded out of the water and was quickly dragged to the edge. She was coughing up water and trying to get enough air; she was choking, but she wouldn’t let go of the metal shard that Ox thought looked like a big knife.
Heyes turned at the sound of Victoria choking and gasping. He dropped the coins and scrambled over next to the Kid, who was hitting her on the back. “ Hey!” Heyes put his hand on the back of her head. “ Hey, Vic.”
She fell to the stone floor, still choking. “ I’m not at all sure that’s helping, Kid.” Heyes pushed Ox out of the way.
“ And your bright idea is what, Heyes?” Curry snapped.
Heyes was prying the metal out of her hand, trying to turn her over.” Stop, Kid. Let me try.” He laid her on her back and opening her mouth, began to blow air into her mouth.
“ Oh, hell no, Heyes…” Kid started to pull Heyes back.
“ I’ve seen this done! Give me a chance.” Heyes then remembered they had held the man’s nose closed, so this time he tried it that way. Pushing in a lung full of air every few seconds. He noted how cold her lips were. They were blue. “ Cover her up!” he shouted between breaths. Hold my breath and push it in. Her cold lips on mine.
She suddenly rolled on her side and cough up a lungful of water. She pushed with her arm, trying to get up. She looked up and saw Heyes hovering over her. What in the hell is he doing? “ Jed…” she managed to cough out. Ox had added his shirt to the Kid’s and now Heyes took off his as well and added it to the pile. Curry sat her up and hugged her to his chest, rubbing her arms to get the circulation going.
“ That is the last time I will ever listen to you.” Curry told her sternly. He just let her lay back against him until she didn’t seem to be shaking as much and her chest wasn’t rattling with every breath.
“ I couldn’t find it...” she started.
“ No, Miss Vic, we’s found it.” Nightlinger assured her.
“ The rest of it. Where’s the rest of it?”
The Kid finally stood and picked her up. “ Heyes take care of things here, I’m taking her back to camp.” He worked his way back up the slope and his arms were shaking by the time he finally reached the horses. He helped her up on Prancer and grabbing his reins, put them in her hand. “ Can you hold on or do you want to get on behind me?”
“ I can ride.” She nodded.
He grabbed the bit and looked him in the eye, “ Go slow so she doesn’t fall off.” He then realized he was talking to the horses again and looked around to make sure no one saw him.
By the time Heyes and the others got back to camp with their load, the Kid had the fire stoked and Vic on a bed nearby. He was making a pot of coffee and looked up to acknowledge them.
They dug into the ham and Clem made some beans as they poured over the items pulled from the water. It had to be part of the pirate’s treasure. Vic rested fitfully, mostly conscious, partly stunned. Heyes was trying to calculate the number of coins in the trunk, when Mr. Nightlinger looked up to see Vic standing there staring at them, wrapped in a blanket. “ C’mon child, touch it.”
She held out her hand and gingerly touched the coins in the trunk, picking up handfuls and watching them fall back again. “ There should be piles and piles…”
“ That part of the mine must have flooded. It’s underwater. It has to be.” Heyes reasoned. “ We just have to figure out how to get to it.”
She looked closely at one of the coins from the trunk. “ This is Byzantine gold. Eleventh century. See, you can tell by the picture of Jesus on the front and the Emperor on the back. This is nine hundred years old.” She looked at the Kid and laughed, “ It’s old gold.”
The Kid rummaged in the wagon for a bottle of whiskey and poured her a drink. “ Sit down, darlin’.”
She sat fingering the glass and the coin. She smiled at Ox and Nightlinger, holding up the coin to shake it at them. “ Thar she blows…”
“ Yep, Miss Vic, thar she blows. Yer daddy be right proud…” Nightlinger pushed a plate of food at her and she pushed it back. He tried it again with the same results. He gave her the eye and tried again. She giggled and pushed it back. Then she spotted Clem, wearing the necklaces and bracelets. She looked at Heyes and just stared at him. She’s going to marry you and then destroy you. She shook it off. “ How do we get it, gentlemen?”
“ Well, obviously we have to drain it,” Heyes started.
Curry shook his head, “ We don’t know how big of a flood that would be and what if it washes away with the water. We’ll be hunting for it all over again.”
Vic cocked her head to one side, “ McTavish.”
The Kid was taken aback. “ The lawyer?”
“ Our lawyer, dear.” She started slowly, “ came to me a couple of years ago with an investment opportunity that his field reporters were impressed with. Um, it was in France, I think. It was a diving suit. A man could walk under water and breath air. I reckon he could stay down there as long as he wanted. That’s right, George Garrett was his name.”
Heyes turned that over in his head with a smile on his face.

There was a cloud of dust and death behind him. He had a glimpse of her and she didn’t realize it. Silly bitch. He saw where and he knew when. They weren’t prepared for him; they weren’t prepared for hell. He smiled his wrathful grin and spurred the beast on.


Vic just sat down, looking at the trophies spread out on the wagon tail. She shook her head, “ It’s not enough.”
“ The coins will fetch more sold out to collectors and museums. The eleventh century is the Crusades isn’t it?” Heyes was contriving, turning it over in his mind.
“ Ox, Nightlinger, would you leave us please?” Vic instructed, and then continued when they were out of earshot. “ That’s time to find the collectors. It’s time to send for the dive suit.”
“ Look at the size of this sapphire, the diamonds in the cat’s eyes…” Heyes started.
Vic slammed her hand down on the makeshift table. “ It’s not enough! There’s not six million here; nowhere close.” She turned her eyes, pleading to Heyes. “ If we went to them, gave them the six million I can raise and promised them the other six in a few months, do you think they would go ahead and lift the warrants?”
Heyes didn’t need to think about it long, “ I wouldn’t if I were them. No guarantee we’d give them the rest.”
Clem burst in with surprise, unable to keep quiet any longer. “ You’re going to buy their freedom for twelve million dollars? As in, TWELVE million dollars?”
Vic looked over at her with a blank stare, “ I’m sorry, didn’t I ask you to leave?”
“ No, you did not.” Clem huffed. “ With that kind of money, we could go anywhere in the world and live. Heyes, we could go anywhere...”
“ And always be looking over his shoulder,” Vic interrupted. “ You were not part of this decision.”
“ Well, I’m part of it now and I say…”
“ Enough, ladies,” Curry roared. “ See this bottle of whiskey? We’re all going to drink it, get drunk and pass out. Then tomorrow, when our heads are clear, we’ll sit down and figure out what to do. But, for now, that’s just enough.”
Heyes reached for the bottle and started to pour, “ The Kid is actually making sense. Have a drink.”
Victoria stubbornly pushed it back. The Kid pushed it back toward her.
Victoria stubbornly pushed it back, spilling some of the contents.
The Kid pushed it back toward her again.“ Don’t make me pour it down your throat.”
“ Dictator.”
“ Brat.”