Firestorm

CHAPTER ONE

Fair Isle

Faith Reynolds never felt more at home than she did in the middle of a dig. Sounds of rocks being moved and dirt shoveled into pails filled the air, giving her a purpose—and a goal.

All around her, people talked and laughed, but she didn’t hear their conversations. She was so deep inside the cave that the darkness and dampness that clung to everything didn’t even register. Her focus was on something much more important. Something much more valuable.

Bones. But they weren’t just any bones.

She moved the electric lamp and used the large cleaning brush to gently smooth away the sand and dirt to expose more of the jawbone. Over eighty percent of the head and neck had been excavated.

It wasn’t until she’d discovered the bones of what was obviously a wing that she confirmed what she’d found—a dragon!

A week later, and she still couldn’t believe it.

Nor did anyone else.

Since her funding came from The British Museum, they continued to send other archeologists, biologists, and zoologists to declare her a fraud.

Except not a single one of those idiots had been able to do that. It made her smile. They wouldn’t confirm it was a dragon, but they couldn’t name it as another animal either.

For the moment, that was enough. She was sure someone would attempt to say it was a new dinosaur. By that time, she wanted the entire skeleton excavated and brought to her lab so she could study it more.

Until then, she wasn’t going far from her find. She felt a connection to it that she couldn’t explain or understand. As if she were supposed to be the one to finally give it peace.

Almost as if the skeleton had been waiting for her to discover it. She shook her head, inwardly laughing at herself. A firm believer in making her own destiny, her thoughts were vastly different than her normal scientific reasoning.

She enjoyed hearing all the local tales and legends, but they were nothing more than stories. Nothing about them was real.

This dragon, however, was something else completely. It proved that the animals had once existed. It would also confirm that all the myths about dragons having magic were entirely false.

Her excitement to share what she’d found made her want to hurry and uncover the remains, but that would be folly. Something could go wrong, or she might damage the bones. No, she needed to proceed cautiously.

It was too bad her mother couldn’t be there to share in the delight. Molly had loved dragons so much that they were everywhere in the house—knickknacks, paintings, pillows, posters, wind chimes, and even a potholder. Faith never had to wonder what to get her mom. If it had a dragon on it, Molly Reynolds wanted it.

Faith looked up, her hand stilling as her eyes became unfocused. All of her mother’s dragons were now carefully wrapped and boxed away in a storage unit back in Houston.

She blew out a breath and blinked several times. Though it had only been six months since she’d walked into her mother’s house for a day of shopping only to find that she’d died peacefully in her sleep, the hurt was still there.

The first thing Faith had done when she’d found the skeleton was grab her cell phone and dial her mom’s number. Molly hadn’t just been Faith’s mother, she’d also been her best friend.

Faith had never cared that she didn’t have a father, that he hadn’t wanted her enough to stay. Molly had loved her enough that it didn’t matter.

She swallowed, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh, Mom. If only you could be here,” she whispered into the darkness.

Faith hastily swiped her cheeks with the back of her left hand. She sniffed and returned to her work. Little by little, she uncovered the rest of the jawbone.

She ran her hand lovingly over the head that was easily five feet long. The snout wasn’t rounded, but narrow. And the teeth were incredibly long and sharp, particularly the canines.

As intriguing as the four horns—extending from the back of the head like fingers—were, it was the two sets of ridges along its nose that she found most interesting.

She placed her hand between the two rows and spread her fingers but couldn’t quite reach either side. If the head were that large, just how big was the rest of the dragon?

“Dr. Reynolds,” Tamir said as he squatted down beside her.

She jumped, startled by her assistant. Faith turned her head and smiled. He’d just returned from a visit with his family in Israel.

With his thick black hair pulled back in a man-bun and his muscular body, every woman on the dig lusted after Tamir. Everyone woman that is, except her.

To her, Tamir would always be the gangly, awkward young man who was eager to learn from anyone.

“What is it?” she asked, rolling onto her side to better see him.

Tamir’s dark eyes quickly looked away. “Another news crew arrived.”

“Send them away,” she said with a shrug.

“I tried.”

She sat up. “Then just ignore them. They’ll go away like the others.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” she urged as she got to her feet.

Tamir ran a hand down his face. “I found two men trying to get into the cave. Fair is small, Faith. Only seventy people live here, and the authorities aren’t prepared for any of this.”

That’s when it hit her. “You think those men were going to hurt me?”

“It’s certainly a possibility. There was something … odd … about them.” He gave a shake of his head. “I can’t explain what, but I sensed evil.”

“Did you call the police?”

At this, Tamir looked away. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I wanted to.” He cleared his throat. “Then I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t?” Now she was concerned. This was very unlike him. Had someone threatened him? “Did they try to hurt you?”

Now Tamir wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Just the opposite.”

“They came on to you?” she asked with a grin. It wasn’t the first time a man had taken an interest in him, nor did she suspect it would be the last.

Tamir nodded.

She laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “What’s the big deal?”

“I … I wanted them.”

Them. Not him. Them. Since Tamir’s interests ran exclusively to women, this came as a shock. And explained why he was so upset.

“Where did they go?” she pressed.

He shrugged and fisted one of his hands. “They walked away. Once they were gone, I felt like myself again.”

She tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “We can’t help desire. Or fight it.”

“You don’t understand,” he insisted, his gaze swinging to her. “I wanted them. I would’ve done anything to have them, but even during all of that, I felt their evil. I think the locals are right. I think there is magic on this island.”

If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was people saying something was magic simply because they were either too lazy or too ignorant to find a scientific explanation.

“It wasn’t magic,” she stated. “How long ago did this happen?”

“Thirty minutes or so.”

She frowned, a thread of anger running through her. “And you’re just now telling me?”

“I took a little break.”

Which was Tamir’s code for going off and shagging some girl. Since he was still visibly upset over the desires of his body, she didn’t say anything else about the matter.

“Also, Dr. Reid called.”

Faith hated that she’d missed Ronnie’s call. They had become fast friends when they were paired up on a dig together—the first for both.

“Did she say what she wanted?” Faith asked.

“She’s sending someone to help us.”

At this, Faith raised her brows. “We have plenty of volunteers. Besides, you know I’m particular about who I let near my finds.”

“Well, I might’ve told Ronnie some of the issues we’ve been having.”

“With the reporters?” she asked, confused. “It’s not really an issue.”

“Actually, it is. You’re always in here digging. You don’t understand what’s going on out there.”

“Perhaps you’d better start telling me what’s really going on.”

He glanced at the dragon head. “There are some fanatics out there. Some who will do anything to see this skeleton. And … well, frankly, there are others who want to see it destroyed.”

“All this over a fossil?” she asked in surprise.

“You’re claiming it’s a dragon.”

She shot him a look. “I didn’t claim anything. I’ve not told anyone about this dig except for Ronnie. It was one or more of the volunteers who let that tidbit leak.”

“Then stop all of it by saying it’s a dinosaur.”

“I won’t lie.” She pointed to the head. “Does that look like any dinosaur you’ve seen?”

“New ones are still being discovered.”

“So you don’t think this is a dragon?”

He blew out a frustrated breath as his expression grew pinched and filled with tension “Faith, you know I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, and if you say it’s a dragon, then I believe it is.”

His words were meant as consolation, but he had no idea just how deeply they cut. The one person she expected to have her back was Tamir.

“We’re lucky the cave is difficult to get to,” he continued, unaware of her hurt.

“That will keep them out, and allow me to finish my work.” She turned on to her stomach and returned to brushing away the dirt to reveal the neck bones.

Tamir remained a moment longer, then he got to his feet and walked away. When she was alone once more, she rested her forehead on her hands.

The people she could deal with. There were crazies everywhere. It didn’t matter if she was digging up a dragon, a dinosaur, or another King Tut. Some believed things were better left buried.

As for Tamir not believing that what she’d found was a dragon … That stung, but she was made of tougher stock. She knew what she had, and that’s all that mattered.

The cave was difficult to get to. A person couldn’t just walk into it. It took climbing skills in order to reach it. At first, she’d been upset by how hard it was to get to the entrance, but now, she was quite happy about it.

The crazies would be kept at bay until it was time to take the bones from the cave. But that was a worry for another day. There was no sense in wasting energy on that when she had other work to do.

Faith lifted her head and looked up at the bones once more. Why couldn’t others notice what she saw? Was she seeing something that wasn’t there because of all the dragon stuff her mother had had?

No. She’d compared the teeth with every known animal—living and extinct—and had come up empty. Nothing matched. Then there were the horns, again no match. And the wings.

There were no known birds—ancient or otherwise—that corresponded with the size. And she hadn’t even uncovered the rest of the skeleton yet.

She touched the pocket of her windbreaker. One of the teeth was tucked away to run a carbon dating test. The longer she was near the bones, the surer she was that the dragon might be the oldest fossil ever found.

It was a theory, one that she was keeping to herself for the time being.

“You’ll reveal all your secrets soon enough,” she whispered to the bones.