Treasure
By Donald Jones
“It was my stunner that brought him down, so I should get the reward,” said the alien.
“We are a team. We share and share alike. When we get back to our home, we will be famous explorers. With such a specimen, we will be the talk of the entire solar system of the twin suns. There will be plenty of wealth to go around, ” said the alien’s partner.
“You’re right. It is not often that a scout team brings back an earthling. They usually die before they get home. We can take this one back with us instead of sending him through the transporter. Then we will know that his atoms won’t get scrambled,” the other replied.
The droning sound of voices brought me to my senses as I awoke. A discussion was going on from what I thought were two nutcases. What kind of a mess have I gotten into, I mused to myself as I tried to force my mind to remember what happened before everything went black.
Chicago had become too hot with the police looking for me, so I escaped to Miami, Florida. The fencing operation I was involved with had gone bad in Chicago. The cops raided the place, but I got away with $200,000. The hotel where I was staying in Miami, offered a scuba diving course. Why not? I thought. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find some sunken treasure. On the first dive trip out, I noticed two divers from our group go over this drop off. These guys were acting suspicious, and kept trying to avoid the main diving party. Being a professional con man I suspected they were up to something and I wanted in on it. Following them as they separated from the group, I chased them to a ledge about 150 feet down. A golden pyramid about the size of a small house, sat on the ledge. When I saw it I thought, I‘ve hit the jackpot! This must be some kind of archaeological site. These guys wanted to keep this place a secret since it appeared to be made of gold. By the time I got to the ledge, the divers had disappeared. I knew they had to be somewhere nearby. About that time I ran out of air, so I headed back to the surface.
When I got back into the boat, the captain was ticked off with me and the other two who had disappeared, because we wandered off from the group. He was forced to wait for the two missing divers to surface, which they did a few minutes later. While the Captain was busy getting the boat underway, I used my time to look at the G.P.S. on his console and memorize the quadrants. When we got back to shore, I rented a boat and diving gear. When it got dark, I headed back to the dive site. After getting my tanks on, I went down the anchor line and found the ledge where we had been diving that morning. When I arrived at the pyramid, I found the entrance. It was an airtight hatch like on a ship. Pulling on the handle made the hatch open with ease. After closing the hatch, a light came on, and the water began to empty out. Then another door opened automatically to a room on the other side. A humming sound, similar to an electrical transformer, came from deep within the structure. There was no one in the compartment. The smell of electrical equipment was in the air as I crept quietly to the next room. Maybe I‘d stumbled on some kind of ultra top-secret government project disguised as an archeological site. A metal stairway went up to the next floor. When I came through the hatchway in the upper floor, I saw the same two men who had been on the dive earlier in the day, with their backs to me. They were busy, bent over a control panel.
“Hi fellows,” I said.
They looked at me startled at first, then one of them grabbed a black stick on the console, pointed at me, and then everything went dark. After settling their argument, they went back to looking at their console, apparently thinking I was unconscious.
If they thought I was going to be one of their bugs in a jar, they had another thing coming. What am I going to do now? I thought. Surveying my surroundings I realized that they had put me in a small cage like compartment about seven feet long and five feet high. From the looks of the scratches on the walls, it must have designed to hold animals . Feeling began to come back into my body and I could move again. A plan is what I need, I thought. Based on my last experience, these men apparently were not interested in conversation. Reason was not going to work, but maybe stealth. My keys were in my swim trunks, underneath my wet suit. Fortunately, they did not think to search me. The dive store advised that I keep my keys with me just in case something happened and my gear got separated from me. That turned out to be good advise after all. Any good professional thief follows his own advice too, and keeps a lock pick on his key ring. Slowly, I worked my hand inside my wet suit to the inside pocket of my swim trunks. Once I had them out, I started working the lock with the pick.
The men continued to busy themselves with their monitors and gauges. The cage door opened as I pressed on it. Keeping a low profile so I would not cast a shadow, I moved myself out of the cage onto the floor. If I’m going to get out of this, I’ll need to beat these guys to their weapons, I thought. Looking for a weapon to use, I found a metal box by the cage. Picking it up, I threw it as hard as I could at one of the men, knocking him to the floor. The other was caught off guard and was shocked to see me out of the cage. That was just long enough.
Grabbing him by the front of his wetsuit, I threw him off balance, and knocked him against the wall. He started to get up from the floor when I kicked him in the side of the head with the bottom of my heel. He went limp and fell back to the floor. The other guy had not moved, and there was blood coming from his head where the box hit him. Growing up in Chicago, I had learned a few things in the alleys; one of them was how to fight dirty. Whoever these guys were, from the conversation and the labels on the console I could tell they were not from earth. They were real out-of-this world aliens! They sure don’t look like any bug-eyed creatures I had seen on TV, I thought. They looked like everyday people. If you want to invade a planet, the best way is to look like the natives of the planet.
The dive gear was where I had left it. Opening the hatch, I headed for the surface and got back into the boat, pulled up the anchor, and headed to shore. When I got back to shore, my heart was still racing. Those guys will wake up and come after me, I thought. Not making sure they were dead was probably a mistake, but I’m no killer. I was so scared I didn’t think. Now that I’m free what do I do? Who will believe me? It was two in the morning. Someone needs to know these guys are out there. Getting into my rental car I drove to the Sheriffs Department. Maybe if I told them there was a Russian sub base out there, they might believe me. Aliens! No one would believe that. Would they believe Russian kidnappers? It sounds better then aliens, I thought.
The desk sergeant asked what I wanted. I told him what had happened to me, leaving out the aliens. When I finished giving him my statement, he raised his eyebrows and shook his head
“Just a minute,” he said, as he picked up his phone, pressed a couple of buttons, and read a piece of paper on his desk. “Sir someone will be out to take your statement. Just have a seat,” he said, smiling.
“What a relief,” I said to the desk sergeant. “I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”
“Come this way, Sir,” said the lieutenant who had stuck his head through the door. He ushered me through a door into the next room. Several deputies standing around smiled at me.
“Paul Campbell, you are under arrest. We just got a bulletin on you this afternoon. The Chicago police want to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, an attorney will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights?”
“Yes, I understand,” I said, bewildered and disappointed. I should have known no one would believe me, I thought.
”Do you wish to wave these rights and make a statement?” the lieutenant asked.
“Not until I get an attorney,” I said.
“Take him to the lockup,” the lieutenant said to the other sergeant. Well at least those guys won’t find me here, I thought. They put me in handcuffs and led me to my cell.
“What are you in for son?” Asked the old man sitting in the lower bunk of the jail cell. His breath was still strong with the smell of whiskey.
“I got in on a bunco rap from Chicago,” I said.
“You got a name?” the old man asked.
“Paul, Paul Campbell,” I said. Looking out between the bars of the cell door, I surveyed my temporary home. “They will probably extradite me in a few days. At least I’ll have some rest before they come and get me. Hopefully long enough to keep the others from finding me.”
“Son, I can tell you’re afraid of something,” said the old man. “I’ve seen your fear before. Back in Korea when I was just a kid, I seen that kind of fear on the face of my buddies as we sat in the foxholes while the mortars were coming in. Why don’t you get it off your chest? I may be an old drunk, but I listen real good.”
“What’s your name, old man?” I asked.
“Carl Higgins, but my friends call me Higgy.”
“Well Higgy, you’d think I was crazy if I told you,” I said as I looked down the hall. I began to wonder if those aliens might have figured out where I was. If they were smart enough to fool the public into thinking they were from earth, what else might they try?
“Son, it don’t make any difference if I do or not. We might as well pass the time with some kind of entertainment,” said the old man as he snickered. “At this hour in this place there ain’t much to do but make up yarns anyway. Go ahead, it’ll make you feel better anyhow.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now,” I said. Starting at the beginning I told him about the fencing operation in Chicago, my trip to Miami and the diving trip.
“Well” Higgy said with a snicker, “That was some tale. Don’t recall ever hearing a story like that before. But if I were you son, I would leave out that stuff about the aliens, when you talk to the judge.”
“Don’t you believe me?” I asked.
“Don’t make any difference if I do or not, son. You, nor I ain’t going anywhere and we don’t look like a pair anyone is going to believe when we’re in a place like this anyhow.”
Morning came. I went before a judge, and they appointed an attorney. Bail was set at $200,000. The judge figured I could not make the bail because what money they found in my hotel was impounded as evidence. The judge was right. Without the money I was stuck, so they put me back in my cell.
“Well Campbell, you’re free to go for the moment,” the deputy said as he came to unlock my cell door for the second time that morning.
“What do you mean I can go? I can’t make bail,“ I said, jumping to my feet and looking at the door. I did not know anyone in this town. Maybe some of the guys from Chicago figured this is where I’d be and they wanted the money. That has to be it. I thought
“Well I guess some of your hoodlum friends raised bail. Just don’t try to leave town,” said the deputy.
The deputy led me into the office to sign my bond papers. Who would befriend me? Then as I looked past the glass window into the lobby, there stood the two men from the pyramid smiling at me. One of them waved at me and pointed to his head where he had a bandage. The other had a bruise on the side of his temple. A chill went up my spine and I felt faint.
“What’s the matter Campbell?” said the deputy, watching my reaction.
“Those guys. They’re spies. Those are the ones who tried to kidnap me last night. You can’t let them take me.” I pleaded.
“OK, Campbell, save the insanity plea for court. We have enough bozos around here. Get your stuff and leave,” the clerk said to me as he handed me my copy of the bail bond agreement. One of the deputies went out to the men in the lobby and asked them to sign the papers. They had noticed my reaction.
“Our friend is suffering from paranoia. He sometimes thinks he is being chased by aliens and spies,” said the two men in the lobby.
The deputy laughed.
Realizing that they were going to get away with kidnapping me and no one was going to save me, the only thing I could do was confess.
“Wait, you guys. Just a minute,” I said. “Remember about five years ago, there was a burglary in North Miami where a rich old lady was robbed of a million dollar diamond necklace? She had a heart attack. Right?”
“Yeah. I remember that case,” said one deputy. “They never caught the guy. It’s still unsolved.”
“Well I did it,” I said feeling relieved. I didn’t mind a burglary rap. I might get a few years but I would still be here, I thought.
“Well that is different. You’re making this statement of your own free will? You wave your rights? Is that so?” asked the deputy.
“Yes,” I said. I looked at the two men on the other side of the window and smiled as I waved at them. They brought out a stenographer who took my confession. Then I signed it.
“OK, Mr. Campbell you’re under arrest for murder one. Take him away bailiff.”
“Murder one? I only stole a necklace,” I said in astonishment.
“The old lady died from a heart attack during the commission of the crime. You get life, son,” laughed the deputy.
Stunned, I followed as they led me back to my jail cell.
“Well, son what happened? Thought you were out of here,” said Higgy.
“I thought I was to,” I said bewildered. “I just confessed to a murder I didn’t even know I committed, and they tell me I’m going to get life. It’s just not fair.”
“It will be alright, son. You’ll see. I have some friends who will help you on the inside,” said Higgy.
“Friends? What do you mean friends?” I asked
“Well son, we ain’t like those fellows that’s been chasing you. We just make an offer, either life in a jail cell, or a ride to our home planet,” said Higgy with a smile.