Ghost Canyon (The John Decker Supernatural Thriller Series Book 7) Anthony Strong (popular romance novels .TXT) 📖

Ghost Canyon

Anthony M. Strong

West Street Publishing

This is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to events or places, or real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Anthony M. Strong

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover art and interior design by Bad Dog Media, LLC.

For Izzie and Hayden (who was the inspiration for Tieg).

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Epilogue

Ready for another John Decker Adventure?

Acknowledgments

Also by Anthony M. Strong

Prologue

August 1874—Southern Nevada

The two men and the mule moved through the darkness; their way illuminated only by the glow of the full moon that hung low in a cloudless sky. Karuk went first, leading his companion along the mountain trail with confidence despite the younger man’s unease.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going,” Travis Biggs asked, peering nervously towards the rocky landscape that spread out on each side of them, rising steeply as they went higher. They had left the mining town far behind and could no longer hear the faint tinkle of the piano or the raucous laughter coming from the bordello that sat on the dusty main street. “Why couldn’t we have come out here in daylight?”

“You know why. We can’t be seen.” Karuk glanced back, the moonlight illuminating his finely sculpted features. A subtle blend of Native American and Old World that highlighted his position as an outcast in both cultures thanks to the union between a white man and his Ojibwe mother. “Do you want to do this, or not?”

“It’s that or share the gold, and there’s not enough in that vein for everyone.”

“Then shut up and stop complaining. We’re almost there,” Karuk said, then lapsed into silence.

They continued on for another fifteen minutes until the trail ended at a rocky plateau dotted with creosote bushes, sagebrush, and Joshua trees. Beyond this the terrain rose even further but was completely impassable.

Karuk led them to a spot marked only by a pile of gathered rocks. He removed them one by one, casting them aside while Travis watched, one hand holding the mule’s reins.

“Hand me the shovel,” Karuk said once he had exposed the ground underneath the rock pile.

Travis led the mule to a bush and tied the reins around a sturdy branch, then removed a shovel from the packsaddle and handed it to his companion.

Karuk took it and began to dig, removing the top layer of sand and dirt. He hadn’t dug far when the white dome of a skull revealed itself, wiry tufts of hair still attached in places.

“Is that what we’re looking for?” Travis asked, suppressing a shiver of revulsion.

“Not the skull,” Karuk said, moving more dirt aside with the shovel’s blade.

There were more bones now. Vertebrae and a rib cage. Arm bones, including the humerus and radius. Moving lower, Karuk uncovered the pelvis and leg bones. He gently lifted a femur and held it out to Travis.

“Here, take this,” he said.

Travis accepted the bone and slipped it into a leather bag hanging from the mule’s pack.

Karuk removed several more bones, passing them to Travis before taking the shovel and pushing dirt back over the now desecrated remains. He piled the rocks back in place, and then stepped aside. “We should leave. The spirits will be angry.”

Travis nodded. He didn’t like it up here. “You won’t get any argument from me.”

He unhitched the mule and together they retraced their steps down the trail, picking their way slowly through the treacherous landscape. When they reached the end of the trail, the pair veered off instead of following the path back into town.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Karuk asked as they approached the entrance to the Ghost Canyon Mine.

“You’re not going to get cold feet now after we already did the hard part, are you?” Travis responded. He’d been concerned about partnering with the half-breed. The man was a loose-lipped alcoholic and spent most of his time hanging around the bordello even when he wasn’t working there sweeping the floors and picking up after the miners and their women. But Karuk knew the legends. He also knew where the disgraced Paiute warrior, Shilah, rested far from the traditional burial grounds.

“I’ll go through with it.” A troubled expression passed across Karuk’s face. “I don’t like playing with dark forces, that’s all. It’s bad luck.”

“It’ll be bad luck for Scratchy Bill and his boys when they come down into this mine tomorrow. That much I know.” Travis chuckled. He sure would like to see the faces of the other miners when they found out what would be waiting for them in the darkness. But he wouldn’t be there. Travis would be far from here in the bordello, enjoying a glass or two of rye whiskey and toasting his own newfound good luck. “Let’s get on with it. I want to get back to town.”

“Hand me the bag with the bones,” Karuk instructed. “Quickly, now.”

Travis unhitched the leather satchel from the mule’s pack, gave it to Karuk. He eyed the mine opening. “How far in do we need to place the bones?”

“Near the seam. We want to make sure that no one comes out alive.”

“We have to go that far into the mine at this time of night?” Travis felt his gut clench.

“You don’t need to come.