CHAPTER 23

A boy, younger than me, was manning the oar.

A guy, probably in his twenties, decked out in full safari gear with a video camera propped on his shoulder, was perched up in the bow.

“Bravo, Tommy!” said the guy with the camera. “Awesome action sequence, man! Got it all on tape. We’ll use it in the first episode, fer shure.”

“Who the heck are you?” Beck shouted out our open seaplane door. “And how did you know Tommy’s name?”

“Indeed,” said Dad. “I was about to ask the same two questions.”

While Dad was smiling out the window at our visitors to his left, his right hand was slowly snapping open a secret compartment in the cockpit floor.

I’m guessing that’s where he’d asked George the spy to stow some kind of defensive weapon in case we encountered hostilities on our hop down to Peru. Dad’s big on hiding stuff in strange places on board all our planes, boats, and motorized vehicles. The main mast on the Lost? These days, that’s where Dad hides his antique jousting lance—just in case.

“I’m a really big fan,” said the camera guy, bobbing up and down in the bow of the canoe. “Big, big fan. I know all about you Kidds and your treasure-hunting adventures, because I work for my father’s most popular TV show.”

He ran a hand across the sky like he was reading a billboard and said: “Nathan Collier’s Treasure Trove of Treasure-Hunting Treasure Hunters.” This big hocking class ring he was wearing sparkled in the sun.

It was a horrible title for a TV show. Not just because it repeated itself. Nope. What made it super-stinky was the first part: Nathan Collier!

Tommy angrily narrowed his eyes. “Collier.” He choked out the word, especially that K sound.

“That’s right. I’m his oldest son, Chet Collier.”

“Collier,” Tommy said again. This time, he spat out the K.

“Whoa!” said Chet. “Ease up, dude. I know you guys and my dad have had your differences in the past.”

“That, my friend,” said our father, “would be an understatement.”

For years, Nathan Collier has been our mom and dad’s number-one nemesis. Their supervillain archrival. Collier is another treasure hunter who is forever trying to snatch their finds out from under them or take credit for their discoveries because he isn’t very good at bringing anything up from a dive besides kelp-covered rubber boots. But Collier looks good on TV—with a slick smile and even slicker hair.

Nathan Collier hosted a whole bunch of shows on something called the Adventure Channel. It’s one of the lesser-known cable networks. Right up there with the Watching-Paint-Dry Channel.

“Dad’s turned over a new leaf,” said Chet Collier.

“Why?” snarled Tommy. “Did he see somebody else under a palm tree turning over leaves and decide to steal their idea?”

“It’s just an expression, dude. Means he’s changed. He’s not the creepy sleezoid I knew when I was young. He’s mellowed, man. Thinks you Kidds are the world’s greatest treasure hunters.”

“Is that so?” muttered Dad skeptically.

“Totally!” said Chet. “That’s why he sent me here to produce our brand-new TV special: The Kidd Family Treasure Hunters!”

“Wait a second,” said Tommy, his snarl relaxing into something resembling a quizzical smile. “You want to turn us into TV stars?”

“Exactly. And Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“Just between you and me, bro? Chicks dig TV stars!”