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

barely able to keep the excitement from his voice. “We’ll need to get those planks off. You brought a crowbar, right?”

“Sure did,” Wagner replied. He climbed back out of the cleft toward his boss. “It’s in the truck bed along with the pickaxes. I brought a sledgehammer too. It never hurts to be prepared.”

“Perfect.” Harlan stood aside to let Wagner pass and followed him back to the truck. He realized the Mexican laborers were still sitting inside, apparently waiting for someone to tell them what to do. “What’s up with them?”

“Beats me.” Wagner pounded on the quad cab’s rear door and motioned for the men to get out, then led them behind the truck and dropped the tailgate. He handed both men a pickaxe, backpack, and flashlight. Finally, he grabbed a heavy crowbar and started back toward the mine entrance with the laborers in tow.

The crowbar made quick work of the planks, which were rotten and probably decades old. They practically disintegrated when Wagner pried them off. The mine entrance beyond was a yawning black chasm. Harlan smelled fetid, stale air. He wondered if some animal had crawled in there to die.

“You got the map copies showing the location where you want them to go?” Wagner asked.

“Right here.” Harlan clutched three sheets of paper in his hand, which he’d grabbed when they returned to the truck. He handed one to each of the laborers and kept the third for himself. He pointed to a mark on the map representing the entrance they were currently standing beside and then motioned to an X drawn in red ink over one of the tunnels. He traced his fingertip back from the entrance to the X, to show the Mexicans where to go.

They watched with narrowed eyes, then nodded their understanding.

Harlan glanced toward Wagner. “Do they know what they’re looking for when they get there?”

“Sure.” Wagner confirmed. “I had a work supervisor back at the casino translate my instructions into Spanish. I made it clear what we were looking for and how they were to extract it.”

“You didn’t mention gold, did you?”

“Do I look that dumb?” Wagner retorted. “They think we’re looking for samples of quartz to use for a themed mine display in the hotel lobby.”

“That’s a pretty weak cover story.” Harlan wasn’t pleased. “We could get ahold of that stuff anywhere.”

“I told them your ancestor worked this mine, and you wanted the real deal. Sentimental reasons.”

“Still sounds pretty lame, if you ask me.”

“Who cares?” Wagner replied. “They’re here, aren’t they?”

“I suppose.” Harlan glanced toward the sky. The sun was already dipping low. “Can we hurry this up?”

Wagner huffed, obviously annoyed by Harlan’s attitude, but said nothing. Instead, he motioned for the laborers to enter the mine.

They nodded, their faces displaying no discernible emotion, and switched on the flashlights. A moment later they stepped over the threshold, pickaxes in hand, and were soon swallowed up by darkness.

Chapter Forty

Decker sat in the passenger seat of the government issued black Crown Victoria, driven by Special Agent Jackson Barnes. They followed route 95 toward the interstate. This would bring them through Henderson, into Las Vegas, and Wagner Mitchell’s high-rise condo unit overlooking the Strip. At least, if the address on his vehicle registration was correct.

As they approached Boulder City, Decker spoke. “I’m surprised that Agent Fowler didn’t want to come on our little jaunt.”

“It was our lead. He figured the two of us could handle it,” Barnes replied.

“Speaking of which, how are we going to handle it?” Decker asked. “We’re still not sure how those two bozos fit into any of this, other than lying about their identities.”

“Which is good enough reason for me to think they have something to hide. Innocent people don’t panic and make up stories when confronted by the law.” Barnes glanced in his rearview mirror, then pulled out around a slow-moving dump truck that was trundling along the road as if it had nowhere better to be. “Even if they have nothing to do with whatever killed those folks inside that mine, they were up to something, for sure.”

“And it’s not like we have any other leads,” Decker said. “I’ve learned over the years that you can never tell where an investigation will take you. Even seemingly inconsequential details, or unrelated events, have a habit of proving useful.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Barnes agreed. “Since I have the FBI badge, I’ll take the lead when we get there.”

“If you like,” Decker said. “A suggestion, though. Let’s not mention anything about the deaths in the mine or the creature. I’d like to see if he trips over himself and lets something slip that he shouldn’t know.”

“They reported the deaths on TV, even though there was a media blackout. Probably some loose lipped sergeant in the LVMPD.”

“They didn’t report everything.”

“And if he knows details that weren’t released, we’ll have cause to take him into custody and continue the conversation in an interrogation room.”

“Let’s not forget the other guy,” Decker said. “We still need to find out who he is.”

“I haven’t forgotten that. That’s one of the first things I’m going to ask. And he’d better tell me the truth this time.”

“If we’re lucky, they’ll be together.”

“When have you ever been that lucky?”

“Rarely,” Decker agreed. “It would sure make this easier though, don’t you think?”

“Then let’s keep our fingers crossed that—” Barnes cell phone rang before he could finish. He glanced down toward it in the compartment between the seats and furrowed his brow. “It’s Fowler.”

“I wonder what he wants?” A sense of foreboding overcame Decker.

“Only one way to find out.” Barnes snatched up the phone and answered, putting it on speaker so that Decker could hear. “Hey. What’s going on?”

“A hell of a lot,” Fowler’s voice said on the other end of the line. “Family out for a day trip made a gruesome discovery this afternoon. Two bodies at a campsite, pretty mutilated. They called in to Vegas PD, who gave me the heads up.”

“Aw, shit.” Barnes exchanged a quick look with Decker. “You