Freedom's Treasure (17 page)

He wished he’d taken the time to shower. He could practically smell the day coming off of him. It had been a normal day, with the exception of cutting Anna from the floor. He hadn’t sweat or worked more than usual but he wanted to be fresh when he saw his woman.
His woman.

Elisa would be going to the bank to retrieve his grandmother’s engagement ring from the safety deposit box in the morning. He’d have to start thinking of how and when he’d propose. Scratch that. He was sure it would be more a matter of persuading than proposing.

“Lucy! I’m home!” he called as he came in the door. When he didn’t hear an immediate response he went hunting through the rooms and came upon her in the living room watching a football game.
Definitely
his woman, he thought.

“Mmph! Mmph!” Anna quickly stuffed the last chocolate into her mouth, immediately picturing the iconic scene of Lucy and Ethel stuffing candies into their aprons, blouses and, yes, mouths, while the assembly belt kept delivering more and more. She choked down the last one, took a long drink of water and smiled prettily at Hunter.

He leaned in and gave her a long kiss, licking the last of the chocolate from the corner of her mouth. “Not that you aren’t sweet already,” he murmured as he took another taste. “And a sight for a weary man after a long day’s work,” he gave her another quick kiss and sat down on the arm of the comfortable recliner. “Is Green Bay kicking some butt?”

“Yes, unfortunately,” she huffed. “I had forgotten how annoyed I get when I look at their quarterback. There’s something about his eyes that makes me feel icky.”

“I’m not sure icky is a good reason to not like a team but I’ll accept that answer. How was your day?”

Anna had nearly forgotten her discovery. “Oh my God! Hunter! You won’t believe me, it seems impossible.”

“Yes?”

She punched his arm so hard he almost fell from his precarious perch. “I found a treasure map!”

Dock waited until the sun had fully set before he started his reconnaissance. No one would comment if they saw his truck parked on the side of the road in the evening but he didn’t want some nosy busybody talking about it or asking him questions later. And there would be questions later, of that he had no doubt.

He’d dressed in full on camouflage and even painted his face to blend into the night. Though he wasn’t carrying his rifle he had the scope with him, the better to see from long distances. It had cost a pretty penny but it was the next best thing to infrared.

He stepped carefully through the woods, instinctually avoiding anything that might mak
e a sound and bring awareness of his presence. He’d been hunting these woods since his father had deemed him old enough to carry a rifle and knew them like the back of his hand. He approached Hunter’s house stealthily and aimed the scope to the windows. What he saw caused his anger to bubble back to the surface before he ruthlessly crushed it down. Now was not the time for emotion.

As though he were in the room with them he could see Hunter and Anna in the well-lit kitchen, leaning over something on the table. Anna was gesturing wildly and he could see the smile she wore. Hunter pointed at something, stabbing his finger repeatedly and then paced out of view before coming back. He carried a large book with him and Dock could see it was the extremely detailed county map.

Dock noted that the lovebirds appeared to be settled in for the night. He swung the scope to the garage and focused on the window. He could see the glint of metal through the window. He knew Hunter didn’t park his precious new truck in the garage unless he was sure he wasn’t heading back out.

He lowered the scope and eased back into the night. He quickly covered the mile and half to his own truck. He’d known his muffler rattling would alert Hunter someone was on his seldom traveled road and hadn’t wanted any hint of his presence. He turned around and drove a mile before turning on his headlights.

Dock used the back roads to reach Anna’s cabin. Her SUV was parked and there were no lights on inside. He drove past and circled around before parking a half mile away. He waited half an hour with his eyes and ears tuned to the night before exiting his vehicle and closing the door quietly. The nearest neighbors were quite a ways away but he knew sound traveled at night. He could hear a train’s mournful whistle as it went down the rails three miles away.

In the back of his truck he had the tools he thought he’d need and a few more. He’d only have one shot at this and Dock knew he had better get it right the first time. He slung the pack over his shoulder and made his way to the shed in Anna’s backyard. He eased the door open. He’d been expecting the hinges to squeak and was mildly surprised that they didn’t. Of course Hunter had oiled them. The man never did a half-assed job on anything and was yet one more thing that Dock hated about him.

He picked through the detritus stacked on the floor and found the old metal ice tray. Dock remembered a spare key that had been kept underneath it years ago and had hoped to use that. When he couldn’t locate it he shrugged it off. He had the skills to open the door without a key.

He eased the screen door open and knelt at the back door. From his pocket he removed a lock pick set and made quick work of getting the door open. Once inside he dropped the pack from his shoulder, reached in and found the black electrical tape. He covered the flashlight and, once again using the pick from his pocket, poked a small hole for the light to shine through. It would give him enough illumination to see what he was doing without alerting any passers-by that someone was in the cabin so long as he kept the light below the window line.

First he went into the bathroom and examined where Anna’s earlier discovery had been made. Some people’s luck was ridiculous. He contemplated using her metal detector - he’d seen it propped in the entryway - but realized the nails in the flooring would make it go off on repeated false alarms. He dismissed the idea. He’d have to do this the old fashioned way.

Before he began the strenuous work he began snooping. With any luck he’d find what he was looking for without having to move on to the next step of his plan. He climbed the nearly vertical stairs and, with nary a qualm, dug through her drawers and looked under the bed. A few minutes later he realized there was no way she’d have left the discovery behind. Dock desperately wanted to know what was in the burlap bag Colby had told him about. He’d have to find another way to satisfy that curiosity.

He took his combat knife from the sheath at this side and gleefully slit open the mattress in several different spots. He groped through the padding and springs and didn’t feel anything that shouldn’t have been there. He moved to the edge of the room and pried up loose areas of carpet, using his knife to pull the staples out and making the job only slightly easier.

Dock went back to the dresser and removed each drawer, dumping the clothes onto the bed and removing the liners. He checked beneath each drawer and tossed them onto the bed. He pushed the dresser over and checked the back and found what he expected, nothing but dust.

Next he went to work on the paneling. Using his knife once again he pulled off each section and looked for anything that didn’t belong. Hopping down the stairs he brought the sledgehammer up to the bedroom and punched holes high and low. He used the flashlight and found nothing but wiring and insulation in the walls. He was finished upstairs.

He paused on his way down the stairs and gauged the thickness of the flooring of the loft. There didn’t appear to be enough room to hide anything and he moved on to the main floor. He dug through cabinets and peered into all the nooks and crannies, paying special attention to anything original to the cabin.

His knife made quick work of the couch and recliner and even the cushions of the chairs at the table. He gripped the chain of the hanging light and yanked it down, bringing part of the ceiling with it. He climbed up and pulled down more ceiling tiles and got nothing but a face full of what was probably asbestos for his efforts.

His frustration mounted. When he’d finished with the walls and ceiling Dock turned his attention to the floor. This would be the fun part. By the time he was finished Hunter would have a lot more to worry about than choosing crappy tiles; he’d have to rebuild the whole cabin.

When it was all said and done, Dock found nothing and he knew, deep in his soul, that this exercise in frustration was Hunter’s fault.

“Most of the current roads started as logging trails so they should line up to the map,” Hunter explained to Anna, tracing his finger along the snaking lines on the county atlas.
“Obviously Samuel’s map isn’t to the same scale as this one but, if we’re lucky, we’ll notice some similarities.”

“And I’m sure the topography is different now than it was 150 years ago,” Anna interjected, “so it’s likely some landmarks won’t be the same.”

“Right,” Hunter agreed. “And Samuel may have drawn certain landmarks but he didn’t label anything. The start and end points could be anywhere.”

“Not just anywhere,” Anna disagreed. “He’d have to have buried it somewhere he’d have access to whenever he needed it.”

“But not so easy that anyone who knew about it would be able to figure it out,” Hunter added.

“This is the worst kind of puzzle. My brain feels like it’s bending at weird angles.”

“We need more clues,” Hunter agreed. “Everything at this point is pure conjecture. Did you find anything in the journal that would help?”

“I stopped reading before he reached Baldwin. When I left off it seemed like he was in the Grand Rapids area.”

“That seems apt,” Hunter commented, “considering I’m from here and you’re from there. Put us together and what do you get?”

“Two confused individuals,” Anna answered.              

“Two
amazing
individuals,” Hunter corrected.

Anna straightened from her hunched position over the map. She raised her arms to stretch her back and discovered Hunter was in the perfect position to link her hands around his neck. He leaned down, wrapping his arms around her and she turned her head to deliver a blistering kiss.

“I think that brings our map reading portion of the evening to a close,” he whispered against her lips. She smiled and twisted in her chair as he came around to her side. The temperature in the room rose and Anna drew back, breathing heavily.

“I haven’t thought about the logistics of this,” her breasts felt heavy as he caressed them, circling toward her nipple and away, taunting.

“Logistics of what?” he muttered, rapt with the flush rising across her chest. He loved watching her body react to his touch.

She arched as he pushed the tank top to her stomach, his fingernails lightly scratching her skin, and gasped when his mouth closed over her freed nipple. Anna’s arms were trapped by the straps of her top and she quickly shifted until the material fell away. Her hands shot out and grasped his waistband, fought with the button. It popped and flew across the room.

“Easy, Anna,” he moved to the other breast, concentrated his attention on circular motions with small nips.

“Forget easy,” she laced her hands in his hair and pulled him up and thrust her tongue into his mouth. He knelt between her thighs, hands on the chair to steady himself during her onslaught of passion. She pulled his head back, used her teeth to nip at his throat. 

“Jesus,” he didn’t know if it was a prayer or exclamation and she didn’t give him time to figure it out. Her hand slid down and felt the full length of him, throbbing with the beat of his racing heart. She bit at his shoulder. She wanted to taste his skin, taste him. He felt her urging him to stand and he nearly ended it immediately when her mouth fastened over him. Her arm went around his lower back, held him close as she had her way with him.

There were many sides to Anna’s personality and each came to the forefront as she teased, taunted, and satisfied him in ways he hadn’t dreamt of, nearly violent in the throes of want and need.

Hunter pulled away before he couldn’t take it any longer, breathing heavily, his eyes burning intently as he stared into Anna’s eyes. She kept her eyes locked on his as she pulled her shorts off. She glanced down, shocked that her miniscule panties had soaked through. Hunter’s gaze followed hers and he groaned before shredding the lacy triangle with a sharp pull.

Anna tried to rise from the chair but Hunter stopped her. He knelt once again and wrapped her legs tightly around his hips, mindful of the boot on her ankle. In a move so smooth Anna never saw it coming he rose and entered her at the same time. Her head fell back and she enjoyed the rush of impending orgasm mixed with the danger of falling.

The natural motion of walking ground their joined bodies together and she squirmed to increase the pressure. Happy to oblige Hunter thrust forth to fill her completely as they landed in a tangle of limbs on the bed.

Anna wrapped one leg tightly around him and turned in such a way Hunter ended up on his back. She rose, her hands placed heavily on his chest as she adjusted, took control. She reached up and pulled the band from her hair, letting it fall forward, and she swirled it across his chest as she slowed things down.

Her hands drifted languidly up and down his chest, stomach, over his thighs behind her and back up to his arms. He gripped her hips tightly and fought the urge to take control. This was Anna’s show and he was here to enjoy the ride.

She leaned back, let his hands steady her as she stroked from his ankles to his thighs and back up across his chest. She was learning his body in every intimate detail. Her eyes remained open and, though the room was pitch black, she was able to see the glitter of his shine back. The feeling of power was amazing and her pace increased, intensity rose.

With a cry she felt the orgasm begin to take her, make her lose track of whose hands were where. Hunter felt the change and thrust up, once, twice, holding her against him. As her body clenched around him he rode the crest and, with a whispered, “My God,” spilled deep inside her.

Hunter’s snort of laughter brought Anna back from her half-dozing state. “Logistics are easy enough. How’s the ankle?”