The Ancient Breed Read Online Free PDF Page A

he gets here try not to disturb these . . . bones more than they have been already. Okay?”
    Russ nodded. What an asshole, he thought. The hotshot sheriff didn’t know what to make of this any more than he did. What they needed there was a historian or archeologist, or anyone other than this goddammed hick sheriff with a corncob stuck up his . . .
    “Russ,” Berger called to him.
    Russ turned to him, and Berger suggested that they talk inside the trailer. Russ shrugged and led the way.
    The window air conditioner rattled and hummed loudly as it fought to keep the trailer cool. Once inside, Berger removed his hat and dropped it over the sewer and street plans.
    Berger cleared his throat. “You’re going to have to shut down until we can investigate this, Russ. Those are human bones out there, not animal,” he explained.
    The color of Russ’s tanned complexion deepened. “Are you out of your friggin’ mind? That’ll cost the developer millions and delay the project for months.”
    “It can’t be helped,” Berger added pompously, swelling his chest a bit. “There’s going to be an investigation here, and I’ll be running it.”
    “Will you be clearing this with Senator Hollingworth first?”
    “Hell no. This isn’t Washington DC, you know. This is my county, and in my county we do things by the book or people get arrested.”
    “Is that a threat?”
    Berger managed a tight grin beneath his bushy brown mustache. “Just a fact, Russ. After I have the medical examiner’s report in my hands this afternoon, I’ll get a judge to issue a stop order on your project within the hour. Clear?”
    “You’re asking for trouble,” Russ replied defiantly. He needed to make a few phone calls to the home office – fast.
    Berger ignored Russ’s warning and pointed toward the window. “Speak of the devil.”
    The medical examiner parked his mud-coated green Explorer next to the sheriff’s cruiser. While the two men watched, Doctor George Patrick tramped to the scoop and tugged on arm-length latex gloves. He then plucked the bones from the muck and stacked them in different piles. After forty minutes, the examiner scowled at the two men watching him from the trailer’s air-conditioned comfort and curtly motioned for them to join him outside.
    “Whatta you got, George?” Berger asked, mopping his brow with a large white handkerchief. He had forgotten his hat in the trailer.
    “Damned if I can put my finger on it,” George replied. He was young, athletic and gay, but was well respected throughout the county.
    “Meaning we can keep working?” Russ prodded.
    George shook his head. “Very funny, Russ. What you’ve got here, my friend, is a first rate mystery. For instance, look at this.” He stooped and pointed at the bones stacked in the first pile. “Human bones, plain and simple. All dismembered like chicken and ribs on all-you-can-eat night at Hank’s Barbeque Pit over in Immokalee.”
    “What about this group?” Berger asked, kneeling beside the second bone pile. “Looks like kids’ remains.”
    George chuckled, and the sound chilled Russ.
    “Yeah, well guess again, Ed. I’ve never seen anything like them, but I can tell you that they’re not kid’s bones.”
    “Are you suggesting that they’re not human?” Russ’s stomach soured. An alien research site could take years to investigate.
    “Yes and no.”
    Berger was clearly confused. “That’s not an answer, George. Spell it out, plain and straight forward.”
    “I know that’s the way you like it, Ed,” George retorted sarcastically, and Russ couldn’t help but smile. “These bones look to be a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, if you catch my drift.”
    It was clear that Ed Berger did not.
    “In other words, they’re a little human and a little something else. I’ll need to get the state boys and the feds in here to investigate before I can tell you more,” George continued. “And I’d like to bring in a friend of