This is a work of fiction any similarities between the characters, events, or locations in this story and actual locations, events, or people are purely coincidental.
© 2004 Warlord
Dan returned with the metal detector. It was the deluxe model detector with tone and meter. It even had earphones. The sound would alert us and the meter would allow us to delineate the size of the “hit.”
Dan asked, “Where shall we start?”
Krista answered, “Let’s go back to the stable. First, unload everything from the trailer. Then search the livery stable with the detector.”
“Do we need some tools?”
“No, I brought mine from home, they’re in the trailer.”
We all piled into Dan’s pick up. Krista had to sit on my lap. Okay, Krista decided that she wanted to sit on my lap. I was loath to dissuade her.
We pulled up in front of the old livery stable. Dan unlocked the combination lock and swung open the big door. Jan slid behind the wheel long enough to pull the truck inside. Dan swung the door shut.
There was light from the afternoon sun coming in the dirty dusty windows.
Jan looked around and said, “Christ, this is so dirty. I bet the horseshit is gold rush original!”
Dan said, “Yep, that’s why it worked.”
Krista threw open the side doors on her four horse trailer. We started transferring items to the back of the pick up. The pick up had a shell over the bed. That provided enough cover for our trip back to the B&B.
They started hauling out my tools. Dan saw the battery powered drill and the several large toolboxes. He started laughing. ”Were you planning on problems?”
“You know me. Mister Obsessive. Can’t have too many tools.”
With all the jocularity the unloading was quickly done. I hauled out a couple of powerful spotlights that I plugged in the cigarette lighters in the two trucks. Jan and Krista each grabbed a light. Dan grabbed the detector. I had a long thin piece of welding rod to use as a probe.
Dan worked carefully around the edges of the barn. We found several bottle caps. We also found some badly rusted metal pieces that were unrecognizable but still magnetic.
Dan reached the last stall. At some point this stall was converted to hold tack and saddles instead of livestock. There was even an ancient McClellan saddle on a peg surrounded by dusty bridles. Krista yelped and pulled his arm. We all stopped as she said;
“This is the spot. We would have done this. We wouldn’t want horses pissing on the ground above our stash.”
We were stunned. I got a little light headed. I held on a post for a minute. Dan said:
“Look, there’s a wood floor in this stall.”
We verified; none of the other stalls had a wood floor. The storeroom and the office had floors. Jan and Krista quickly cleared the tack out of the stall. Dan walked in with the detector. He yelled as he pulled off the earphones:
“Holy Fucking Shit, I just pegged the meter and the tone is deafening.”
I grabbed the broom out of the trailer and swept the stall floor. Then I examined the floor using the strongest spotlight. I used a rag to wipe away the last of the accumulated grime. My three companions stood patiently waiting for my verdict. I stood up and said, “We put this floor in here.”
Dan asked, “How the fuck do you figure?”
“Torx.”
“NO SHIT?”
Dan grabbed the light and crawled around the floor of the stall. Krista and Jan were becoming increasingly agitated. Jan got right in my face!
I remembered something. In the bad old days before Dan found his center with martial arts. Dan used to trash a bar or two just for fun. Even the cops were terrified of him. Jan used to wade into the wreckage and drag Dan out by his ear. She could be formidable when she was pissed and right now she was pissed.
“WELL? Are one of you assholes going to share your secret with the rest of us?”
I put my arms around her and hugged.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be an asshole. It’s a little overwhelming. I wanted Dan to make sure before I blathered.”
Dan stuck his head out of the stall.
“Go ahead and blather. This floor is held down by Torx.”
I put my hand over Jan’s mouth before she could erupt. I led her and Krista to my toolboxes. I threw the one up on the tailgate that housed my drill. I flipped it open. I held up a Torx sheetrock screw.
“This is a Torx screw. There are no slots. A regular screw or a Phillips has slots. The Torx head is recessed and uses a special driver almost like an Allen wrench. Like this one.”
I held up the screws and drivers for them. I gave them regular screws and drivers to examine and compare to the Torx.
“Okay ladies -- the kicker. As near as I can tell, Torx was invented and became widely used after 1960 or there abouts. This floor either was installed recently OR somebody transported modern technology back and used it to install this floor in frontier times.”
Jan yelled loudly. She threw her arms around me to give me a sloppy kiss. Then Krista kissed me. Then both of them kissed Dan. Dan said, “You kiss me, W., and I put you flat on your ass.”
Krista and Jan grabbed the lights. They examined the flooring. Krista said, “There is no good reason to build this floor with these Torx things except as a message to us.”
Jan and Dan nodded in agreement. I grabbed my battery powered electric drill. I put in the Torx screw bit that I use for sheetrock screws. No surprise! It was exactly the right one. I backed out the screws. Of course they were sheetrock screws. As I loosened and released boards, I handed them to Jan and Krista.
I showed them the screws when I was completed. Chrome plated sheetrock screws with Torx drive heads. I said, “Wild Bill never had any of these babies.”
Krista grabbed the folding shovel out of the horse trailer. She began scooping dirt out of the stall floor revealed by removing the flooring. About six inches down she struck the first piece of plastic sheeting. Then six inches below that another plastic sheeting covered the stall floor.
Jan was using Dan’s Swiss Army knife to cut through the plastic. Dan turned to me.
“The plastic would be easy to transport. We just need one or two big horse drawn wagons for all the crap we need. The plastic tucks in anywhere. How were you planning to keep your drill motor batteries charged?”
“Solar panels to a battery charger, I suppose. I would likely use an old-fashioned brace and bit with the Torx screw bit and self-driving screws, where noise was an issue.”
“That makes sense.”
“Two big wagons?”
Dan looked around and said, “At least. Gotta be careful. Take enough stuff first time. We ain’t exactly established that we got back.”
“Good point.”
By this time Krista was down several feet. Her and Jan were scooping the dirt out with their hands. They started to find objects wrapped in layers of plastic. As Dan dragged them out of the hole, I recognized them.
“They’re leather and canvas bank bags. Banks used them to transport currency and coin. Very heavy duty with good fasteners.”
Each was wrapped in layers of plastic. Clearly nothing had been disturbed. Dan carried them directly to his pick up. There were eight bank pouches. There were six more plastic wrapped bundles that were clearly long gun cases. Krista finally called a halt. “That’s it kids. No more in this hole.”