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I GUESS I’D LIKE TO head over to the UTV barn now,” Drake said as they stepped into the sunshine.
“Why do I get the idea that today is becoming less about finding tokens and more about snooping around?” Allie asked as she started up the street.
“Hey, we’ve got two already. That’s a great start,” Drake said as he trotted to catch up with her. “Want some water?”
“Sure.”
Drake detoured over to where an old horse watering trough was standing next to the general store. The trough had ice on the bottom and held dozens of plastic bottles of water to the brim.
“Where do you think this pipe goes?” Allie asked.
“Huh?” Drake looked up after extracting two bottles of water. He handed one to Allie and shoved the other into the leg pocket of his cargo pants.
“Look at this setup.”
Next to the trough was a rain barrel. The general store had a section of downspout that dropped from the edge of the gutter and into the rain barrel. Attached to the rain barrel was a section of PVC pipe that was two inches in diameter and was three feet long, with caps on both ends.
“What’s the PVC for, you’re wondering?” Drake asked.
“Yep.”
Drake stepped to the PVC and tried to pull the top cap off, but the cap wouldn’t budge. He got a better grip on it and pulled with enough force that the cap flew into the air and landed in the trough. Allie retrieved it while Drake tried to peer into the pipe.
“See anything?” she asked.
“I can’t tell. Too dark in the pipe. If there is something, it’s way down at the bottom. We need to find a stick or something to probe down to the bottom and check.”
“No, we don’t. Step aside, Duck-man.”
Drake moved to the side, and Allie took his place. Using the pipe’s cap, she scooped water from the rain barrel and poured the liquid down the pipe. She knew she was adding only a couple inches of water at a time, but she scooped cap full after cap full until at last the orange tip of something floated to the top.
“Grab that,” Allie said.
Drake grabbed the item and lifted it out of the water. “It’s a float. Used for fishing. Good job, Allie.”
There was a line attached to the bottom of the float, and when Drake pulled on a line, a small waterproof box came to the surface. Drake opened the box. Inside the box was a small plastic baggie filled with fishing weights and a token.
“Yes!” he said as he grabbed the token. “Now we’ve got three!”
Drake put the box back in the pipe and watched it sink from view. He fed the line in, and soon the float was back in the water as well.
“There’s got to be a way to get the water out of there,” Drake said. He bent over, examined the pipe’s bottom, and discovered a clean out adapter. He unscrewed the adapter and waited for the water to drain out. Once the water stopped, he screwed the pipe back together and returned the cap to the top of the PVC.
“Okay, now let’s go to the barn,” Drake said.
They walked down the street and passed the riding stables and headed to the UTVs. The large door was open, and Drake spotted Mike and Ricky from the pink team and Penny and Cindy of the orange team wandering around the enormous building.
Drake continued to Travis’ office and noticed the door was closed, and when he tried the doorknob, he found it locked. They walked farther into the barn. The twelve marked spaces that held the UTVs took up the front section, and Drake zigzagged through them until he stopped in front of the blue team’s UTV. There were several parts that were taken off and set alongside the vehicle. Two spots from where he was, he found the black team’s UTV. The UTV looked horrible. There wasn’t a spot on it that looked normal. The sides and hood all contained several dents, both seats were torn to shreds, and there was a large puddle of something underneath the left rear tire. He slowly stepped around the vehicle and tried to determine if indeed it had been rammed by another vehicle, or if they were just the victim of an accidental rockslide.
“Spot anything obvious?” Allie asked.
“No. It’s too beat up. Let’s check out the rest of the barn and hopefully find the cache.”
Past the UTVs, Drake and Allie found several parked work vehicles. Among them there was a pickup truck missing an engine, and another up on a lift with missing tires.
“Wow. Take a gander at this,” Allie said. She grabbed Drake’s hand and rushed him across to the far end of the barn.
When she stopped, they were in front of a stagecoach that looked like it belonged in an old western movie.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Travis said as he approached the pair.
“Yes, I love it,” Allie said.
“I’m not supposed to do this, but go on in, take a seat.” Travis opened the door and took Allie’s hand to keep her steady as she climbed the steps and sat down inside. “This is an old Western Concord from around 1890. Bruce bought it at an auction in California and had it shipped here.”
“It’s amazing. Why isn’t it on display?” Allie asked.
“Oh, no, you misunderstand. It’s not meant to be a museum piece. We’re going to use it for guests. Can you imagine riding in that stagecoach pulled by a team of horses?”
“No way.”
“Yep. It will be horse-drawn and everything. The plan is to take it out three times a day for sunrise, noontime, and sunset tours. Each one would come with a meal, of course. I’m just waiting on some brake parts, and it needs another coat of paint, and then it will be ready to go.”
Allie held out a hand, and Travis helped her down. “I hope I can come back when it’s done and go for a ride,” she said.
“We’d love to have you,” Travis answered.
“What’s that over there under the tarp?” Drake asked.
“It’s a road grader,” Travis answered without hesitation.
“Can I look at it?”
Travis shrugged, then approached the grader, and pulled off the tarp.
Unlike the massive machine that he was used to seeing on highways, this grader looked like a baby in comparison. It was an older model, and Drake realized it was well-used, but what he was really interested in was the bucket on the front.
“What’s it used for?” Drake asked.
“I’m sure you’ve been on the maintained trails out there. We use this to do the job. We take it out every six weeks or so to smooth the trails, especially if there’s been rain or high winds.”
Drake kneeled, reached forward, and ran his fingers over the pitted surface of the bucket. “How fast can one of these things go?”
Travis shook his head. “You don’t want to go more than five miles an hour, otherwise the blade will jump, and you’ll get pits and whatnot in the ground.”
“No, I mean, what if you weren’t grading? If you had the blade up?”
Travis scratched his chin as he thought about it. “I’d say right around thirty miles an hour, give or take five.”
“Okay, thanks, Travis. We’d better get back to our search.”
Travis waved and left the couple.
“What was that all about?” Allie asked.
“Remember what Emma said yesterday about being hit? I think this hit them. If it was going full speed, it could certainly disable those little UTVs, and then the bucket could dump the rocks on top so the damage would be harder to identify.”
Allie looked over at the machine. “Yeah, I get what you mean. I bet it pushed the Colliers over the edge, too. But wouldn’t those big tire treads give it away?”
“Nope. See that box behind the back tires? They can put that down and it would wipe away the tracks, and all you’d have in the end is a pristinely groomed trail. Come on, let’s go talk to T.R. again.”
As they made their way to the front of the barn, they caught up with Mike and Ricky, who were just leaving as well.
“Why so glum, chums?” Allie asked when she noticed the frowns on both of their faces.
“Aw, the girls beat us to that one,” Ricky admitted.
As they stepped into the sunlight, Allie tripped. She stuck out her cane and pinwheeled her left arm for balance, but in the end, she fell to the dirt, face first. At the last second, she repositioned her hands and caught most of her weight on her palms.
“Allie!” Drake yelled as he leaned over her. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Allie turned over and sat. “I stepped on a rock and twisted my ankle.”
“You’re bleeding. Help me get her up.”
Ricky and Mike stepped in, and between the three of them, they got Allie back on her unsteady feet. Ricky and Mike held onto Allie while Drake brushed the dirt from her jeans and gave her a once-over for injuries.
“We can carry her to the doctor’s office,” Mike said.
“No, it’s too far. Just take me across the road and put me on that bench,” Allie answered.
Ricky was the largest of the men, so he scooped up Allie into his arms as easy as lifting a bundle of tissue paper. He carried her across the road and placed her gently on the bench next to the schoolhouse.
“You good?” Ricky asked.
“Yes. Thanks, you’re my hero.”
Ricky and Mike took their leave as Drake sat down next to Allie. “How bad are you hurt?”
“Other than the stigmata, you mean?” Allie held her palms up and Drake noticed blood where stones had pierced her flesh.
“You’ve got a cut on your forehead, too. I’m going to run down to the doctor’s office and get you something to clean you up.”
“What about talking to T.R.?”
“Allie, that can wait. I’ll be right back, okay? Don’t talk to any strangers.”
“There’s no one here any stranger than you.”
Drake rolled his eyes at the often-heard remark, and without another word, Drake jogged off toward the doctor. A few minutes later, Allie saw Dr. Liz pushing a wheelchair up the street.
“You can’t get enough of me, can you?” Dr. Liz said when she got to Allie.
Allie smiled. “I guess not.”
Dr. Liz had a plastic tub of medical supplies in the wheelchair, and from it she took a large bottle of saline and opened it, then she unwrapped some gauze pads. She wet the pads with the water.
“Tip your head back. I’m going to wipe off your forehead first. This might sting a little.”
Allie sat still while the doctor did her thing.
“It’s only a minor cut. It stopped bleeding already. Let me see your hands.”
Allie held out her hands, and the doctor examined them. The left one wasn’t so bad, and Liz easily washed it clean. The right one, however, was a different story. From inside her coat, she extracted a pair of magnifying glasses and put them on.
Allie giggled. “You look silly.”
“Hold still, you’ve got some embedded particles here, and I need to tweeze them out. This may sting a bit.”
Allie held her hand as still as possible, and Dr. Liz leaned over and started her work. Allie grimaced when the doctor removed the first particle and flinched when she dug for the second.
“Hold still, I’m almost done.”
Dr. Liz got even closer to Allie’s hand, spread her wound, and went in with the tweezers.
Allie screamed and pulled her hand away. “Hey! That stung!”
“I warned you it could. Come on, let me see it again. I want to make sure I got it all.”
Allie was tentative, but she held up her hand.
Dr. Liz gently took it, looked it over, then washed it off with the saline. “I think you’re good. Drake said you twisted your ankle.”
Allie waved it off. “It’s nothing. I simply stepped on a rock and lost my balance.”
“Can you stand?”
Allie got to her feet, took a step, then immediately retreated, and sat back down.
“Sit over here.” Dr. Liz removed the plastic bucket from the wheelchair and put it on the bench beside her, then helped Allie into the wheelchair and raised the right leg. She removed Allie’s shoe and sock and examined her ankle. “No redness, no swelling. I think you’ll survive.”
Dr. Liz helped Allie redress, then had Allie stand and walk around a little. It took Allie a couple of minutes, but eventually she got her normal stride back and returned to the bench.
“See, I told you,” Dr. Liz said. “Just be careful with it the rest of the day, okay?”
“I will, thank you.”
“Do you want to keep the wheelchair?”
“No, I’ll be fine with just the cane. I’ll send Drake for it if I really need to. Where is Drake, by the way?”
“Once I said I’d come over and look at you, he said he needed to go over to see T.R. about something. I hope you’re not too hard on him.”
“Why would I be? You’re much better qualified to help me out than he is.”
Liz nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I am. I’d better get back. Good luck with your finds. I’m rooting for you.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
Allie watched as the doctor gathered up all her gear and pushed the wheelchair away and waited for Drake to return. In the meantime, she watched as the other teams moved from building to building. From where she sat, she had an excellent view of the UTV barn, the riding stables, the schoolhouse, the general store, and the church.
She was looking toward her left, watching the yellow team enter the church, when she felt someone sit down next to her. She thought it might be Drake returning, but when she turned her head, she saw Geneva.
“Hey you!” Geneva said. “Taking a rest?”
“Yeah. I took a bit of a tumble, so I’m on timeout for a few minutes. At least until Drake returns from wherever he ran off to. What are you up to?”
“Ingrid had to make a pit stop, and I noticed you over here alone, so I thought I’d keep you company. Have you found any tokens so far?”
“Only three.”
“Three, wow. That’s great. We only have one. It seems everywhere we go; someone grabs it ahead of us. Where’d you find your three?”
Allie was hesitant to share her secret. After all, it was a competition. In the end, she relented. “Restaurant, jail, and the rain barrel next to the general store. I think the ones in the doctor’s office and the UTV barn are gone, too.”
Geneva nodded. “Yep. We found the cache in the UTV barn. Took us a good ten minutes to figure out how to open it, only to find that the token was already gone. Talk about frustrating. We found ours at the bank. Other than that, we searched everywhere you have.”
“I’m surprised these are so hard to find. Usually, the thing about gadget caches is that they’re easy to find, but hard to open.”
“I said the same thing to Ingrid. Every gadget cache I’ve found in the wild has always been a fake birdhouse. Drake’s coming back.”
Allie looked down the street and saw him headed straight for them. “You want me to leave you two alone?”
Geneva laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous. I thought he wasn’t your type.”
“No. He’s not. He’s kinda dull-witted, not very smart, impatient, and often smells like overripe fruit,” Allie said.
Drake protested. “Hey, I’m standing right here, you know. I can hear you.”
“And he’s over-sensitive,” Allie added, then laughed, soon joined by Geneva and Drake.
“Did the doctor check you out?” Drake asked with serious concern in his voice.
“Yep. She cleaned me up and gave me the green light. I’m ready to rock whenever you are.”
“Where to next?”
Allie pointed off to the north. “I think it’s time we went to church. Since I’ve been sitting here, I’ve seen three teams go in and out quickly. So, I think either that one’s really easy and we can discount it pretty fast, or it’s too hard and no one’s found it yet.”
“Sounds logical to me. Are you good, Geneva?”
“Oh, yes. I’m just waiting for Ingrid to return. You two go on. No need to wait on me.”
Drake and Allie headed for the church and stopped when they got in front of it. The church was small and had the same A-frame design as the school. The only thing that set the two buildings apart was the bell tower in the church.
“Wait,” Allie said. She walked over to the sign in front of the church’s main door, which was really an outside message center. The frame was painted green, and along the top were white letters that said ‘Cacheland Church’. The sign was divided into two sections, each with its own acrylic door.
“Welcome to Cacheland. Non-denominational services Sun eight a.m.,” Allie read aloud.
“Yeah? So?”
“So why did they put that on only one side of the sign? They could have easily spread the message out.”
Allie limped over to the right-hand side of the sign. Since it was see-through, it appeared to be an empty corkboard behind the acrylic. When she opened the door, the corkboard swung free and revealed an outline of the church created in a heavy copper wire. At the bottom left-hand side of the church was a handle with a loose loop around the copper wire. In the middle of the clock tower was a red button, and beneath that was a digital display. In the sign’s corner was a small metal box secured with a four-digit padlock.
“There are instructions here,” Drake said. “Push the button to begin. Touch the wand at the bottom to start. Move the magic wand from one end to the other without touching the coil, touch the end of the maze, and it will display the answer to you.”
Allie pushed the red button, and the display flashed green zeroes. She moved the wand, but only got an inch before it touched the copper wire. The display beeped and showed red zeroes and then shut off.
“You’d be better at this than me,” Allie said as she stepped aside and made way for Drake.
Drake stepped in, hit the red button. On his first turn, he got to the top of the bell tower before he slipped and got the red light.
“Hurry, the Beasleys are coming over,” Allie said.
Drake returned the wand to the start position and tried again. This time he got three-quarters of the way through before he erred.
“Our turn,” Ben said.
Drake and Ben traded places, and Ben tried for the first time. Like Allie, he only made it an inch before the machine shut off.
Drake got back into position, took a deep breath, and restarted the machine. This time, he blocked everything else out, concentrated, and moved the wand at a snail’s pace around the outline. At last, he got to the end, touched the end position, and the display beeped and displayed four numbers.
“Three one four seven,” Allie said.
Drake adjusted the numbers on the padlock, pulled, and heard the pleasant sound of the lock coming free. He removed the lock, opened the box, and retrieved the token from inside.
“Nice job, Drake,” Ben said as he clapped him on the back.
Drake locked the box and returned the puzzle to the starting position, then stepped back and closed the door.
“Well, that was a fun one. Where to next?”
