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

“Okay, then.” Robyn flicked the light off and pulled the door closed.

Decker glanced back, catching a last glimpse of the body in its glass tomb before his view was cut off. Then he followed Robyn back to the lobby, where he bade her good night, before climbing the stairs to his room.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

When their fire burned down to glowing embers, Tiffany and Darwin retreated to the tent and settled in for the night. They zipped their sleeping bags together to create one large bed and crawled in beside each other. When Darwin turned off the lantern hanging from a hook on the tent pole, the darkness was absolute. Tiffany pressed against him, stared up into the swirling blackness, and listened to the breeze rustling through the sagebrush. The coyotes had stopped howling, at least for now, and that made her feel a little better. Yet Tiffany didn’t think she would get a wink of sleep. She felt exposed and vulnerable, with nothing but a thin layer of fabric between herself and whatever predators might come prowling around their camp. Darwin sensed her discomfort and slipped an arm around her shoulder. He gently stroked the back of her neck, which sent shivers through her.

“There’s no need to fret,” he whispered, his lips inches from her ear.

“Easy for you to say,” Tiffany replied. “You’ve done this before.”

“And nothing has ever come sniffing around.”

“That doesn’t mean it won’t,” Tiffany said. “I heard those coyotes earlier.”

“I thought you might feel this way,” Darwin replied. He rolled over, dragging the sleeping bag, and her, along with him. He reached into his pack and withdrew a small bulky object.

At first, Tiffany didn’t know what it was, but when he reached up and turned the lantern on again, she saw it was a small handgun.

“Where did you get that?” She asked, surprised. As far as she knew, he’d never owned a weapon, except for the baseball bat they kept in their closet.

“I borrowed it off Mitchel.”

“That figures. He’s like a walking armory,” Tiffany replied. Mitchel was the first friend Darwin made after arriving in Nevada, but he was a little too obsessed with weapons for Tiffany’s liking. “Is it loaded?”

“He said it was.”

“You didn’t check?”

“I figured he knew what he was talking about.” Darwin returned the gun to his pack. “Besides, I don’t intend to use it. I just thought it would help you sleep better.”

“Do you even know how to use it?”

“How hard can it be?” Darwin reached up and turned the lantern off again. “You point it and press the trigger.”

“Pull the trigger.”

“Whatever.”

“It was a nice gesture. Thank you.” Tiffany rested her head on Darwin’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Knowing the gun was there if the need arose, did actually make her feel safe. Which was why, after a few minutes, she fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The high-pitched, undulating shriek jolted Tiffany from her slumber. She let out a startled cry and sat up, forgetting momentarily that she was cocooned in a sleeping bag with Darwin, and not laying in her own bed.

“What’s going on?” Darwin asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and pushing himself up on his elbows.

“I thought I heard something,” Tiffany said, glancing nervously toward the tent flap. “It sounded really close.”

“It was probably just a coyote.” Darwin yawned and went to settle back into the sleeping bag. “Come back to bed.”

“I swear, I heard something outside the tent. It wasn’t a coyote. It sounded nothing like what we heard earlier.” Tiffany reached up and clicked on the lantern, relieved to see that the tent flap was still closed and zipped shut.

“Whatever you heard, it’s not making any noise now,” Darwin said. “Coyote or not, it’s probably miles away.”

Tiffany strained her ears and listened, but now all she heard was the wind rustling the sides of the tent. Reluctantly, she slipped back down into the sleeping bag. “I know what I heard,” she whispered.

“Are you sure you weren’t just having a bad dream?” Darwin asked. “Maybe you only thought you heard something.”

“It’s possible, but…” Now that she thought about it, Tiffany wasn’t certain what she’d heard. Maybe she had merely scared herself awake, although she couldn’t remember having a nightmare. Then again, being stuck out here in the wilderness, it was no wonder she was jumpy. She wished, not for the first time, that Darwin had wanted to go to a hotel for his birthday trip, or maybe even take a cruise. She had never been on a ship before. That would be so much better than laying on the hard ground out in the Mojave Desert with coyotes prowling the hills. She turned to Darwin. “Maybe I did imagine it.”

“There you go.” Darwin opened an eye and looked at her. “You left the lantern on.”

“Sorry.” Tiffany pushed herself up again, careful not to jostle Darwin this time, and reached out to turn the light back off. As her finger found the switch, however, the inhuman shriek came again, long and warbling. And this time, it sounded closer.

“Holy crap,” Darwin exclaimed. He scrambled to extricate himself from the sleeping bag, kicking up the fabric and pushing it aside. The tent was not tall enough for him to stand, so he crouched, bent over, wearing nothing but a pair of briefs. “Is that what you heard?”

“That’s it, exactly.” Tiffany noted. “I told you I wasn’t dreaming.”

“Okay. I believe you.” Darwin was pulling his jeans on, trying to balance on one leg. He almost fell over, grabbing the tent pole at the last moment to save himself. “You’re right. That doesn’t sound like a coyote.”

“Then what does it sound like?” Tiffany said. “Are there bears in this area?”

“I’ve heard stories of people spotting bears in the desert, but they shouldn’t be this far south.” Darwin managed to get both legs into his jeans and buckled them up. He pulled his shirt on. “But there’s no way that was a bear. Sounded nothing like it.”

“Mountain lion, then?”

“Possible. I have