Free Incarnate: Mars Origin "I" Series Book III by Abby L. Vandiver Page A

warm, moist air mixed
with the earthiness of the dirt and let it invade her senses. 
    She
was young, new to her profession and this could make her career.
    Or
end it.
    “Dr.
Dickerson.” Logan looked up to find Jairo Zacapa walking toward her. “You’re
still out? It’s getting late. No daylight left to work.”
    Being
called “Dr. Dickerson” made her think of her mother. “Call me Logan.” She
smiled. “For the umpteenth time.”
    “You’re
pretty important around here. Can I sit?”
    “Sure.”
    “Seems
like you’d revel in the title,” he finished his thought.
    “Just
here to do my job, Jairo.”
    It
was her mother’s discovery, she felt in her gut that had brought her there in
the first place. She was sure of it. Even though her mother’s name or work
hadn’t been mentioned in any of the correspondences that had summoned her. It
was fraught with phrases like “the true origin of man,” and “answering age old
questions.” She had received a letter, out of the blue, stating that she had
been chosen to lead a field campaign. The letter ended by stating the funding
would come from an anonymous benefactor.
    She
hadn’t cared who was paying for it or how they knew about her mother. She was
just happy to be there.
    “Did
you find anything out here today?” Jairo asked.
    “Nothing
today. Just more dirt.”
    “You’re
not getting discouraged are you?”
    “No.
Why do I seem like I am?”
    “No.
Just wondering.”
    “We
haven’t been here long,” Logan said. “I think we’ll find something soon.
There’s no problem is there?”
    “No.
Nothing’s wrong. But the person that hired you is expecting big things, you
know. The answer to all the holes in the history of man.”
    “Ha
ha. Yeah. Right. I don’t think I will be finding anything like that.”
    Funny
he should say that to her, she thought. Her mother claimed to have filled in
those holes already. Logan looked at Jairo. The crow’s feet and laugh lines in
his face made her think he was about forty. He had dark hair, a flat face, eyes
that were thin and set far apart.
    And
although she liked Jairo and felt like she could talk to him, she didn’t dare
say anything about her mother out loud. Her mother’s answers were too
farfetched to actually share with others. Heck her mother was even keeping them
secret. And it was easy to understand why. Her mother’s “filling up those holes”
theory? Ancient man, older than any of the remains ever found, was not only
more technologically advanced than anything we knew today, but he hailed from
outer space.
    Outer
space.
    Yeah, she definitely wasn’t going to say anything about that to him.
    “So,
how well do you know my mysterious benefactor?” she said instead.
    “You
know I can’t talk about that.” Jairo kept his eyes focused straight ahead.
    She
lowered her eyes. “Just thought I’d give it a try.”
    He
glanced at her and smiled.
    “Well,
one thing I’ve figure out,” Logan said. “Whomever it is, they seem to like
Indiana Jones movies.”
    A
slight frown appeared across Jairo’s forehead and he gave a nod.
    “You
know. I mean . . . Well, in the letter when they hired me it was filled with .
. .”
    He
continued nodding as she spoke. Same little frown drawn in the creases of his
forehead.
    Maybe he doesn’t have any idea of what I’m talking about. Not everyone had seen those movies.
    “Never
mind,” she said.
    Maybe
it was best she didn’t go there. Her mother - the female version of Indiana
Jones – had made the character a part of her consciousness. But she wasn’t
looking to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
    Her
mother, Justin Dickerson, now in her mid-fifties, had retired from
archaeological excavations and spent her time in classrooms teaching about it.
But she had recently confessed to Logan that she’d discovered that man came
from Mars. Not little green men with slanted eyes and spindly limbs like her
mother said her father had originally thought – no