Peg Leg's Lost Treasure

Aaron was astounded. "Jesus, you guys have thought of everything."

"I hope so," quipped Jack.

That night the stage was set for act two of their plot, as everyone congregated at Dalton and Tracy's for the second night in a row. Dave picked up where he left off the night before. "Okay, Jack tells me you're all set up with everything you need.

"The state police are getting warrants for the video. We don't know exactly when he's going approach you, so make sure you wear that belt and glasses all the time. That tape is going to be an important part of key evidence, so you'll want to act dumb and try to get him to admit to as much as possible. He's figuring you'll be dead, anyway, so I'm guessing he'll be more than cooperative and literally brag about how they set you up. Don't make him suspicious, but if you can get him to confirm that he expects you to die, it would be helpful. Maybe you can say something like, 'What am I supposed to do out here with no food or water?' Hopefully, he'll say something about you dying. That'll prove intent beyond a shadow."

"What about the horse and mules and everything? I have no idea where to get all that stuff."

"I've got it all covered," Jack answered. "Jerry, the guy who inspected the map, has it all arranged. He's been on his share of treasure-hunts and knows the right people. He called a buddy of his in L.A. to get everything you'll need; horse, mules, rental truck, trailer, food, Sterno for cooking and a tent. You'll have a couple of kerosine lanterns for light, all the comforts of home," he chuckled. "Oh, he also stuck a Winchester thirty-thirty in there as well, but as tempted as you might be to use it on McCall... please don't. It's for four-legged varmints, only. Aaron nodded in understanding. "I don't know how I'm ever going to thank all you guys for this."

"No thanks necessary," Jack responded.

Tracy wasn't so sure about all this. "Aaron, are you going to be okay out there? Have you ever done anything like this before?"

"Not like this, but I've been on a couple of archeology digs where we lived in tents and had to ration food and water and stuff. I'll be okay."

"He'll be fine, Tracy. The California police won't be far behind and they'll be tracking him the whole time," Dave told her. He then looked over to Aaron. "I wish I could go with you, but my lieutenant says it's not in the budget. I'll be in on Brenda's arrest thought. We're going to pick her up as soon as the trap is sprung on McCall."

It was almost ten by the time Aaron pulled into his drive. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he prepared for his very first acting role.

"Aaron, where have you been? I've been worried sick."

If he didn't know better he'd swear she meant it. "Sorry, honey, I've been getting everything ready for my trip. I've got the map and diary back from Jerry already, and he's helping me out with everything I need. I got plane tickets online. I'm leaving Tuesday afternoon. I'll call my one-eyed friend tomorrow and let him know."

"So soon? How... aren't you rushing it a little bit?"

"No, not at all. After I got everything all arranged I went to the library to see if they had any books on the mine. There just isn't that much online."

"And? Did you find any?"

"Yup, I pretty much know the route I'm going to take. That guy is right. There's no way to drive the final leg, I just hope the horse can make it."

Aaron saw his wife make a strange face. For a few moments, he hoped she was having second thoughts. Silently, he prayed that she'd confess, maybe even turn in her boyfriend, but it wasn't to be.

"So, are you going to get a hotel room or something? You're not going to just get off the plane and head straight out, are you?"

He knew she was fishing for as much information as she could get to make it easier for Sean to pick up his trail, once in LA, so he was going to give her as much as he could.

"No, I'll spend Tuesday night at the Hampton near the airport. I leave O'Hare around four and get into LA a little after six. It's actually a four-hour flight, but because of the time change, it's only two hours later. I have to call Jerry when I check-in. I reserved a heavy-duty truck to rent, so Wednesday, I'll pick that up and drive out to a ranch outside of the city. The owner is some guy named Tucker who Jerry knows. He's going to have everything ready for me. I don't even have to worry about food and water. It'll all be prepacked and ready to go. I'll spend the night there and leave early on Thursday morning. I figure it'll take me three or four days to get to the spot. I'll probably stick around for another day, setting markers and mapping everything, then I'll have to get back to LA and file the claim."

"You sound like you're pretty sure that gold is there."

He wanted to sound like as big a fool as they thought he was. "If it's not there it won't be the end of the world, but I'll be disappointed, that's for sure. It's there though, I can feel it in my bones."

He neglected to tell her about the two undercover detectives who also would be waiting for him at Tucker's ranch.

Aaron didn't know if Brenda was planning one of her conspiracy fucks or not, but he wasn't interested anyway. He faked being exhausted and said he was going to bed early. A little while later when she crawled under the sheets, he pretended to be asleep.

The next morning Brenda seemed a little worried, but Aaron was no longer concerned with his wife's emotional state. He had things to do. Shortly after nine, he called his would-be killer and gave him the same information he'd given Brenda the night before. Without knowing what kind of tracking device the conspirators were using, they wanted to make Aaron as easy as possible for Sean to tail.

Around noon, Sean and Brenda met at their usual restaurant. After ordering their food, Brenda bent forward and lowered her voice. "He's leaving tomorrow afternoon already."

"I know, he called me earlier and gave me his whole itinerary. He's almost making it too easy," he joked.

"Can you be ready that soon?"

"Yeah, I've been packed since you told me he was hooked," he replied with a smile. "I already called for my plane tickets and told my boss I have a family emergency and had to take some vacation time. I leave tonight. My motel is just a couple of blocks from his. I rented a Jeep and I even know where that Tucker's ranch is. The guy's got a website. I'm all set.

"Here," he said, reaching over and handing her a small thin piece of plastic about the size of a dime. "This is the transmitter for the tracking device. You said you know where to put it so he won't see it?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "He has a duffle bag that he takes on trips like this. It has a bunch of small inside pockets that he never uses. I'll stick it inside the smallest one."

"Perfect," acknowledged Sean. "The back is adhesive. Just pull the paper off and it'll stick right to the inside.

"What about airport security? Won't they see it if they scan it?"

"Naw, these things are used all the time by frequent travelers in case their luggage gets lost. You can buy 'em on Amazon. Airport security knows all about them and passes them through without even thinking about it."

"Sean, you've got a copy of the map, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I was wondering why you need all the tracking stuff if you know where's he's going?"

"I'm not taking any chances of him getting lost, or wandering off the trail. I also feel safer if I can pinpoint his location at any given time."

"I see."

It sure sounded to Brenda that he had everything worked out. She just prayed nothing went wrong.

That night, Aaron was afraid of making her suspicious when Brenda initiated sex, so begrudgingly, he started kissing her neck and worked his way down to her nipples. Brenda started to moan with pleasure but noticed something at the same time. She reached down and felt his totally flaccid cock. Normally he'd be rock hard by that time.

She tried stroking it a few times. When that didn't work she gently rolled him over on his back and scooted down to take him in her mouth. Nothing worked. He apologized and said he was just too nervous about the trip. She seemed disappointed, so he promised her a romantic second honeymoon to a tropical island when he got back. He told her to shop around to see what island she wanted to visit. Of course, Brenda knew there would be no second honeymoon.

By the time Aaron checked into the hotel and found his room, it was almost eight o'clock. The first thing he did was call Jerry.

"Hi, Jerry, it's Aaron. I just checked in at the Hampton."

"Okay, good. No trouble then?"

"No, not at all."

"Good, you'll want to get an early start. It'll take you a couple hours or better to get to Tucker's Ranch. They get up with the sun over there, so the earlier the better. They'll want to go over everything with you a couple of times and make sure you're ready for a trip. I know you said you've been on a couple of digs and things like that, but believe me, when the sun bounces off that hard desert clay it's like a blast furnace. It gets to you in a hurry."

"I'll be okay. You guys have me well covered."

"That we do," Jerry chuckled. "Speaking of which, the FBI showed up at the ranch today. Who called them in on this?"

That was a surprise to Aaron. "I don't know, I didn't think we were going to call them."

"Well, somebody did. Anyway, Tucker said they were pretty satisfied with the way the state police were handling it, so they were just going to leave an agent to monitor things in case something went wrong."

"Jerry, you don't think it could be somebody working with Sean, do you?"

"That was the first thing Tucker thought, but he called the local bureau and everything checked out. More than likely one of the higher-ups in the state police wanted to cover his ass, so he called them."

"Okay, well, I'm going to get something to eat and get to bed early. If I get to the ranch around eight or nine, will that be early enough?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine. Call me when it's all over and let me know how it goes."

"Will do, Jerry, and thanks again for all your help."

Aaron looked at his watch after hanging up. It was only six-twenty in Chicago so he went down to the hotel's restaurant and had a good dinner before calling his wife.

He almost didn't recognize her voice when she first answered the phone. It sounded weak and he detected a tremor in her speaking. He surmised she was having second thoughts, but she never said anything to warn him. She must simply be scared, he figured; after all, it isn't every day you plan to murder someone.

He sighed deeply as he hung up. It was probably the last time he'd ever talk to her. Never in his wildest dreams could he imagine something like this happening. A lot of couples get divorced, but to have your wife want to kill you...

He had been so busy over the previous few days that he hadn't given himself a lot of time to grieve, but as he sat there in a strange room, a couple thousand miles from home, he felt like the loneliest man on earth. Tears were building up in his eyes again as he shook his head in disbelief. He was trying to understand. This was a woman who had loved him at one time. How does a person go from loving someone to be willing to kill them for money? It made no sense to him, but then dwelling on it made no sense either. It was what it was.

He needed something to get his mind off of things for a while and the boob-tube wasn't going to do it, so he wandered down to the gift shop to see if he could find a good book. When he found one he liked, he went back to his room, laid down on the bed, and read until he fell asleep.

The next day started early: up at four-thirty, breakfast at the Denny's three blocks down, check out at five-thirty, and back to the airport to pick up his rental truck. By six-fifteen, he was on the road, headed toward Tucker's Ranch. When he thought about his busy morning he got concerned that he might have lost Sean. Had he known, a simple glance in his rearview mirror at the blue pick-up two cars back would have alleviated his fears.

As Aaron pulled into the winding drive of the sprawling ranch, Sean found a spot where he could pull off the road and watch as his mark was greeted by several people. Of course, he couldn't hear what they were saying but assumed one of them was the ranch owner and the other three were ranch hands.

"Aaron, I presume?"

"Yes, sir. You must be Mr. Tucker?" Aaron replied, reaching out his arm.

"Call me Tuck," he said, shaking Aaron's hand. "This is Lieutenant Mathews and Sergeant Abrams of the California State Police; and this is Special Agent Dickenson of the FBI."

All three men were dressed in pladd shirts, jeans and boots. No one would ever take them as cops. Aaron shook their hands as they were introduced. He was dying to ask the fed who called them, but thought it might be considered rude so he kept his mouth shut.

"You know, I was so nervous this morning that I kind of rushed around. I hope I didn't lose our murder suspect already."

"You didn't," the lieutenant commented. "We already spotted him. He's behind those trees along the road, watching us right now with a pair of binoculars."

Like an amateur, Aaron's head started to swivel around when the lieutenant stopped him. "Don't look. You let us keep tabs on him. You just go about your business."

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm a little nervous. I... I never had anyone wanting to kill me before."

"You get used to it after a while," teased the sergeant with a smile.

"Jesus, I hope not," he replied with a nervous laugh.

They all went inside after that. Sean checked his tracking device to make sure it was working. He smiled when he saw it had Aaron pinpointed perfectly. He had passed a small motel about twenty minutes back. He still had to pick up his own horse and trailer. It wasn't that far away, so since he knew Aaron's schedule, he'd do that first, then get a room and spend the rest of the day relaxing by the pool before getting a good night's sleep.

Aaron wasn't that lucky. He had a full day ahead of him. Some of the real ranch hands showed him how to hook up the trailer and pack the mules. It took him a couple of hours to master the diamond hitch, but he did it. About that time, Tucker came walking out from the stables leading a beautiful chestnut-colored horse with a white blaze down his face and three white hooves.

"Jesus," commented Aaron, "what a gorgeous horse."

"I was told you're an experienced rider, is that true?"

"Yeah," Aaron replied. "I'm no Gene Autry, but I can stay in the saddle."

"Good enough," Tucker responded. "This is Dakota. He's a Quarab: part Arabian, part quarter-horse. You won't find a horse in these parts better suited for your little excursion. He's pretty gentle, but I think you should take him out for a while and get to know each other."

Aaron couldn't believe Tucker trusted him with a such a fine animal. Always keeping the ranch house in sight, the two became fast friends as they rode.

By the time they rang the dinner bell, Aaron was almost too tired to eat... almost. He couldn't believe the spread. It was like an all-you-can-eat-buffet. "Holy cow, Tuck, you always eat like this, or did you do this for me?"

"Ranching's hard work, Aaron. I can't have my hands dropping from malnourishment. Did you see any of them that looked overweight?"

"No, not at all. Everybody's very fit."

"That's because they work it all off every day. I feed them well, give them a clean, comfortable place to sleep, and in return, they give me a full day's work."

After dinner, Aaron, Tuck and the detectives went over the plan twice to make sure he knew his part backwards and forwards.

When everyone was satisfied, Tuck spoke up. "Aaron, I don't know what time you normally go to bed, but around here we're up at five. You should get a good night's sleep."

"I'll try," Aaron replied. "I'm not sure how much sleep I'll get, though. When we were planning this back in Chicago, I was all gung-ho. Now that it's really happening, I... well, I... I don't mind telling you, I'm a little scared."

"You'd be a fool if you weren't," said Tuck. "Being scared isn't a bad thing, Aaron. It makes you cautious. You're more aware of your surroundings. Once you're actually on your way, you'll be fine."

"I hope you're right, Tuck. Okay, I'll try to turn in, but I have a couple of calls to make first. I have to call my cousin and let him know that everything's a go. He's the one who's going to arrest my wife, then I need to call her so she doesn't get suspicious. It... it'll probably be the last time I talk to her."

It wasn't hard for everyone to see how difficult it was for Aaron to acknowledge his wife wanted to kill him. His eyes glistened with moisture as he walked to the guestroom. He sat on the edge of the bed and first dialed Dave. He was back on the day shift and had just finished supper.

After the salutations, Dave asked how he was doing.

"Oh, so-so, I guess. I'll be glad when it's all over."

Dave could hear the sadness in his voice. "You're going to need a vacation. While you're out there wandering around the desert, you should think about it. Shit, man, you've got the money to go anywhere in the world. Take some time, travel, who knows, you might meet some beautiful island girl and fall in love."

Aaron forced a chuckle. "Yeah, maybe you're right, at least about the travel, I don't think I'll be ready for any island girls for a while, though."

"Listen, don't forget to wear all the gear, especially the glasses. Put them on tomorrow morning so he sees you with them before he confronts you out there. They're going to give us the best view and voice quality of your conversation. Make sure you fully charge everything tonight. You're not going to find any electrical outlets in the desert."

"Yeah, everything's plugged in already," Aaron replied. "When... when are you going to arrest Brenda?"

"As soon as I hear that McCall is in custody."

"Okay. Well, I still have to call her so I'll let you go, Dave. I want to thank you again. You and Jack and Dalton and everybody. I... I don't know, man. I'd probably be dead soon if it wasn't for you guys."

"You just be careful out there, Aaron."

"I will, Dave. Thanks again."

After hanging up, Aaron took a deep breath and called his wife.

"Hi, honey."

"Hi, hon. So how is California? Are you at that guy's ranch yet?"

"Oh, yeah. I've been here all day. Everything is all set. All we have to do tomorrow morning is load the horse and mules into the trailer and I'll be off. They get up pretty early out here so I'll probably be on my way by seven."

"You be careful out there, hon," she told him. "I know this is just one big adventure for you, but just make sure you come back home to me."

Hearing her play him like that was like stabbing him in the heart. It was all just an act. When the hell did she get to be such a good actress, he wondered. It was all he could do to hold it together. They talked for just a little longer before he made his excuses about getting a good night's sleep, and hung up.

He got undressed and laid in bed, staring up at the stars outside his window. There were sure a lot more than he was used to seeing in Chicago. Maybe he would go away after it was all over.

Aaron opened his eyes, startled by the pounding on his door. "You up yet? Breakfast is in half an hour. You got just enough time for a shower," Tuck yelled.

Aaron looked around. It was getting light outside. He couldn't believe it, he really had fallen asleep. "I'll be there," he yelled back.

"Nice glasses," Tuck chuckled as Aaron joined the breakfast table.

"Yeah, they're going to take some getting used to. I keep seeing the frames in my peripheral vision. I've got to wear them, though. Believe it or not, it's a video camera."