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here?”
    “As luck would have it, I got another call today to inspect a construction site not far from Pirates Cove.”
    “A construction site?”
    “Seems the construction workers found some bones. Actually, a lot of bones.”
    “But why bring in an archeologist, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    Professor Anders laughed. “Seems some of the bones they found are human and others are not so human. Or so they say.”
    Blossom gasped. “You mean the bones might belong to an undiscovered species?”
    “I highly doubt it, but I’m going to meet them at the site in the morning. Are you and Clay going to be around tomorrow afternoon?”
    “Sure.”
    “How about I swing by your motel around three?”
    “Perfect.” Blossom gave her the directions to their motel and hung up.
    Clay wrapped his arms around her and squeezed gently. “You didn’t tell the professor that we’re engaged.”
    “Oh God, you’re right. I was so surprised that she was coming down to see us that everything else kinda slipped my mind.” She kissed him. “I’m sorry.”
    “Not much of an apology,” he said, feigning a pout.
    Blossom shoved him backwards and he fell across the bed. She grinned seductively.
    “I’ve got a much better apology planned, big boy.” She slipped her shirt over her head, tossed it on the dresser and displayed her bare breasts.
    There was a knock at the door.
    “Maintenance,” the voice in the hall announced.
    “Shit!” Blossom exclaimed and tugged the shirt back on. She strode out of the bedroom. “Sorry,” she mouthed to Clay and opened the door.
    Three armed men slammed against the door, knocking Blossom to the floor behind it, and rushed inside. One of the intruders grabbed her shoulder, roughly yanked her to her feet and smothered her mouth with his large hand. The other two pointed their guns at Clay, who stood in the bedroom doorway and helplessly watched the stranger manhandle his fiancée.
    “Hands behind your head or die!” a short man with a shaved head and a maze of tattoos curtly ordered. Clay complied reluctantly, his anxious eyes never leaving Blossom.
    The first man into the suite removed his hand from Blossom’s mouth and forced her down onto the loveseat.
    “Scream and your boyfriend dies,” he growled.
    Suddenly, Blossom recognized her attacker. “Jay!” she whispered. “What the hell are you doing here?”
    The man she referred to as Jay glowered at her. “Catching my girl cheating with pretty boy there.”
    Anger displaced her fear. “Dammit, I’m not your girl and I haven’t been for over eight months. I told you that we were through and I meant it. So get it through your thick head that . . .”
    Jay bent and slapped her face. Clay lunged forward, but the tattoo man gave him a solid uppercut to the solar plexus that knocked the air from his lungs. Clay doubled over, gasping for breath.
    Jay glanced at Clay and then the tattoo man. “The next time pretty boy moves, shoot him.”
    “No!” Blossom shouted, and Jay slapped her again.
    “Cheatin’ bitch!” he yelled. “You and me were made for each other, promised to each other by the tribal elders, but here you are sleazin’ around with a white man. A goddammed white man ! Us Indians got to stick together, Blossom. Can’t have no white man thinnin’ our bloodlines.”
    She gingerly touched her face and felt the heat swell her cheek beneath her fingers. “You’re crazy, Jay,” she said softly, “and that’s why I left you. There was a time at Nebraska University when you were actually . . . civil . . . kind, but that changed when you abandoned your circle of friends for them .” She pointed at the tattoo man and the tall thin blonde man with pale blue eyes.
    Blossom studied Jay. Yes, the two of them had been a romantic “item” since junior high school, but Jay grew increasingly distant and secretive the past two and a half years. He would mysteriously disappear on weeknights and over long weekends while she