Getting to the end

The treasure would be mine, I had to see to that personally. I have been all over the world in search of the ancient and mysterious. All to say, if the black market could verify its age, then someone would buy it. 

This new find was given to me by a museum that had heard of my talents at acquiring the rare and old. I have sought three hundred and seventy five rare artifacts and always I have gone looking for more. Any time my wallet felt light, back into the field I would go. However, this newest contract came with a special bonus if I could retrieve the artifact within the time limit of two months. The Museum of London would ask the Queen to bestow a knighthood upon me, and one of the benefits of that was a plot of land with a home out in the countryside.

I was not the only one after this prize though. I had run into a few of my competitors in the curator’s office, David Kooper, Lance Runner, Klein Smith, and Florence Lincoln.  They are all like me, we are all mercenary treasure hunters, all looking for the ticket for the easy life. 

We were all briefed in a group and we were all offered the same prize. So the treasure that we are after must be incredibly difficult to retrieve if it requires so many to go after it. We were given a location of where we might find it and a vague description of what it was we were supposed to be looking for. 

The object in question was a small golden box about the size of a cigarette holder. Inside the box laid a card that had simple writing on it. 

“Bypass the line.”

That was all the description that he would give. I could only guess as to what it could mean, but if it was worth a knighthood, then I cared not to worry about it too much. 

The location was a bit odd, because it supposedly could be anywhere in northern Britain and Scotland. Somewhere underground, in a cave or a bunker, or a basement, under ice, in a mausoleum. Though the man was very certain to say that it was not in a graveyard. Ah, well just one less place to look. There were only so many places that met the preset conditions. Basically the treasure was going to be in a place of honor that would be very difficult to find.

Me and the others were a little confused by the lack of information. Usually curators had their information tight and were our first sources before we would go searching ancient ruins. I know that I would hit up libraries and learn as much as I could before heading out into the field. Each one of us could hold our own in Jeopardy history.

“Do you have any other information to go on, like the name of who last had the box?” Klein Smith had earned a double degree before coming out to the field. Astronomy and Greechen History. He had been responsible for the five of the six latest discoveries about Alexander the Great.

“The only name that we have to go by is McClang. He was a Scottish lord that owned many places in the north. He and his descendents are some of the most numerous people in that part of the country.” The curator answered.

“You could be a little more specific with where the small box may be?” That was Lance Runner. The man was incredibly well built. He had fame not only chasing artifacts, but also winning marathons and bicycle races.

“No, I am sorry.”

“I am guessing that there are no living relatives that might know where the box is?” Florence Lincoln, or Flo, asked. Her dainty size belied her true strength. There had been many times that she and I had been after the same treasure. I had gotten to it first and she had stolen it away from me the night before I could get it to its destination. She was as tricky as she was beautiful, and she was very beautiful.

“There could be as many as thirty or so. Here is a list of names of the owners of the paintings that feature the box.” The curator answered as he handed out papers to the group.

“Is there a certain time that you want this?” David Kooper asked. “Usually there is only a need for one of us with a contract like this but to call up five is very unusual.” Kooper was on top of his game as usual. He was a bit older than the rest of us but he demanded nothing but the best from each of us. Afterall, he did mentor all of us in the room at one time or another, til we all went different ways.

“I won’t hide it, as I am sure that you are all aware the queen has not been in the best of health recently. She is afraid of death and wishes to see this last memento before she dies.”

The room fell silent for a moment as we took a moment of silence for the queen.

“Devin?” Kooper caught my attention with my name. Oh yes, I suppose I forgot to introduce myself. I am Devin McKing. I am the youngest of the group and probably the one that could be considered the still protege of Kooper. 

“Do we all get the promised reward, since you are presenting this to all of us at the same time?” I asked. I often thought that if the artifact was valuable enough to ask for a team effort, then it was worth it to all receive the same reward. Naive? Maybe. But I could see the eyes of the other seekers look upon me with a new light. Then they turned their gaze toward the curator.

“If you all return with the artifact in hand at the same time then, yes, you will all receive the same. Title and lordship over a small piece of land in the northern part of the kingdom.