The Gillbury Swamp Gold, Part 7

July 26, 2020July 26, 2020 ~ jsettger ~ 2 Comments

(The adventure takes whole new turns)

“Apology granted,” Leo said in shock. “Now keep digging.”

Charles kept digging though the muck for a several minutes, announcing in whispers when he found another piece. It was tense work with time being short; Charles became more focused on digging and less on being quiet. Cloud cover began to thin yielding more light, encouraging Charles to dig faster.

The sound of people approaching was obscured until the last moment, when Leo heard a mix of whispers and rustling reeds. He instantly nudged Charles and whispered a sharp warning. The incoming party had moved right up to them with little notice.

Leo turned off the safety of the shotgun and Charles drew the thirty cal. The moonlight was out, making it impossible to hide.

Leo gave his brother a quick look, turning his eyes to the reeds behind them; suggesting they might run for it. A quick head shake from Charles declined the option.

Red, Tanner and Ann-Marie Gibson approached. They were all armed, ready for a fight. Red and Tanner had shotguns, braced for shooting, and Ann-Marie pointed a rather large revolver. Charles and Leo had been in tight spots before; just never this tight. The Gibsons were trouble, widely known to be mean, tough people. It would not take much of a spark to get the shooting started.

“You motherfuckers are trespassing,” Tanner said with a measure of calm, “so drop the guns and get the fuck out.”

“Just hunting. We got lost,” Charles replied with a hoarse voice. Leo realised what his brother had already figure out, which was that the Gibsons had not recognised them. They had no beef with the Gibsons but, given their profession, it would be better to stay anonymous for as long as possible.

“You look pretty nervous for hunters,” Tanner said as his companions spread out as much as the trail allowed.

“And hunters don’t carry no pistols, neither,” Ann-Marie chimed in.

“You better start talking,” Tanner growled, “or you’re fucking dead.”

“Are you cops or something?” Leo said, disguising his own voice. Accusing them of being police was the best this he could think of to throw them off.

“You guys must be pretty stupid,” Red said. “You think we’re fucking cops? What are you really doing here?”

Charles continued the play for time, half hoping a swatch of cloud would put them in the dark long enough to run for it through the weeds. “Okay, fine,” he said, keeping up the disguised voice, “we aren’t hunters. We’re working for Rob Sreyfus. He wanted to start growing some plants near the swamp, so we are scouting it out. We did get lost, though.”

The Gibsons were hesitating for real. Sreyfus was known to them; a local who was well known for being connected. More than that, Sreyfus was rumoured to have less than legal deals with the Gibson clan. It made the situation wonderfully complicated for the Gibsons, who were not great thinkers.

“We don’t want any trouble,” Charles added. “Rob will be pissed enough.” More food for thought the Gibsons would struggle to digest.

“Sounds like bullshit to me,” Ann-Marie squawked in her trashy way. “Let’s just kill these cock suckers.”

Her words hung in the air. A long, quiet gap would need to be filled, the brothers knew, or the Gibsons might fall back to their instincts for violence. They were interrupted before stalling again.

“Police! Everybody stay right where they are!” a voice blared through a loud horn, deafening them after so much quiet. Several flashlights came on in the surrounding reeds. They threw little light and the mist dulled the illumination further. The sounds of people moving through the reeds with some haste were clear.

“Fuck, it’s the cops!” Tanner burst out as he turned and fled. “Get the fuck out of here.” The other two Gibsons turned tail and followed him.

Leo and Charles set their weapons down, as slowly as they could manage. A group of men entered the trail from both sides, guns first. “Halt!” the loud horn belted out after the running Gibsons.

“I’ve got these two covered,” came the unmistakable voice of Police Chief Dingman. “Get after those three.” The cops legged it after the Gibsons, with occasional calls from the loud horn.

“Dingman, are we glad to see you,” Charles said as he raised his hands.

“Yeah, Chief,” Leo added, “we thought we were finished.”

“What the fuck?” Dingman blurted, confused. “What are you two morons doing out here?”

“On a case,” Charles said, not dropping his hands. “It turns out it involves you, even though we didn’t know it until just a while ago.”

Chief Dingman’s glare was obvious, even through the mist and partial moonlight. “Keep talking, then.”

“We were looking for stolen goods,” Leo picked up the story, knowing exactly how they needed to play things. “Sentimental items were stolen from a client, and we had some leads the Gibsons might be involved. We have reason to believe they were dumping the goods they couldn’t sell in the swamp. So here we are.”

“Did you find what you were looking for, then?” Dingman sneered.

“No, but I think we found what you are looking for,” Charles said with a smile.

“What would you know about that?” Dingman asked suspiciously.

“If I can put my arms down, I can show you,” Charles said.

“Keep the hands up, thanks,” Dingman said, “I don’t trust you assholes enough for that.”

Charles sighed. “Left inside coat pocket,” he said, feigning boredom. “And even if it’s not what you are here for, you probably know about it. And if you don’t, then you will be even more interested.”

Dingman did not trust or like the McCoy brothers, though he did not hate them. Mostly, they were just trouble. He pulled the bag of blackmail pictures from Charles’ coat, not lowering his gun. It was obvious from his glance through the bag that he had seen them before.

“How do I know you weren’t in on this?” Dingman said, taking a pace or two backward, aiming more carefully.

“Come on, Chief,” Leo argued, “you know us better than that. That’s not our style.” Leo knew Dingman would realise this.

The conversation was interrupted by a distant exchange of gunfire. They all stopped as a few straggling shots rang out, dulled by the distance and walls of reeds.

“What the hell is going on?” Dingman called though his radio. “Report.” There was a delay of nearly a minute before a response came.

“Clear for now, Chief,” a cop reported.

“What happened?”

There was a shorter pause. “Suspects are dead, sir. It was the Gibsons. They ran for the house and we pursued. When we broke the cover of the swamp they fired on us. We returned fire.” Charles and Leo both mulled over the turn of events.

“Is anyone else hit?” Dingman asked.

“Del caught a bit of bird shot in the arm, but he’s ok. We are heading to the house, now, unless you need us.”

“I’m good here,” the Chief called back. “I’ll call this in. Proceed to the house.”

Dingman lowered his gun, and the brothers lowered their hands. “I don’t know exactly why you were here, and I don’t care much; other than you probably had nothing to do with the blackmail. No one knows about these pictures or the blackmail attempt. I kept that to myself. This little raid is officially a drug and weapons bust. It will only be a big deal now because three suspects were shot, but that also helps my case. Why did you volunteer these pictures to me so fast?”

Leo cleared his throat. “We know you don’t like us, much, but what they were trying to pull off is bad shit. Your kid should not have got involved. I didn’t want that on record in some evidence bag, word would have got out.”

Dingman paused, looking unhappy. “So here is the deal. You were never here, and you never saw these pictures. As I was attempting to cuff you, I slipped and you managed to grab my arm and strike my face. I was stunned and you ran through the swamp and got away. I’ll tell them you were headed to the house, so you have a free shot out.” Dingman pulled out his cuffs and tossed them on the ground, then struck himself in the face with the side of his pistol; a small cut opened over his eye. He smiled, “If you don’t like that deal, the same thing will happen, only I end up shooting you dead. So what’s it going to be?”

“Deal number one works, Chief,” Charles said, quickly, “we were never here.”

They turned and ran. Dingman’s pistol fired twice as they ran through the reeds for cover. They kept running.

Leo and Charles reached the truck in a state of near exhaustion. The sun was on the verge of rising, and they needed to get away without being seen. It was all back road driving until they reached the main secondary route into Gillbury. Charles fumbled through his coat, pulling out dirty pieces of gold.

“I can’t believe we got out of that,” Leo said, checking his speed. There was no need to be pulled over.

“Yeah,” Charles said, holding the gold in one hand, testing the weight, “we got lucky.”

“So how much did we get, after all?”

“Eight pieces,” he said, “about six or seven pounds, maybe.”

“Enough to pay the rent, at least,” Leo said, scratching at his bug-bitten hand.

“I suppose,” Charles agreed, inspecting the gold further. “They do have some markings on them, small but distinct; might add some value if there is any rarity.”

“Whatever,” Leo said, starting to relax. “I’m just glad we got something out of it. Now, it’s over with.”

“Over with? What are you talking about?” Charles said, pocketing the gold with a smile. “There’s gold in that there swamp!”

(That’s it for now. I have a number of story ideas for the McCoy brothers. Their tales are probably best suited for a series, anyway. If I get something together for another round, I will revisit Gillbury. As it is, I am behind on enough writing projects to leave the brothers McCoy driving home with a pocket full of gold.)

The Gillbury Swamp Gold, Part 6

July 5, 2020 ~ jsettger ~ 1 Comment

(The adventure turns strange as new, unexpected revelations are made)

Off balance and surprised, Leo did not have time to struggle.

“Relax, it’s me,” came a hoarse whisper in his ear. It was Charles.

Leo relaxed and crouched in the reed with his brother. Adrenaline was surging.

Whoever was on the trail ahead was brand new, and probably one of the Gibsons. There was a bit of sound as this new person shifted around, certainly having heard the brief commotion in the near silent darkness. A long moment of silence passed. It was a duel of patience and senses. If they could stay silent and undetected for long enough then the other side might simply wander off, or go the wrong way to look for the cause of the sound. They breathed as steadily and evenly as possible, the taste of the swamp air feeling like a film over the inside of their mouths. It felt like forever.

The mystery person blinked first. After a bit of movement, the person made some noises like they were digging through something in the ground. It was done quietly, clearly an attempt to be secretive. A few minutes later, they got up and started moving on the trail in the brothers’ direction. Both braced with guns ready. Whoever this person was, they were up to something they wanted kept quiet. As the person neared, the clouds parted. Moonlight flooded the scene like a spotlight in an ancient theatre. Red Gibson was a few feet away, slowing slightly when the light shone. He took a quick look around, looking right past Leo and Charles, crouched in the reeds. Seconds later, he was gone.

Leo and Charles waited several minutes in the reeds before daring to whisper.

“I lost the trail,” Leo admitted quickly.

“Yeah,” Charles said, about as impressed as expected, “no shit. We’re bleeding time fast while you get turned around on a trail. Good job, Trusty.”

“We have much bigger problems to consider,” Leo said, dodging further reproach. “What the fuck was Red doing out here?”

“I doubt it was late night gardening,” Charles said. “Either way, I am going to find out what he was doing over there. He may have shown us the prize.”

After a bit more waiting, they half crawled to the spot Red had been. Leo kept a lookout while Charles poked around a mound of freshly packed earth, eventually digging into it.

“What are we looking at, here?” Leo asked without turning to Charles, keeling behind him.

Charles did not respond immediately. “Still digging through here,” he whispered back. “The ground is just firm enough to bury something, though a bit shallow. It is an awfully small hole, though.”

“Is this him planting pot, or what is it?” Leo asked again, growing impatient.

“Funny,” Charles muttered, digging more aggressively. “Ah, I have something here…not what I was hoping for…”

Leo waited a few moments. There was a rustling of plastic and paper. “Tell me it’s thirty pounds of gold coins and we can go home.”

“This is really messed up,” Charles said, followed by more rustling plastic. “Very, very messed up.”

“If you don’t start sharing, I am going to shoot you in the back before I walk out,” Leo declared.

“I am in possession of a freezer bag full of blackmail photos and notes,” Charles whispered after a short flash of his hand light.

“Fuck off, already,” Leo shot back. “Be serious.”

“I’ll let you have a look when we get back to the truck,” Charles said, repacking the hole. “These ass holes have some pretty freaky pictures of the police chief’s daughter, though it is beyond me why they included copies of blackmail notes.”

“You’re fucking serious!”

“Yes, unfortunately,” Charles said, busy repacking the hole to look as it did moments before. “The Gibsons have moved on to blackmail as the family crime of choice. Wonderful.”

“What are they asking for?”

“Fifty grand and the police leave the Gibson clan alone for a while,” Charles said. “I am not even sure they have sent the notes yet, but it is pretty clear who they are for, and what is being asked. I mean, why else would they bury this so close to the house?”

“I would guess they are the hard copies,” Leo said, trying to quickly wrap his head around the discovery, “probably scanned for an email to the chief. How old is his daughter, anyway?”

“Not sure,” Charles said, patting down the dirt on the ground, “but I think she is still in high school. Too young to be doing what she was in those photos, if you could ever be old enough. I’ll give the Gibson family credit, the photos are good blackmail material.”

“So what now?” Leo said, deciding to get his head back in the game.

“Nothing has changed for us,” Charles said, marking their location in the GPS. “We can make up a thousand ways these photos could have landed in our lap, considering our business. Besides, the chief may be a bit of prick, but blackmail like this is…dirty business. We can get this to him in the morning. We are near to a point I was looking to search, so let’s get going.”

Ten minutes later, they were in a small clearing, covered with plenty of small vehicle tracks. The ground had been packed firm from years of traffic, with swamp reeds surrounding the spot. The faint glimmer of light from the Gibson house was just barely visible over vegetation. Charles looked at several spots he suspected before giving up.

“What now?” Leo asked.

“Several more spots to check,” Charles said, sound a touch grumpy and discouraged, both uncharacteristic of him. “We probably have time to check one or two more before it is time to bail.”

Their next movements took them further from the house to a dead end in the trail. It took a moment to make out against the heavy, rotting air but the smell of human excrement came on strong.

“This gets better and better,” Leo said, looking with displeasure at a mound of filth bordered with a few rumpled pieces of paper.

“Never mind that,” Charles said, abruptly. “It’s just their toilet when they come out drinking. The path itself must have been here for a long time.”

“I hope the handle on that screw together shovel is long enough for you,” Leo said, stepping back, “because I volunteer for look out duty, again.”

“Eat me,” Charles said, already screwing together the pieces of the small shovel. He moved the mound aside as delicately as possible, resisting the temptation to pitch it at Leo’s feet. The digging was quite easy in the damp, soggy earth. When he got about four feet down, the familiar sound of metal scraping on shovel cut the air. Leo turned back to see Charles drop to his knees and flash his hand light into the hole.

“That better not have been a beer cap,” Leo said, trying to force himself to keep watch while Charles sifter through the damp earth in the dark.

“Doubt it,” Charles said, digging around. “The ground here is too packed in, like it has been here for a long time. Wait a second, wait a fucking second…”

“What? What?!” Leo was only half watching the dark trail.

“I think you owe your genius brother an apology,” Charles said, holding something up and flashing his light on it. In the brief light, something half smeared in dirt, gave an unmistakable shine of gold.

The Gillbury Swamp Gold, Part 5

June 20, 2020 ~ jsettger ~ Leave a comment

(The adventure continues in the swamp as Leo deals with losing his way.)

A shot of adrenaline cleared his head, and quickly. He back tracked on his last few paces, and then a few more, before giving up. The reeds, growing in thick clumps, left too many gaps to clearly make out the way. The ground was too sloppy to make out footprints.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Leo grumbled as he pawed through his pocket for his cell. Charles is going to rub this one in, he thought as the screen lit up.

‘Lost the trail. Will try to back track,’ he thumbed into the cell. He waited, hoping Charles would respond quickly. The message stalled, not going through. A glance at the signal strength showed a depressing no signal indicator.

“This is bad,” Leo muttered to himself. He tried holding the phone up high enough to get even a single bar, enough to get the message out, but to no effect.

There were only two choices: keep moving or stop and wait. Waiting was usually the best approach. His brother had the GPS and knew the geography. It would only make sense he would come looking and be better equipped for the search.

Leo wanted to keep moving. It was a gut feeling that drove him, despite the lack of good sense. It occurred to him that the air felt heavy, almost suffocating. His mind wandered to obscure ideas, maybe even facts, about swamp gases and what mild oxygen deprivation could do. Leo shook his head and got moving.

It made sense that the trails would all be interconnected, Leo reasoned, so finding any trail would ultimately lead to the one he lost. And odds were good that the original trail would be nearest. The shotgun stayed in a ready carry, just the same.

The mist got thicker, somehow, making movement trickier and the hand light nearly useless. Every step was taken with care not to slip or step into soggy ground. It was like being blind. Twenty minutes later, Leo checked his phone to find his text message still hanging, unsent.

“Well, in for a penny,” he muttered to himself as he pocketed the cell and started moving again.

Ten steps later he found himself on a trail. It was hard to make it out, but the gap in the reeds was unmistakable and the ground too firm to be open swampland. Score one for gut feelings, he thought, moving in the direction that felt right. It was only a matter of time, and not losing the trail.

A rare break in the clouds flooded the scene with light and, instinctively, Leo took in the surroundings. The mist limited the light, but for the first time in nearly an hour, he could make out the trail ahead of him for half a dozen yards or so. The rest was open swamp. The encouraging detail was a distant house, the Gibson place, off to his right, barely visible between the reeds. This instantly gave him bearings. The line from the house to his position was at a right angle to the trail, and the house was on the right side, making his direction north. The clean geometry in his head, Leo knew, was not as clean in reality, but better than a moment earlier. The gap in the clouds closed, and the light faded out.

North he continued, hoping to find a way west, presumably back to Charles. The house had seemed close, though a distance was hard to factor out. Charles had to be close, and had to be west of him. The slow, blind man’s walk along the trail continued.

A branch to the left came up some thirty yards later, and Leo nearly laughed out loud. The trail might have turned or twisted, making this a bad move, but it was more likely it would bring him west. He moved along, carefully and slowly through the soup of mist and unsteady ground. Some twenty yards later, he thought he heard something ahead. It was muffled, the direction difficult to pin point, and sounded like something moving in the reeds. There had not been puff of wind since they left the truck, so the sound could only be something or someone up ahead.

The easy math suggested it was Charles. Bears and coyotes were not usually big swamp dwellers, and whatever made the sound was at least that big.

Step at a time, Leo thought. He moved with more care to be silent, as much for stealth as to hear any more sounds ahead. Staying on the trail was proving easier, with practice, and Leo was able to focus on staying low and quiet. He heard the sound again, certain it was something moving in the reeds and directly ahead. Each step was made with great care, and growing angst.

The clouds broke open, just for a moment, again, revealing a crouching figure ahead of him. The details were still blurred, but it could only be Charles. Leo took a short step forward, about to announce his return, when a hand clapped over his mouth and an arm about his waist dragging him back into the reeds. The clouds closed and darkness smothered the swamp.

The Gillbury Swamp Gold, Part 3

June 6, 2020 ~ jsettger ~ Leave a comment

(More mystery adventure fun. Nothing weird.)

A day of preparation got Leo feeling motivated. The Wiltman case, he decided, would stay warm for a day or two. The chase for stolen gold was intoxicating, and a strange feeling for Leo. He kept feeling it was a moth to the flame scenario; and unlike the moth, he felt he should know better.

Charles simply ploughed ahead. He had been working on this as a side project for some time. Leo’s sudden interest and involvement was unexpected but welcome. It was all about execution, moving forward.

The evening drive to the Gillbury Swamp was an uncharacteristically talkative time for the brothers. A drive was usually quiet time.

“Is the twelve gauge all you are packing?” Charles asked his brother after they hit the main road out of town. The old Cooey, double barrel had been in the family for two generations, although it had fallen into disuse for many years.

“Yep,” Leo said, casually watching for traffic. “It’s also a great prop for our cover. How about you? Just the pump?”

Charles laughed. The pump action twelve gauge was a more recent addition; a remnant of Charles’ passionate days of duck hunting. It, too, saw little use in recent years. “Just the pump?” Charles chuckled, jovially. “Let me tell you, brother, that is a fine quality fire arm. No ‘just’ about it. But seeing how you asked: no, it’s not all I’m packing.”

Leo’s brow furrowed slightly, thinking about what Charles might have brought along. They owned very few guns, and rarely had need of them. “You brought the thirty cal? Really?”

“What else?” Charles said more seriously, opening his jacket to reveal the holstered pistol. It was an old, slide action peashooter their grandfather had acquired during the war. It was inaccurate past twenty feet, only had a six round magazine and was a bitch to clean. Still, it was very compact and never jammed or misfired. Their grandfather claimed it was lucky. As youngsters, Charles and Leo referred to it as the James Bond gun.

“Was it necessary?” Leo asked.

“Our hands will need to be free,” Charles explained, “so if the Gibsons jump us, I need a quick draw. Swinging a shotgun around is not terribly practical. And I’m not sure we could win a fair fight with them.”

“Mmmm,” Leo pondered out loud. “I really don’t think it will come to that.”

“Me either,” Charles muttered, “but better to have it and not need it.”

“Fair enough,” Leo agreed.

They drove along the back ways until they were technically out of Gillbury. They eventually found the spot they wanted and pulled in. It was an ancient property entrance, long fallen into decrepitude. It led into a fair dense clump of trees and brush that was too far from town to be casually used for drinking parties or such. The truck was invisible from the road.

Then they waited for the light to completely fail. Darkness would cover their approach to the swamp.

They had a two kilometre hike along a hedgerow, followed by another two kilometre tromp through the swamp; and this was assuming they found what they were after, right away. Physically, the brothers were in good shape, yet they were aware that moving through a swamp in the dark might push them. Neither felt any lack of confidence as they waited for darkness to fall.

“How much do you think we can haul out in one go?” Leo asked, more for something to do than for pure interest.

“Depends mostly on what we find,” Charles said, casually. He had almost every angle of the logistics covered, and it showed. “If it is bulky stuff, like decorative pieces, then not much. Tough to conceal that, even slightly. If we get compact bits like jewellery or coins, then I think we can manage forty or fifty pounds each, at least. If we hit the mother load and go back with minimal gear, then we could push that to a hundred each.”

“A hundred pounds of gold,” Leo mused out loud. They had not discussed what would be done with the proceeds if they were successful. Leo’s mind went over their options, knowing his brother may have covered that base, too. “How would we move even a hundred pounds?”

“Tiny increments,” Charles said, right on it. “I have a few options that are likely to keep a trickle of money flowing for, oh, the rest of our lives.”

“Really?” Leo asked, wondering what Charles had in mind.

“Oh, yeah,” Charles went on without much prompting, “there is no point, otherwise. I suspect it will mean a big haircut on the raw value, but whatever. I feel pretty comfortable we can nail down thirty to forty percent of market price. Remember Bo?”

“Bo? Cousin Bo?”

“Yes, our distant cousin Bo,” Charles laughed at that. “He is a jewellery maker, did you know? Brick and mortar set up in Toronto. He’s not exactly poor, but he could be doing better. If we fed him gold at thirty to forty percent of his cost, partly as incentive and partly as shut up money, he might just go for it. Besides, distant or not, he is family. If we keep supplying him, long term, he is even less likely to say anything.”

“Clever plan,” Leo agreed. “Would it be enough? I mean, how much could Bo take on and still not attract attention?”

“Not tons, but he would be our slow, steady mover. Outside of that, we can pop into enough pawn shops with bits and pieces to add to that. It’s not a lottery win, and there are some risks, but it would add up. I was thinking we might never pay for gas, or meals, or office supplies again. Stuff that we could cover up more easily.”

“Imagine paying bribes for free,” Leo pondered aloud. “Shit, I hope this pans out.”

Charles smiled. “Only one way to find out,” he said, taking a good look outside of the truck. “And I think it is about dark enough to get going.”

They loaded up and disembarked. Charles led the way, carefully crossing the dirt road and keeping low until they reached the hedge. The slim remains of sunlight helped cast a shadow along the hedge, making them practically invisible for any distance. Both of them were used to moving around in the dark, precarious footing and all, and moderated their pace to avoid blowing an ankle or twisting a knee. The entire trip through the field passed without incident. They saw no one.

The field ended at a rarely used service road that bordered one side for the conservation area. It was a muddy track that was nearly grown in. A simple, wire fence along one side of the road was in bad need of repair, looking like it was a regular transit point for off-road vehicles; and several spots were completely toppled over. Charles found such a spot after a few minutes of searching and they pushed into the swamp.

They followed a set of vehicle tracks for a while until Charles decided they need to go more directly. After ten minutes of steady going, Charles stopped them for a short break.

“So far, so good,” Leo commented in a low voice.

“No complaints,” Charles agreed. “Like it was meant to be.”

“You holding up, then?”

Charles looked up from his pack, which he begun to look through. “Funny,” he said. “This stop is for navigation only. Now that we have some ground cover, I want to check the GPS. If that bush trail took us too far out of our way, it’s better we find out now. There are no real landmarks out here.”

“How far before we hit the softer ground?” Leo asked.

Charles turned the GPS on, the night mode hardly shedding any light. It started looking for a satellite. “I’m guess only another couple hundred meters,” he said, impatient for the GPS to find them. “It depends on how far we wandered on that track. I wish this thing would shit or get off the pot.”

Leo glanced up. The sky was cloudy, with patches of clear; nothing the GPS couldn’t handle with some patience.

“Here we go,” Charles announced, adjusting the screen. “Not bad, we are a little too far north, but hardly off course. This is good.” He figured out the general direction they needed to go and they set off.

They had hunted in their younger years, but neither thought they were outdoorsmen. Plodding through the swamp grew more difficult as they moved along. Charles checked the GPS a few more times as they progressed. It took them nearly thirty minutes before they reached the truly soggy ground near the middle of the swamp. Charles paused on a clump of halfway stable ground.

“This is brutal,” Charles admitted, though with no sign of discouragement in his voice. “All right, the next three or four hundred meters are boggy, watery crap. The danger is getting sucked in, so stay close and flat. Remember, too, that the cover is pretty thin here. You ready?”

“Absolutely,” Leo sighed. “Close and flat, eh? I am making you do my laundry tomorrow.”

“Deal,” Charles said. “Now just stick to the plan and don’t die.”

“So much love,” Leo laughed.

“Fuck that,” Charles laughed back. “I just don’t want to explain to mom that I got you killed.”

A Long Way Down

November 16, 2019 ~ jsettger ~ Leave a comment

(This is a dark fiction I wrote a while back. It sits around two thousand words, after a painful edit.)

“I don’t know about this, Mitch,” Bobby said, scratching his head. “It’s a long way down.”

Mitch held the fishing line where they had marked the depth of the hole. It was twenty feet deeper than they had estimated.

“No biggee,” Mitch said, his usual confidence shining through, “we still have enough rope.” Bobby kept his doubts to himself. Mitch was fourteen, two years older; he was practically an adult. If he was sure they could do it, then it could be done.

The two boys had scavenged sixty feet of rope and miscellaneous items for their fortune hunting. Their fishing line and sinker measurement had the hole almost fifty feet deep.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Bobby asked. “Your Gramps said it was only thirty.”

“He said it was about thirty,” Mitch corrected. “It was a long time ago, but this is the place. There aren’t any other holes like this near Camby Road. We checked, remember?”

Mitch’s grandfather had spent a great deal of time in jail over the years. It was only in the last couple of years that he got to know his grandson. A week earlier, he died in hospital from a chronic lung infection. His legacy was a poor one, rife with years of robbery, assault, and prison. The only thing of value he left behind was stowed in an abandoned mine, the unmarked entrance to which was located on INCO property.

“We can’t chicken out,” Mitch went on as he double checked the rope. “This might be the only chance we have to make it out of Bear Valley. I don’t want to spend my life here with some shitty job or welfare. This is it.”

“We could die down there,” Bobby said, as though they had not covered that possibility before.

“Listen,” Mitch said. “You are the only guy I can trust, that’s why I brought you in on this. I might need your help down there, too. Remember, if I go down there alone, I keep it all.”

“I know,” Bobby said, feeling a little ashamed of his last minute fear. “I’m not chickening out. I just want to make sure we do this right. Y’know, be safe.”

“There’s not much more we can do about that,” Mitch said, looking through his pack sack. “Everybody is talking about INCO opening up this mine again, because of the price of gold and all that. If we wait too long we might not get a chance to do this. I would rather die in this hole than live poor my whole life.” This had been something of a mantra since Mitch’s grandfather revealed the hidden inheritance.

Their decent was slow and careful. Mitch went first, holding the rope with white-knuckled effort as he lowered himself down. The walls of the hole were close enough to reach, and had plenty of ledges, but the rope was the only secure thing to hold. The edges had grown mossy and crumbled, making them dangerous handholds. Bobby watched as Mitch descended into the gloom; the sight did nothing to alleviate his concerns. Bobby watched a faint light grow stronger down the hole, Mitch barely visible in the greenish glow.

“How’s the rope holding?” he called up to Bobby. He sounded a thousand miles away.

“It looks fine,” Bobby yelled back. “The knot is solid and the log hasn’t budged.”

“Good, I’m almost there,” Mitch replied. “Start down after me in a minute.”

Bobby waited for about a minute, as near as he could reckon. The trip down was not as bad as he had expected. The tightness of the walls around him made a fall seem less likely; the illusion of safety being a comfort against the dangerous reality. When Mitch spoke, Bobby almost fell from the sudden shock of broken silence.

“It took you long enough,” Mitch grumbled. Bobby looked down for the first time since entering the hole. Mitch stood not more than ten feet below. The green light of a glow stick made him look sinister.

“Sorry, Mitch,” Bobby said sarcastically as he lowered himself to the floor. “Where did you get the glow stick?”

Mitch smiled in the eerie green light. “Lifted a couple from Garner’s store,” Mitch answered. “He won’t miss them. Besides, I can pay him back once we get this gold out of here.”

“Right,” Bobby said, trying to sound like he was cool with it. His parents were not much better off than Mitch’s father, a widower since Mitch was three, though they frowned on things like stealing. Mitch’s father, on the other hand, was an alcoholic from a family well acquainted with the judicial system. As much as Mitch’s behaviour bothered him, Bobby couldn’t shake his loyalty to his best, lifelong friend. Mitch may have been rough around the edges, but he was always there to scare off bullies or share a stolen chocolate bar.

“The tunnel ahead is where the old mine starts,” Mitch said, pointing with his glow stick. “It’s exactly how Gramps said it was.”

“It’s not too far, though, right?” Bobby asked. “Like, maybe a hundred feet or something?”

“That’s what he said,” Mitch replied, “but it was a long time ago, so it might be more or less than that. What’s for sure is that this is the right place. We’re going to be rich, Bobby.”

Bobby smiled at that. He knew it would be harder than just showing up at a bank or pawn shop with a bar of gold, yet the promise of long term wealth was hypnotic. Ever since Mitch had approached him, Bobby imagined a life of comic books, pizza and video games. He would live with Mitch in a mansion and never need to work.

They had agreed Bobby would go first in the tunnel since Mitch went first down the rope. Bobby had taken a small flashlight from the shed. It definitely threw less light than when he tested it in his room the night before. Still, it was enough with Mitch’s glow stick providing light from behind. They made better time once they reached the old mine level, where the floor was mostly level and ceiling high enough to stand straight. Considering how narrow the way had been before, the mine passage was spacious.

Bobby was certain the walk felt longer than it was. His sense of distance was clouded by the dark, unbending and featureless ruin of a mine. The only sounds came from their nervous breathing and crunch of loose stone underfoot. It felt like the world above was a million miles away.

Suddenly, the floor was clogged with loose rock that blocked their way. A quick look with the flashlight made it clear the ceiling had collapsed at this point.

“The dead end,” Bobby whispered. “Just like your Gramps said. This has to be it.”

He looked to the right, where the box was supposed to be. Mitch was looking, too. Bobby moved into the corner until his flashlight was only a few feet from the wall. A rotten box, hinges and lock heavily rusted, appeared in the beam.

“The box!” Bobby exclaimed, almost jumping at the sight of it. “I can’t believe it. It’s right there.”

“Holy crap, you’re right,” Mitch said. “Gramps wasn’t crazy. This is the real deal. Go ahead and open it, Bobby. You saw it first. I’ll get the pack sack ready.”

Bobby was too excited to argue the point. Three bars of gold, stolen from the mine by Mitch’s grandfather, lay before them; money enough to live rich for three lifetimes. The lid broke apart before Bobby could get it all the way open. Three dirty bricks lay at the bottom of the ancient, ruined box. Somehow, they still gave off the slightest shine of yellow. Bobby rubbed one of them with his sleeve and the golden colour was undeniable. The deal was two for Mitch and one for him, but that was more than enough for a life of comic books, pizza and video games.

“Aaahh!” Bobby cried as the beam from his flashlight crossed a bony hand next to the box. “What the hell is that?!” He stumbled back and looked again. The hand was connected to the remains of a skeleton, with only scant remains of clothing clinging to it.

“That’s Scott McMurphy,” Mitch said, looking far too calm for the circumstances. “He was my Gramps’ partner.”

Bobby took a moment to process this. It was the only thing between him and pure panic. “What happened? Why is he here? Did he come back to take it and fall or something? Did your Gramps know about this?”

“Yeah, he knew,” Mitch said calmly. “I just didn’t want to tell you. You might not have come if you knew there was a body down here.”

“But what happened? How did he die?” Bobby was in shock. He wanted to look away, shine the light somewhere else, except for the horrible, mad fear that dead Scott McMurphy would stand up and kill them.

“Gramps killed him,” Mitch said. “He needed to be sure the hiding place would stay secret.”

“He was his partner…” Bobby trailed off in thought for a moment. “Why?”

“Nice guys finish last,” Mitch said in the same, steady voice. Bobby looked at his best friend, bathed in the sick, green light of a stolen glow stick, suddenly noticing he held a knife.

“Mitch?” Bobby squeaked out. “What are you doing?”

“What Gramps told me to,” Mitch said, slowly approaching. “You’re a loose end, man. I hate to do it, but I can’t risk this getting out.”

“You can have it all, Mitch,” Bobby whined, backing away. “I won’t say anything, honest. Just don’t kill me down here, okay?”

There would be no fighting Mitch. Even without the knife, he was a head taller with a deceivingly strong frame. Bobby was wiry, yes, but knew he could never win. Bobby scrambled over the loose, fallen rocks until he was cornered. He lashed out with a wild kick, hoping to get lucky. Mitch countered with a punch that came short. In a last, desperate attempt to survive, Bobby tried to lunge past him and run for the hole. If he could only get clear he might make it.

Bobby flashed his light into Mitch’s eyes and jumped over the rocks awkwardly. The flash of pain in his left leg took a moment to register; the adrenaline nearly muted it out. Bobby kept moving forward, half crawling and half running as Mitch pawed at him. When they cleared the rocks, Mitch struck again, cutting Bobby’s left Achilles through to the bone.

Bobby tried to stand, only his foot could not hold him. Terror subsided into angry resignation in a flash.

“Why, Mitch?” Bobby shouted. “Why did you bring me here? Why did you even tell me about it? Are you just a psycho or something?”

Mitch hesitated, breathing hard. “Sorry,” he said. “Gramps couldn’t remember if he booby trapped the box or not. I needed you to open it, just in case.”

Bobby suddenly felt light-headed. “But why me? You could have brought someone else. I’m your friend.”

“You were the only one I could trust not to blab,” Mitch replied, the first hint of remorse entering his voice. “It had to be you.”

“Mitch,” Bobby pleaded, his strength fading, “you can still trust me. I can say it was an accident or something. You can keep the gold. I’ll never tell…”

“That treasure is all I’ll ever get from my family,” Mitch said, sounding tired. “Mom is dead and Dad is just a drunk bum. Gramps wasn’t much better, really, but at least he left me something. I have nothing else. I can’t risk it. Sorry.”

Mitch struck again. Bobby, weakened and shocked, put up a poor defense. As his friend finished him off, Bobby couldn’t escape the thought of how far down he was.