Page 116 of Nothing But Air

Marcus traced the handwriting with his finger. “He writes about family. About heritage. About my great-great-great-grandfather Theodore Roosevelt’s love of this land.” His voice cracked. “How the real treasure isn’t gold but the people we love and the choices we make to honor them.”

The cave went quiet.

Something squeezed in Teague’s chest. Family. Legacy. The need to honor someone who’d mattered.

He understood that more than he wanted to admit.

“I’m sorry.” Marcus looked up. “For acting crazy. For putting everyone at risk. I needed to find this before my father or my uncles did. They would have just looked for monetary value. He wouldn’t have understood what my grandfather was really trying to say. I didn’t want to tell you, because if you knew that the third chest might only be a letter, then you’d give up the search.”

“You’re right about that,” Kyle mumbled under his breath.

“But I needed these final words from my grandfather.” He waved the letter again.

Teague wanted to be mad, but the reality was, if he had a chance to find a final letter from Chip, he would have been desperate to get to it as well.

“I get it.” Teague’s voice came out tight. “More than you know.”

Eden glanced at him—something softening in her expression before she looked away.

“Wait.” Marcus’s brow pinched. “There’s more.”

“More guilt-inducing family wisdom?” Kyle’s patience was clearly thinning.

“No. At the end of the letter—” Marcus looked up, eyes wide. “My grandfather explains where the final cache is. The gold.”

Kyle straightened. “Another riddle?”

“A map. With coordinates.” Marcus scanned the page. “It’s faded but readable. Specific landmarks, distance measurements, notes about rock formations.”

“How far?” Teague asked.

“Maybe an hour. We could reach it and still make the rim by nightfall.”

“We should report this.” Teague was already thinking through logistics. “Contact Virgil, organize a proper recovery team?—”

“Or we could go get it now.” Kyle’s voice was eager. “We’re already here. We have the supplies.”

Teague wanted to say no. Wanted to get everyone out and back to safety.

But this was what they’d come for. The whole point.

“Eden?” He looked at her. “What do you think?”

She studied the map over Marcus’s shoulder. “The route looks reasonable. No technical climbing according to these notes.” She met his eyes. “We came here to find the cache. This is our chance.”

“We’d need to move fast. Get there, verify the location, mark it, head straight back.”

“I can do that.” Marcus tucked the letter into his chest pocket. “This is what my grandfather wanted. For someone to find it properly—not have the park destroyed by treasure hunters.”

“Okay.” Teague made the decision. “Let’s go.”

“Finally.” Kyle’s smile was wide. “This is what we’ve been working toward.”

They descended quickly. The tension that had been simmering seemed to ease as they focused on a concrete goal. Even Kyle made jokes about finally seeing legendary lost treasure.

As they reached the base and started coiling ropes, Marcus moved closer to Teague, his voice low. “So you lost your brother.”

Teague’s hands stilled on the rope.