“No. I started studying the area after I inherited the map, so I know they’re in the middle of the Arizona desert east of Phoenix.”

“Your grandfather never mentioned going there?”

“Unfortunately, no. He was always very secretive about his expeditions. He would tell me about his adventures when he got back, but he didn’t talk about them beforehand. When he talked about the Devil’s Gold, he never mentioned the Superstitions. From what I’ve learned, I know it’s a designated wilderness area. That means no motorized vehicles, not even drones.”

“Unfortunate but not unexpected.” Using the keyboard, Gage brought up a string of photos of the mountains and the surrounding arid desert lands.

“If the terrain is as rough as it looks, we may have to go in on foot. We’ll talk to people who live there, see what they suggest, but we’ll definitely need to hire an outfitter to serve as a guide, someone familiar with the landscape. We might be able to go in on horseback, but more likely we’ll have to walk in, use horses or mules to pack in our gear and supplies.”

“We’ll need permits to enter the wilderness,” Abby said.

Gage nodded. “Can you take care of that?”

“Sure. If you can give me an estimate of how many we’ll have in our party.”

“This is only a preliminary trip. You haven’t met Mateo. He’s my right-hand man, someone I can always count on. He’ll be meeting us there.”

“You said ‘preliminary.’ You don’t think we’ll find the spot King marked on the map?”

“It’s possible, but as you said, if finding the gold was easy, King would already have brought it out.”

Disappointment trickled through her, which Gage must have noticed.

“We’ll know a lot more once we’re on the ground in Arizona.”

Abby perked up at that. “That’s true.”

“This is a three-pronged effort, Abby. If we find anything promising on our first trip, we’ll come back with more men, enough to dig, if that’s what we need to do. If we find the gold or any solid evidence it’s there, we’ll have to deal with the authorities, figure out a way to get the gold out legally.”

“Share some of the booty, you mean.”

“That would be our best-case scenario. Worst case, the bureaucrats tell us to take a hike. In which case, we tell them to take a hike. If we get nothing, neither do they.” Gage grinned, and Abby laughed.

“What’s the closest town big enough to provide supplies?” Gage asked.

“Apache Junction.”

He nodded. “We’ll set up a base camp, somewhere that provides a place to sleep and access to meals. We’ll probably be there at least a couple of days before we go in.”

“I’ll take a look around, see what I can find.”