Ghost Canyon (The John Decker Supernatural Thriller Series Book 7) by Anthony Strong (ebooks that read to you .TXT) 📕

Decker turned and looked at the empty spot the truck had occupied before the two men climbed in and drove away. His cop’s sixth sense was jangling. Whatever their game was, they were up to no good. Still pondering this, he stepped back onto the trail, and hurried to catch up with Special Agent Barnes.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Harlan Biggs sat in the truck’s passenger seat and stared out through the windshield, watching the dusty landscape slip by. When they reached the paved road again, and turned back toward Las Vegas, he let out a sigh of relief. “That was a close one.”

“Close?” Wagner glanced sideways. “Are you kidding me? We almost ended up under arrest back there.”

“No, we didn’t. Not even close,” Harlan snorted. “As far as they knew, we were just a couple of lost hikers.”

“Yeah, until you went and told them we drove here from Albuquerque. What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know. I got flustered and couldn’t think straight. I figured if they thought we were from out of town, they wouldn’t bother pressing the matter.”

“Except that we’d already told them we hike around here all the time.” Wagner let out a disgruntled huff. “And what was with those names?”

“What, you think I should have told them who we really are?”

“I never said that, but you could at least have come up with some better names. I mean, Bob and Larry Eastwood. Really?”

“What’s wrong with those names?”

“Well, for a start, you told them we were brothers. We look nothing alike.”

“For all they know, you’re adopted.”

“That’s a hell of a back story. You’re overthinking this,” Wagner said. “One thing though, it puts an end to getting inside that mine.”

“I don’t see why.”

“For a start, we’re on the radar of two federal agents.”

“No big deal. We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Yeah, except trespass on private land and then lie about who we are and what we were doing there. Sure, they might not be able to charge us with much of a crime just for that, but do you really want them looking into your business dealings?”

“Fair point. We’ll just have to wait a few days before making the landowner an offer for the mine. Give those FBI guys time to clear out. In the meantime, I still want to confirm the gold is really there.”

“And how are you going to do that? There’s no way we can break into the mine now.”

“Easy. We find another point of access. Sure, those FBI guys will keep a closer watch on that mine entrance now, but if we get in some other way, they won’t even know we were there.”

“Except we don’t know if there even is another way in.”

“These old mines always had more than one entrance.”

“Even if you’re right, how are we going to find it?”

“Shouldn’t be too hard. There are hand-drawn maps of the mine system inside my great-great-grandfather’s journal. That’s how I know where to look for the gold once we get inside. I bet he marked other entrances on there, too.”

“I don’t know, Harlan, it’s a long shot.”

“Don’t you worry about it. I’ll take care of getting us inside. I have another job for you.”

“What?” Wagner sounded suspicious.

“Find me a couple of men. Have them standing by later today.”

“What do you need men for?”

“You think I’m going into that mine myself? Not hardly. I read the Vegas PD report on what happened in those tunnels, and there’s no way I’m stepping foot inside. If there really is a curse, I don’t want to come face-to-face with it.”

“And you think sending a couple of unsuspecting men in there is a better idea?”

“Absolutely, I do. Pull some laborers off the casino floor renovation. If they come across anything, they should be able to take care of themselves, especially since they’ll be armed with pickaxes to chip the gold samples out of the seam.”

“And if there really is some sort of creature down there? What if it kills them?”

“Make sure that whoever you pick for the job won’t be missed. Half the guys on the work crew don’t have papers.”

“You want me to find illegals?”

“Absolutely. It shouldn’t be hard to figure out which ones arrived recently. Use them. Even if they go missing, their families will be too scared to report it.” They were back in Vegas now, inching their way through traffic on East Flamingo. Harlan felt better now they’d put some distance between themselves and the federal agents. “And tell them to keep their mouths shut. I don’t want any links to us if it all goes pear-shaped.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Wagner replied. He maneuvered through the snarl of vehicles, pushing the accelerator to the floor, and speeding through a yellow light. Moments later, he arrived at the hotel’s parking garage.

“Drop me off there,” Harlan said, pointing to the hotel entrance at the ground level. “If you need me, I’ll be in the penthouse. When you find the men, tell them there’s an extra day’s pay in it if they get the job done and don’t blab. That should make it easier to convince them.”

“Right,” Wagner replied. He came to a halt next to the hotel entrance and let his boss out, then continued on to the ramp leading to the second level, where he preferred to park the truck.

Harlan watched him go, then made his way inside to the bank of elevators. He felt a surge of optimism. If all went well, he would be in possession of enough gold ore to convince Oscar Rossi by the end of the day, and after that, he hoped, his money troubles would be over.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Decker followed Special Agent Barnes back down the trail until they arrived back at the mine entrance. Here he stopped, contemplating the set of sturdy metal gates installed to stop curious looky-loos like the pair they had just chased off from sneaking inside and getting themselves hurt or lost.

“It’s been a couple of days since those two