by David Wood
“How are you holding up?” Maddock asked, his thickly muscled arms trembling and his knuckles white.
“That depends on how much longer you can hang on.” Avery struggled against the urge to look down.
“Are you kidding? I’m in this for the long haul.”
Avery forced a smile and felt herself slip a little bit. “I’m sorry about this. It’s not the way I intended for us to meet.”
“So you don’t spend your days hanging around pits with strange men?”
Her fingers slipped again and she wondered, for a moment, if she should just let go. This was all her fault and it wasn’t fair for Maddock to go down with her. Literally.
“Did somebody say hanging?” Just then, a rope dropped down alongside them. “Don’t worry. It’s not a noose.”
“Bones!” Maddock exclaimed. “It’s about time you got here.”
“Talk about ungrateful. Now, how about you and your new friend take hold of this rope before you both fall?”
Avery reached out, slipped one arm through the loop, and grabbed hold of the rope. She started to rise and, next thing she knew, strong hands lifted her up and onto solid ground
Her rescuers were tough-looking men. One, a stocky man with short brown hair, introduced himself.
“I’m Matt,” he said. “This is Bones.”
Bones stood well over six feet tall, with striking Native American features, and a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes. He wore his long, black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and his t-shirt displayed a giraffe with a speech bubble that read, “Moo! I’m a goat.”
“Maddock’s got to go back down for his air tank and other crap,” Bones said. “He’ll meet us back at headquarters, if you can call it that.”
“Okay.” Avery could barely find words. She was still freaked out about her near death experience and she was exhausted from the ordeal. “Are you part of Mister Maddock’s crew?”
“He’s my partner. Or I’m his. It gets a little confused at times. And don’t bother with the ‘Mister.’ He just goes by Maddock.” He raised an eyebrow. “You got a name?”
“Avery Halsey,” she replied. “Sorry, I’m usually much friendlier.”
“I hear you.” Bones took her by the arm and guided her toward the work site. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
“If you’re Maddock’s partner, then I have a business proposition for the two of you.”
Bones didn’t break his stride or even look at her, but threw his head back and laughed.
“Did I say something funny?”
“No,” he said. “It’s just, we get that all the time.”
A motley group awaited them at the work site. The two who stood out to her were both Native American. One was an attractive young woman with the body of an aerobics instructor. Avery wondered if she was Bones’ girlfriend, and found the thought raised a pang of jealousy. Whatever. She’d known the guy for all of two minutes.
The other was a man of about sixty. Unlike Bones, he wore his long, silver-streaked hair down, with a black leather headband holding it back. His weathered face was handsome and, like Bones, mischief danced in his eyes. He wore a coat and tie, blue jeans, and cowboy boots.
Bones introduced the man as his uncle, “Crazy” Charlie Bonebrake, and the girl as his sister, Angelica, or Angel for short. Now that she saw them up close, the family resemblance was unmistakable.
“Glad to see you’re okay,” Angel said. Her handshake was firm, almost manly in its strength, but the air about her was distinctly feminine, though with a touch of tomboy.
“We had no idea anyone was coming out to the site,” Crazy Charlie said, a touch of disapproval in his voice. “If we hadn’t gotten Willis’s call, we’d never have known.
“I still can’t believe I fell. I’ve been coming to this island since I was a little girl. I know better than to let my mind wander.”
“So, what brings you here?” Charlie crossed his arms and waited for an answer. The transformation was immediate, as his expression went from warm and inviting to cold and calculating in a flash. Two men moved in to flank Avery on either side. What was going on?
“You need to chill, Uncle.” Bones stepped in between them. “She’s here to see me and Maddock.
Charlie considered Bones’ words before dismissing his men with a jerk of his head. He looked at Avery a moment longer.
“All right, then. Just be sure to let us know before you visit the work site again. For safety reasons.”
Avery nodded. She doubted that safety was Charlie’s primary concern, but she couldn’t very well argue with him. After all, she’d just demonstrated the perils of wandering the island alone. Still, what was with the thugs? Just treasure hunter paranoia, she supposed.
“I understand. Sorry for coming unannounced.”
“I’ll leave you to the kids, then.” Charlie winked at Bones, patted Angel on the shoulder, and left.
“Gotta love old folks,” Bones said. “They never forget you were once five years old.”
“Maybe if you didn’t still act like you were five,” Angel said in a scornful tone. She turned to Avery. “Let me look at your hands.” She gave them a quick inspection before leading Avery to a nearby tent where she cleaned and bandaged them. Maddock arrived just as they were finishing up.
“So, you never told me what you were doing here,” he said without preamble.
“I came here looking for you.” Avery bit her lip. “It’s about your father and his research.”
The color drained from Maddock’s face. He looked at her, nonplussed. It was an odd expression for a man who, minutes before, had bravely scaled a wall to rescue her.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know much about his research, and he’s been dead for years.”
“Please.” She felt a lump forming in her throat. “I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important. Could we, maybe, meet somewhere and discuss it, at least?”
Maddock and Bones looked at one another, as if each were reading the other’s thoughts. Finally, Bones gave a shrug and nodded.
“All right,” Maddock said. “No promises, but you name the time and place and we’ll be there.
Chapter 2
“Oh, come on.” Avery balled her fist and pounded the dashboard of her Ford Ranger. She found the loud thump satisfying. Not so satisfying was the hot air that continued to pour out of the vents. She supposed punching the dash wasn’t air conditioning repair 101, but it was her only option at the moment. She’d just have to roll down the windows and deal with it.
Springtime in Kidd’s Cross with no air. This would do wonders for her hair. Was she fated to look like a slob every time she and Maddock met?
Already imagining rivulets of sweat pouring down her back, she pulled into the parking lot of the Spinning Crab, narrowly missing a drunk college kid who reeled into her path. He shouted and gave her the finger, but froze when their eyes met.
Avery rolled down the window as she guided the little pickup into the nearest empty parking space.
“Let me guess,” she called to the dumbstruck young man. “You’re telling me I’m your number one professor.”
The boy grinned sheepishly.
“Sorry Miss Halsey. I guess I had a couple too many.”
“Don’t forget you’ve got an exam coming up. I think it would be a good idea for you to impress me, if you get my meaning.”
The young man nodded and hurried away amid the good-natured ribbing of his friends. Considering the quality of his academic performance so far this semester, Billy Dorne wasn’t likely to impress her or anyone else with his brilliance, but maybe the dunce would at least crack a book.
She killed the engine and checked her hair and makeup in the rear-view mirror. Not as bad as she’d feared. She just needed to get inside before she started sweating like a pig.
“All right, Avery,” she said to herself as she climbed out of her truck. “You know what’s at stake. Time to sell this baby.”
“Ave, what
are you doing here?”
“Rodney, what a surprise.” Avery turned to face her ex-boyfriend and his idiot friends. Now, as ever, she wondered why she’d ever consented to a single date with the man, much less four months of dating. Actually, she knew why. She was a lonely girl working in a college full of academics with sticks shoved so far up their... Anyway, Rodney had been a distraction. He was handsome and uncomplicated.
He was also a bully. She hadn’t seen it at first but, once she spotted the signs, she put the brakes on the relationship. In her mind, it was over. Rodney, however, didn’t see it that way.
“You really shouldn’t be coming alone to a place like this,” he said, folding his thick arms across his chest and smirking. “Drunk guys everywhere. You never know when you might run into someone with bad intentions.” He grinned with pride, as if he’d made a brilliant joke. Behind him, his buddies, Carl, Doug, and Reggie, guffawed.
Don’t encourage the buffoon, she thought.
“I’m not alone. I’m actually meeting someone. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She tried to move past him, but Rodney blocked her way.
“Meeting somebody?” Rodney’s voice rose an octave as the idiot chorus behind him began to ooh like a bunch of twelve year-olds. “One of those Einsteins from your work? You’d be safer going in there alone.”
“It’s none of your business who I’m meeting. Now, get out of the way. I’ve got an appointment and you’re going to make me late.”
“Cancel it.” Rodney’s voice was suddenly cold. “Me and you should go somewhere and talk.”
“We have nothing to talk about. Now get out of my way.” She tried to keep her voice calm, but she frustration welled inside of her. She hated this feeling of helplessness. She couldn’t make Rodney move and she wasn’t about to leave. She couldn’t. This meeting was too important.
“Watch out Rod. She’ll call the cops on you, man,” Reggie crowed.
Avery hoped she wasn’t blushing. Rodney’s father was the sheriff of Bridge County, and his son used that relationship as a shield. Rodney worked as a bouncer at a local club and had abused his position too many times to count. He took pleasure in humiliating, and sometimes seriously injuring, bar patrons. Any other employee would have been terminated, even prosecuted, several times over for such conduct, but everyone tiptoed around Rodney.
Sick of standing there, she tried to brush past him, but he grabbed her by the arm and held her tight.
“Sorry we’re late.” The strong voice cut across the chatter, and everyone turned to look at the speaker. It was Dane Maddock, followed by Bones and Angel. He clearly understood what was happening. “Are we interrupting something?”
“Yeah, you are,” Rodney said, releasing his grip on Avery. He turned and looked down at Maddock, who stood a few inches shorter, and smirked. “Why don’t you step off?”
“I never miss an appointment,” Maddock said, stepping closer. “Give her your number. Maybe she’ll call you, but I doubt it.”
Avery tensed. She’d felt a momentary relief at Maddock and Bones’ arrival, but Rodney and his friends outnumbered her would-be rescuers, and they all loved to brawl.
“I’m not gonna tell you again.” Rodney thrust out his chest and took a step toward Maddock.
“Good. I’m getting tired of the sound of your voice.” If Maddock was at all fazed by Rodney, it didn’t show.
“Your breath is pretty stank, too,” Bones interjected. “I can smell you from over here.”
Tension crackled in the air. A few patrons had come out front to watch the inevitable fight. Avery’s eyes flitted from one man to the next, wondering who would throw the first punch.
Surprisingly, it was Angel.
Bones’ sister pushed her way past Reggie and held out her hand to Avery. “Let’s go inside.” She smiled and gave Avery a reassuring nod.
“Mind your business.” Doug, the third of Rodney’s cast of stooges, grabbed her roughly by the upper arm.
That was a mistake.
Faster than Avery would have thought possible, Angel lashed out, and Doug cried out in pain as she crushed the bridge of his nose with the back of her fist. His hands came up to protect his face, and she punched him in the gut, and followed with a knee to the groin. As he staggered a few steps, she kicked him in the side of the knee.
Everyone flew into action. Rodney reached for Maddock, who sidestepped and struck back with a barrage of crisp punches that sent the larger man reeling.
Reggie was slow to react, drawing back his fist just as Bones drove an overhand right into his temple. Reggie looked like a marionette whose strings had been cut as he flopped, rubber-legged, to the ground. Carl took one look at his fallen friend and ran.
Bones stepped over Reggie to help his Angel, who had leapt onto Doug’s back and was choking him. Red-faced, Doug wobbled toward Bones, who smiled and delivered another one-punch knockout.
Angel rolled free as Doug slumped to the ground, and came up cursing.
“Damn you, Bones! That one was mine.” Her face, so beautiful only moments before, burned with a dark fury. “You’ve got to cut that out.”
“You should have finished him sooner,” Bones said, still smiling. Angel made an obscene gesture at him, then they turned toward Maddock.
“Quit playing with him, Maddock!” Bones called. “I’m hungry.”
Maddock was still peppering Rodney with punches and easily avoiding every attempt to take him down. Rodney’s face was a mask of red; he was bleeding from his nose, mouth, and from cuts above both eyes. Maddock winked at Bones as he ducked a wild punch, then struck Rodney on the chin so hard that Avery swore Rodney’s feet came off the ground.
His eyes rolling back in his head, Rodney fell into Bones’ arms. Bones slung Rodney over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and turned to Avery.
“Car or dumpster?”
It took her a minute to understand what he meant.
“That’s his truck over there.” She indicated a battered pickup truck on the other side of the lot.
Bones dumped the semi-conscious man into the bed of his own truck.
“Anyone else need a lift?” he called to Reggie and Doug, who had regained their feet but clearly wanted no part of him, Maddock, or even Angel. They cut a wide berth around the trio as they made their way to Rodney’s truck, fished the keys from his pocket, and drove slowly away.
“Now that we got that out of the way,” Bones said, offering her his arm, “let’s eat. I worked up an appetite.”
Avery suppressed a grin as she hooked her arm in his and allowed him to escort her toward the entrance. She froze halfway there.
“We might have a problem.”
“What’s that?” Bones asked as Maddock and Angel fell in either side of them. “Don’t tell me that anal probe is your boyfriend.”
“He is... I mean, he was. But it’s not that. His dad is the sheriff here.”
Maddock and Bones exchanged knowing looks.
“It’s cool,” Bones said.
“But he might make trouble for you. He’s the reason Rodney gets away with so much.”
“We don’t run from bullies,” Maddock said, “even ones who wear a badge. Besides, if we leave, that makes us look guilty. If daddy shows up, we’ll deal with it then.”
Maddock held the door for her and Angel, then stepped in and closed it in Bones’ face.
“They’re like kindergarteners sometimes,” Angel said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, they are men,” Avery said, eliciting a knowing chuckle from Angel. “I have to ask. Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“It’s sort of my profession,” Angel said. She looked a little embarrassed as she explained that she was a professional mixed martial arts fighter, and was, in fact, in line to fight for the bantamweight title.
“That’s awesome,” Avery said. “How did you wind up working with these two?”
“Oh, it’s just a little vacation for me.” Her eyes flitted toward Maddock, wh
o stood talking with someone at the bar, and her face fell. “Besides,” she continued, her expression quickly back to normal, “I live to annoy my brother. He’s such a loser.”
“I heard that.” Bones had caught up with them. Ignoring the sign that read “Please Wait to Be Seated,” he sat down at a table with a view of the parking lot and flagged down the first waiter who passed by.
“Dos Equis for me and my friend, who’ll be back in a minute,” he nodded at Maddock’s empty chair. “Nothing for this girl,” he indicated Angel. “Indians can’t hold their liquor, you know.”
The young man looked thoroughly befuddled.
“Just kidding, bro. Get them whatever they like. Oh, and another thing.” Bones took out his wallet and handed the young man a twenty. “Keep an eye out for me. If any cops or angry dudes who look like they just got slapped around show up, let me know.”
Maddock came back, a grin on his face. Bones gave him a questioning look, but he shook his head. Avery wondered what he was up to, but that wasn’t her biggest concern.
They lapsed into an uneasy silence while they waited for their drinks. Maddock clearly wasn’t going to broach the subject, and Avery had been nervous enough without wondering when Rodney’s dad would show up. When her rum and coke arrived, she took a healthy gulp, hoping to find some liquid courage there. Maddock seemed like a good man, after all he’d saved her twice, but when she’d mentioned his father, his blue eyes had turned to ice. There was something cold and hard inside him that made her distinctly uncomfortable. She sighed. There was no help for it. He was her best hope.
“I guess,” she began, “we should get down to business.”
Chapter 3
“I’m all ears,” Dane said. Truth was, he had a feeling he knew exactly what Avery wanted to discuss, and he wasn’t eager to talk about it.
“It’s about your father’s research.”
Dane kept his expression blank. It was exactly what he’d expected.
