When a chance yard-sale purchase nets five boys a Willie Mays rookie card worth $4,000, their lives seem to narrow and intensify. The boys devise a "last man" contest—the winner gets the Mays card, and the losers get zip. Twelve-year-old Albert has a life-and-death reason for winning the card—and his own very special terrors about the abandoned mine where the boys have hidden it for safekeeping. Just how far is Albert willing to go to be the last man?

"Suspense, adventure, and a daring last-minute rescue will keep readers engaged throughout." —The Horn Book Guide

When David Patneaude was a youngster, his favorite story was Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, a tale of adventure, suspense, mystery, and best of all, buried treasure. David never found pirate plunder of his own, but now he digs for a different kind of hidden loot—story ideas. David lives in Woodinville, Washington, with his wife, a junior-high-school librarian. They have three grown children and two grandsons.