Chapter 17: Treasure

As Emil swung open the door on its heavy hinges, he felt a gust of cool, dry air from the interior of the bomb shelter. Diana handed Emil the candle and then brushed past him to crawl through the narrow passage. Although they were on serious business, Emil couldn't resist and gave her tight little behind a pinch just before she disappeared into the dark passage to the shelter.

"Hey!" Diana laughed. "Save that for later."

"You tempted me," protested Emil. "I'm weak in the presence of your beauty."

"If you think my butt is beautiful, squeeze on in here and look at the rest of me." Diana challenged.

Emil handed the candle through the hatch to Diana and then crawled to follow her. It was a difficult fit for him and he was forced to pull himself through on his stomach. Diana had hung the candle on an overhead hook, and as he scanned his surroundings, he saw a room approximately 10 x 20 feet in size with a door in the opposite wall. Most of the floor was stacked to about waist height with plastic equipment boxes, wooden crates, and old military ammunition boxes. The shelves that lined the walls were stocked with neatly arranged bags, cardboard boxes, smaller plastic boxes, and bottles. In one corner a half-dozen small plastic or steel drums stood. They must have just fit through the small hatch into the bomb shelter.

Diana pointed to the back wall. "That door leads to the bunkroom and the toilet. There's more stuff in there too."

"What is all this?" asked Emil, guessing that just about everything in the room would be of great value.

"My grandfather kept his most important things here," answered Diana. "Probably the easiest and most useful for us to take would be his old silver and gold coins, but there are a few other things we might want. Look around."

Cautiously, Emil opened boxes and containers, examining their contents and attempting to decide what might be useful and what might not. In one box he found coils of stainless steel fishing wire, in another, packets of fishhooks and needles. One box contained dozens of folding knives, and another held military-style magnetic compasses. Another crate contained lanterns of a type Emil had never seen.

"What are these?" asked Emil holding one up for Diana to see.

"They're carbide lanterns. Old-time miners used to use them; they run on the stuff that's in that blue drum in the corner. They're nice and bright, we should take a couple."

Emil placed two of the lanterns aside, along with some of the other items he'd already selected, and then continued his exploration. One cardboard box was full of old military topographic maps for all the surrounding area. Emil selected a few of these and set them aside also. There were many other items: bottles of insect repellant, water filters, spools of rope, netting, wire saws, and metal fire starters, but most interestingly, inside one sealed plastic box, there was a leather case containing a pair of high-quality binoculars.

As Emil was examining the binoculars, Diana gave a shriek. "Yes!" she exclaimed. "Here they are."

Emil looked to see Diana tugging at one of a number of large canvas bags that sat on one of the shelves. As it slid from the shelf, it fell heavily to the floor. Diana opened it and reached in to sift a handful of solid silver coins through her fingers. "This should be enough to finance anything we'll need," she smiled triumphantly. "Now aren't you glad you have me?"

Emil went to Diana and drew her to him for a passionate kiss. When at last their lips parted he gazed into her eyes and whispered theatrically, "I was glad I had you before I knew you were so rich. Now I don't think I'll ever be able to keep my hands off you." He laughed a fiendish laugh and then began a tender assault on her throat with little kisses and gentle nibbles.

Diana allowed him a few kisses then wriggled away giggling. "Stop, stop. We've got lots of work to do if we're going to get out of here by dawn."

They worked for the next hour selecting the items they would take and securing them in improvised bundles over the horses' saddles. When they were done, each horse bore a mixed load of about 150 pounds, the greatest portion of that weight being gold and silver coins. Other items of utility were also selected, including heavy blankets, canvas tarps and miscellaneous clothing that had been stored in other parts of the basement. On his last trip into the basement Emil inspected the bunkroom of the bomb shelter and found a rack of bottles along one wall.

"Wine," Diana explained when she saw his look of curiosity. "Let's take a few bottles. It'll be a good change of pace over cider and beer." Emil agreed, so they selected a dozen bottles at random and added them to the horses' load.

After the last of the items had been removed from the bomb shelter, Emil carefully sealed the door and repositioned the boxes that had concealed it. He noted that there were still a lot of valuable items in the basement and in the bomb shelter. Hopefully they'd remain undisturbed until they could make a return trip.

As they ascended the basement stairs, Diana took Emil's hand. "Come on," she urged. "There's one more thing I want to find." She pulled him through the kitchen and along a hallway and then stopped in front of a door. "My bedroom," she said wistfully. "It all seems so long ago."

Slowly she pushed open the door. As she did a tiny tear trickled down her cheek. "It's just the same as it was," she said with a catch in her voice. Then she pulled herself erect and took a deep breath. She laughed sadly. "I'd take some of my old clothes, but it seems that I've grown a bit, particularly in certain places."

"I'm not complaining," laughed Emil as he threw an arm around her waist and drew her toward him.

"You're not complaining, because it's all your fault," she retorted, now smiling again. "Before I met you, I was a tender young virgin."

"I was a virgin too," argued Emil. "As I recall, you're the one who started everything; washing with soap and making me shave and all that kind of nonsense."

"Well, I think I've grown in those special places you like so much because of all the attention you've given them, always petting and kissing. You perverted them and you cause me to want to do strange and naughty things."