The Diamond Dragon (Kip Keene Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

to evaluate the drop.
    “You’re not gonna jump, are you?” Strike said.
    “I’ll throw you overboard, you keep complaining.”
    “Just leave me here. I’ll jump by myself.”
    Keene jumped, regretting the decision when Strike’s entire bodyweight seemed to triple on impact. He rolled over, shedding the weight with a long groan.
    “Told you not to jump.”
    “I didn’t think it would be that bad.” Keene twisted his feet, shaking them to ensure they were still attached to his body. “I don’t think I broke anything.”
    “Hooray for you. You’re sitting on me.”
    Keene got to his knees and heard a loud sigh of relief. He looked back, and Strike was in the dirt, an unamused look on her pained face.
    “Between you and the damn seatbelt, I swear, it’s like fate’s trying to kill me.”
    “Life’s hard,” Keene said.
    Keene got up and then dragged her back over his shoulder. The sun broiled overhead. He looked around the field, spying power lines in the distance. The road wasn’t visible—there were still plenty of tall corn stalks obscuring the view—but it seemed like the best place to start.
    The sun was setting by the time they reached the road.
    Keene walked alongside it, not knowing which way pointed towards Tillus. After a couple minutes, a truck came thrumming up the road, headed the same direction. A strangely friendly man rolled down his window and greeted them as the vehicle rolled to a halt.
    “You folks hurt?”
    “Just a little dehydrated,” Keene said. “On our way to Tillus.”
    The man’s eyes registered mild surprise. “Tillus, you say?”
    “Yeah, that’s right. We headed the right way?”
    “I’d say so.” The man rubbed his hearty beard and smiled. “I live there.”
    “You take passengers? I’ll pay you for the trouble.”
    “Don’t worry about that.” The man stepped out and opened the back seat of the cab, beckoning for the two to come closer. “I think you’ll be quite welcome.”
    Keene gave him a sideways glance at the overly generous display, but he was sweating rivers, Strike couldn’t walk much, and this whole slapdash plan had already gone awry. Best to regroup in town, keep a low profile, gather their strength for a few hours.
    “Sounds good,” Keene said, and helped Strike to the front seat. “I’m Keene.” He held out his hand. The man shook it and smiled.
    “Nice to meet you, Keene,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for someone to come to Tillus, and it looks like our prayers been answered.”
    The engine started and the truck travelled down the two-lane country road, one just like any other.
    But the way the man had uttered those words gave Keene pause.
    First chance he got, Keene needed to find out just what the hell this town had been waiting for.
    And whether or not it was hazardous to his health.
     
                 

6 | Touchdown
    The two-lane country road turned into a narrow one-lane dirt road about six miles from the town’s limits. The trip had been slow-going, since their new driver refused to go much faster than fifteen miles an hour. Probably because he was spending half his time looking at the back seat, instead of the road.
    Not that they saw any cars. No one came from Tillus, and no one was behind them.
    Keene glanced at the truck bed, which was covered with a large tarp. Little bumps indicated that there was a lot of stuff underneath—but the cargo itself was mysterious. Strike caught his furtive glances.
    “What’s with all the stuff in the back,” she said.
    “The tarp coming up again, ma’am?”
    “Nothing like that. Just wondering. Got a lot of stuff back there, is all.”
    “Supplies for the town. I tell you that our population is 1,462? They do a census every six months,” their driver, a large man named Johnathon told them, “never changes.”
    “Sounds like bad counting,” Strike said.
    “No ma’am, I assure you it’s right on the money.”
    “Where do you live in town?”
    “In the