Buried Secrets by Kristi Belcamino (book recommendations for teens txt) 📕

He shoved the car into reverse, turned to look behind him and stepped on it, sending them zooming backward down the gravel road until they skidded to a stop near the guard station.

For a second they both sat there in silence. Dallas’s heart pounding in her throat.

She reached for her phone but the driver was already talking urgently into his.

Thirteen

As the sun rose, police swarmed the dig site. Dallas leaned against the trunk of a police car and put her head in her hands. This was disastrous. A man was dead and it was her fault.

The taxi driver had left as soon as the authorities had arrived. They’d briefly questioned him and then waved him on. Dallas insisted on staying showing the men her temporary permit.

They’d left her here for hours, letting her sit in the back of the police car if she wanted. She’d curled up there in its warmth for a while but eventually became antsy and stood outside trying to see what the police were doing up the road.

Even from the guard shack she could see the small lump they’d covered with a sheet.

It had to be the crew member she’d left in charge.

At one point the police had been pointing and measuring holes at the guard shack. Someone had fired gunshots into it.

But luckily there was no blood to be found.

By morning it was determined that the guards had run for their lives, leaving everything behind including their phones. It had taken them an hour to reach the next town on foot through the desert where they had finally called police to report the incident.

They said a car approached at high speeds and then stopped at the guard shack firing into it. The two guards had been lying on mats on the ground napping so they’d avoided being hit. They’d fled out a back door and ran into the desert.

But the crew member had fared worse.

It looked like gunmen had opened fired on him, the police said.

It was a nightmare, Dallas thought. And on top of it all—although it seemed incredibly selfish in the face of a murder—Dallas was dismayed that her dig was delayed. She was running out of time. She had only a few more days to find something to prove to the minister she was onto something big.

It seemed like the morning couldn’t get worse.

But then she saw Colton pull up with Abet.

Anger flared across his face as he made his way over to her. “What the hell? Why didn’t you wake me? What is going on?”

Dallas knew he had a right to be angry but she also knew his anger stemmed from concern.

She explained everything. When she was done speaking, he shook his head.

“This is terrible.”

Just then the police inspector came over.

“Ms. Jones? We need to ask you to leave as we investigate.”

“When can we come back?”

“We’ll be in touch.”

Defeated Dallas climbed into the back of the car with Colton. They were silent the entire drive back to town.

When they got to the Marriott, the desk clerk flagged them down.

There was a message waiting from the minister. He’d already heard the news. The two-week permit was revoked “in light of the murder investigation.”

Fourteen

On the train ride back to Cairo, Dallas sat morosely staring out the window.

Colton hadn’t said a word.

For some reason, he seemed even more upset than she was. It made her feel bad.

He was hunched over with his head in his hands.

She patted his back and then in what she figured was a lame attempt to cheer him up.

“Just think. In another week, we’ll be living the exciting life of college professors again. That archeologist on a dig in Egypt stuff was a little too intense for me. I’m ready for the quiet life. Work sixty hours a week, get paid for forty. You know the—.”

Colton’s head jerked up and the look he gave her made her stop talking mid-sentence.

“Dallas?”

She tilted her head, fear coursing through her. He looked ravaged.

“What Colton? Spill it. You look like your puppy just died.”

He shook his head and closed his eyes and then opened them again.

“When you asked me about getting your sabbatical, I didn’t really answer you, did I?”

Dallas was instantly on alert. “What? What are you saying?”

“They didn’t grant you one. They said you were suspended for leaving without permission and for representing school business without their permission.”

“You’re joking?”

“I’m not. I’m so sorry.” He was wincing. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. You were so excited, I didn’t want to break your heart. I lied.”

Dallas almost felt sorry for him, but she was still trying to absorb the news.

“I’m not sure an omission is a lie, Colton.”

“It is. It counts,” he said, yanking at his hair. “I’m such a fool. I thought I could come over her and help you and we’d find something and get permission from the minister and then I could go back to the university and argue your case and then they’d grant you the sabbatical, but it all failed.”

Dallas’s mouth was open as she heard his explanation. She felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She reached for Colton’s hand.

“Do you mean you came over here—flew across the world—and did all this for me?”

He swallowed and nodded.

“Colton McCloud, you are a prince among men.” She held his hand and put her head on his shoulder. She yawned. She was growing sleepy from the soothing movement of the train.

“Colton?” she said in a quiet voice.

“Mmhhmm?” he murmured.

“So, am I fired?”

He didn’t answer for a few seconds. He took a deep breath and then answered, “Your employment status is under review.”

Before their flight back home, Dallas and Colton spent an extra day in Cairo so they could visit the pyramids and the sphinx.

Dallas tried to muster enthusiasm for the incredible sights—and she did enjoy them immensely—but when they returned back to the hotel, she said she wasn’t hungry, pulled on her pajamas, and crawled in bed to sleep. The shock of the