“Fine.” Hunter stood up and jerked his chin to the left. “It’s this way.”
Tom ran his tongue over his teeth, his nose wrinkling. “Wait a second.” He opened the journal to the page with the island map sketched with several locations marked. “Nothing is in that direction. You need to take us here.” He pointed the nose of his gun at the bat cave on the map. “If I am right, it is…” He picked up the journal, held it to the ground, turned, and faced the way to the garden. “There. It’s that way.”
My heart spasmed. Tom wasn’t as stupid as we’d thought, and at the game of scheming he was one move ahead of us.
Tension ridged Hunter’s body, and he swallowed thickly. “Yes, but we should go this way first. It’s easier. Where you want to go is harder to get to.”
“No. I want to see this one first.” Tom stuffed the gun into his shorts. “Lead the way.”
ChapterThirty-One
Hunter and I walked first, and everyone filed after us. Instead of picking a quicker, straight shot to the bat cave from the kitchen, Hunter led everyone past the garden and the shed, where we turned into the thick screen of the jungle and meandered our way half a mile until the path inclined and soft dirt turned into rock. Thirty-five minutes later, we approached the majestic tree and stopped at the cave. Jack struggled to catch his breath. He pulled out an inhaler from his side pocket and puffed on it. Garry was the least fit among us but showed little exhaustion.
Tom surveyed the area, his eyes stopping at the giant tree. A low whistle passed between his lips. “Look at this huge bastard. A bird shits a seed, and this massive hulk grows here.”
“It’s inside the cave.” Hunter gestured at the dark opening. “You need a flashlight.”
“Did you bring one?” Garry said, wiping sweat off his round face. Hunter shrugged as in sorry, not my problem.
Tom strolled to the cave entrance and stopped where sunlight drew the line next to the darkness and the derby of the freshly broken wall was barely visible. He peered inside, then edged deeper. The dimness swallowed his body, and he vanished from my view. His whoop echoed out, and a second later, a scratching sound of bats followed it. A gunshot went off. Four of us staggered back as a dark, squealing cloud jetted out of the cave. Jack yanked his gun and sent several rounds at the hundreds of bats flying out in a frenzy.
Hunter pulled me down and enveloped me with his body. I clamped my hands over my ears. The noise ricocheted between faceless stone walls—my only hope was that the bullets wouldn’t do the same.
The noise stopped. Several lifeless, black creatures dotted the ground.
“Who the fuck was shooting?” Tom came out of the cave. Garry inclined his head at Jack. “You could have hit me, you idiot.”
“You shot first,” Jack yelled.
Tom inhaled through his nose, his face turning into disgust. Stuffing the handgun into his shorts, he walked to the opening that led to the drop-off. “What’s that way?”
“A dead end,” Hunter said, helping me to my feet.
“Okay. The cave has tons of shit inside. It’ll take some time to bring it all to the boat. Each of you, grab what you can carry.” Tom gestured at Hunter and me. “You two go first and start dragging things out.”
“Why should we help you?” I said, crossing my arms. “You’re robbing us at gunpoint.”
“I’m not robbing you. He,” Tom pointed at Hunter, “owes me money. I’m taking what is mine.”
“The agreement was that we show you where the treasure is, and you give us a ride to Rarotonga,” Hunter said. “You can come and get it on your own later.”
Tom sucked on his teeth as if trying to get a piece of stuck meat out. “I changed my mind.” He gave the coldest stare at Hunter. A lurch of foreboding in my gut was as painful as a snake bite. “You help us get it all to the beach. We take it to the boat. And once everything is out of here, we take you to Rarotonga.”
“That’s days’ worth of work.” Hunter threw his arm in the direction of the cave. “Those are heavy, and you need more men to carry them. She isn’t strong, and my hand is injured.”
“Do you have a plane to catch?” Tom said. “You’ve spent weeks here. What is another day? Now, move your arses.”
I shuffled inside the cave first, stumbling on the rocks, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. I wrapped my arms around one of the rolled-up tapestries and tugged on it. It probably weighed as much as me, if not more.
With a groan, Hunter and Tom picked up a trunk and immediately dropped it. Then they tried again. By the time they hauled it out and set it by the tree, they were both out of breath. This was going to be a very long and miserable day. So far, nothing had gone according to our plans, and all I could do was wait for Hunter’s signal that we were ready to take them to the trap. Again.
“This will never work,” Hunter said, pressing his hands on his knees. “The chest is too heavy.”
“We unload more of this shit into that.” Tom nodded at the tapestry next to me. “She can pull it.”
“That would damage it,” I said, not hiding my anger.
“Do I look like I care?” Tom glared at me. “Unroll it.”
