The Lost Treasure Map Deluxe Book Collection (2017 Edition) Read online

  It had activated vague sensors and felt vast unstable energy explosions blast out across dimensions with such force it felt like it threatened to make space and time completely rip apart, and destroy the fabric of space and time, and it had constantly realized it could do little when it had checked if anything had been detected anywhere.

  The hideous situation had left it ensnared and recalling the colossal powers it once had and firmly contemplating the dangers and its chances of survival.

  Its mission had been unbelievable and it realized how deadly it had been and recalled little of why it had once contemplated there not being any danger.

  Its near destruction had amazed it and it frequently realized it had no proper presence and had become a form of unknown energy/formation, altering to something that it never recognized.

  It turned invisible, and translucent, and the outer universe vanished from its thoughts, and it occasionally imagined echoes of its voyager functioning and its massive energy pulsations blasting out across the whole of creation.

  Its revival attempts sustained, and the Earth and mankind evolved, and it realized its mind-boggling powers were dwindling, and it realized it would one day no longer exist, and it gradually turned itself completely dormant – and for as long as a hundred years – waiting for it to be revived to complete its deadly mission.

  I

  The New York Treasure

  Chapter 1

  Howard Eisenberg’s Treasure

  The lawyer of Howard Eisenberg rushed in the door and the others were left speechless, and John Eisenberg realized how much Howard Eisenberg had influenced and terrified them, and he watched his uncle’s aged lawyer and his peculiar reactions to everything trying to grasp why he was not reacting the way he should be, and he conclusively recalled him from when he was younger, when he visited his uncle.

  The lawyer stopped in front of them and nervously held out a document, and Eisenberg instantly realized how valuable it was, and especially to him, and he knew it had something important.

  Amusement appeared on the lawyer’s face and Eisenberg realized again he knew something he should know, and the lawyer bent his head close and opened out the document and peered at it.

  When he never did anything Eisenberg glanced over at Kurt shifting out his seat to the window behind him, where he looked down the side of the giant building to the New York traffic below, and the city streets glowing in the dying rays of sunlight, and to the sun sinking into the distant skyline.

  Eisenberg shivered when a cold breeze blew across the back of his neck from an open window, and he never moved and kept his eyes fixed on the room and lawyer not wishing to miss anything, and watched the room grow silent, with the suspense, and he studied the six remaining members of the Eisenberg family.

  After nothing occurred again they began whispering and adjusting their seats and Eisenberg observed the lawyer anxiously leave and go and get an old video with a typed label out a box, which he showed to them, by rotating it in his hand, with a glint of surprise, followed by sadness, and he stopped in front of them, and Kurt rushed back into his seat.

  “Your deceased uncle, Howard Eisenberg,” he announced to them all, “requested that you watch the video …”

  He went to the door and signaled someone, who arrived with an old video player television and set it up and keenly took the video off him and gently fitted it into it.

  The picture surprised Eisenberg as it was really ancient and with signs of deterioration, with the colors making it resemble an old war movie.

  The camera showed his uncle in an office by himself, behind a large desk, puffing away at one of his large cigars, and Eisenberg felt sick looking at it, and shifted in his seat, and wondered how much he inhaled it, and if he would suddenly look sick.

  The picture flickered to his amusement, and he studied him wondering what he missed about him as some of the things about him in the papers and the rest of media were unbelievable, and some definitely created by him for effect, and he realized he might never grasp what he was altogether like.

  Howard Eisenberg sat back cheekily staring straight into their eyes from the screen and they sat silently, not budging, wondering what he intended, and what the eventual outcome would be.

  He sat upright, and stared more deeply, and came to a conclusion, and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and unscrewed the cap, and Eisenberg realized how little objects in it were dated, even though the film was clearly old, and he listened to distant vehicle and voice tones absurdly mingling, and he recalled old memories, and silence seemed to engulf the room.

  Howard Eisenberg seemed different somehow and doing something and he tried to grasp what, and saw strange reactions from him to things, and he stared straight at them, and as though he was staring directly at him, like he once had done.

  He unhurriedly muttered, “Each one of you will get one of my personal estates … But I want the ownership of the businesses, and wealth, to go to one of you, who’ll do as I wish!”

  He sat back and looked through documents on his table and Eisenberg sat staggered wondering how much he had profited, and tried to recall his estates and where he stayed, and from what he had heard, and the media, and realized he never even knew where he stayed, but knew he had lived on his own, and had not remarried, and he wondered which of them he intended his businesses and wealth to go to, and why he insisted one person should run them, and why he had never allowed any of them to be involved with them.

  Eisenberg thought of his six cousins there – and who was the most experienced, and realized he had to have made a mistake.

  Eisenberg realized he should have done what he once intended to do and become experienced in the businesses Howard Eisenberg had, and not just become the private detective that he had become, and he realized how lucky he was that he had actually got one of his estates, and for a few seconds wondered if they were far bigger than he imagined, and that Howard Eisenberg had given them what they wanted, and he never needed to give them the companies.

  To his surprise the lawyer left the room and returned and gave each of them an envelope, with their name on it, and kept a large brown envelope.

  Eisenberg quickly opened his and glanced at the documents inside and saw he got some form of country mansion, which surely was away out in some desolate rural region, and he was not so sure he had really profited.

  Howard Eisenberg looked up from what he had been doing and stared straight at them again, and the others stopped discussing what they got, and Eisenberg realized two had got large city buildings, and that they might have profited far more.

  “After considerable thought,” Howard Eisenberg continued nervously, “I’ve been unable to come to a conclusion on who should get the businesses …”

  Eisenberg gasped and sat looking confused, wondering what he wanted, and what he wanted the person to do, and if he was given it if he could carry it out and he considered getting someone else to run it for him and he wondered why he never did that himself, and what the hell he was up to, and he sat watching him, and studying him, and saw how mysterious he was, and wondered how he had managed to accumulate his wealth, and recalled stuff about his accomplishments.

  Howard Eisenberg searched through his documents and threw them over at his side, and shouted, “I’ve decided to choose the person I want with a little game I’ve come up with, giving you a little adventure ... I’ll give you a clue that’ll lead to a harder one, followed by other clues, which will take you to a treasure chest, and the person who returns with the contents shall win ... The first clue is: A lake I’d avoid. In a giant skull.”

  Chapter 2

  The Search

  At the edge of his vision Eisenberg watched the traffic getting thicker as the taxi rushed on, and the driver give quicker glances, and he listened to the loud voices and horns mingle with engines, and he opened his laptop and watched the news.

  Beside him he glanced over at Kurt as he continued checking information, and he realized how much he had c
hanged since he had seen him in Howard Eisenberg’s lawyer’s office, and he realized that he had been working far more than he had thought and had surely been losing sleep.

  It was crazy! He himself had searched everywhere he could for the answer to the clue, and every lake he could discover with anything like a skull, and had even started dreaming of finding it, just for the sensation of it. They all intended to get it somehow!

  He pulled out a small flask and downed some whisky and relaxed against the back of the seat and watched cars going by.

  He now could not grasp what Howard Eisenberg was talking about, even though it sounded simple, and he wondered if what was there still existed, and why it would not be damaged if it was buried outside.

  He had to have checked every lake! He had even been dreaming of lakes, and he considered if the skull was something else than he thought it was, and he realized the entire search would have been useless if it was, and he recalled Howard Eisenberg liked playing games and he became sure it was his main motivation.

  Although he kept realizing the first clue had been mentioned as it being easy to get, and he realized they were just not checking something. He recalled the lawyer’s reactions when he questioned him on the phone on the previous morning, and that he was actually scared of something that might occur, and he was sure he could be sacked or something for doing something.

  While he shifted near the window he heard a car door open and instantaneously recognized a black car along the road. The car belonged to another private investigator he knew and he watched him wave over at him when he spotted him, and he realized why! It was surely the fact that some of the occurrences got in the news. Though it was not really about the treasure quest and about Howard Eisenberg and his death.

  He had no idea what the outcome would be, and he considered using all the investigators he had ever met to get to the source of what they were looking for. He attempted to comprehend what he had suggested, from the insignificant message.

  Kurt glared over at him for a moment with some urgency, and swiftly returned to what he was doing.

  He had chosen to join up with Kurt for a reason, and that he could help him greatly get what he wanted.

  Both had searched libraries everywhere for clues, and for unknown lakes, and anything resembling one, and he started to realize that one of the others could find it first after all, and he wondered what would happen if they found the clue first and they never got to see the next clue, and if the person who found it never got the next clue, and he was sure that if nobody found the treasure chest he had left that he had an alternative plan and he wondered if his uncle was ludicrous enough to give it away to someone else.

  The whole event was unbelievable, and he could hardly get any sleep, and he could hardly believe anyone could do such a thing, with so much a stake, and realized how dangerous things could become, and he even started checking files and information on his other five relatives, checking what they were like, and if they could become dangerous, and in the end left it, as he realized the information the other investigators gathered gave little on them, and little that he never already knew.

  Suddenly he spotted Kurt sitting upright with his eyes wide, staring at something on his laptop, and Eisenberg listened to something he could barely hear that Kurt was listening to, and he even tried to block out the outer sounds of loud vehicles with his hands about his ears.

  He was sure he was listening to the news, about something, and rushed over beside him, and straightaway realized it was not major news and insignificant regional occurrences, and was about to return to his seat when he spotted a lake where there were birds flying about everywhere, and to his surprise were attacking people and he examined it closely trying to get what they were doing, but he could not grasp what was happening or why Kurt now insisted something was occurring that he should see.

  It was incredible and he suddenly spotted Kurt’s eyes staring at a particular spot near the shore at the opposite side of the lake, where he saw a large white rock was buried away in the trees, and that it looked like a giant skull.

  Chapter 3

  The Mysterious Lake

  Eisenberg shuddered as he considered the dangers that existed and his gaze went out across the small lake to a group of trees and to where the large white skull rock was buried away, searching for any disturbances and signs that the birds were about there, and even though he had seen them on the news, he could not grasp why the birds were classed as dangerous.

  Television and newspaper reporters about the car park, and his sides, were leaving, and he wondered what he missed, and tried to grasp why the birds had been attacking them and where they went, and he searched everywhere about the landscape for activity, or birds and wildlife, and hidden dangers.

  It was even as though they thought they needed some form of protection from something, and he considered if there were dangerous species that he had not noticed, and if predator birds were a danger if they attacked them, and he saw Kurt coming over from behind some trees behind him and was amazed to see his other relatives appear one by one and follow him, and he started to realize that they might be joining up to make an agreement, which he knew he should have predicted at the start, as if one person found the next clue they would all be out the game, as there was no way for them to move on and getting the next clue, unless they found out and followed them about.

  The game was basically stupid and he wondered why he had not packed the whole thing in, and he realized that he could just follow the others around, and have them investigated, and perhaps get something out of it if any of them were successful.

  The lake itself was far too small and empty to have more than a few visitors, perhaps there for its isolation, and he realized it was not classed as a lake to them, and he realized he still had not found it marked anywhere and wondered how they were supposed to have found it, if it had not been on the news, and he felt annoyed realizing it had been classed as an easy clue.

  Eisenberg sat on a boulder and studied the white skull rock in the trees and wondered why they were sure it was anything, and not just their minds, and imagining it looked like it, and he followed Kurt and the others as they left and started walking around the shore to it.

  On their approach to it he suddenly spotted people hidden away about the lake that seemed to be doing things and he tried to identify what they were doing and if they were connected to the media or something, and he stood and watched the others rush over to the white skull rock trying to identify anything they could and they started searching it, and anything they found.

  Near the shore he watched fishermen casting lines and to his surprise he spotted large pigeons and crows all sitting on branches of nearby trees, and he started to realize how many of them there were and studied their fixed features and saw their vicious facial appearances, wondering if they were vicious or looked that way.

  He wondered how much a menace they were, and if they had nests or something nearby, and if they could do something, and he gasped when he saw some attack other birds, and suddenly they all started shrieking, and started gliding up into the air, and flew straight towards the fishermen, and he wondered if he should shout over to them or something.

  One of the fishermen looked up in horror and saw them, and shaded his eyes from the bright sunshine, and stood studying them, and they dived down at them, and big black crows dived-bombed him and flew straight at them, and they started waving their hands and arms about, throwing them away from them if they got near, and hundreds of them started attacking and screeching and the fishermen picked up sticks and waved them in the air, and threw objects.

  Eisenberg realized they were not a real threat and some of the fishermen started to think it was hilarious and he watched others shouting and waving their fists and swearing at them.

  He tried to grasp what they were actually doing and why they had not been discovered before and why they had suddenly been reported to the media.

  Something he could not quite grasp tha
t was there, and he was sure the fishermen and others had clearly visited there before and had not been confronted, and he realized it was not nests, and he watched fishermen furiously waving their fists as they left in a large swarm.

  For a moment he thought they spotted him but saw the swarm head over to a couple romantically rowing along the lake’s edge, and race towards them, and he was surprised when they reached them and that they splattered them with excrement and flew away, and the man waved his fist and overturned the boat, throwing them into the water, and he heard Kurt shout from behind him that he had found something in the mouth of the large skull rock.

  Chapter 4

  The Ancient Mansion

  “Where the hell’s this?” Eisenberg gulped, as he woke, looking about him, and out the taxi window, seeing nothing but blackness.

  “Where you’re going to!” the driver smirked, searching the blackness ahead in the dim headlight, as the car shifted slowly along a farm lane, and Eisenberg realized he had blown it again.

  He sat transfixed, and felt a sensation of happiness when the moon emerged ahead and its light probed that region of the road, and deep through the surrounding dark clouds radiating and he crouched over when he spotted a tomb shape he was sure was the mansion, and mansion Howard Eisenberg had given him, and he felt furious it was so far out in nowhere, from what he saw, and realized he would have a bad time selling the thing.

  In the darkness and moonlight it looked like a haunted building.

  The taxi eventually came to a slow halt at a wall and he considered returning home, as it was nothing like he expected, and he could not forgive Howard Eisenberg for giving him the thing and he sat considering what to do. He originally intended to go and see it before it got dark but he underestimated things and it got dark, and in the end he just paid the driver and jumped out the taxi with his bag and marched away along a lane going to it, watching the surrounding wood, and the taxi left and drove away into the distance, and he wondered what he would do if it was the wrong building and the owners never had a phone.