Chapter 26: Where's the Grotto?

The rest of the day was spent preparing for the rendezvous.  Drew took Edward into town to look for something while Carol took Renee for a walk along the beach to look for something.  Only one pair was successful.

“Haven’t found it yet?” Drew asked, when Carol and Renee returned.

The sisters shook their heads.  “We walked about a mile north and south but couldn’t find it.  There don’t seem to be any caves in the cliffs.”

“It figures,” said Drew.  “I’m sure that’s where the grotto is, but it must be well-concealed.  They don’t want tourists stumbling into it.”

“How’d you all make out?” Renee asked.

“We found exactly what we were looking for,” said Drew.  “The Maserati has five crates of dynamite in the trunk.”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Carol.  “Figure out where the sub is and ram a boat into it?”

“Exactly,” said Drew.  “We’re all ready, except for not knowing where the grotto is.”  He checked his watch.  “It’s only noon.  Let’s have lunch and go for a beach stroll, shall we?”

Lunch only took twenty minutes, and the spies hit the beach in full force.  They were the only ones not looking out towards the ocean.  Carol and Renee headed south, and Drew and Edward headed north.

“I don’t think the cave’s over here,” said Edward.  “The cliff’s too flat, and nothing’s growing in front of it.”

“It gets a little more interesting down there,” responded Drew.  “See those rocks out in the bay?”

Drew was correct.  Jagged outcroppings stuck out all over the cliff.  “The opening might be concealed behind one of these rocks,” said Drew.  “Let’s examine them.”

Carefully, the brothers felt their way around the rocks.  It wasn’t long before Edward found something.  “Ouch!” he exclaimed.

“What?  What’s the matter?”  Drew looked over to his brother, then burst out laughing.

Edward glared back.  “It’s not funny.”

“Good job, Edward!  You found a crab!”

Edward yanked his hand out of the crab’s claw, then flung the crustacean towards the ocean.  “I hope you drown out there,” he said, only adding to Drew’s mirth.

Five minutes went by, then Drew spoke up.  “Edward!  I found a loose stone!”

“Really?” said Edward, coming over.  “That’s big!”

“Help me move it out of the way,” said Drew.  “Maybe there’s something hiding—”

The two brothers grabbed the stone and heaved.  It wasn’t easy.  Even though the stone was loose, it was wedged into the rock, and it showed no interest in coming out.  Drew and Edward tugged and tugged and tugged until finally, the big stone pulled away.  It went crashing down a small hill, and Drew and Edward surveyed their work.

“Nothing,” said Drew.  “False alarm.  I hope the girls are doing better.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Smile, Renee!”

Carol’s younger sister grinned as her older sibling snapped a picture.  Carol looked at it, then nodded.

“Good one,” she said.

Renee ran over to join her sister.  She glanced up at the large cliff in front of them, then down at the camera.  “See any caves?”

Carol was zooming in.  “Not yet, but let’s see.  This is about as far in as we can get before it gets blurry.  Holler if you see anything.”

Renee watched as her sister moved the image around on the camera screen.  “There!” she said.  “Doesn’t that area look a little darker than the rest?”

“I thought the same thing,” said Carol, “but I was hoping we’d find something else.”  She glanced at the area Renee spoke of, fifty feet off the ground near the cliff’s summit.  “We’ll have to approach it from the top.  Let’s circle back to that path.  Remember that tree near the edge of the cliff.”

Renee nodded.  “Got it!”

12.2 Minutes Later:

“There’s the tree,” said Renee.

“OK,” said Carol.  “It’s just after this spot.  Let’s take a peek.”

The girl’s looked over the cliff, down at the shadowy area.

“If there’s a cave there, it’s awfully hard to get to,” said Renee.

“Hard, but not impossible,” said Carol.  Removing her backpack, she pulled out some rope.  “Do you mind going down and checking?  I’d do it, but I’d probably be too heavy for you.”

“That’s fine,” said Renee.  “I’d be too nervous to let you down anyway.”

In a minute, Renee was descending towards the outcropping.  She held her breath and tried not to think about what would happen if Carol dropped the rope.  Renee wasn’t scared of heights, but she was certainly scared of going down too fast.

“There!” said Carol.  “See anything?”

Renee checked.  “It’s just a small crevice,” she said.  “Only goes back about a foot.  There’s nothing in there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Wait, I’ll check!”  Renee crawled in and felt around.  “Yes, false alarm.”

Carol sighed and yanked up the rope.  “Something tells me we’re going to be here all afternoon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carol was correct.  For ten miserable hours, the four left no stone unturned on the Malibu beach.  Any crevice, any nook, any shadow in the cliff was investigated.  All for naught.  In fact, the spies couldn’t find a single cave near the Blaine mansion.

They searched until the sun was almost gone; then they gave it up.  If the cave couldn’t be found in the daylight, of course it wasn’t going to appear at night.  They’d have to try something else to find the rendezvous spot, and they had less than three hours to do it.

“We missed dinner,” said Drew, after the four reconvened back at the house.  “Let’s head into town and get something.  Then, it’s right back to work for us.”

By the time they reached town, it was 9:40.  The sun was completely gone, but plenty of light came from the flashy signs heralding Malibu’s many tourist attractions.  Pink, yellow, green, blue—all colors of the rainbow were represented.

“Where to?” said Drew.  “Preferably somewhere that doesn’t close at ten.”

“There’s a McDonald’s by the water,” said Carol.  “Across from Don’s Drive-In.”

Drew nodded.  “That’ll be open late.  We’ll go there.”

“Drive-thru or eat in?” asked Edward, as Drew entered the parking lot.

“Eat in,” said Drew.  “I don’t want to wait until we get back home to eat.”

“Well, you could just eat a cheeseburger with both hands and steer with your knees,” said Renee.  “That’s what Carol does all the time.”

“I do not!” snapped Carol.  “I’m not that bad a driver!”

“Actually, she doesn’t, Renee,” said Edward.  “I saw her last time she drove.  She just sits there and screams until someone else takes over the wheel.”

“That’s only when I’m trapped in a deathtrap meant to kill me!” said Carol.

“Or when you’re on a snowmobile,” said Edward.  “Remember when we were in the Yukon Territory, and you were convinced that pile of snow in front of you was a polar bear?”

“That was skiing in Switzerland, Edward,” said Drew.  “You’re mixing up vacations.”

“It was?” said Edward.

“Yes,” said Drew.  “It was.  I remember because at the time, I was thinking how polar bears weren’t native to the area.  Apparently Carol didn’t know that.”

“Let’s just go order and talk about something else,” said Carol, painfully sensitive about her—um, weaknesses as a driver.  Her many weaknesses.  Normally, she would have been irate at her siblings, but today was an exception.  After Edward’s help last night, it would be a while before she got mad at him for anything.

Even though it was almost ten o’clock, ordering went very smoothly.  Drew was fluent in Spanish, and he put that to good use with the clerk on duty.  Everyone got exactly what they wanted, even Renee, who always had the double cheeseburger with mustard and a tomato, only.  When the servers got her order right, nothing could cross them up.

The four found a seat by a window.  It looked out towards a road, but the road ended just after the McDonald’s.  Beyond was the waterfront, and lights from buoys twinkled off the Pacific.

“It looks pretty out there,” said Carol, facing the water.  “You wouldn’t think there’s an enemy submarine hiding in the water.”

“Things usually look more peaceful than they are in reality,” said Drew.  “Like our car.  It looks nice enough out in the parking lot, but if it caught on fire—”

“—it wouldn’t just be the gas igniting,” finished Edward.

“Exactly,” said Drew.  “Then, take the Schlegels.  They seemed nice enough, but they had a big secret.  By the end of their stay, they were trying to kill us.”

“You could say that about a lot of people we’ve run into over the years,” noted Carol, still watching the water.

“Yes, you’re right.  Anyway, it all proves my point.”  Drew looked around.  “I only hope this McDonald’s doesn’t prove to be a whole lot more active than—”

“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Edward, staring out the window.  He grabbed his sister’s sleeve.  “Carol, look!”

“What?  What is it?” asked Carol.  She followed her brother’s gaze.  Then, her jaw dropped.

“What?  What?” asked Drew and Renee, still puzzled.

“Come over here!” said Carol.  “Wait till you see this!”

Drew and Renee slid out of their booth, but by the time they reached their siblings, a garbage truck was slowly driving past the McDonald’s.

“Once that’s gone,” said Carol, “look towards the water.  It’s slightly past Don’s Drive-In.”

Drew and Renee stared as the truck moved past.  When it was gone, they saw the harbor.  They saw the buoys, sparkling out on the ocean.  They saw McDonald’s, they saw the Don’s Drive-In sign, they saw cars, they saw a gas station.

And, just behind the drive-in, they saw a large, old sign.  Six letters flashed in the night, for all to see.  Four, without duplicates.  They spelled out a word that was all too familiar to the Lawrences today:

                         GROTTO