The Lost Tribe Pt. 02

The darkness was almost absolute. There was no moon, and very little ambient light in the area; only the far off light of countless stars that seemingly filled the night sky lighted the trail. It took about a half hour for him to ascend to the end of the trail and to climb to the far side of the pond, where he sat on a large rock and waited for her.

He waited about a half an hour, and then, she just seemed to appear in front of him. He stood and took in her beauty. At her forehead, a leather strap held her wavy red hair off her face. She wore an animal skin cape to ward off the desert night chill and moccasins on her feet; but other than that she was dressed just as he remembered her.

"Thank you for coming."

"Did you think I would not be here and give up the chance to see you again? I only wish you could have brought our daughter with you, but I understand why you could not. I'm so sorry for your loss; she was a good woman."

"Oh Jason," she cried and fell into his outstretched arms. He held her tightly as the dam broke on her pent up grief. He intuitively understood that because of her status as High Priestess this was probably the first time she had allowed herself to truly grieve for herself and her loss.

When her sobbing finally ceased she stood in front of him and apologized for her weakness.

"Come sit with me," he said indicating the blanket covered rock where he had been sitting. "There is no need for an apology, and certainly not to me. I grieve for her loss as well and I only barely knew her. She was your grandmother; you've known her for more than half your life."

"It's more than that. She was my ally on the council; the tie to the past, the calming influence, the wisdom of age; and now she's gone. Even though in recent years, she and my mother had reconciled their differences and the fact that my relationship with Starry has, more or less, become amicable, there is still the fact that Starry is now the eldest member of the tribe and it is only she and I that remain from the council that you remember. Now we are outnumbered by the three other members from my generation.

"There are times that I feel like I'm losing control of the tribe. I fear for us all. We are losing our identity. The outside world is bearing down on us. Our children are beginning to question everything we do and believe. I'm scared."

Jason held her in his arms once again, this time to assure her that everything was going to be all right. However, in his mind, he was trying to relive his last meeting with Starry Sky and, in particular, their last conversation. Remembering Maria's short but profound prayer from Sunday school, he asked for wisdom, and decided that he would not reveal the content of that conversation. It was not the time to dump even more worry onto her shoulders.

Jason, wishing to distract her from her self-doubt, asked, "How is Summer Rain?"

The smile returned to Anna's face. "She's doing well; she's getting so big. She has been very helpful to me. And you'll never guess who her best friend is; 'Angry Sky', she's Starry's daughter. They are inseparable; but I guess that was inevitable since they are so closely related. Maybe that's part of the reason why my mom and I are getting along."

"Angry Sky?"

"She was born during one of those rainless thunderstorms that we seem to have ever more frequently. The rain falls on the other side of the mountains and all we see are the bolts of lightning lighting up the night sky."

For a while they sat in silence, then Anna got to her feet, "You should go, I'm sure my sisters are worried about letting you come here alone. I told them not to worry; that you had proved yourself to be loyal to the tribe and that you'd never do anything to betray us."

Jason took her in his arms and hugged her tightly to his body. "I love you so much. I told Carlita to never paint over the mural. That's our office now. Your image is the last thing I see before leaving the office."

Just as he was about to leave, he turned to her and asked. "Where have you buried Running Deer? Maybe someday I can come up here and stand over her grave and pray."

"Oh, we don't bury our dead here. The ground is far too hard for that. We believe that once you die, your spirit is released and joins with that of the Great Spirit, so the body becomes just an empty shell. For health and sanitary reasons, we carry the body out of our valley and place it on the ground in the valley next to ours. It takes about two years for the naked body to completely disappear. We know the desert insects and animals feed on the body and eventually scatter the bones. There's no need to pray over her, because she's no longer there."

She turned and disappeared back the way she came.

Jason, when he could no longer see her, turned as well and headed back to the trail. For the next thirty minutes, he was deep in thought. He knew he had to do something to help them; the beginning of a plan was slowly forming in his mind.

After arriving home, instead of heading for bed, he went to the office instead and pondered what to do next. He pulled out his journal and after reading several key areas and his notes corresponding to those areas, he knew where his plan would start.

He had to contact his father; and for that, he had to have the permission of his keepers.

Suddenly too tired to keep his eyes open, he folded his arms on the desk, rested his head, and soon was fast asleep.

It was a frantic pair of women that finally found him still asleep at his desk early the next morning.

"Here you are, you had us worried sick when we woke up this morning to find your bed unslept in. Have you been here all night? We never heard you come home."

"The tribe's in trouble and Anna has no idea how deep that trouble is or how to fix it. Honestly, I do not think it is fixable. We have to help them; we have to prepare for the inevitable collapse of the tribe as they know it and bring them, kicking and screaming if we have to, into the twentieth-first century."

He spent the next hour explaining what he meant and what they had to do.

"But first I have to call my father."

Chapter Eight: The Phone Call

"Your father?" They shouted in unison, "We didn't realize he was still alive; you never mentioned him so we just assumed he was dead."

"He and my mother, I have one of those, too, live in Europe. Actually in Tuscany, Italy, on what can only be described as a palatial estate once owned by the Medici family. When he married my mother, he promised her that once I graduated from college and after I got my Master's degree that, they would sell their home in Scottsdale and move to Europe. He found a run-down villa in the Italian countryside outside of Florence and for the next five years hired a contractor and had the villa completely restored. They moved there about sixteen years ago right after I met you two lovely ladies."

"But why do you have to contact him."

"I think he knows a lot more about all this than we think. I want to get whatever information I can so I can start what I have to do."

"When do you want to call?"

"Right after breakfast, I'm starved."

It was just before eight o'clock when they finished breakfast and adjourned to the office. The girls were still asleep; so behind the closed door, Jason, looked through his contact information, until he found his father's name and number. He placed the phone on speaker and after several moments of silence, it began to ring.

"Hello, Son. I've been wondering when I was going to get this call."

Jason sat in stunned silence, and only after hearing his father's laughter, began to speak. "Hi Dad, you were expecting me to call; why?"

"Because I know about your search for the lost tribe of the Amazonian's. I have known since before you were born. It was my job to get you started on your quest. Joshua was a true visionary in every sense of the word."

Once again, Jason was speechless.

"Jason, how's it going? How are you? Are you well?"

There was another few moments of silence, and then, Carlita and Maria, could not remain silent any longer, "Hi Mr. Hawke."

"Jason, who was that? It sounded like two voices, very sweet young ladies by the sounds of their voices."

"They are my wives."

"Both of them?"

"It's complicated."

"I can imagine."

"You also have two thirteen-year old granddaughters."

"Let me guess; it's complicated."

"You have no idea. I won't even begin to try to explain about the other complexities in our lives right now."

"Okay, I can deal with that for now, but what should I tell your mother?"

"At this point, just tell her I'm well, extremely happy and as soon as I can get my life settled I'll come see the two of you."

"Alright, I'll try. But now, let's get down to the reason for your call."

"Dad, when I inherited the trust, was there any paperwork that came with it? Any explanations of what it was for and what I was supposed to do with it?"

"Yes, there was, but I was forbidden to share it with you until you contacted me and asked for it. In addition, I was only to give it to you if you accomplished what you set out to do. Did you?"

After looking to Carlita and Maria, and getting their approval, he answered, "Yes, I found the lost tribe."

"You mean you found the actual remnants of their lost civilization?"

"No, I found the tribe itself, or what's left of it. There were seventeen members of the tribe still alive, living in a small valley in the Superstition Mountains."

Now there was only silence coming from the speaker of his phone.

"That's unbelievable. How could they live there all these years and no one ever know it."

"Again, it's complicated. However, you have to promise me, you won't ever say anything to anyone about this, not even to Mom. No one outside of our family can know of their existence. I'm going to need about five more years to do what I believe I have to do. Dad, and for what I'm going to do, I'm going to need lots of money."

There was laughter coming from his father.

"Jason, you have no idea how much you actually have, do you? I'm the one who should be asking you for money."

"No Dad, I'm not asking you for money, just information. I have to have some idea of what funds I'm going to have available to me before I begin planning out what I have to do. Once I start, there will be no turning back; I'll only get one crack at this and I want to do it right."

"Okay, Jason, since you put it that way. When I inherited my trust it was worth a little over $100,000,000, you can assume that yours at that time was about the same. I received access to fifty percent of that amount; while yours remained intact and continued to grow. It takes roughly eight years for an account to double in value based on an average return of nine percent per year. The lower the rate of return the longer it takes. Your trust had an even longer time to grow. When you received access to your trust at age twenty-one, it was worth over $500,000,000. So, assuming that you haven't blown it all on wine, women and song; excuse me, ladies, no offense given, there should still be plenty of money in the trust; probably a lot more than when you first got it."

Jason was stunned, and he could see the astonished looks on the faces of Carlita and Maria.

"Jason, are you still there?" He said with a chuckle. "And then there is the remainder trust; do you know about that?"

"We've uncovered a transcript from Joshua's partner and attorney, which outlined his last will and testament. It was mentioned there, but no real specifics."

"Well, I don't have any specific information on it either. However, if you figure that the remainder deposit just from my trust was fifty million and if they made a ten percent return on the trust assets from then until now, I figure the remainder trust is worth a minimum of two and a half."

"Million?" Jason exclaimed with a touch of disappointment in his voice.

"Not million," he said with a gleeful note in his voice, "Billion, with a 'b'; and if it's anything less, you'd better fire those money managers."

The silence in the room was deafening; the three on them just sat there, trying to imagine all the good that that amount of money could do.

"Jason, Jason, are you still with me?"

After a moment of hesitation, Jason finally found his voice.

"Yeah Dad, I'm still here; just overwhelmed, that's all."

"I'm not surprised. Getting back to why you called. If you remember when we last saw each other, I gave you a small key, which you placed on your key ring if I remember correctly. At that time, I told you that that key could unlock the answers to your questions. It is the key to my safe deposit box at the Wells Fargo branch next to my old office. Your paper work is in that box, along with mine. It should answer all your questions. Good luck with your plans. Call me if you need anything, and for your mother's sake, come visit sooner than later; and don't forget to bring your wives and kids."

After hanging up, he looked across the desk at the two of them and said,

"Could you just imagine the five of us, along with Anna and Summer Rain, and all the others getting off a chartered jet at some private airfield in Italy and me introducing them all as my kids; not to mention you three as my wives. It would kill her for sure."

Maria, didn't bother to answer his hypothetical question, instead replied, "Let's get dressed and head over to the bank. I am dying to see what those documents have to say. They could supply additional information that would fill in any gaps that our search failed to find."

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Chapter Nine: The Contents of the Box Revealed

It took about two hours for the three of them to change, let the kids know where they were going and approximately what time they would return, and drive to downtown Phoenix. At the bank, Jason presented his identification and his key. After waiting another ten minutes, they were led to a small room. The safety deposit box was brought in moments later.

"Take as much time as you need. When you are done, just lock the box and leave it on the desk. Just pick up the phone, it will ring at my desk and I'll come in and retrieve the box."

When they were alone with the box, Jason turned the key and lifted the lid. In the box, there were two large, yellowed with age, envelopes. One was address to Jason, the other to his father.

It was Maria who said, "Let's do this in order; open your father's envelope first."

Jason picked up the envelope and dumped the contents onto the desk. There were two additional envelopes, the first was also yellowed with age; the other, a more contemporary envelope with the name and address of JP Morgan printed on it.

Once again, Jason picked up the older envelope; on the front of the envelope was a single word, written in flowing handwriting, 'SIXTH'. Inside was a single sheet of yellowed paper.

'To Number Six,

'You are the keeper of the knowledge. The others before you had no reason to know anything about the future. Their only responsibility was to produce a male heir. On you, however, falls the heavier burden. You must produce a male heir, and equally important, you must instill in that heir the love of history and the desire to search the past, in order to discover the truth about what happen to my son and his descendants.

'You must keep this secret from him, including the knowledge of what, I assume, will be the immense wealth that he will inherit. For him to know about this before he completes his task will surely impede, and perhaps, thwart his thirst for the knowledge he will need to acquire.

'Therefore you must keep this information from him until he asks for it. In addition, you must be sure that he has completed what he has set out to accomplish before you inform him of his next task.

'He must use the wealth of the remainder trust to provide a home and wellbeing of those he will find, and who he will lead out of the wilderness. I have seen this in a vision and I truly believe that it will be so.'

'The Lord's blessings be onto you, and through his goodness may he give both you and your son the strength to perceiver in completing your assigned tasks.

The letter was signed by Joshua Hawke.

The second envelope contained a detailed statement of the assets held in his trust as of June 30. The total asset value was $101,512,334.07. There was also a detailed set of instructions indicating how he could get access to fifty percent of that value and what would be done with the rest of the funds after his amount was withdrawn. There was also a letter from the Executive Vice President of the company informing him that upon the birth of his first male heir, that he should contact him immediately with his name, social security number, and date of birth. His final instructions were to keep his contact information current so that once his heir turned twenty-one, arrangements could be made to distribute the contents of final trust.

They all sat starring at the unopened second envelope. Maria stood, still holding the letter from Joshua.

"I'm going to get a copy made of this so we don't have to remove your Dad's original from the bank. I'll be right back."

When she returned a few minutes later with the original and a copy for their files, she found Jason holding the second large envelope, which was addressed to him.

His hands were visibly shaking as he broke the seal of the envelope and removed two smaller envelopes, one yellowed with age and the other from the investment company.

After staring at the single word scrawled on the front, 'Seventh', he carefully inserted his finger under the flap and popped it open. He removed the neatly folded pages from the envelope and began to read aloud.

To Number Seven,

To you falls the hardest task of all. You must first search back in time, at least one hundred and twenty years, I figure; learn everything you can about my family and me. Then you have to locate a small tribe of Indians somewhere in the eastern mountains and discover what happen to them, why there were only females and what relationship my son had with them.

If you are reading this letter then I must assume that you have, indeed, accomplished what you first set out to do. Bravo; now comes the hard part. It is you who will lead these female warriors out of the mountains and bring them west to where, exactly, I do not know. I can only assume that it will be to the lands that my second wife lives on. They will be your responsibility. You will have to provide for them until they can provide for themselves. That is why I set up the remainder trust; use it wisely.

As a favor to me, can you please find out all you can about my second son Ezekiel Hawke? I promised his mother that I would never stop searching for him; but I ran out of time. If you learn the truth of his disappearance, please pass that knowledge forward to your descendants so that his life does not get lost forever.

Thank you,

Joshua Hawke

After several moments of silence, Maria said, "That was a little bit of a bummer. We didn't learn anything that we haven't already learned on our own."

Jason picked up the second envelope and carefully opened it. He turned to the summary page and gasped. 'Your Account Valuation is $512,151,928.15.' He slumped back onto his chair as he let the women read the statement.

"And that was over 18 years ago; it could have doubled and doubled again if what your father said was true and the investment managers were any good."

Jason picked up the letter addressed to him from the Chief Executive Officer.

'Jason,

Congratulations on reaching your twenty-first birthday. We have been waiting for this day for over one hundred years. We believe we have done a very good job at maximizing the growth of your trust and still being prudent investors.