Claimed (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #4) by Lindsay Buroker Read Free Book Online Page B

rubble pile that stretched to the ceiling. Soot smeared the cave-in rocks, especially near the top. The ceiling was covered with it too. Someone had passed a storm, or maybe an entire winter, back here once, though he didn’t see a natural hollow that might have been used as a fire pit or any soot or charred remains of wood on the floor. Perhaps the area had been flooded in a storm at one point. Although...
    He spun a slow circle. There weren’t any bones or anything else on the floor back here, nothing to justify the smell of the rotting meat. There had to be more to the place, unless the cave-in had been recent and hid part of the passage. But, no. He touched the caked-on soot. It had been there a long time. He poked about near the top of the pile, wondering if some of the rocks might have been moved recently.
    Scrapes and clacks came from the direction of the entrance. Rocks bounced free as someone else scrambled down that slope. It was probably Kali—he winced at the notion of her landing amongst those bones—but if it wasn’t...
    He thought about cutting off the lantern. Instead he jogged a few steps back toward the entrance and set it on the floor. Then he retreated into the dark dead-end, his back to the rubble wall. He rested the katana beside him and pulled out the Winchester, ready to fire if an enemy stepped into the ring of light instead of a friend.
    “Cedar?” came Kali’s whisper.
    He sighed. So much for her staying outside where it was less grisly. “Back here,” he said, heading for her. He kept himself from saying that she should have waited outside or that this place wasn’t fitting for a woman. She never took kindly to such judgments.
    She had a lantern of her own lit when Cedar reached her. Her face seemed a tad paler than usual as she stood amongst the chewed bones, but all she said was, “Not your work this time?”
    “I don’t usually eat the criminals before I turn them over to the Mounties.”
    “A comforting policy.” Kali pointed toward the cave exit. “I got restless waiting for you, so I dug out a spyglass and shimmied up a tree.”
    “Restless? Have I been gone more than five minutes?”
    “At least seven, I should think. My mind doesn’t take well to idleness. Anyway, I spotted our guide racing out of the trees and running down the creek to a claim with a little cabin on it. She was inside for a minute or two, then two men jogged out, grabbed kayaks, and took off down the creek.”
    “That seems a might suspicious,” Cedar said.
    “If they were these brothers she spoke of, they were a lot older than her. One had gray hair.”
    “So maybe she’s a spy after all, and those two are off to warn someone that strangers have been snooping around.”
    “That’s what I was figuring,” Kali said. “We might want to save the spelunking for another time.”
    Cedar gazed toward the back of the cave. “If those men were heading back to town to warn someone, they’ll have miles to go. We should have a few hours before they get back.”
    “Good, then we can be long gone by then. Or was there something back there calling to you?” Kali jerked a thumb toward the darkness. “If it’s that stench, I’m going to be concerned for your sanity.”
    “I think there are bodies back here somewhere. Recently slain ones. Killing folks is a more heinous crime than scaring them into selling their land.”
    “I suppose you wouldn’t appreciate a suggestion that we could simply tell the Mounties how to find this cave and let them explore it themselves while we do equally noble but less corpse-related activities, such as finishing our airship.”
    Cedar wasn’t surprised that she would prioritize that—or that she wanted to get out of this cave—but it was something else that made him smile. “ Our airship?”
    Kali shrugged. “You’ve been helping me with it, and it’s the partnership you offered me that’s allowed me to order all the parts for it. I reckon you’ve a right to a