Search Me by Katie Ashley Page B

helping of spaghetti, I handed Maddox a plate. By the time I’d fixed my plate and poured something to drink, he had gobbled most of his down. “Um, hungry much?”
    “I told you I was starved not to mention after all that running, I need to refuel with some carbs.”
    “Go on and sit down. I’ll fix you another plate.”
    I measured out a decent portion for myself before pouring the rest for Maddox. In the dim light of the lantern, he hunched over the coffee table. He had unfolded the map and was staring at it as if he hoped it would suddenly all make sense. I guess whatever doubts he’d had about the map’s validity had been erased with Jensen’s arrival on the scene. I passed him his plate, and for a few minutes, the only sounds in the room were scraping silverware and chewing. I took a swig of water. “So what happens in the morning?”
    He shrugged. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
    I twirled some noodles on my fork. “Call me crazy, but I never thought I’d have to make the decision of going to the police or going treasure hunting.”
    “Tell me about it,” he murmured, his fingers running over the faded letters. “If we just had someone who could read this shit...”
    “Yeah, that one shouldn’t be too hard. Last time I checked, Cherokee wasn’t on the list of possible foreign languages I could choose to take in school.”
    Maddox snorted through a mouthful of pasta. “We did as little as possible on the Native Americans when I was in school. I think my teacher, Mr. “Bug-eyed” Boyer was secretly a racist.”
    We fell into silence for a few minutes. Neither one of us could stop staring at the map. “What do you think Maudie would want us to do?” I questioned softly.
    Maddox’s jaw tightened as he tried to keep his emotions in check. “Hell, she put herself in harm’s way just to keep the stupid thing, not to mention how much she wanted us to get it!” He jabbed his fork into his bowl, spearing some more noodles. “She’d want us to find the gold. Use it for college or something like that.”
    I smiled at the thought. But before I could argue with him about how dangerous it would be, a thought flashed in my mind, and I almost dropped my plate. “New Echota.”
    Maddox stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “What?”
    “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. It’s the former Cherokee capitol, and now it’s a state park…I think we went there in Eighth grade on a field trip. It’s not too far from here. It’s over in…uh, Gordon County where those outlet malls are.”
    “How in the hell do you know that?”
    I grinned. “Let’s just say my 8 th grade Georgia History teacher had a serious jonesing for Native American tribes.”
    Maddox looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Did you actually just say jonesing ?”
    I cocked my head at him. “Why, yes, I did. So why don’t you laugh your ass off at me and get it over with?”
    That was all it took to set him off. His laughter rolled through him, and it made me remember what it was like when we were kids. “Oh, Lane, you never change.”
    “Thanks…I think.”
    Straightening up, Maddox said, “So Gordon County can’t be too far from here, right?”
    “I think it’s about an hour or two.”
    Maddox appeared lost in thought. “Damn,” he muttered, shaking his head. “It might as well be on the other side of the country considering we don’t have a car.”
    “Good point. I mean, we’ve got access to vehicles, but they’re directly in the line of fire.” For some reason, that was oddly comforting. There was a pretty vocal part of me begging to forget about the map. It pleaded with me to get to the nearest police department and put out an all-points bulletin for Jensen and his men. It wanted to be able to call my parents and tell them to come home because Maudie could be dead. More than anything, I wanted to forget anymore excitement by going back to the world I knew was safe—one that didn’t