“It’s more like a place,” Duster said, smiling. “And it’s not dangerous in any fashion. Let us fly you in tomorrow morning and show you. Then, after you have seen it, you can both walk away or use it as you please for research and investigation. Our only condition is that you never tell anyone about it or write about it in any fashion.”
Jesse sat back and looked at Kelli.
She seemed to be lost in thought.
Jesse knew he wanted to see it. He had been working far too long around Bonnie and Duster to not want to understand what they were really doing.
“Doctor Rae?” Bonnie asked.
“You know you are all nuts,” she said.
All four of them nodded.
“If I didn’t respect your work so much,” she said to Dawn and Madison, “I would be long out the door.”
“Can’t say for an instant that we would blame you,” Dawn said.
Kelli looked at Bonnie and Duster. “And I respect the work you two have done as well, even though I don’t understand it. But since you are respected in your field, that helps.”
Both Bonnie and Duster nodded.
“And I flat don’t understand, Marshal, how you could be sitting here,” Kelli said.
Jesse almost laughed as Duster jerked slightly.
“And Bonnie,” Kelli said, “I know of you in history as The Angel of San Francisco. And yet here you sit as well.”
“The what?” Duster asked, glancing at Bonnie.
Bonnie waved him silent.
“I have a perfect memory for faces and details,” Kelli said, “and I have seen hundreds of authenticated pictures of both of you from many, many photographers. So I want to see this place as well.”
Bonnie and Duster looked relieved and Dawn and Madison were smiling.
“But I have two conditions,” Kelli said.
Duster and Bonnie nodded.
“First that Jesse agrees to come along.”
She looked at him with those intense dark eyes.
“I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” Jesse said, nodding. He had no idea what he was getting himself in for, but he really wanted to keep trusting Bonnie and Duster. And it seemed that for him to do that, he was going to need to trust them just a tad bit farther.
Kelli smiled, then turned back to the other four. “My second condition is simple.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Duster said.
“Call me Kelli,” she said.
Jesse watched for a moment as the shock seemed to hit the other four, then they all laughed.
“We can do that, Kelli,” Bonnie said, smiling. “We can do that.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
July 15th, 2016
Portland, Oregon
KELLI COULDN’T BELIEVE how early Duster had wanted them up. He had gotten them all suites at a suite hotel across the parking lot from the restaurant. Kelli had kind of hoped to get to know Jesse a little better, spend some time just talking with him, but after dinner she had decided to just let that wait until they got past whatever they were going to see in the morning.
She had gone to her suite, taken a long, hot bath, and then did more research on Bonnie and Duster and Dawn and Madison.
She couldn’t find a thing that made her question them in the slightest. But how could she not question such a crazy story?
Then she had looked at dozens of pictures from the past of both of them. There was no doubt it was the same two people. Sometimes they were a little older, but otherwise no difference.
She had finally drifted off after midnight.
At 5:30 a.m., Kelli found herself, with an overnight bag stuffed with some extra underwear and sleep items, standing outside of a private hanger in the Portland Airport. The rest of her stuff she had left locked in her car. The damned sun wasn’t even up yet and the air had a bite to it that made her wish she had worn a light jacket. They had all been told to dress in simple hiking clothes, so she had on her jeans, a regular blouse with a sports bra under it, and her favorite tennis shoes.
The morning air was sending goose bumps up and down her arms.
They had left their cars parked in a protected area for a slight fee at the suite hotel and would come back for them in a day or so.
Duster and Bonnie were already on board the jet that sat with its lights on in front of her. It was a fairly large private jet, bigger than anything she had had the chance to fly in before. She stood on the tarmac outside the hanger, trying to get her balance. She never got up this early in the morning.
Ever.
Even a quick bite of a dried Danish and cup of horrid coffee in the hotel breakfast area hadn’t even begun to dent how she felt.
“What a horrid time of the morning,” Jesse said, coming out of the building behind her. He walked alongside Madison and Dawn who both carried cups of coffee.
“Duster likes to get things started early,” Madison said, shaking his head.
Kelli was glad the other three looked almost as bad as she felt, even though early in the morning Jesse was still the most handsome man she had ever seen. He had on his long duster coat and cowboy hat, but he wore tennis shoes instead of cowboy boots this morning.
“We can stretch out and nap on the plane,” Dawn said. “But it’s a pretty short flight to Boise, so it will be a short nap.”
“Anything at the moment will help,” Kelli said.
All three nodded as they headed across the concrete toward the jet, carrying their day bags. Clearly Duster and Bonnie had a lot of money to afford a plane like this. Far more than she would have thought mathematicians should have.
Duster was up front talking with the pilots and Bonnie was already seated, her chair kicked back, a sleep mask on her forehead. It seemed it was too early for her as well. She had on jeans, a dark cotton blouse, and had kicked off her tennis shoes.
“Duster sits there,” Bonnie said, pointing to the seat across from her. “Take any of the other seats. Sleep masks in the side pockets of each seat.”
Kelli moved to one of the two seats in the back and took the one on her right. Jesse took the one on the left.
She eased the big leather chair back until it felt more like a bed than anything else and then grabbed the sleep mask.
Beside her Jesse had done the same thing after shedding his coat and hat. She was surprised that she felt so comfortable with him, was so attracted to him. It felt right for him to be beside her like this.
He glanced over and smiled at her. “Night.”
With that he put on the sleep mask and crossed his hands over his chest.
She watched him for a moment, then did the same.
And the next thing she realized, he was waking her gently.
She pushed the sleep mask back, blinked at the light, and looked up into his smiling, handsome face.
“Now this is a nice way to wake up,” she said. She wanted to reach up and pull his head down and just kiss him, but she didn’t.
He laughed. “We’ve landed. Almost ready for stage two, whatever that is.”
“Oh, joy,” she said. “More mystery.”
“Just one right after another,” he said, smiling.
Damn she loved that smile.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
July 15th, 2016
Above Silver City, Idaho
JESSE WAS SURPRISED when they left the big private jet and walked with their day bags about a hundred paces to a large, waiting helicopter. He had never had the chance to fly in a helicopter, so this would be interesting.
“Ever been in one of these?” he asked Kelli.
“Nope,” she said. “A fun part of the adventure.”
He made no comment to that.
Inside two pilots sat up front. They were all given helmets with microphones so they could talk with one another. He and Kelli and Dawn climbed into the third seat. He sat against the pilot’s side window, Kelli tucked in beside him, and Dawn on the other side of her.
He liked being this close to Kelli. It felt r
ight.
All three of them helped each other get buckled into the harness belts.
Duster and Bonnie and Madison got into the seat in front of them and after a moment the doors were closed.
Except for his own breathing, the helmet kept most of the sounds out.
“Where are we heading?” Kelli asked, her voice clear in his ears.
“Silver City area,” Duster said.
“The ghost town?” Jesse asked.
Duster turned and indicated that no one should say a word, tapping his helmet and then indicating the pilots.
Jesse and Kelli both nodded. Clearly the pilots didn’t know anything about the reason for this trip.
“We thought it would be fun to do a little exploring up in an old mining region,” Bonnie said, “since all of you like history so much.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Dawn said, playing along.
Jesse glanced at Kelli who was smiling. Clearly she liked the game they were playing as well.
A minute later, the helicopter lifted off after getting clearance from the tower that he could hear through his helmet.
Kelli seemed startled at that, as the helicopter banked and headed to the east from the airport, gaining speed and altitude quickly.
She reached over and put her hand on his leg, as if it was a natural comforting movement.
He covered her hand and they stayed that way as the helicopter sped toward some blue mountains in the distance.
He knew those mountains as the Owyhee Mountains. They filled the southwest corner of the state and he had never had the chance to even get close to them, let alone go up to the state’s most famous ghost town, Silver City.
He liked the greener area of the state in the center.
A few minutes later Duster pointed out the window. “Coming up on the Snake River.”
Kelli leaned over him to see out and he leaned back a little to give her room, the pressure of her hand more on his leg.
After a moment she glanced at him.
“Fun, huh?” he asked.
She laughed and squeezed his leg. “I have a hunch the fun is only beginning.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said, squeezing her hand.
Then they both went back to staring out the window at the wide river below, and the mountains ahead.
After another ten minutes, the helicopter was over the tallest peaks of the mountains.
“Down in the valley below is the ghost town of Silver City,” Duster said. “We just went over War Eagle Mountain.”
Again Kelli leaned over him to look out, the pressure of her hand on his leg very comforting.
Another minute and the helicopter banked and headed in slowly toward a wide meadow on the top of a ridge line a ways above the old ghost town. There didn’t seem to be any trees even close by and from what Jesse could tell from the intense winds from the helicopter blades, the grass was very short.
“Make sure you grab your bags,” Duster said. “The pilots will not turn off the engines and will be headed back as soon as we are out.”
“Keep your heads and arms down and stay low when you get out,” a pilot said. “In case we’re tipped slightly one way or the other. And leave the helmets on the floor in front of each seat.”
After only a moment Jesse felt the helicopter touch down gently, then settle in.
“Have a nice day,” one pilot said.
“We will call when we need a ride out,” Duster said. “If you don’t hear from us, come back at four in the afternoon.”
“Understood,” the pilot said.
The co-pilot was already out and he opened the large side door. Duster, Bonnie, and Madison all took off their helmets and, staying low, ran away from the helicopter along the grass-covered ridge.
Dawn went next, then Kelli took off her helmet and followed Dawn out.
He went out right behind Kelli.
The sound was intense, seeming to fill every cell of his body. The wind whipped at him and his coat as he carried his bag in one hand and his hat in the other, running bent over to where Duster and the rest stood.
As he and Kelli turned back toward the helicopter, the co-pilot was climbing back into his seat, the back door already closed.
After a moment, the co-pilot gave a thumbs-up out the window at them and the helicopter lifted off, turning after about fifty feet in the air and streaking back toward the Boise Valley in the distance.
After a moment, the intense thundering of the helicopter was replaced by almost perfect silence, broken only by a gentle morning breeze through the grass around their feet.
They were standing on what looked like a flat area of a ridge that sloped steeply off in two directions. On one side Jesse could see the Treasure Valley and Boise in the distance, and on the other side lower mountains sloping down into what looked like a flat desert.
“That beats the hell out of the road up here,” Madison said.
“By about a thousand times,” Dawn said.
“Just wish we could do it more,” Duster said. “Just don’t dare. Too many times and it would draw attention.”
“The road is that bad?” Kelli asked.
“Worse than you can imagine,” Dawn said, shaking her head.
Jesse had been on his share of bad mountain roads. He was glad he hadn’t had to endure another one today. “So where are we, exactly.”
“In the Owyhee Mountains about two thousand feet above the ghost town of Silver City, Idaho,” Duster said, pointing over the ridge and down. “And our destination is about a thousand feet in that same direction.”
At that Duster picked up his case and strode off along the ridge to the left on the Silver City side. With his long duster coat and cowboy hat, he looked perfectly at home.
Bonnie fell in behind him.
“Ready for the secret?” Madison asked.
Jesse glanced at Kelli who smiled and shrugged.
At this point, what choice did either of them have?
“Just one mystery right after another,” he said, smiling.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
July 15th, 2016
Above the ghost town of Silver City, Idaho
KELLI FOUND HERSELF getting winded easily after just fifteen minutes of walking, even though they were mostly walking either across the hillside, or down, on a fairly well defined trail. Finally it dawned on her why. She had spent most of the last week at sea level. Suddenly she found herself atop a fairly tall mountain.
“What’s the elevation here?” Kelli asked.
“Seven thousand feet or so,” Duster said over his shoulder. “We’re almost there.”
“Can take the breath right out of you, can’t it?” Jesse said from behind her.
“That and these views can do that,” she said, nodding. It really was spectacular, looking out over the distant valleys.
Finally, they came around a ridge covered with low pine trees and Duster pointed to a very steep and rough-looking trail that seemed to go almost straight down.
“That’s the road in here,” he said, turning and following along the hillside. She could see clear tire tracks in the ground, but she had no idea how a car could get up that steep grade, let alone not tip over along this side hill.
“See what I mean?” Dawn said from in front of Kelli.
“I don’t even want to try to imagine,” Kelli said.
Finally, they reached an area of trees.
“We normally park in these trees,” Madison said, pointing to the trees they were walking through as Duster just kept on going toward what looked to be old mine tailings and a rough old mining shack.
The trail between the trees and the mine tailings was across what looked like a steep rockslide. It was almost straight down and Kelli could see the ghost town of Silver City below. There were about twenty buildings still standing in one form or another, and about five cars parked in front of what looked to be an old hotel.
When they all reached the flat top of the old mine tailings, Duster dropped his
bag and then Bonnie did as well. The air, even though it was still fairly early in the morning, was starting to warm up, promising a very warm day ahead.
The flat-top area of the mine tailings was covered with a few dried weeds that had managed to get a hold in the rocks. Otherwise it was weather packed hard.
The old mining shack looked to be in its last moments of life. The boards were grayed out and rotted and the windows gone. The entire thing leaned sharply downhill and Kelli figured one more good winter and it would be nothing more than a pile of lumber. She had seen old buildings in ghost towns like that a lot.
Small, narrow gage mining-tracks, mostly rusted, ran from the back of the old shack and into a boarded up mine entrance that had collapsed a very long time ago. Rotted boards at one point had covered the old opening. Some good-sized small trees and brush grew out of where the mine had collapsed.
Looks like they were at their destination, but Kelli could see nothing at all that looked remotely like anything special.
She put down her night bag and moved over to the edge of the tailings. In her research, she had heard a lot about Silver City, just never had any reason to research it much for any of her books. Maybe at some point she would find a crime worth researching that brought her back here. The area had an interesting feel of desolation to it.
“Madison,” Duster said, “you want to head on up the trail to see if anyone is up over the ridge there.”
Madison nodded, left his bag and headed off the tailings past the cabin and up a clear trail leading up along the hillside.
He vanished for a few minutes. Then he reappeared and nodded. “Clear up that way.”
Duster and Bonnie and Dawn in the meantime had taken binoculars from their packs and were slowly scouring the nearby ridges and trees.
Kelli glanced at Jesse, who was looking as puzzled as she felt. Whatever was here somewhere, Duster and the rest did not want to be seen accessing it.
“No one in sight,” Duster said after a moment. “But keep an eye out for a few more minutes.”
Dawn nodded and Bonnie handed Madison her binoculars as he came back to the group and Bonnie moved over to stand beside Duster.
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