Rachel loved this little clearing and didn’t want to move. The companionship she felt with Adam sitting next to her was something she’d never experienced before. She leaned her head on his shoulder and listened to the river.

The peace was shattered by his phone ringing. He answered with a terse, “What Beau?”

He listened. “On grandma’s bench.”

He nodded. “We’ll meet you in my house clearing.”

Hanging up the phone he turned to Rachel. “They’re going to bring the horses down in a few minutes. Want to go see the rest?”

She really didn’t want to move, but she smiled at him. “Sure, just a couple more pictures.” She took pictures of the river from the bench and a few of the various wildflowers. She wanted to remember the peace she’d felt in this spot, pictures wouldn’t do it justice, but they would help remind her.

Adam led the way down a different path that ran perpendicular to the river and away from it. They came out of the trees and went up a slight hill to a nice large clearing. “Oh, this is great. You can see all the way over to the national forest area, can’t you?”

“Yes, I like the view.”

She laughed. “Me, too.” She took pictures of the clearing as he explained his ideas for building. Then she put on the telephoto lens and took pictures of the mountains in the distance. A small black object came into view and she zoomed in on it and gasped.

“What is it?” Adam asked.

“The drone. I’m going to try to follow its movements with my camera.” She started taking pictures as it moved.

“It’s heading toward the national forest I think.” She kept her lens zoomed in enough to follow it but far enough out to be able to see it’s trajectory.

“Yes, it’s going further away. I hope I don’t lose it in the trees. No, it’s going higher to avoid them.”

Beau and Alyssa rode up, but she didn’t take her eyes off the drone.

“Rachel has the drone in her sights and she’s following its path,” Adam said.

Beau replied, “Good maybe she can see where it goes. We could follow it on the horses.”

“Oh! It’s heading up that mountain. The flat one.” Rachel cried out.

Adam groaned. “The plateau? Well, hell, that makes sense. I saw a tent up there a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was kind of an odd place to camp but didn’t think that much about it.”

Rachel couldn’t see the drone any longer, it had either landed or gone over the other side of the mountain. She put her camera down. “I don’t see it anymore.”

Alyssa said, “Let’s go check it out.”

Adam shook his head. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, I don’t think you girls should go.”

“Phffft.” Alyssa said as she reigned her horse around. “I’m not worried. I’m going.”

Beau shrugged.

Adam frowned, clearly not on board with the idea of them going to check it out. “But what if the guy is armed? Or dangerous.”

Alyssa said, “We can be quiet and observe the camp from a distance with Rachel’s camera and if he looks armed and dangerous we can call the cops to come deal with him.”

Beau nodded. “We could probably do that, we know that mountain pretty well from the days we used to camp—or more recently—drink up there.”

Adam rubbed his chin. “We could come in from the north, the tent I saw faced south and was on the west side close to where you can see the ranch. Okay let’s give it a try, but if it looks dangerous we stop and head straight back to the ranch. We can call Drew.”

Beau nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

Rachel had been listening to this exchange as she looked through the pictures she’d taken of the drone. “I think it has cameras on it.”

Adam frowned. “Let me see.”

She zoomed into the area she thought held the cameras and showed it to Adam who passed it to Beau and finally Alyssa. Waiting to see if they agreed with her and wondering why someone would mount cameras on a drone. Flying over the ranch and taking pictures seemed like a kind of strange activity.

Adam nodded. “I think you’re right. That seems kind of odd.”

Rachel looked at him. “That’s what I thought, too.”

“Come on let’s go investigate,” Alyssa said.

Everyone nodded and mounted their horses.

* * *

Adam wasn’t sure this was the wisest course of action, but he’d been out voted. They rode out into the clearing and headed north, even though the most direct route would have been straight west. But if the person was on the plateau he or she would be able to see them coming and hide. So, by going north they could go into the trees where they couldn’t be seen from the plateau, because it had trees of its own on the north side.

He wondered if he should call his brother or the police station and let them know what they were doing. But decided if it was just one person which is what the camping spot had indicated, they should be fine. And if the person looked armed or dangerous, they didn’t have to confront him.

They raced across the pasture both the humans and the horses enjoying the run. It didn’t take them long to get far enough north to enter the trees.

Adam said, “We can go in here and take the horses up for a bit. When we get close we’ll tie them up and go in on foot.”

Beau nodded. “I agree with that plan.”

Rachel suggested, “We could just act like we’re on a hike and see if he’ll chat with us.”

“Yeah, that way it won’t get him all upset. Well as long as he doesn’t look crazy or something. If that’s the case we book it down the mountain and call the cops,” Alyssa said.

Adam agreed, “Sounds like a plan.” They all nodded their agreement.

They followed a path up the mountain until they knew they were getting close, so they tied off the horses next to a tiny stream where there was some grass growing and went the rest of the way on foot.

When they reached the top of the plateau they went quietly through the trees until they could see the camping area. There was a single man sitting on a rock holding the drone. It looked like he might be looking at the cameras strapped to the thing. There was nothing else near him. No firearms to be seen. He was dressed in jeans, a plaid shirt and hiking boots. He wasn’t a big guy, in fact he looked kind of nerdy.

Adam motioned that he was going to go around to the side, so they could come in from two angles. Beau nodded. Rachel followed him, and he decided that was a good idea to go in as two pairs.

When he got in position he waved at Beau, took Rachel’s hand and they walked into the clearing as if they were on a hike. Alyssa and Beau did the same. The man was so busy looking at his drone’s camera that he didn’t notice them until they were right on top of him.

Adam said, “Hello, what’cha got there, friend?”

The man startled and looked up. Adam saw him glance down at an old paper. He kind of turned his body as if to shield it.

Adam thought the paper looked vaguely familiar but didn’t want to stare at it and make the guy more uncomfortable, so he plastered a smile on his face. “I’m Adam Kipling, this is my girlfriend, Rachel. Those two are my brother Beau and his fiancé Alyssa. And you are?”

Adam stood there waiting to see what the guy was going to do. It took him a couple of minutes before he finally said, “I’m Pete, just doing some camping in the national forest. Nothing wrong with that.”

Adam nodded. “Nope, not at all. We used to camp up here all the time when we were kids and thought we were going on a grand adventure. Had some keggers up here, a time or two as we got older. Last one was about five years ago when a buddy was getting ready to join the pro-rodeo circuit. Good times.”

As Adam blabbed on he saw the guy relax a bit. Adam noticed Beau had shifted a little while Adam kept the guy’s attention on him. From where he was now standing Adam thought Beau might be able to get a better look at the paper the guy was hiding.

Adam continued to distract the guy. “Have you done any camping further into the forest? There are some great trails and much prettier scenery to the north a bit. Here you can’t see much besides our ranch.”

“Not yet, I’ll probably venture in further, trying out some new equipment first.”

Adam nodded. “Like that drone, I suspect. Seen it a time or two on the ranch. About beaned me and my horse one time.” He chuckled. “Scared the living daylights out of my horse. Nearly ended up walking back, but the girls came and rescued me.”

“Oh, uh, sorry about that. Darn thing has a mind of its own sometimes and gets away from me.”

What a pile of horse shit, the guy was spewing, but Adam plastered a grin on his face. “Yes, sir. I imagine it takes some skill to learn to fly one. I’ve not played with one myself. Always looked like fun though.”

Pete said, “I’m getting the hang of it now.”

Suddenly a grin lit up Beau’s face. He looked like he might bust a gut, he was trying so hard not to laugh.

He reached down and picked up the paper. “Hey man, where in the hell did you get a copy of this birthday party treasure map? I haven’t seen one in years.”

“Give me that, it’s mine.” Beau handed it right over to him, still grinning. “What do you mean birthday party?”

Beau didn’t answer him directly. “Adam, this guy has a copy of the treasure map we put together for the twins when they were ten, haven’t seen a copy in a good fifteen years.”

“No, I don’t. This is much too old to be only fifteen years old.”

Adam stepped closer and peered at the paper. “Sure does look like the one we made.” He turned to Pete. “We researched how to make paper look old, worked on it about a month. The twins wanted an Indiana Jones birthday, so we came up with the idea of a treasure map and wanted it to look realistic.”

“I don’t believe you,” Pete said. “You’re trying to trick me.”

“Nope, no need to do that. Have you figured out what the markings on the back are.” Adam was grinning now, too.

Pete shook his head.

Adam put his hand out. “Mind if I show you? I’ll give it right back.”

Curiosity won out over mistrust and the man handed the paper to Adam. He quickly folded it in a few places and handed the finished product back to Pete.

Pete looked at it. “Well hell. It’s a frigging birthday cake with a number ten on the top and the initials CC.”

Beau nodded. “The twins Chase and Cade were ten years old. The treasure was cake and ice cream and their presents, and a small chest of gold foil covered chocolate coins for each of them. That looks like the treasure chests on the front of the map. The folded part is a nod to our mother’s favorite romance movie.”

Pete’s face had turned red. “Do you mean to tell me, I’ve been on this damn table mountain for three months, sending my drone all over your land looking for the exact spot this map indicates and it was for a children’s party? God damn it all to hell.”

Adam nodded and waved his hand toward their ranch. “Afraid so, my friend. No real treasure is on that land unless you count the cows or the hay.”

Beau interjected, “There are some stories of lost gold or gold mines to the north or west about 50 miles, or Gilpin county has its fair share, but nothing around here. No train robberies, no gold mines, nothing exciting. Believe me with five boys in the family we tried to find any hint of something to search for and came up with nothing. Not even an old arrow tip.”

Pete dropped the treasure map to the ground and started packing up his gear. Beau looked at Adam and lifted an eyebrow. Adam gave him a slight head shake; the guy had already been punished enough—in his opinion—no need to press charges.

Beau nodded. “Want some help packing up?”

“No thanks. I’m too pissed to be good company.”

Beau shrugged. “I can understand that, well good luck on your next attempt.”

Adam asked, “Do you mind if we take the map back? The twins might get a kick out of seeing it again.”

“Nope, feel free.” Pete grumbled between clenched teeth.

Adam swooped it up, and they all turned to leave, hiding their smiles so it didn’t piss the guy off even more. When they got back to the horses they laughed and talked about it as they rode back to the house. Dinner that night was uproarious as they told the story and passed the treasure map around.

Adam was relieved the mystery was solved and no one had gotten hurt. Even though the guy was trying to steal from them, he still found himself feeling a little sorry for him. He could imagine the anticipation of finding a big treasure, working for weeks toward that goal, and then finding out it was a fake.