As soon as a portion of the ground was cleared, Mateo went to work with the metal detector. The Garrett Ace 400 was a high-quality sensor specifically geared to finding gold, but it also picked up other metal objects.

So far they’d found barrel staves, the handle of a water bucket, the head of an iron ax, and miscellaneous bits and pieces. No metal door hinges or anything that might indicate an entrance to the lower floor. Definitely no trace of gold.

They took an afternoon break, sat down in the shade beneath the trees, and chowed down on peanut butter and crackers, cans of tuna, and handfuls of beef jerky, all washed down with bottles of water. They rested as the sun passed directly overhead, then went back to work, starting the same routine all over again.

Gage kept an eye on Abby. She had used plenty of sunscreen, but her skin was very fair, and he didn’t want her to get burned. He was responsible for her, and the sun could be vicious, even deadly.

He sank his shovel in, lifted away a blade full of dirt and debris, and tossed it into a wheelbarrow. From the corner of his eye, he watched Abby pulling her rake across a thick patch of vines. A loud shriek broke the silence as a small rodent leapt into the air in her direction.

Gage chuckled. Probably a kangaroo rat, a nocturnal rodent that lived in burrows under the ground. At the mortified look on her face, his smile widened, and he started toward her an instant before the ground opened up and swallowed her whole. Abby shrieked as she was sucked under, and Gage started running.

Mateo and Edge both charged toward her, but all of them slid to a halt a few feet from the hole, the ground around it clearly unstable.

“Abby!” From where he stood, Gage could see a portion of the rotten wooden floor had collapsed. Sprawled on the ground far below, Abby lay stunned, her body covered with debris, her face covered with dirt. Above her, a huge chunk of flooring that had been hidden by shrubs and vines hung precariously over her. The slightest movement could dislodge it.

Gage’s chest clamped down. “Don’t move, Abby!” Gage didn’t dare go any closer. “You hear me, Abby? You’ll bring the rest of it down on top of you!”

Abby’s voice echoed from below. “Looks like we found a way into the lower floor.” She shifted a little, making the floor over her head bob up and down.

Gage’s pulse leaped. “Dammit, I told you not to move!” He surveyed the heavy, rotting chunks of timber, the wooden planks dotted with rusty iron nails, and his mouth dried up.

Edge was already on his way to one of the Hummers to bring back a coil of rope.