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Squinting, Isabel searched for signs of her grandfather, but people in cargo pants and black T-shirts hauling smaller equipment around were all she found. They appeared to be doing prep work then an excavator rumbled to life, its giant tank-like wheels rolling it off the trailer it was on.
With a glance to her right, Isabel spotted the property markers—bright neon pink blazes on trees, outlining the boundaries of her grandfather’s land. That excavator headed straight for those blazes. If they touched a single tree on Grandpa’s land, she’d be well within her rights to make her presence known and ask some simple questions. That was a better plan than demanding a group of cutthroats return her abducted grandfather.
Rising to her feet as that excavator edged ever closer to the line, Isabel prepared to step out of the safety of the trees. A twig snapped behind her, however, and she spun around. Before her mind registered the enormity of the man standing amidst the trees, Blaze snapped loose of her grip and charged the guy. A fierce growl grated out of Blaze—a sound Isabel had never heard before. The man braced his legs and raised his arm, preparing to swat her dog out of the way, but Blaze leaped into the air, his jaws snapping. When he landed in front of the guy, Blaze clamped his teeth onto the man’s thigh.
A roar of pain echoed from the dude’s throat and Isabel yelled, “Blaze! C’mon, boy! Come back here!”
Blaze unhinged his jaw and released the man who had dropped to his knees, his hands immediately going to the bloody bite marks the dog had left behind. With blood marking his mouth, Blaze ran back toward Isabel, but he kept turning back to make sure the guy was still down. He circled around Isabel a few times as if defining a protective bubble.
That man wasn’t going to stay down long and Isabel wasn’t going to stick around so he could grab her. “C’mon, Blaze.” She took the dog’s leash and unclipped it. Clearly her dog needed the freedom to do what he could on this rescue mission. She coiled the leash and shoved it into her pocket as she peeked through the trees at that excavator still nearing the property line. She had to stop it before it took trees down, before it entered her grandfather’s land, before it took what didn’t belong to this vile team.
Without further hesitation, Isabel burst from the woods into the clearing with Blaze running by her side. She flapped her arms over her head, waving wildly to get the excavator operator’s attention. As the machine slowed its progress, a bunch of cargo-clad individuals headed her way.
Shit. It was as if she’d kicked a beehive.
The excavator’s engine simmered down as it idled and two team members emerged from the group jogging toward her. Blaze let out a growl beside her, but she touched his ear and he sat beside her, once again with muscles tensed and ready to pounce.
“Excuse me!” she said when the two team members were within shouting distance. She gave them a smile. “Hi. I’m sorry, but this is private property behind me and it looks as if your excavator there is about to steamroll on through. Guess there’s been a mixup.” She chuckled, going for a neighborly misunderstanding vibe she hoped would buy her some time.
“We have permission to work here,” a tall, muscular woman said, her features stern.
The man who had sidled up next to the woman was as big as the guy in the woods. Were all these workers former kickboxing champions?
“I’m not sure that’s accurate,” Isabel said, still throwing off a confused energy. “This property belongs to my grandfather and it’s part of his business. I’m certain he wouldn’t allow excavation right now. He has a full set of guests down at the cottages too so he wouldn’t want all the noise to disturb his paying customers.”
Now buzz off. She smiled sweetly at them.
Unfortunately, their faces remained carved in stone, their gazes unwavering and ten different levels of unfriendly.
“We can show you our paperwork,” the woman said.
“I’d love to see it,” Isabel replied, still trying to be upbeat.
“Right this way.” The man arced an arm toward one of the large tents on the campsite.
Isabel didn’t love the idea of going any deeper onto the premises, but she’d effectively halted their progress for the moment and had to roll with it. Blaze followed closely beside her as she was led toward that main tent. Isabel’s gaze swept the area, looking for signs of Grandpa and of course finding none.
Where was Jackson? Donovan? Maplehaven Police? Shouldn’t they have been here by now? Isabel wanted the police handcuffing all these jerks and ripping through this camp to find Grandpa.
“Please,” the woman said. “Come inside.”
Isabel gave the tent a wary glance. Every instinct told her to stay outside, that the sunshine was safer than the interior of that tent, but the more she played at being a concerned neighbor, the longer she delayed them getting onto her grandfather’s land and Jackson’s dig site. If the team was busy dealing with her, hopefully no one was hurting Grandpa wherever he was.
She ducked her head and passed through the tent opening the woman held aside for her. Blaze wiggled in, his nose in the air as if he smelled something important.
Is Grandpa here, boy?
The inside of the tent was spacious and set up with workstations including computers and other gadgets she assumed were used in archaeology. She was led to a central table where an older man—no doubt the Doctor Ward that Jackson had described—stood with a spread of books open before him.
“This is the granddaughter,” the woman said.
Doctor Ward looked at Isabel over the glasses resting on the end of his nose. “Ah, yes. We’ve been expecting you.”
The group of cargo-clad minions formed a semi-circle behind Isabel, blocking the main exit and abandoning all pretense of taking her to see the so-called permission they had to dig on her grandfather’s land. Aggression came off them now and Blaze sensed it too because the dog pressed his side into Isabel’s leg and let out a few warning barks at the soldier-like group.
“You have my grandfather,” she said plainly.
“We do,” Doctor Ward said. “We found him to be uncooperative when we visited him earlier.” He waved a hand to the henchmen around them. “As you can see, cooperation is vital to my work.”
