Lost Cipher (13 page)

CHAPTER 26

Maggie caught up just as they emerged from the forest at the edge of a gravel road. From there, Creech's house was well-hidden from sight and even the spot on the road felt like the middle of nowhere. An orange-and-white ambulance sat on the far shoulder. Behind it was a green pickup with the Camp Kawani logo on the door.

Lucas and George started to follow their friend's stretcher, but Maggie stopped them.

“Sorry, guys,” she said softly. “You're going to have to say good-bye to Alex here.”

“Can't we go to the hospital with him?” pleaded George.

“Especially not you, George. Your father wants you back at the camp.” She looked at her watch. “He got off a plane in Baltimore about an hour ago. He said he'd be down here by this evening.”

“
My
dad? Right,” George grunted. “He's in California for the week.”

Maggie put her hand on his shoulder. “George, he was worried to death. As soon as he found out you were lost, he probably called us a dozen times. He caught a red-eye flight last night. We told him to get a little sleep before he drove down from Maryland, but he insisted on seeing you safe—with his own eyes.”

George didn't reply, but his expression said he still didn't believe her.

“What about me?” Lucas asked. “I could ride in the ambulance with him.”

“Not according to your grandmother, Lucas,” Maggie replied. “We've been in touch with her too, and she wants you back with the other campers, ASAP. Besides, how would we get you back to camp if I let you go to the hospital?”

By now, the paramedics were gently setting Alex onto a bigger stretcher, one with wheels that they could load into the ambulance.

“What about Alex?” George asked. “Will he get to come back to the camp?”

“Not with his injuries,” explained Maggie. “He'll probably spend today in the hospital, maybe tonight depending on his ankle. His father is driving down to see him after work, maybe sooner once we tell him Alex got hurt. Whenever he gets released from the hospital, he's going straight home.”

Home.
The word reminded Lucas how soon his Camp Kawani week would be over.

He left George with Maggie and walked up to the side of Alex's stretcher. The paramedics were packing their equipment, leaving the two boys alone.

“You coming to the hospital?” Alex asked.

“Maggie says we can't. She's already got my grandma all fired up about me gettin' back.”

“I guess I'll check you back at the camp, then,” Alex said hopefully.

Lucas hated to tell him. “Your father's coming down by tonight. He's taking you home from there.”

Alex only shook his head. His ankle was still trussed up in the inflatable splint, and he could barely open the fingers on his swollen, snake-bitten hand. It wasn't like he could protest.

“Well, then I guess I'll see you around, Luke Whiplash.”

“Yeah, take it easy…Mexican,” Lucas replied, but both boys barely cracked a smile. Lucas knew the chances of ever seeing Alex again were pretty slim, and he knew Alex figured the same.

The paramedics were hanging back, waiting for them to finish. Finally one of them interrupted.

“All right, guys, we've got to get back to town. Never know when we might have another customer.” As they wheeled Alex's stretcher up to the back of the ambulance, George came up to his side too.

“Check you later, Alex,” he said, and Lucas saw that the younger boy was trying not to choke up.

Alex smiled. “Go bust another Thunder Butt on 'em, George.”

“Count on it,” replied George.

The paramedics hefted Alex into the back of the ambulance and shut the doors. When Lucas turned back, Maggie was already waiting in the camp pickup, and he and George climbed in.

She pulled the truck onto the road and wheeled it around in a U-turn. “I'll give you both his email address when we get back to camp. You guys can stay in touch that way.”

Lucas didn't want to tell her that his grandparents didn't own a computer. The only ones he got to use were the ones at school, and that was mostly just for school stuff. He thought about maybe asking Maggie for Alex's phone number, but the idea of calling him out of the blue from Indian Hole, or wherever he ended up once there was no Indian Hole, already seemed strange. What could he possibly have to talk about with someone from DC? The only thing he and Alex had in common was the camp and getting lost. And even that adventure was going to fade away fast once they went back to their own lives.

Yep. He'd probably never even talk to Alex again.

They drove in silence for a few miles until they crossed a narrow concrete bridge over a shallow creek, coming to a stop at a crossroads where the gravel road met pavement. A sign in front of them pointed west to town. Next to the sign was a gray historical marker, something about a church named St. Mary's. Where the church had once stood, there was now only an abandoned gas station, its rusty pumps barely visible through a tangle of blackberry vines.

Alex's ambulance pulled up alongside them, blocking the view. Maggie honked her horn and the driver waved. Then he turned the ambulance, and Alex, west toward town.

Maggie waited for a truck to lumber past the intersection, heading for the gap through the mountains. On Lucas's side of the road was a wooden stand where an old woman was selling jars of honey. The honey jars sat out by the roadside, lined up atop a sagging board suspended between two short logs. The morning sun lit up the jars from the behind, making the honey glow like liquid gold.

Lucas thought once more of the treasure.
Like Creech said, it's just a story.
No one will ever find it.

CHAPTER 27

Lucas and George rode silently beside Maggie for a long time. The trip back to Camp Kawani seemed like it was taking forever, and the miles made Lucas realize how lost they'd really been. Maggie had been mostly quiet, and Lucas figured she was still more than a little angry with them for running off. He wondered what punishment awaited them back at camp.

Finally Maggie broke the silence. “Just so you know, the search-and-rescue crew found your packs down in the brush. Below the ledge where your group had lunch.”

“What?” snapped Lucas. “We left 'em up on in the rocks, so we could find the trail.”

Then it hit him, what Maggie was trying to tell them.

He looked at George and said, “Zack.”

“Are you kidding?” said George. “This was all because of him?”

“Uh, don't forget who wandered off in the first place,” Maggie reminded him. “But yeah, I guess you can thank him for the worst of your little adventure. The rescue crew said the packs were banged up, like someone had just heaved them off the ledge. When they found the first one, they thought maybe one of you had fallen. But later, a couple of the other boys said Zack hung back when Aaron and Rooster weren't looking. One even saw him knocking down cairns when he was catching back up. They didn't say anything to Aaron at first because they were scared of Zack. Either way, I guess he was pretty determined to help you get lost.”

“What a butthead,” muttered George.

“Yeah,” agreed Lucas, “but why didn't Aaron just come back for us when we didn't catch up?”

Maggie grimaced. “Believe me, Aaron was really kicking himself. He's been leading that trip for years and never lost a camper. But when he yelled back to find out if you guys had caught up, Zack told him you were just up the trail. Unfortunately, Aaron believed him, and nobody ever turned around to see for themselves. By the time Aaron figured it out, that lightning was closing in, and he couldn't go back up on the ridge.”

“So where's Zack now?” Lucas asked, hoping he'd get one last chance to take a swing at him.

“Oh, that was definitely the final straw. After that and the trouble on the zip line, we figured he needed to be home. His dad's driver is supposed to pick him up this morning.”

Lucas glanced at George and saw he was thinking the same vengeful thoughts. Without Alex, he doubted George would be good for much against Zack, but he'd take all the help he could get.

Maggie sensed them simmering. “Look, guys, I know what Zack did was idiotic and dangerous—and just plain mean. But put yourself in his shoes…”

“I couldn't afford his shoes,” said George.

“You know what I'm saying,” Maggie said. “He just went through the same crisis you two did. His mother died, just like yours, George. Just like your father, Lucas. You both know what that was like. Even good kids can react to something like that in bad ways. To be honest, I wish we could have helped him more.”

George wasn't buying it at all. “If Zack's a good kid, then I must be Jesus or something.”

But Lucas recalled some of the things he'd done at camp himself, things that he never would have risked before his pa died. Like going after Zack, right in front of the counselors. Or the whole plot to embarrass him on the zip line, even if it meant fighting with him, maybe even getting kicked out of the camp. And sneaking away to the cave. Even the way he talked to Creech in the store and up in the hollow, and sneaked around his house in the middle of the night. He'd done those things because he just didn't care what happened. Or what anyone thought of him.

He'd never been like that before the accident. It spooked him, thinking he could become a different person so quickly. Suddenly he didn't want to think about Zack anymore.

“So how come you know Mr. Creech so well?” George asked. “I thought he was supposed to be some kind of scary, old hermit. And you even kissed him.”

“Oh, he's definitely a hermit,” she replied with a smile. “But not too scary to me. We actually go way back. I even help him out every once in a while. I mean, we
are
neighbors in a way. It's just not something he wants me to spread around. In fact, that was the first time I've ever been up to his place with anybody but Aaron.”

“In town they say he's crazy,” said Lucas.

“So you heard about him in town, huh?” She shook her head and sighed. “I can only imagine.”

Lucas shrugged. “He doesn't seem crazy to me.” He pictured Creech stalking around the house in the dark.
Maybe not crazy but a little creepy.

“He's not. He just wants everyone to
think
he is. Crazy and mean. If you spent the night with him, you probably got the whole act. And believe me, it's just an act.”

“Why?” George asked.

“Oh,” she sighed, “just to keep everyone away, I guess.” She sounded like she was tired of the old man's act herself. “He wants to be left alone. He likes it that way. Says all he needs is his old house in Moccasin Hollow to make him happy. And you know, I believe him. It's like a sanctuary to him, the quiet up there, in the forest and up on the mountain—and his creek and his orchard.”

Lucas knew exactly what she meant.
But at least the old man gets to keep his mountain.

Maggie maneuvered the truck around a section of broken road, smiling and shaking her head, like she knew something else about Creech. But she also seemed a little sad when she talked about the old man.

“He figures if he acts like a mean old coot, no one will ever bother him. Especially treasure hunters. They're always wanting to get on his property.”

“Is that because he's related to the old innkeeper?” Lucas probed.

She kept her eyes on the road, but he saw her surprise. “How would you know that?” she asked.

“It was on a gravestone up there. I just asked him. He said Morris was like his great-great-great grandfather.”

“One more ‘great' actually. And I'm surprised he talked about it with you. That legend is a real sore subject with him.”

“Do you really think it's just a legend?” Lucas asked her.

“I guess no one knows for sure. But if Mr. Creech knew anything about it, he'd be the last one to say. He doesn't have much use for money, and he doesn't care for greedy people, especially the trespassing kind.”

“But how does he know that everyone who wants the treasure is just greedy?” Lucas asked. “Maybe someone would do something good with it, something that needs to be done.”

Maggie turned to him. “What would you do with it, Lucas?”

He wasn't about to tell her about his mountain. “I don't know. I just know not everybody with money has to be greedy about it.”

“You mean like Zack?” George muttered.

A few minutes later, the pickup crunched to a stop in front of the office. Inside, they found Aaron at a computer behind the front desk. Maggie walked up and tossed her pack onto the counter.

“Treasure hunting,” she said to her brother. “They saw a cave up in the Preacher Rocks and just
had
to check it out.”

“What did I
tell
you?” Aaron said angrily. “That's
exactly
why we don't tell the story to the campers. All it takes is one kid to wander off and get hurt, and we're shut down for good.”

“Well, Alex accomplished the getting hurt part—snakebite and probably a broken ankle,” she reported. “In fact, I'm going to the hospital right now. Walk with me out to the truck. We need to talk.”

Maggie held the door open, and Aaron came out from behind the desk. Before she left, she grabbed another pack leaning against the wall and slung one strap over her shoulder. It was Alex's.

The other two packs were there too, scuffed up some, but Lucas was relieved to see the patch across the back of his, his pa's name, still intact. He and George shouldered the packs and headed outside, where Maggie and Aaron were leaning against the camp's truck, talking quietly.

It wasn't until he and George turned out of the little parking lot onto the loop road that they saw the big luxury car parked behind Cabin Four. The same driver from the weekend before was loading Zack's gear into the trunk.

Lucas and George stopped in their tracks for a second before Lucas said, “C'mon,” and started walking. “Let me do the talking,” he added.

They were ten feet from the cabin when Zack came out the back and saw them. Lucas expected him to laugh at them and make some snarky comment, like something about what the cat dragged in. Lucas was ready to drop his pack and charge him when he did.

But instead, Zack went straight to the car and opened the passenger door. He sat down heavily, slammed the door, and buried his face in his hands. Lucas stopped beside Zack's window and stared in through the tinted glass. He couldn't be sure, but he thought the boy was crying. George saw it too and gave Lucas a wide-eyed shrug. There was nothing they could say even if they wanted to. They turned to go inside, but the driver's voice caught them.

“You the kids who got lost?”

“With a lot of help from him, yeah,” Lucas said.

“That's what I heard. Look, it probably doesn't mean much after what you went through, but the kid is pretty sorry for it. He just doesn't have the backbone right now to tell you himself.”

Lucas didn't doubt it. Not anymore. But somehow he didn't think that's what the tears were all about. He knew that in a day he'd be in the exact same shoes as Zack, going home to a different world, one that was missing the most important person in his life. And no amount of money would change that.