Conard County Watch. Rachel Lee

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СКАЧАТЬ looked at her from those amazing blue eyes. “Were you two having a disagreement?”

      She shook her head. “He’s a mystic, I’m a scientist. Those disagreements don’t mean much as long as we treat his and his tribe’s beliefs with total respect.”

      “I don’t have a problem with that. When I was overseas in the Corps, I saw plenty of disrespect for people’s monuments and treasures. I hated it. And I might as well disappoint you and tell you that in the mountains of Afghanistan I sometimes felt those towering rocks were aware.”

      He moved, and for the first time she realized he was wearing a backpack. He swung it from his shoulders and set it on the ground. “So we can’t touch yet, only look, right?”

      “Right. All the groundwork has to be laid.”

      “Well, it’s early. In the military I learned to eat whenever I had the opportunity, and I just happened to have a bunch of goodies in my pack. Join me?”

      She’d been in such a hurry to get up here before dawn this morning she hadn’t brought any food or beverages with her. After all, she figured she’d be here for a couple of hours at most, taking photos.

      But Cope opened a tall insulated bottle and the aroma of coffee won the day. “That smells so good.”

      “And I just happen to have two cups. Grab a stone to sit on, Renee.”

      Five minutes later he’d found another flat rock to use as a table. She watched with delight as he laid out two cups of coffee from his bottle and some paper containers from the bakery that held offerings of cinnamon rolls and croissants. Pats of butter lined the containers and plastic knives waited to help.

      “This is so neat,” she said honestly. “You thought of everything.”

      “I try. Anyway, about this site. I gather that it’s sacred and secret?”

      “I’m not sure how secret it is, but I don’t think Gray Cloud wants it headlined. It is sacred ground to his people, and they don’t want it being trampled by lookie-loos.” She waved her arm. “Look how narrow this space is. We’re going to have trouble working in here, never mind having outsiders trampling through. Then, there’s a river below. All this rock couldn’t have moved without throwing detritus to the bottom. That’ll all have to be checked out, too.”

      He swallowed a mouthful of roll. “I can see that. It’s weird how this split, though.” He looked along the length of the cleft in both directions. “I’m guessing years of freezing water in some crack eventually levered it apart. But it feels like something is missing right in the middle.”

      She gave him props for noticing. Narrow as the cleft was, there was still enough flat ledge to stand on and work. Rockfall must have filled in the space between the wall and what she thought of as the “tooth.” Her geologist could figure that out, though.

      “Apart from that, you want to protect the cliff face. Are you going to have any kind of security?”

      Her head jerked up a little. “Security? Why in the world?”

      He looked down a moment, then grabbed a paper napkin and wiped his mouth. After some noticeable seconds, he answered. “You haven’t had a whole lot of time to get to know me, so maybe I’ll sound paranoid. Maybe I am. I saw too much of this kind of thing wantonly destroyed during my time in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not saying someone is going to have a religious objection to these fossils—although it’s possible—but there could also be looters. You don’t want folks coming up here to scavenge a dinosaur tooth or bone.”

      He had a point. It wasn’t something she’d considered because of the comparative secrecy of this site, but once her team started arriving, word was going to get around this underpopulated area. Most would probably just accept it as interesting, but it was easy enough to imagine those who’d want a piece of it. And all they’d have to do would be to follow one of her team up here.

      Now she felt careless not to think of it. How many sites of this nature often needed some kind of protection? Many, because Cope was correct: an awful lot of people wanted a fossil, especially if it might be unique in some way.

      “My grant doesn’t run to full-time security,” she said reluctantly.

      “I don’t suppose it does.” He sighed, popped the last of his roll into his mouth and wiped his hands on the napkin. “I’m probably needlessly worried. Consider where I came from not so long ago.”

      But he’d caused her to think along a whole new line, and when she looked up at that rock face, she could all too easily imagine how much damage could be done to it by a careless and uncaring person. “I’d better mention this to Gray Cloud. He can probably keep an eye out better than my team could.”

      “He may already be doing it. Sacred ground is an important thing.”

      There was that, she agreed silently. But she’d still mention the concern to Gray Cloud. In one way they were completely united: this site mustn’t be disrespected.

      “I didn’t mean to cast a cloud over the day,” Cope remarked. “Enjoy your roll and enjoy the view. That rock face is breathtaking.”

      “You should have seen it in the minutes after dawn,” she answered, willing to change the subject and let her enthusiasm grow again. “The march of the shadows revealed so much. I have a bunch of photos I can show you later, if you want. And someone is sure going to be out here in the morning to start laying out a grid. Her name’s Denise. She should arrive this afternoon. Anyway, she’s a great artist, and by the time she finishes we’ll have a fantastic drawing as well as a grid to work from.”

      “So everything has to be labeled as to where it comes from?”

      “Totally. The rock layers will help date everything. I’m hoping they’ll also tell me why so many fossils are here in this place. You know Wyoming is full of marvelous fossil beds, but this find...it looks rather sudden. Too many bones too close together.”

      “Some kind of catastrophe,” he mused, reaching for another roll.

      “I’m wondering.” The coffee was staying warm in the insulated mug he’d poured it into, and she settled more comfortably, savoring it and savoring her view of the cliff. “I think I’m obsessed.”

      “Hard not to be obsessed with a mystery like this.” He scooted around a little on his rock to give himself a better view, staring straight at it. “When you described it to me, I had a mental image, of course. It wasn’t anywhere near as grand as this.”

      “It keeps taking my breath away, again and again.” She placed her remaining piece of roll on the edge of the container, wiped her fingers on her jeans and raised her camera again. Photographing this throughout the day today was rapidly becoming a compulsion, almost as if she was afraid it would disappear overnight. Well, it probably could, if the mountain moved again.

      “How stable is this cleft?” Cope asked, practically reading her mind.

      “Gray Cloud brought me to see it last autumn when I was visiting my cousin up here. It’s been stable that long. But one of our team is a geologist. She’ll be better able to tell me the situation with the matrix.”

      “Matrix?”

      “The СКАЧАТЬ