Run

The night air was warm and moist as the fireflies sparkled above the swamp, their yellow green light reflecting in the water. The spotlight bore a hole through the darkness and way off in the distance you could see the eerie glow of the gator's eyes reflecting the light back from great distances.  Every man in the boat had a light layer of sweat on their skin but the warm moist breeze wasn't very refreshing.

"There it is. move the spotlight back to the right." a very thin green stripe appeared out of the darkness and they headed toward it in a very slow pace. The water was very shallow here and cypress knees and trees where everywhere. The old 75 Evinrude was pulled up out of the water and locked in position. All you could hear was the wildlife and the hum of the trolling motor, the men themselves were frozen in position except for the spotlight and trolling motor operators. As they slowly weaved in and out of the trees the thin green strip would disappear as the trees blocked it.

They had been using the trolling motor for 20 minutes now and they still had 10 min to go before they reached their goal. Terry had picked this spot for this exact reason and during the day you could be within three feet of the marked tree and not see the thin strips of reflective tape pressed between the bark unless you were looking at it strait on. Out here everything looked the same and even the most seasoned men stayed out of this area for that exact reason. Not because you would get lost but because you could throw a buoy out and you might not be able to find it the next day. Terry knew if he came here in the daylight he wouldn't be able to find the tree he had marked.

They finally got to the tree "Get out of the way." Terry stated flatly to one of the younger guys. The guy move and Terry laid on the bow and plunged both hands down into the water. he grabbed the rope tied under the water to the cypress root and cut the green parachute cord with his knife. he kept the rope rapped around his hand as he throw the knife up on the bow. This was a two hand job and you could see Terry muscles straining to pull the rope up. even with all five of them in the boat the bow sunk down a good couple of inches and he dropped the rubber satchel onto the bow with a thud.

"Lets Go" Terry said as he stood up and walked back and sit down. The rest of the men followed suit and the guy that had been shining the spot light turned it off and flipped a switch on the console and spotlights lit up the water and everything around it. The man on the trolling motor turned it into high gear and they got out of the shallows as fast as possible. finally they were in deeper water and the Evinrude roared to life and the other guys adjusted the spot light so they could travel at higher speeds.

two hours later they were moored at the dock. It took four of them to get it out of the boat and two to carry it to the shack. Terry had already done his piece so he didn't help them. They dropped the package on the floor and Terries breath caught in his throat. "What the hell are you doing? If that goes through the floor, it will take a crane to get it out of the mud. Do you see a crane out here?"

When they backed away from the package it had so much green parachute cord rapped around it that you could just see the corners of the green rubber bag sticking out. Terry made sure they were not going to loose this after all the trouble they had gone through. He pulled out his knife and started cutting away the cords. They had already seen the contents of the bag before but they still gathered around like children to catch the magnificence again. one of the guys was so close that Terry elbowed him in the shin just so he had enough room to get the ropes off. finally the last rope came off.

Even Terry held his breath as he unfolded the bag. He grabbed the bottom of the bag and the rubber stretched under the weight of the object as he struggled to dump it out. They heard the metallic clunk of the Gold as eight gold bars worth four million dollars settled in all their glory on the dusty wooden floor. The bars glittered as little drops of water beaded on top

Terry took two bars off the floor "Well, I hope I never see any of you again." and he headed for the door. He put both gold bars on the passenger floor and within minutes he was driving down the two lane with water on both sides. Less then an hour later he was back on I-49. The gold had been hidden one place or another for 9 months and none of them had been approached by the cops or anyone else for that matter.

Terry was taking his and getting as far as he could away from here. He had learned at a young age that if you lucked into something you better run as fast as you could before fate took it away. The sky turned pink and within 20 min the sun was breaking the horizon. Terry was in a good mood of course how could you not be with a cool mil setting beside you. He was making good time and with any luck he would be in Shreveport about one. He stayed  5 miles below the speed limit all the way to Lafayette and hit town during rush hour but he was still making good time sticking to the inside lane.

A Semi had plenty of room in front of him and came over into his lane. suddenly Terries hands tightened on the steering wheel as he looked into the mirror. Right on his bumper was Louisiana Highway Patrol. Terry had known he would see cops but hoe in the hell did Highway Patrol end up on his rear bumper in this traffic. "Dimmit" he muttered under his breath as he tried to relax. Too late his mind was going a thousand miles a minute. did someone else get caught and traded him off. Had he not used his blinker. Was this Patrolman calling him in right this minute. He didn't see him talking on the radio but that didn't mean anything. Damn, Damn, Damn. was all he could think.

They started speeding up as traffic thinned out, and Terry prayed as he turned on his right blinker and slowly slid over into the middle lane. Terry's heart stopped when the Police Officer maintained his speed and stayed off Terry's left bumper. Terry was starting to sweat and all he could think about was that cop car.

Terry saw something out of his peripheral vision on his right side and then heard the crash as the semi beside him hit his truck. His truck was like a toy as it rolled onto it's side right in front of his police car. Terry heard metal  crunch, tires squeal and glass shatter all at once.

Terry woke up in the ambulance before he passed out again. The next time he woke up he was in a hospital room and he felt like crap. The nurse walked in "Well hello  Mr. Vane. Don't try to move you've been in a serious accident. Are you in pain?" Terry shook his head yes and the nurse came back about five minutes later with a syringe and administered the content into his thigh.

When he woke up next two police officers were in his room. Well you done it now Terry thought as they came up to his bed. Mr. Vane, We'd like to ask you some questions. Terry nodded yes.

When the officers left tears came to Terry's eyes. Terry never saw the inside of a jail cell or his four comrades or those two bars of gold again. The Gold was never found. Well maybe.