Unstoppable (Tracers, #2.5)(4)
Author: Laura Griffin

“You hear that?”

She jumped and whirled around. “Omigod, you scared me!”

Gage was a giant shadow right beside her—so close, she now felt his body heat. And yet she hadn’t heard a sound.

“Hear what?” she asked.

“Just listen.”

She listened, but all she heard was the whisper of wind through the scrub brush and the quiet hum of crickets.

“I don’t hear—”

“Shh.”

And then she did hear it, a faint engine noise, growing nearer by the second.

“It’s coming this way.” Gage scaled the side of the creek bed with one big step, then turned and gazed north. The engine noise grew louder.

He dropped back down into the dried creek. “Come on,” he said, taking her arm.

“Where are we going?”

“The mine shaft. It’s this way.” His hand was firm on her arm as he pulled her toward the entrance to the mine, which she couldn’t even see in this darkness.

“Why are we hiding?”

No answer. He helped her out of the creek, practically lifting her off her feet when she missed a step. He was in a hurry.

“Gage?”

“They’re driving blind.”

“Blind?”

“No lights.” He towed her into the even darker shadows of the mine shaft that was carved into the hillside. He seemed to know precisely where he was going without the aid of a flashlight.

She jerked her arm loose and halted. “I still don’t see why—”

“You know any law-abiding citizens who drive around the border zone at night with their lights off? Either they’re up to no good or they’re looking for people up to no good. Either way, I bet they’re armed, and I don’t want to surprise them.” He took her by the elbow and pulled her into the inky darkness of the mine where the air felt cool and damp. “You got your Ruger?” he asked.

“Yes, but—”

“Good. Now stay here.” He reached down and switched on the radio clipped to her belt. “And keep this on. I’ll be right back. Try not to shoot me.”

Then he disappeared.

Kelsey huffed out a breath of annoyance. But she stayed put.

The engine noise drew closer and closer until it was almost on top of them. It sounded like a truck, and it was moving fast. She heard the skid of tires on gravel as it took the bend in the road.

The noise faded and Kelsey waited for Gage to reappear. Something fluttered behind her. Bats? Oh God, she hated bats. Spiders, snakes, bugs, no problems, but bats she could not abide. She closed her eyes and tried to push away the fear. Whatever bats lived here were probably out feeding. She’d probably just heard a bird. She took a deep, calming breath, which didn’t work because she recognized the pungent smell of guano. And then a high-pitched squeak, like fingernails on a blackboard. She squeezed her eyes shut as she imagined millions of bats lurking behind her in the dark.

Her radio squawked to life and she snatched it off her belt. “Where are you?” she demanded.

“I’m almost there. Holster your weapon.”

She’d never unholstered it. “Hurry. I’m starving and I want to get home.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She detected the sarcasm in his voice. Maybe he thought she was a pain in the butt. It was late, and Joe Quinn’s spoiled niece was getting cranky without her dinner.

Kelsey didn’t care what he thought. She just wanted out of this damn mine shaft and away from these bats.

“Hi.”

His warm, low voice brought a wave of relief.

“What was it?” she asked.

“I’m not sure.”

He took her by the arm and led her into the open air again. It felt dry and warm and smelled like mesquite trees instead of bat droppings.

“So you didn’t see it?”

“It was a truck,” he said, releasing her arm. “I saw it and then it disappeared.”

“What do you mean it disappeared?”

“One second it was there. Then a cloud passed in front of the moon and poof, nothing.”

“Poof? You mean like Harry Potter poof or is this some SEAL term I don’t know about?”

“It was just gone,” he said, and she heard the wonder in his voice. “It was the damndest thing.”

He got quiet then, and for a few moments all she could hear was his breathing. It had been a long time since she’d been this close to a man in the dark. And then it was back again, the question that had been dogging her since this afternoon. The same question that had been in the back of her mind as she’d directed students and talked to Sattler and sat alone in her camper, hunched over the mandible with a magnifying glass. The question of the decade, or at least of the summer.

Just where, exactly, was Gage Brewer planning to sleep?

Four

Gage awoke with a crick in his neck and a rumble in his gut. He squinted at the light streaming through the windshield and checked his watch. O640. He looked at Kelsey’s camper. If he guessed right, she’d be up shortly, getting ready to crack the whip on her soon-to-arrive students.

As if on cue the door swung open. She stepped out and scanned the campsite, and her gaze met his across the hood of his truck.

He pushed open the door and got out. His stomach growled again, reminding him of the bowl of homemade chili he’d refused last night, not just once but twice. He’d needed something to eat, yeah. But what he hadn’t needed was another minute alone with Kelsey Quinn and her strawberry-scented shampoo. He needed that torture like he needed a hole in his head.

She walked over and planted her hands on her hips. “You slept in your pickup?”

He shook out his stiff legs and stretched his arms over his head.

“Don’t you at least have a tent or something? You weren’t even lying down!”

Gage didn’t bother to explain. He was a SEAL. He could sleep anywhere.

He nodded at the purse slung over her shoulder. “Where’re we going?”

“I’ve got some errands in town.”

“Okay. Mind if I borrow your shower?” He glanced over her shoulder at the camper. He could have sworn he smelled coffee, and his nose was usually pretty accurate.

“Help yourself,” she said. “There’s coffee in there, too. I won’t be long. I just have to meet with Sattler and get this bone sent off to the Delphi Center for testing.”

He reached into the truck and grabbed his seabag off the floor. “Gimme five minutes.”

“You really don’t need to come. Why don’t you just take your time showering and help out around the dig until I get back?”

He gazed down at her and for the first time he noticed the freckles dotting her nose. They’d been hidden yesterday underneath all the dust. Besides the same khaki shorts she’d worn yesterday, she had on a thin white T-shirt that was definitely going to mess with his head all day.

“I’m not here to guard the dig,” he said. “I’m here to guard you.”

“It’s broad daylight, and I’m going to a police station, for heaven’s sake. What could possibly happen?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Because I’m coming with you.”

Gage double-timed it in the shower, and they made the forty-mile journey into Madrone in half an hour. Kelsey wanted to get there bright and early for some reason, and he was happy to oblige her. But once in town his morning turned into an endless wait in the parking lot of the Seco County sheriff’s office. Gage wasn’t patient by nature and got especially antsy waiting around for women to do things. He minimized the boredom by people watching and adding to the intel he had on the area.

Madrone occupied a semiarid patch of land about a hundred miles west of the Pecos River. This was cattle country—hard, dry, rugged—and the people he saw in town seemed to mirror the land they worked. Despite being the county seat, Madrone was barely a spec on the map. It had three stoplights, two gas stations, and one bar, and the only motel looked to be a run-down hunting lodge on the south end of Main Street. The entire place had a parched feel to it, as if the blazing west Texas sun had sucked out all its energy.

Whatever Kelsey had wanted at this cow town sheriff’s office, Gage doubted she was going to get it.

Finally, she exited the little building, looking frustrated. It seemed to be her default expression, and he wondered if she was always this way or if it had been a rough summer.

She yanked open the passenger door and slid in.

“Where to?” he asked, firing up the engine. Hot air shot from the vents as he pulled onto Main. He glanced at the woman beside him. “Kelsey?”

She blinked at him, as if surprised by the question. “What?”

“Where to?”

Her eyes searched his, and he got the impression she still hadn’t processed his words. “Does it seem reasonable to you that in all of west Texas there isn’t one available cadaver dog?”

He gave up on getting any direction.

“I mean, how can that be possible?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“It isn’t possible. It’s crap. Sattler’s just too lazy or too stubborn to get me someone, even after I showed him evidence we’re probably dealing with a murder here. I get a deputy. That’s it. A few hours of unskilled labor from one of his rednecks, then I’m done.”

Gage pulled into a space in front of the town’s only restaurant, and Kelsey’s brow furrowed as she looked around.

“What are we doing?”

“Getting some lunch.” He pushed open his door.

“But I need to get back. Dr. Robles—”

“Can manage fine without you. Come on, I’m starved.”

She joined him on the sidewalk and glanced at the sign in front of them, then shot him a look. “You know this place is a grease pit, right? I think everything on the menu comes with a side of eggs.”

“Sounds perfect.” He pulled open the door to the diner and enjoyed the rush of cool air.

A waitress with big blond hair seated them at a booth near the window and handed them some menus. Kelsey tucked hers behind the napkin dispenser without looking at it, then proceeded to order the tuna melt. Gage scanned the menu and ordered the Cowboy Breakfast Platter.

When the waitress was gone, Gage settled his attention on Kelsey. She’d been in here before, obviously, probably grabbing a bite to eat with some of her students. Or was there one student in particular? That guy Aaron was very territorial. Gage could feel the man watching him whenever he got within ten feet of Kelsey, which was pretty much all the time. Aaron’s preoccupation seemed to go beyond professional interest, but from what Gage could tell it was a one-way street. At the dig site, Kelsey was completely wrapped up in her work, much like right now.

“Okay, spill it.” Gage rested his arm on the back of the seat. “What’s the problem?”

She blew out a sigh. “Sattler’s the problem. He’s not taking this seriously.”

“What’s to take seriously?”

“I think we’re dealing with a homicide. He should be all over this. The rest of the remains need to be recovered, and he needs to launch a murder investigation. Instead, you know what he’s doing today?”

“What?”

“Speed traps between here and I-10.”

“He told you that?”

“I overheard one of his deputies talking while I was waiting to meet with him.”

Their drinks came and they both downed half the glass in one gulp.

“How can you be sure this is a murder case?” Gage asked.

“I can’t, especially not until I have the other bones, but I definitely found signs.”

Gage lifted his eyebrows and waited.

“Tiny flecks of metal embedded in the mandible,” she said. “Probably the result of a bullet fired through the skull.”

“And you showed Sattler?”

“Whipped out my magnifying glass and everything. He wasn’t convinced.”

“So forget the cadaver dog. Why don’t you get a metal detector out there, see if you can find the bullet? If he was shot on site you might even get a shell casing.”

She leaned back against the booth and blinked at him.

“What?”

“You ever thought of becoming a cop?” she asked.

Gage glanced away. Life beyond the navy wasn’t something he talked about. But Spec Ops was a young man’s game, and he’d just turned thirty-two. He’d been doing a lot of soul-searching lately, especially since Kandahar.

Kelsey stirred her drink with a straw. “I sent the jaw off to the lab for testing. Before they run the metal, I’m going to have my friend Mia take a look at it. She’s a DNA tracer, and I’m hoping she can get something useful from the tooth pulp.”

“Don’t you need something to compare it to so you can get an ID?” Gage asked.

“There could be something already in the Missing Persons index. If there is, we’ll get his remains turned over to his family. If there isn’t, we’ll enter the DNA profile in case someone comes looking for him someday.”

Gage watched her, intrigued by the way she talked with so much emotion about a little chunk of bone. Obviously, to her, it represented a lot more than that.

Their food came and she immediately dug into her sandwich. She had an appetite, which didn’t surprise him given the amount of time she spent working outdoors. Gage had never cared much for skinny girls, but this one actually had some meat on her—in all the right places.

She caught him staring. “What?” she asked and took a slurp of Diet Coke.

“You keep saying ‘him.’ You’re sure it’s a man?”

She shrugged. “Mia can tell me for sure, but it looks that way, given the shape of the mental protuberance.”

“The who?”

She motioned him closer. He hesitated a second before resting his elbows on the table and leaning in.