Shadow Bones. Colleen Rhoads
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stood quietly behind her mother. The two women looked much alike, and Jake could see Skye would age well. Mrs. Metis looked more like an older sister than her mother.
“I haven’t seen any media around yet,” Skye said. “Thank you for that.”
“It won’t last,” he warned. “They’ll get wind of it pretty soon.”
“I know.” She sounded resigned. “We might have to shut down the mine.”
“It’s for the best,” Peter said, his expression soft. He patted her shoulder.
Skye bit her lip. She didn’t look happy about it, and Jake told himself it wasn’t his fault. He thrust his hands in his pockets and moved uneasily. “Would you all care to come out to the site and see what I’ve found?”
“I’m eager to see it,” Peter said, his hand on his wife’s back. “But we’ve got lunch plans today. We’ll stop out and look it over soon.”
“Are you calling the discovery anything special?” Skye asked.
“I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” Jake told her. “Maybe the Turtle Mountain site?”
Her dark eyes met his. “I was thinking maybe the Blackbird site, named after my father.”
Mrs. Metis clapped her hands. “That’s a wonderful idea, Skye.” She turned to Jake with an eager look. “Would that be all right?”
“Sure.” He watched Skye’s face light up. She must have really loved her father. Wonder what made a man tick that he could leave a beautiful wife and daughter? Another woman, maybe? Or wanderlust of some sort, though he should have kept in touch.
Jake bid the Metis family goodbye and followed his grandmother outside.
“Dinner should be ready,” Gram said, taking Jake’s arm.
His tension eased at his grandmother’s touch. She’d been a rock for him and his sisters since the loss of their parents.
He patted her wrinkled hand. “I think I’ll just grab something here in town and head out to the site,” Jake said, ignoring the cries of disappointment from his sisters.
He saw a familiar blue truck drive past. Cameron Reynolds. Luckily, the other paleontologist hadn’t come back to Jake’s site, but it was only a matter of time before Cameron stumbled on what Jake was doing.
He kissed his sisters and grandmother goodbye and went to his SUV. He stopped for a burger at the local greasy spoon, then drove along the dirt road out to the mine.
He found his thoughts drifting to Skye Blackbird. She intrigued him, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. He made it a point to steer clear of women. A new dig rarely left time for dating, and he hated the way other men put a rush on a woman for a few months then walked away with hurt in their wake. Better to be lonely than to hurt someone.
He parked and walked up to the site. As he rounded the curve in the trail to the site, he thought he heard something. A sliding noise off to his left. He paused then continued. The path sheared away to his right, a steep drop that made him dizzy to look over.
Something caught at his ankles, and he stumbled. Throwing out a hand to catch himself, he encountered nothing but empty air. His arms flailed, and he tried to wrench his body toward the rock face and away from the cliff’s edge, but he was too off balance.
He pinwheeled at the top of the cliff then pitched over the edge.
Feetfirst, he hurtled down the slope. He tried desperately to grasp tree roots as he shot past them, but his reaching fingers slid off. He tore a fingernail loose before slamming into a pine tree about halfway down. Spread-eagled along the steep cliff, he grabbed hold of the rock and tossed one leg over an outcropping. His slide down the mountain’s face stopped, and he lay among the rocky rubble trying to catch his breath.
The sheer rock face rose above him. The steepness of it looked impossible to climb. How was he going to get up there? He peered around the tree that had stopped his plummet to destruction. The way was even steeper and more impossible down. His arms ached from hanging on to the rock.
The family wouldn’t come looking for him for hours. They’d think he just got caught up in his work and was spending the night as usual. He was going to have to figure this one out on his own.
Tightening his grip, he worked his legs around so his feet were braced against the tree. The trunk seemed fragile and too weak to hold him for long, and he feared his weight would tear the roots from the shallow soil.
His body hurt from a dozen shallow cuts and bruises. Dust coated his tongue and lodged in his eyes. He was in a world of hurt, and his prospects weren’t looking good.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he glanced around for a finger-or toehold. There, just above his head, he spied a cupped rock he might be able to get his fingers around. He reached out and grasped it with throbbing fingers, then shoved himself up using his feet to push against the tree trunk.
The trunk tore lose just as his knee found a small indentation to fit into. Jake had never felt so vulnerable as he lay in the hot afternoon sun with nothing substantial to hang on to. Panting, he threw out his left hand and found a small root poking through the soil. Slowly and laboriously, he inched his way up the slope. Several times, his fingers missed their hold and he slid back down a few inches.
Finally, he reached the path at the top. With a final, monumental effort, he reached out and found a finger-hold then pulled himself onto the level path. His face pressed into the shallow dust-covered path, and he lay almost too exhausted to move.
He’d thought he was a dead man. Rolling to his back, he pulled in a few deep breaths. He licked dry lips and reached for his canteen, now that he had a free hand. The metallic taste washed the dust from his tongue, and he swished the refreshing water around in his mouth before spitting it out. Another deep swallow brought relief to his tight throat.
He got to his hands and knees and shook his head to clear it. His attention was caught by something along the path. He peered closer. Was that a wire? Touching it, he ran his fingers along it until he saw where it had been attached on each end to sticks pounded into the ground.
The wire stretched across the path in front of him, put there deliberately to make him trip. At first he couldn’t believe it. Someone had tried to kill him. It made no sense.
Then it made perfect sense. Cameron Reynolds. If Jake were dead, Cameron could easily move in and take credit for the find, since it hadn’t been announced yet. Cameron must not have realized Wynne had been working closely with him.
He was going to have to break his promise to Skye and put out a press release. It was the only way to stop Cameron.
His racing thoughts stopped. Skye. Could she have done this to try get rid of him? He didn’t want to believe that, but he couldn’t dismiss the notion.
Once on his feet, his vision swam and he shook his head to clear it. He needed help. His hand went to his pocket, but his cell phone was gone, lost in his slide down the mountain. The sheriff needed to be brought in on this, so he was going to have to drive to town to get him.
He hesitated. What if the wire was gone by the time he got back? He shrugged. It was a chance he’d have to take.
Walking like an old man, he turned and went back to his SUV. His vision kept blurring, and he found it hard to keep the SUV on his own side of the road. Another vehicle stopped in front of him, and he slammed on the breaks. His head snapped forward, then back and he sank into darkness.
The dusty SUV had almost T-boned her. Shaken, Skye gripped the steering wheel and tried to quiet the sudden thumping of her heart. Whoever he was, he’d run a stop sign and hit a rock. She threw open her door and hopped out onto the macadam road. Steam was escaping from the SUV’s hood. As she neared the vehicle, she recognized the man inside.
Jake’s head lolled to one side, and he was covered in blood and dirt. Skye ran forward and opened the vehicle’s