Free Canyon of the Sphinx by Kathryn Le Veque Page A

job.”
    “Dr. Trent, there’s always
something going on with you,” Kevin insisted.
    Kathlyn put her hands on her
hips. “Listen to me, both of you,” she snarled. “I’m giving you one minute to clear
out of here or I’ll break out my taser gun and zap your asses all the way back
to Mexico City. Is that clear?”
    Kevin put up his hands. “Temper,
Dr. Trent. You’re acting just like your husband.”
    “No, if I was acting just like my
husband, I would have broken your stupid neck by now.” She jabbed a finger at
the road leading from camp. “Go. Get!”
    “Dr. Trent….”
    “I said leave. The Wicked Witch
of the West is calling you – go join the rest of the flying monkeys. Get out!”
    The photographers were grinning,
but they did as they were told. To anger her any more would be to risk never
working with her again.  The trudged back down the road to where they had
parked their borrowed truck. Kathlyn listened to it start up noisily and
watched as they awkwardly turned around on the road. Only when they drove away
in a cloud of black smoke did she exhale sharply with frustration. Mark was
standing behind her.
    “What a couple of morons,” he
said.
    Kathlyn could only nod her head
in agreement. She was more concerned with the fact that her integrity with
Murphy had been damaged. Sitting down on a stump that had been whittled into a
chair, she sighed.
    "So now what?" she
asked. "Murphy doesn't trust me and UIR is paying big bucks for my
services. What do I do?"
    "Same thing happened with
Marcus. What did you do with him?"
    "Married him. But I can't do
that with Murphy."
    Mark snorted. "No, you
can't. Maybe you should just let him cool down and then go talk to him. If he
still doesn't want you around, then we'll call McGrath and tell him what
happened."
    "And we go back to
Egypt." Kathlyn liked the sound of that. "But I would feel bad
pulling out on Murphy under those circumstances. Even if he doesn't trust me, I
think I can help him.  That site of his is really haunted."
    Mark shrugged. "We can't do
anything if he won't let us."
    Kathlyn agreed. Then she looked
around. "Where are Otis and the kids?"
    Mark pretended to play dumb, but
he couldn't fool her. "They went off into that gorge near the site to do
some surveying."
    Kathlyn cast him a long look.
"And you let them?"
    "They won't hurt
anything."
    "Mark, if Murphy gets wind
of that, he'll think I've put them up to it. He'll think we're up to
something."
    "He already thinks
that," Mark said flatly. "Let Otis and the boys get some measurements
and a basic topography survey.  You know Otis can piece together a masterpiece
from a finger-painting with just a few bits of information."
    Kathlyn's gaze trailed off in the
direction of the gorge. "I wonder if Murphy has done any ground
scans."
    "Are you thinking of using
the ground penetrating radar?"
    "We brought the sled with
us."
    "I know."
    The wheels were turning, Mark
could tell. The GPR, the acronym for Ground Penetrating Radar, was a horizontal
radar device like a little sled that was pulled over the ground in methodical,
even motions. The data it recorded was then fed to computer software that
translated the information into a two-dimensional image. Larry and Andy had
affectionately dubbed the device the 'deadhead' because it felt much like
pulling around a dead body.
     "I don't know if the
deadhead would work here," Mark said. "The topography is too
uneven."
    "You're probably
right," Kathlyn said. "The GDT would be better."
    "GDT" stood for
Geophysical Diffraction Tomography, which basically accomplished the same thing
as the GPR by using an 8-Gauge shotgun device that, when fired into the ground,
picked up the returning shock waves. The software used for this device was more
sophisticated and translated three-dimensional images.  The benefit was that,
once positioned, it could almost be fired vertically provided whoever was
holding it could hold it still enough.
     "We brought both of
them,"