by Rachel Grant
Rage shot through her. “Those tests destroy the bone. DNA tests are strictly forbidden to prevent further harm to the remains. It’s another desecration.”
Now Troy gave her a full smirk. “What are the tribes afraid of, that we’ll discover the truth?”
“Truth?” she asked, although she had a feeling she knew what he was about to say.
“Yeah. The truth. That white people were here first. That this isn’t really their land. It’s ours. Oliver Shields took that bone because he thinks that skeleton looks Caucasian. He sent it in to a lab to prove that the idea that Indians were the only people here before 1492 is a lie. We’re going to prove it and take our land back.”
In the car on the way home, Chase said, “When you were arguing with Kocher, you said something about Kennewick Man, but I didn’t quite follow what you were talking about. Kennewick is that old skeleton found about twenty-five years ago in Washington State, right?”
“Yes. The remains—which tribes call ‘The Ancient One’—are one of the most complete Paleoindians ever found, and the remains date to about nine thousand years BP—before present. The archaeologist who first examined The Ancient One described the skull as having Caucasoid features, which set off a lot of the controversy around whether or not scientists had the right to study it versus the tribes’ rights to rebury the remains without study as is required under NAGPRA. Along the way, others weighed in, including a group that was white-identity, and which might have neo-Nazi leanings. They joined the lawsuit for the right to study the remains because they wanted to prove white people were here first and undermine treaty rights, et cetera.”
“But you told Kocher that the DNA tests proved the tribes’ claim?”
“Yes. After the lengthy court case, the tribes lost the fight for immediate reburial without examination, and the remains were studied extensively by several experts, and eventually, a DNA test was run which proved the tribes’ assertion all along: the remains were closely related to several Pacific Northwest tribes. The remains were finally returned to the tribes a few years ago, and The Ancient One was reburied in an undisclosed location.”
“So why would Kocher and Shields pull this stunt now? What’s in it for them?”
“I have no idea. Yes, the remains are different from the others, but it’s ludicrous for them to think a DNA test will get different results from that of Kennewick Man. And I’m going to see to it that Shields’s museum will pay a steep price for stealing a bone. It’s immoral and unethical, not to mention just plain stupid. If it wasn’t a Saturday, I’d be on my way to see the State Historic Preservation Officer right now.”
“The skeleton was taken from the Painted Hills area?” Chase asked.
“As far as I can tell. The sample I took today will be sent off for pollen analysis, which might give us more information. It’s actually one of the burials that was mentioned in correspondence between the Kochers and the Nielsens. There’s some discussion of funerary objects that were found in association, which Otto Kocher gave to Clifford Nielsen the first. I wonder if those items are in C-IV’s possession. If I could get a pollen sample to match from the artifacts, it would be a slam dunk provenience-wise. Unfortunately, artifacts are usually cleaned differently from bones, so it’s unlikely pollen would remain. But still, a girl can dream.”
“From what I’ve heard about Nielsen, there’s slim chance he’ll give you access to his family’s collection.”
“He seems so eager to own a senator—if my brother is elected, maybe he can put pressure on him.”
Chase laughed. “You’d pimp out your brother that way?”
She shrugged. “I disagree with my brother on almost every major political issue. The least he can do is use his power to provide closure of sorts for the tribes.”
“Would your brother do it? Put pressure on Nielsen?”
“I doubt it. But it’s always worth a try.”
“Do you get along with him?”
She shrugged. “It’s hard. We can’t talk politics, which is pretty much his life, but he’s also fifteen years older than me, so we’ve never really been close. I worshipped him when I was a kid. I miss the man he was before he got into politics.”
“What did he do before?”
“He was an attorney. He had a lot of clients, but really made a name for himself representing the timber industry.”
“Did he ever represent Kocher Lumber Mills?”
“No. KLM closed down thirty years ago.”
“But someone bought their land and assets, right?”
“Yes. Evergreen Timber Resources bought most of their assets.”
“Were they one of your brother’s clients?”
“Probably.”
“Is there any chance Troy Kocher knew you were related to Alan Tisdale before you were doxed?”
“Actually, yes. Alan said Troy was complaining about me at the reception Josh and I went to last Saturday. I thought it was odd at the time, but forgot in the wake of hearing about Tricia.”
It was all so convoluted. Yesterday, Hoffman had brought her to a forest that had once been harvested by Kocher Lumber Mills. And what was Nielsen Steel’s role? The Hoffman brothers worked for Nielsen, not Kocher.
She rubbed her temples. “I think all this is going to break my brain. Plus I’m still so angry at Kocher and Shields, I want to scream. They might not suffer any consequences from this stunt. NAGPRA is a process, and it’s not set up to be punitive.”
By the time they reached the hotel—after a lengthy surveillance detection route—Maddie’s temper had cooled. She was tired and hungry, having consumed the tiny tea sandwiches and cakes far too many hours ago. Before she and Chase left Ava and Josh, they’d all agreed to order room service for dinner and dine in Chase’s room so they could discuss the coming rally and come up with a plan for Maddie and Ava’s protection.
She was thankful for this preparation because the food had already been delivered by the time they reached Chase’s room, and it smelled wonderful. Josh and Ava had taken the two chairs from their room, and the four of them took their seats at the small table as if it were a family dinner. Josh poured each adult a glass of red wine.
Maddie met his gaze across the table and felt a flutter of heat reemerge. They hadn’t spoken privately this afternoon, but the ease between them had returned after watching the last third of Wonder Woman.
His eyes held an intensity that was just for her. Questioning. Hungry. And hot.
For the first time since Sunday, she knew without a doubt this thing between them was far from over. It hadn’t even begun, really.
Chase gave a rundown of their visit to the Kocher Mansion, and Maddie again explained the significance of Kennewick Man.
“We learned about that in school,” Ava said. “When I was in eighth grade, my social studies teacher spent a whole week talking about Paleoindians, but I was confused because she said paleontologists study dinosaurs, not paleohumans, and the Paleo diet is something else too.”
“Paleo as a prefix comes from the Greek word that means ‘ancient,’” Maddie said, “and the definition is ‘older or ancient—especially when it comes to the geological past’ as well as, ‘early, archaic, or primitive’ so when used scientifically, it can describe dinosaurs who first evolved two hundred and forty-five million years ago, or nine-thousand-year-old humans like The Ancient One. There are also disciplines like paleobotany—study of fossil plants—or usage for things like the modern Paleo diet, which is based on what humans had available to consume pre-agriculture.”
“So paleo can mean both humans and dinosaurs, even though they’re separated by sixty-five million years of Earth’s history,” Chase added. He met Maddie’s gaze. “When I was a kid, I had dreams of being a paleontologist. Read everything I could. I could’ve told you the difference between Deinonychus and Parasaurolophus. It’s been a while, but some childhood memories stick.”
She wondered what Chase had been like as a child. She had no clue i
f he had family beyond the Raptor employees who’d claimed him as their own after his ordeals.
Josh’s phone buzzed. He checked the screen and let out a curse, then added, “The gym alarm is going off. I need to go.” He met Chase’s gaze. “You good with being on duty a few more hours?”
“Always.”
“Thanks, man,” Josh said and rose from the table, leaving his salmon dinner barely touched.
Maddie felt a pang of disappointment. Tomorrow, Josh would be busy from dawn to dusk with the rally. She’d hoped to talk to him tonight.
Their reunion would have to wait another day.
Josh met Arthur at the building, arriving just minutes after the police. He felt a burn low in his stomach as he took in the damage. Racial slurs and a swastika had been painted on the side of the old warehouse. The front window had been smashed, but bars had prevented the vandals from entering the building.
After the police filed their report, Josh helped Arthur secure two panels of plywood in place. Arthur had the plywood on hand in the storage room in expectation of something like this. There wasn’t a lot you could do to a concrete building with bars on the windows.
They painted over the graffiti with powered paint sprayers. Two hours after the alarm had sounded, the damage was covered. There might be more attacks in the night, as word had gotten out that the number of volunteers expected at tomorrow’s rally could be as high as a hundred. And that was just the volunteers who would protect the counterprotesters.
With such a large number of protectors, it was expected that there could be as many as four times the number of counterprotesters—they might even outnumber the White Patriots. For sure, many who were on the fence about going to the rally might think twice before marching without a hood when they were clearly in the minority.
Josh felt strangely content as he drove back to the hotel. It was after ten p.m. Ava would still be up, and maybe they could watch a movie together. He doubted she would tell him about her conversation with Maddie, and he wouldn’t ask, much as he wanted to know.
His gut clenched as he relived the moment Maddie had gripped his hand as they watched the movie. All the kisses and even the sex they’d shared, and that was the touch that gave him an intense rush. Hope.
Much as he wanted to hurry back to the hotel, he did a full surveillance detection route. Raptor was paying for the hotel through an affiliate—Lee Scott’s tech security company—and they were registered under false names, so there were no financial transactions to lead the White Patriots to the hotel where Ava and Maddie were staying. Josh wouldn’t jeopardize their security with a sloppy SDR because he was tired and eager to get back to his family.
Family.
It had been a loaded word for him since childhood, made worse when he had to abandon six-year-old Ava for her protection.
His SEAL team and later his Raptor team had become his family. The misfits who lived in the Virginia compound, wounded Owen and Chase—each less damaged now than when they’d first moved in—frustrated Nate, who had fallen in love last winter and moved out of the compound and was no longer dissatisfied with his job at Raptor. And then there was Tricia, saving up for a future that she might not get to have.
Those and others in the compound, along with Keith and his SEAL team, had been the only family he had for the last fifteen years. Now his real and found families were merging.
Would Maddie be part of his family moving forward?
The idea of it made his heart quicken. How was it possible to be in so deep this quickly? But then he’d seen it happen with Nate and Leah and even Keith and Trina. For some people, it happened fast. Then there was Sean and Hazel, who took five years to get off their asses and commit.
He reached his hotel room and knocked. Ava was under orders to have the inside bar latched at all times. She answered the door, opening it as wide as the metal latch would allow. “I want to be alone,” she said as she shoved his toothbrush through the gap. “You need to find somewhere else to sleep.”
Alarm shot through him. Her voice sounded fine, but he couldn’t really see her face through the narrow opening. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I just want to be alone right now. You snore.”
He did, in fact, snore, but he didn’t think that was the issue.
“I can’t sleep somewhere else. This is my room. I need to protect you.”
“The connecting door is open. Chase is here. I’m fine. Get another room…or maybe Maddie will let you stay in her room.”
“Ava,” he said, using his brand-new fatherly warning tone. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing. I just want to be alone. Take your toothbrush. Go. I need to sleep.”
She waved the toothbrush in the gap, and it looked like she was about to toss it, so he grabbed it. The moment the item cleared the door, she closed it, and he heard the lock turn.
He could still get into the room through the connecting door.
He should knock on Chase’s door. Should sleep in his own bed. Ava’s gambit was cute, but it was up to Maddie to extend the invitation, and she hadn’t.
He strode the short distance to Chase’s door and raised a hand to knock, then froze, staring at the toothbrush gripped in his other hand.
He could go to Maddie’s room.
He wanted to go to Maddie’s room. She…might even welcome him.
There was only one way to find out.
29
Maddie startled at the sudden knock on the door. It was late, and Chase had checked on her thirty minutes ago. She was locked and tucked in for the night according to their safety plan. She picked up her phone to text Chase—she’d agreed to text him if anyone other than room service came to her door—when the phone buzzed and a text appeared.
Josh: It’s me.
She climbed from the bed and crossed to the door. A quick glance in the peephole confirmed the text, and she unlocked the door. “What’s wrong? Is Ava okay?”
His lips flattened in a way that showed amusement and annoyance and wasn’t quite a grin. “She kicked me out.”
She leaned against the frame, concern leaving her in a rush as the dots connected. “Oh, really? What did you do to warrant that?”
“She says I snore.”
Maddie nodded. “She’s not wrong there.” He had snored briefly during the one night they’d spent together.
His eyes lit with humor as he held up a toothbrush. “She gave me this and told me to find another room. Then she suggested I ask if I could bunk with you.”
Maddie felt a giggle rise. “Hmmm. But…there’s only one bed in my hotel room.”
“That is a problem.”
“I mean, there’s a couch, but I’m sure it’s horribly uncomfortable. I wouldn’t even wish it on my worst enemy.”
She took a step back, and he came forward, into the doorway but not entering her room. Her body flooded with heat at his nearness, at his scent. A flash of memory from yesterday in the gym shower as he held her against the wall and gave her what she wanted set her body buzzing.
She’d really done that, demanded sex from him, and he’d given her exactly what she needed.
“I’m not your worst enemy, Maddie?” Her name on his lips was a caress.
“Not even a little bit,” she whispered.
“Can I share your room tonight? The couch is fine. I won’t ask for more than you want to give.”
It was decision time, but now that they’d arrived, it wasn’t any kind of decision at all. It was like water flowing down a valley, cutting a natural path, reshaping the landscape to suit the flow. No dams, no channels, nothing to hinder the course of nature.
“You can stay.” She grabbed his jacket and pulled him to her, bringing them chest to chest. She pulled him down as she rose on her toes. “And I want you in my bed.” Her lips were a centimeter from his as she whispered, “And in me.”
He lifted her from the ground even as he kissed her. He kicked the door closed
behind him, then turned with her in his arms, his tongue sliding between her lips, and she heard the click of the dead bolt followed by the slap of the interior bar being engaged.
She sucked on his tongue as he carried her to the bed and set her down on the foot of the mattress. He ended the kiss by standing up straight. She gripped the front of his jacket, tugging at the zipper. Off. He needed all his clothes off.
She had yet to see him fully naked, and she wanted to see just how beautiful his body was, to lick every inch of him.
He smiled as he doffed his jacket, followed by pulling his T-shirt over his head. And there was his chest. His magnificent chest. Honed and chiseled and utterly perfect. She placed a hand on his pec, and he covered it with his own, sandwiching her palm and fingers between his warm skin.
“We’ve done fast and hot,” Josh said, “and it was glorious. But that’s not what I want from you tonight. I want slow and sensual and to explore every inch of you. I want to make you come over and over. I want to be utterly selfish with your body. By the time we’re done, I want you to fall apart at the mere touch of my fingers, because you know exactly what they can do to you.”
She bit her bottom lip and rose on the bed. She licked his nipple, then ran her tongue up over his firm muscle as she ran a hand over the other pec and down to his abs. Her mouth reached his neck, and she traced his clavicle with her tongue, then licked upward until she sucked his earlobe into her mouth.
He shifted, taking her in his arms as his mouth covered hers again. She liked that they didn’t need to talk. There was no need to delve into the hurts of the last week. This, right now, was about moving forward. Sunday no longer mattered.
His fingers threaded through her hair as he cupped the back of her head, and the possessiveness, the intensity of his kiss, blew her mind a bit. It made her feel like she’d never been kissed before this moment. Never been possessed quite like this. The only possible exception was in the forest yesterday.
