Free White Jade (The PROJECT) by Alex Lukeman

gauge shook in his hands. A large dog of indeterminate breed stood next to him, bristling and growling.
    " Take it easy. I ' ll pay for the damage to your wall. "
    " You mind telling me where the hell you came from? "
    " You mind putting that down, sir? I can explain. It ' s a long story. My name ' s Nick, this is Selena. "
    " You look like something my dog rolled in. You say you ' ll pay? "
    " Absolutely. We ' ll make it new. Where are we, anyway? "
    Suspicious, but he lowered the gun a few inches. Nick breathed easier.
    " You ' re in Smartsville , California . How did you get here? "
    T he truth would n't be a good idea, considering the events of the day . He began improvising.
    " Selena here owns the old Connor mine up the road. You know the place? "
    " Connorsville? The Number One Mine? Sure, everyone knows about it. That ' s your place? "
    Carter was about to say something, but she beat him to it.
    " Yes. " She smiled at him. " I ' m really sorry we made so much trouble for you. I was showing Nick around and we went inside the mine. I tripped and grabbed a post holding up the roof. The whole thing came down and the roof collapsed. We were almost buried alive. "
    Carter picked up the story. " So we couldn ' t get out the way we got in. We wandered around in there for hours until we found the tunnel that brought us here. We broke down your wall because there wasn ' t anything else to do. Like I said, I ' ll pay for the damage. "
    " Well, I ' ll be damned. " The gun dropped another few inches. " I always heard the Chinese dug secret tunnels during the gold rush. "
    " Why would they dig one here? "
    " This was a whorehouse in the old days . It ' s good a reason as any, I guess. You two were damn lucky to find it, after being dumb enough to go into that old mine. "
    " I guess it wasn ' t very smart, " Selena said, l ooking contrite. Carter caught her glancing at him from the corner of her eye. She was enjoying it , playing the dumb blonde.
    " I guess you'd like a glass of something, " Shotgun Man said. He lowered the shotgun all the way. The dog stopped growling and began to look interested instead of threatening. " Come on upstairs. This will be a hell of a story to tell down at the It'll Do . "
    Shotgun Man's name was Ed. He offered a shot of Crown Royal and a lift back to the house. Nick figured that w hoever threw th e grenade would be long gone and would have cleaned up the carnage. He wasn ' t worried about stumbling over a couple of dead bodies.
    They climbed into Ed ' s pickup . T en minutes later they stood on the front porch of the house. There was no sign of the shooters. Nick's watch showed midnight.
    Ed drove off with a promise from Selena that he could come back with his metal detector and search the town site. They watched his taillights disappear. High overhead in the warm, June night, an airplane left a long, silver trail across the star-filled sky. A soft breeze c arried the sound of crickets singing to each other.
    " Feels good to have all that space above you, doesn ' t it? "
    " I didn ' t think we were going to get out of there, " she said.
    " The spiders got to me. "
    " And the rats. Don ' t forget the rats. "
    She turned to him and wrapped her arms around him . He held her for a long moment , felt the warmth of her body in the cool night air.
    " Let ' s go inside. "
    Selena turned on the lights. The contents of her purse were scattered on the floor and the couch. The back door was open where they'd run for it .
    Selena gathered her things back together . Nick called Harker. I t was three in the morning on the East Coast. T he day ' s events were enough reason to wake her up.
    Harker picked up her phone. Her voice was thick with sleep.
    " It better be good, Nick. " She coughed.
    " You might say that. We have the book. "
    He filled her in on what had happened. There was a long pause.
    " I ' ll get a cleanup team out there to process the place. No sign of the shooters? "
    " It ' s dark out, so I can ' t