The Treasure Thief

Clutching her bo staff, Victoria leapt, tucked and rolled, successfully spanning the distance over the narrow chasm. She knelt and her chest heaved as she caught her breath.

After a moment's reprieve, she leveraged the staff to rise to her feet and skirted the passage toward the next and, hopefully, final room. She studied the doorway, looking for holes, crevices or other signs of deadly traps, but found none in the zig-zag designs etched into the rock.

Smooth and zig-zagged pavers checkered the ground. Across the room, a series of round pegs protruded from a familiar carved tablet on the wall, above a small stone chest. She gripped the wooden staff under her arm and pulled her little black book from the cargo pocket of her khaki pants. Plucking the elastic band aside, she opened the notebook to the ribbon-marked page.

Victoria dragged her finger down the ruled paper, over the notes to the matching sketch. "This is it. The last puzzle."

Returning her notebook to her pocket, she crouched and extended the end of her staff to press on the nearest smooth square.

Click, swiff-thunk.

A small dart wobbled in the wooden beam at the side of the room.

Her pulse raced. Poisoned, most likely, and she thanked the spirits she'd tested the path.

She pressed the end of her bo staff onto the zig-zagged square. Nothing. So the pattern on the doorway hinted at which squares to step on to cross the room. Victoria inhaled deep and straightened, stretched a tentative foot onto the zig-zag paver, and distributed her weight without incident. She did so to the next. And the next, continuing until she stood before the tablet.

Referring again to her little black book, she read through the elaborate sequence of the pegs to push and pull and, thereby, open the chest before her, which hid the relic she'd been seeking for ten years. She studied her drawings and her carefully detailed descriptions, comparing against the actual puzzle she'd only dreamed of reaching, verifying the accuracy of her notes. Everything seemed in order.

She reached a trembling hand for the first peg and pushed. The grinding of stone against stone rattled her nerves.

Thunk.

She waited for any ill effects. None. She grabbed the next peg in the sequence and pulled.

Thunk.

And the next, until she worked the sequence and pressed the final peg into place.

Thunk. Click.

The cover of the chest jerked ever-so slightly. Victoria shoved the lid back revealing…a small aluminum case?

"What the hell is this?"

She grabbed the polished metal handle and yanked the modern container from the ancient chest. Popping the latches, she opened the case to find a red envelope on top of neatly stacked and bound twenty-dollar bills, the paper strap around each bundle labeled $1000. Five stacks deep and four wide made twenty-thousand dollars in cash. She scowled as she recognized the monogram embossed on the wax seal.

Victoria cursed under her breath and tore open the envelope.

Sorry, Ms. Jordan, but I beat you to it. Because I'm such a good sport, I couldn't let you leave empty handed. Don't spend it all in one place. Better luck next time…

DA

Victoria crumpled the expensive stationery in her fist and released a long, tortured growl at the mossy ceiling. He said he wasn't interested in the Peruvian Crystals! That lying piece of filth!

"I knew I should have kept my mouth shut! Gawd, how could I have been so damned stupid?" She scoffed. "I was star struck, is how. And to think I admired him all these years." And it made her wonder if charming information out of young archaeologists was how Dustin Alexander had made his millions and became one of the most renowned treasure seekers of the decade.

Damn him and his unlimited resources! He could hop into his private jet and traverse the globe at a moment's notice. He had a team of scientists and research assistants to do all the legwork. He probably didn't even get dirty recovering this artifact and had someone else put their necks on the line to retrieve it.

This trip alone set her back a few thousand dollars and several days because she couldn't afford a flight that would leave sooner than forty-eight hours. The hotels, the transportation, the living expenses. What a waste.

But this wasn't over yet. There were two more relics to find and she wasn't giving up. He was going to regret leaving his little consolation prize, because it just gave her a leg up on getting to the next location.

"Challenge accepted, Mr. Alexander."

Victoria filled her cargo pockets with the bundles of cash and began tiptoeing her way out of the tomb.