Read The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) for Free Online Page B

if
it's substantiated."
    "Tell me about it,"
Marcus snorted. "But there's a few things preventing us from excavating
it."
    "Like what?"
    "The Iraqi government, for
one. If you think they're going to let an American university dig in their
country, you're out of your mind. Then there are the religious views of the
village. They think they have a genuine angel right in their midst and they're
very protective about it."
    "As they should be,"
McGrath agreed. "So let's think; realistically, what would it take for us
to dig up that skeleton?"
    Kathlyn took a long drink of the
soda. "Realistically, we'd have to sneak in and sneak out. There would be
no permits, no publicity, nothing announcing our presence. And what scares me
the most is, what if we're not the only ones who know of this find? What if
someone has blabbed it to the Iraqi Government? There's no telling what they'll
do, especially if they think the villagers have already contacted an outside
agency."
    McGrath frowned. "It could
get ugly for them, but they probably already know that, which is why I'd bet
dollars to donuts that they've kept it to themselves. They'd rather have the
Americans in there for two very good reasons."
    "Which are?"
    "We won't put them all in
front of a firing squad. And we will pay them handsomely for their
trouble."
    Kathlyn shook her head. "I
don't think this is a matter of money. I just don't get that sense."
    "What sense do you get,
then?"
    "That they just want to know
what it is."
    McGrath sipped his drink,
contemplating her statement, the implications, and anything else rude enough to
enter his mind. "What did Ballard have to say?"
    Kathlyn shrugged. "To put
together a proposal and he'd look at it. He's being very cautious."
    Jobe stood up again and went over
to his desk. Removing a packet of Marlborough cigarettes, he opened a window
and flicked his lighter. Odd how he only seemed to smoke when Kathlyn Trent was
around, a nervous habit he had tried to break on more than one occasion.  He
blew a white stream of smoke out of the open window, into the treetops beyond.
    "Kathlyn, do you really
believe it's an angel?"
    "I do."
    Jobe looked at her. "But
what do you feel?"
    She knew what he meant. "My Intuition
didn't give me any real sense all, truthfully," she said. Then she glanced
at her husband. "But there was something at the time I didn't mention.
When I let myself go and cleared my mind of everything, I got a tremendous
sensation of darkness. It was really creepy."
    "Darkness?" Marcus
repeated. "Like what? Evil"
    "I don't know," she
said hesitantly. "But it makes me think of a passage in the Bible, in Job
10:22; 'to the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even
the light is like darkness'."
    McGrath smiled faintly. "It
always amazed me that my parents named me after the most torturous book of the
Bible." He'd heard Kathlyn recite verses before, many times. She was
always right on the money with them. "I know this is a stupid question and
way off the subject, but have you really memorized the entire Bible?"
    Kathlyn grinned. "I think it
was one of the requirements for my degree."
    Marcus interrupted them. "So
what does that scripture mean?"
    Kathlyn looked at him. "I
think it means that Iraq is a very dark land, dark with hatred and fear and
sin. Maybe the entire ambiance of the country was the darkness I was feeling. I
just don't know, but it was definitely eerie."
    McGrath stroked his chin.
"Then let me ask you this, Kathlyn. Since your degree is in Biblical
Archaeology, you must believe strongly in God."
    "Of course I do."
    "Do you believe that He
leads you to these finds?"
    "Absolutely. Ask old Dr.
Tyree; he was the one who steered me into my field. He said that God had given
me a gift, and I believe it."
    McGrath smiled. "Professor
Viktor Tyree has been retired for four or five years now. I've only met him
once or twice at department mixers.  He was really something when he was head
of Biblical and Philosophical