Hollow Bones

by CJ Lyons

  Maria squirmed in Carrera’s grip, struggling to get free. Carrera pushed her dangerously close to the edge of the chasm. Caitlyn sprang to her feet, ignoring the blood stinging her eyes. If she could grab Maria, use her weight to pull Carrera off balance … Jake met her gaze and she knew he was thinking the same thing.

  Carrera whirled, his gaze and pistol aiming at Hector then Caitlyn then Hector then Caitlyn and finally Hector again. He pulled the trigger.

  A gunshot rang out. Hector fell. Maria called out, “Father!”

  Jake made his move, Caitlyn right behind him, coming from two different angles, Carrera and Maria at their intersection.

  As she ran over the uneven ground, Caitlyn realized that she wasn’t scared. Not for herself, not of dying. It was Jake she was terrified for. What if something happened to him?

  Carrera spotted the movement and aimed at Jake. Another shot pierced the air. Jake flung himself to the ground.

  Time slowed to a weird, one-step-forward, two-steps-back stuttering slow motion. Caitlyn whipped her head around just long enough to make sure Jake was okay. During that split second, she realized nothing else mattered.

  She remembered the terror she’d felt when he plunged into the river and was swept out of sight below the mountain. And realized that everything she’d fought so hard for had been for nothing.

  Yes, she had her career. Yes, she had the quiet life she thought she wanted. She’d even deluded herself that all she wanted was to be left alone.

  For decades, after surviving the pain of losing her father, she’d barricaded her heart behind razor wire and brick walls. Built the walls higher and higher so she’d never need to face that kind of loss, that kind of pain, again.

  Silly her. Jake had tunneled beneath her barricade. A long time ago, she realized now, even as she ran toward a crazy man with a gun and a hostage.

  There was no turning back. She couldn’t face losing him again. Not when she’d just discovered what was right in front of her all along.

  She plowed into Maria, spinning the girl’s weight to propel them both away from the cliff’s edge. Jake jumped to his feet and leapt for Carrera’s gun hand, twisting the pistol away from where it was aimed at Caitlyn.

  The momentum threw Carrera off balance. He flailed his hands, trying to stop his fall. And grabbed on to Caitlyn’s arm.

  Two pairs of hands wrenched her back: Maria and Cho. Caitlyn fell backwards against them, just in time to see Carrera’s other hand hook Jake’s ankle.

  The look of shock on Jake’s face filled her vision. He lurched from one side to the other, trying to catch his balance and shake free of Carrera’s grip.

  Both men fell. Vanished into the abyss.

  “Jake!” Caitlyn rolled to the edge of the cliff.

  Carrera’s body spun through the air. He shrieked in terror as he hit the shallow water, releasing a wave of bones as if his victims had come to life to greet him. Then there was silence. He didn’t move.

  “Jake,” she called again, craning her head over the edge.

  Jake was about ten feet lower than the ledge below her, dangling from one of the vines. A vine too short to reach the bottom and too far from any of the ledges for him to jump to safety.

  She leapt to her feet as he swung his weight, trying to reach the ledge above him. Running around the perimeter of the pit, she hit the stone steps and sped down them. Above her, she heard Maria run to help her father, Cho calling instructions to her on how to stop the bleeding as he continued to work on Michael.

  At the bottom of the pit, Carrera’s body splayed across the top of the water, arms spread wide, held in the embrace of several skeletons.

  He had died a horrible death, just as Cho had predicted. Caitlyn didn’t know the doctor well enough to feel much of anything except anger that he’d cost the lives of so many. There was no way in hell she was going to let Jake be his final victim.

  Jake pendulumed back and forth, but his arc wasn’t taking him high enough or far enough to reach safety. He twisted his body, and she could see he was planning to make a leap for it.

  “No, Jake! Wait!”

  She ran out onto the ledge, ready to reach for him. He swung toward her, his eyes met hers, and then … a sharp crack as loud as a gunshot echoed through the space between them as the vine he clung to broke.

  Pressing her knuckles to her mouth, she swallowed her scream as he fell through the air. He hit the skeletons at the bottom of the pit, mud and water splashing over him. Then he disappeared from sight beneath the dark ooze.

  “Jake!” Caitlyn slid-slipped down the steep pit wall to reach him, using the vines to stabilize her headlong rush. His fall had been half the distance as Carrera’s, but even that could have been high enough to kill him if he hit the rock wall or if the water was too shallow or … She pushed aside her fears. Skidding to a stop at the edge of the water, she waded past the skeletonized remains of Carrera’s victims and made it to Jake’s side, hauling his head and torso from the water. He sputtered and coughed.

  “You shot me! Why did you shoot me?” He gasped in pain as Caitlyn moved to support his head and slide his body free of the water. She palpated his chest, arms, finally his legs.

  A shard of a skeleton’s rib protruded through his calf. From the angle he lay at, he couldn’t see his leg, although his hands were grabbing his thigh, trying to stabilize the limb.

  “Jake, you’re not shot,” Caitlyn told him. There was a little blood, but given the filth they were lying in, she thought it probably best not to remove the shard of bone until they got someplace where she could clean and dress it properly.

  “I’m not? It feels like I am.”

  “You’re not shot. But—” She shifted so he could see past her.

  “Oh, shit.” His face blanched when he saw what his injury actually was. He turned to face her. “You know I’m really just a CPA, right? Good with numbers and details?”

  Had he hit his head on the way down? Of course she knew that. “Yeah, so?”

  “So you won’t think any less of me if I get a little queasy at the sight of blood? Especially my own?”

  Laughter broke past her panic and she hugged him hard. He winced, but then looked her square on and asked, “Hey, did you call me Jake?”

  Before she could answer, he took hold of her shoulders to reposition her, then planted his lips against hers. Despite the moldering corpses and the stench of jungle rot and the fact that neither of them had been near a shower or toothbrush in days, it was the sweetest, most satisfying kiss she’d ever had.

  A thousand memories crowded through Caitlyn’s mind as fast as a hurricane. The joy she felt when she opened the door to the Blue Ball sheriff’s office and found him there waiting for her. The way she missed him when they were apart. The funny noises he made when they made love. The tears he didn’t try to hide as they climaxed. The fact that he didn’t make her feel crowded or smothered or trapped. When he held a door open for her, it wasn’t just the act of a gentleman, but the respect of a fellow law enforcement officer who trusted her to lead as she entered a room before him.

  The first man in is always right, the tactical instructors drilled new agents at Quantico, teaching them how to clear a room of danger. Jake wasn’t her first man, not by any means, but she wanted him to be her last.

  “Yes,” she said when they parted for air. “I called you Jake.”

  “I like it. A lot.” He kissed her again. “Don’t ever stop.”

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Turned out it was more difficult leaving a country after you’d entered it without documentation, helped to uncover evidence of genocide, and been a witness to murder.

  Caitlyn didn’t really mind the two days’ delay. It gave Jake time to get his leg fixed up—more damage to his pride than anything—and her time to see Itzel’s people saved from the cavern where they’d been trapped.

  When she saw Maria and Itzel together, Caitlyn realized that Itzel would have been only Maria’s age when she es
caped U4, was rescued by the Lutherans, and then returned to save her home. So young to have rebuilt a community from burnt-out ruins. Sometimes, it took a child to raise a village.

  Maria stayed at Michael’s side—Caitlyn thought Dr. Cho had a lot to do with that. Apparently after Michael’s heart pump failed, his own heart had taken over. Cho said it was slowly gaining strength, and there was a chance Michael might not need the transplant after all.

  Jake had rolled his eyes at the irony when Maria told them that. Caitlyn had given him a look that shut him up before he could say anything stupid. Especially since Michael wasn’t out of the woods yet.

  Once they made it to Guatemala City, Hector volunteered BioRegen’s jet to fly Michael, Maria, Itzel, and Dr. Cho to Miami, where Michael could get the care he needed. Jake and Caitlyn went along for the ride, glad to leave the politicians still squabbling over what to do with evidence of past war crimes, the impact it would have on the civilian population once the news got out, and what to do with the people of Cubiltzul, since the temple and its treasure belonged to them.

  Somehow along the way, Hector had turned into the hero of the day rather than a war criminal who’d escaped prosecution. After he was discharged from the hospital, he remained under house arrest in one of the most exclusive hotels in Guatemala City while the Guatemalan authorities decided his fate.

  It was tough saying good-bye to Maria in Miami. Caitlyn felt that she knew the girl, even though they’d spent less than a day together. Maria seemed to be handling learning about her father’s past fairly well—better than Caitlyn had coped when her own mother’s secrets were unearthed.

  Of course it helped that Hector had risked everything to save Maria and that he was now cooperating with authorities. Unlike Caitlyn’s mom, who was still manipulating the criminal justice system and her own daughter in hopes of walking away from murder charges.

  “You’ll be okay?” she asked when Maria dropped them off at their gate before heading to the hospital to be with her mother, Michael, and Cho.

  “I’m not sure,” Maria admitted. “How do you forgive someone for who they once were when you know how good they could be?”

  Caitlyn had to look away. It was a damn good question—one she was still working on herself.

  “I guess,” she said slowly, her thoughts half-formed, “sometimes we have to accept that we can’t change someone and we can’t always expect them to change for us. All you can do is live your own life the best you can. Honor the memory of the person you thought you knew and loved.”

  Jake raised an eyebrow at that and she knew he was thinking of her mother. His expression said she needed to take her own advice.

  Maria gave her a shy smile, then hugged her fiercely. “Yes. Yes, I will. I can. Thank you, Caitlyn.”

  Caitlyn had to laugh at that. “Don’t thank me. You pretty much saved yourself. We were just along for the ride.”

  Maria blushed and turned to hug Jake. “And thank you, Jake.”

  He hugged her back, lifting her off her feet. “Anytime, kid. Promise to let me know how it goes with that Canadian doctor—I have friends with the RCMP, I can have him checked out for you.”

  Her blush deepened and she giggled, looking like a college kid again. “Could you have him detained here in Miami so we have more time together?”

  “Sure thing. Just say the word.”

  “Seriously,” Caitlyn said, resting a hand on Maria’s arm. “Are you going to be okay? Staying here, with your mother—Sandra, I mean—and all? There’s bound to be a lot of fallout from your father’s past, and you might find yourself in the spotlight.”

  Maria looked down at her feet, hesitated. “I want to make sure Michael is okay. And get to know my mother—my real mother. But then…” She raised her head, chin high, meeting Caitlyn’s gaze straight on. “Then, I’m going to transfer. Maybe to Toronto, I’m not sure. Switch my major to forensic anthropology. That way I can help Itzel protect the temple while also bringing my father’s victims and their families justice. It’s the least I can do.”

  Caitlyn smiled, proud of Maria’s decision. “You need anything, you know where to find us.”

  They watched as Maria climbed back into the SUV and drove off into the bustle of the airport traffic.

  “She’s going to be okay,” Caitlyn said with a sigh.

  Jake hugged her with one arm. “Yes. She is.”

  *

  There was no one to meet them when they arrived at BWI, but for once coming home didn’t feel lonely. Since they had no luggage, they held hands as they strolled through the throngs of people immersed in their own worries, rushing from one gate to the next.

  Jake stopped to buy some silly socks at a kiosk, one pair with giraffes wrapping their long necks around the socks and another emblazoned with smiley faces.

  “Should I be worried?” Caitlyn joked. Obviously, neither pair was for her.

  A sad look crossed his face. “Gift for my niece. And a friend her age.”

  “The little girl with kuru?”

  “Creutzfeldt-Jakob,” he correctly automatically. She loved how his mind hung on to trivia that escaped her memory. “Do you think they’ll ever trace it back to Carrera’s clinic? Might help her folks get some closure.”

  The epidemiology was beyond her, so all she could do was shrug. “Carrera’s autopsy showed he had it, but who knows where he got it from.”

  “Must have been while dissecting one of his—” He broke off. What to call the women who’d been mutilated by Carrera in the name of greed and science? Surely not patients. “Victims,” he finished.

  They walked on in silence, no need to rush, no need to fill in the silence with aimless conversation. In their own world, separate from the hustle and bustle of the travelers surrounding them.

  “Feels kind of nice,” she said.

  “Going home?” He squeezed her hand and smiled at her. “Yes. It does.”

  The spell was broken as both their cell phones rang simultaneously. Caitlyn wished she’d lost the damn thing back at the temple, but no such luck.

  Jake dropped her hand to answer his.

  “Is it the AUSA?” she asked, worried about what his little excursion might have cost his career.

  He shook his head as he listened.

  “Yeah? How’d it go? Really?” His voice had a bounce to it. Good news.

  She wasn’t so sure about her call. It was Assistant Director Yates. “Tierney, you’re back.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Wanted to tell you, nice work. Hector Alvarado got the Guatemalans to sign on with the drug interdiction plan State was negotiating.”

  She brightened. Maybe Hector was serious about living up to Maria’s faith in him after all. “That’s good news, sir.”

  “And BioRegen is forging the path to create a governing body that will have oversight over the entire tissue industry to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”

  Then again, maybe Hector hadn’t changed so much after all. Still protecting his own interests. “So they won’t be facing criminal charges?”

  “For what? As far as we know they haven’t broken any U.S. laws, and there’s no proof that they’re liable for the what-cha-ma-callit disease transmission. Plus, Hector has agreed to be a cooperating witness if or when a war crimes tribunal is convened. But don’t worry. The IRS is taking a long, hard look at BioRegen and the Alvarados. You know them. Once they bother to open a case file—”

  “They don’t stop until they have a conviction,” she finished for him, relieved that some justice would be served. Even if it came at the hands of the accountants. Jake would love that.

  “Oh, and that kid, the one with the bum heart? Some doctor, Cho, called—said to tell you he’s doing fine, is out of the woods. You do know I’m not your damn message service, right?”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Michael was going to be all right. Somehow it made everything else seem worth it. She glanced at Jake, who was laughing at somet
hing the person on the other end of his call was saying. Decided that maybe there was one more good thing that could come from this disaster of a case. “Ah, sir, would it be okay if I dropped by your office tomorrow? I need to pick up some paperwork.”

  “Paperwork?”

  “I need a relationship disclosure form.”

  Jake stopped walking and talking. He stared at her, then held up two fingers as he bounced on his heels, grinning.

  “Make it two relationship disclosure forms, sir,” she amended. Jake pumped his fist in the air.

  “You and Carver?”

  “Yes, sir, that’s right.”

  “It’s a shame. I was going to have him assigned to work with you, but that would put him in your chain of command.” Yates was giving her a choice: a personal life with Jake or a work life with Jake.

  Easiest choice she’d made in days. “That’s all right, sir. But you really should think of a long-term assignment for him—”

  “Got it covered, Tierney.” Yates always had a plan B, C, D, and E waiting in the wings. “There’s an opening at the Academy. Tell him he can start full-time on Monday.”

  “Wait, sir. A full-time position at the Academy, that means—” Now she was the one grinning. You couldn’t teach at the FBI Academy full-time unless you were a Supervisory Special Agent.

  “Put him on, I’ll give him the good news myself.”

  “Yes, sir.” She covered her phone and whispered to Jake, “The Assistant Director wants to speak with you.”

  He nodded. “Thanks again, Shapiro. I owe you one.” He hung up from his call and took her phone. “Yes, sir?” He grew serious for a moment, raised an eyebrow in disbelief, then jerked to attention. “Really? Yes, sir! I’ll be there. Thank you, sir.”

  Then he hung up. She grabbed her phone back and pocketed it. “I have never heard anyone use so many sirs in one breath in my life, Special Agent Carver.”

  “That’s Supervisory Special Agent Carver, and don’t you forget it.” He raised her in a hug that pulled her off her feet. Ignoring the stares of the passengers around them, he twirled her in a circle and kissed her so hard that Caitlyn was dizzy when he finally set her back on solid ground. “I’ve got a little surprise for you as well.”