Flor de la Mar - by Tom Fynes

The blond was tied tight to the chair. Could not move her arms or legs. Eyes covered. Her face was red from the slapping. But still, she wouldn’t break. 

Started talking back.Like we was fools or something.

“When Jake gets back from Africa, he’s gonna kill you’s all. You hear me.”

She didn’t know Jake aint coming back. His ticket home sank off the coast of Mozambique. Shark feed now, I hear.

I was in contact with my two boys. They had knocked a hole through the wall and had entered the mansion. And headed for the vault.

“Boss, aint no way we're getting into this mudder fucker. We need the code.”

I told Harry to take off her blindfold.

“But boss she’ll see us.”

I nodded again. And she stared into my eyes with pure hate.

“Well, Vito Cardini. The hole in the wall master mind.”

Harry was pissed she could now identify him and me.

I turned on the electric drill.

“Listen you dumb hooker. We need the code. Like now. I know you know it.

So, spill the beans and lessen your suffering. Jake is not coming to save you. Nobody is coming. Can you get that through your dumb skull.”

She was about to come back with a smart-ass remark when I started drilling.

A drill going through bone makes a mess and gets people’s attention.

The room was sound proofed. So, her screams went nowhere.

She told me the numbers.

We'd gained a reputation for stealing the loot from rich mansions, by avoiding the electronics on doors, and just going straight through the walls.

The Hole in the Wall Gang label made us famous. Now we where up there with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But people were catching on quick. Vibration detectors where being added to the arsenal of security. Then I heard about Jake Mattera the big-time treasure hunter. And a treasure trove of artifacts kept in a safe in his mansion.

Then a rumour that he had acquired something that would enable me to live the life of King Midas for ever.

The boys were into the vault now and were stuffing their bags with as much gold coins as they could. But I pushed them to search for something more specific.

“You sure Boss.”

“Just do what I say you numb skulls. It should be in an old box.”

“Yea, we found it. It has an old leather map in it.”

I held my breath. “What does it say on the map?”

“At the top it says, Flor de

 la Mar. Has lots of other markings on it.

Thought, Mattera had found it. The holy grail of shipwrecks.

The ‘Flor de la Mar,’ sunk in 1511 off Sumatra carrying a king’s ransom in gold.

“Just bring it back here I said.”

Then I put a bullet through the whimpering dumb blond’s head. And then shot a surprised Harry.

As I sat and waited for the last two idiots to arrive with the map.

Thought, ‘Dead men tell no tales.’