ONE WAY OUT: Chapter Four
"So...how'd Martinelli react when you told him?" Amy demanded. "Spill all the gory details. Now."
Cassie flopped down on a relatively debris-free chair, allowing herself to relax now that she was back in comfortable territory. She needed the downtime to prepare herself before heading into Medicine Bow. "About as I expected. He loathes me, I despise him, but we have this strange relationship where we sometimes need each other. Or at least I need him," she amdended sourly. "I think this is the first time in the five years we've known each other that he really needs me."
"Must be a nice change?" Mae looked uncertain, her brown eyes concerned.
"It's certainly different." Cassie swiveled on the chair; it was a nervous habit that annoyed most everybody in the lab, but she couldn't help it. "I'm meeting him at the bar tonight because I figure he'll be less aggressive after a few beers."
"Idiot," said Amy, nearly nose-to-nose with her massive computer monitor, and sucking on a carrot stick she'd eventually eat, her ever-present water bottle close at hand. "Have you forgotten the dozen or so epic battles you two have waged while in a bar?"
Cassie scowled. "Not likely. The last time, he humiliated me in front of his entire team. He actually had the nerve to tell me that I deserved all the criticism coming my way. He was really pissed when I sold the old triceratops. I still don't get why. It's not like triceratops are all that rare, even elderly, beat-up ones."
"And you think he'll behave better this time? Honestly, Cassie, sometimes I wonder what goes through that brain of yours," Amy said, then crunched loudly on the carrot.
"He'll behave because he doesn't have a choice." Cassie shifted so that she could see the rock-and-plaster bundle on its table. It had seemed so big when they were trying to move it. Now it looked so small. The poor little thing hadn't had much of a chance to live before she'd met her end. "And because I'm asking him not only to verify it for me but also to help me prep the fossil, study it, and write it up. He'd practically kill for this opportunity, and I'm giving it to him, no strings attached."
Wyatt, carrying a bag of shovels and pickaxes in need of repair, walked into the lab at that moment. "Are you crazy?" he demanded, with his usual bluntness. "He's been trying to put you -- and all of us -- out of business for years."
"This time it's different."
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. "Why? Because you think you'll finally get the respect you've always wanted from him?"
For a moment, Cassie was too startled to respond. "How do you come up these half-baked ideas? I don't give a damn one way or another if I ever have that man's respect. Why should I?"
"Keep telling yourself that."
With an effort, she maintained her temper. "It's different, Wyatt, because this is a rare infant fossil from a pristine bed of sediment, which means there's a very good chance parts of her soft tissue or other fragile remains have been preserved, and as good as I am at this, I'm not taking any chances. I need to get somebody in here who's an expert in the field, someone whose skills I respect, and that would be Martinelli."
Everybody stared at her.
As the startled silence stretched on, she added, a little embarrassed, "Not that I'd ever tell him that."
Wyatt eased his burden down to the floor. "And if you do all this, Martinelli will figure he deserves the fossil. He's gonna want it."
"Everybody's gonna want it, m'boy," Amy said and crunched aggressively on her carrot stick. "No surprises there."
Wyatt didn't take his gaze from Cassie. "And what's the chance of you thinking you should do the right thing, for the sake of science and all that shit, and handing the fossil over to him for next to nothing?"
"I haven't given any thought to what I'll do with her, beyond getting her cleaned up."
"I know you too well, Cassie, and like hell am I gonna let you hand this fossil over to that bastard. You'll sell it to the highest bidder, we'll make a nice profit -- and everybody'll get a big, fat Christmas bonus this year. For once we have a chance to make some serious money. Don't fuck it up."
"Look," she snapped. "I make the decisions. Period. And in case you've forgotten, I'm the one who sacrificed -"
"- your whole life, yes, we've heard this before." Wyatt glared back. "Give it up, Cass. Nobody asked you to leave college and come back here after Dad died. Nobody asked you take over running the ranch or shop. Nobody asked you to stay. Nobody asked you to get yourself knocked up or married or divorced. So don't give me that shit. The guilt worked when I was a kid, but I'm not a kid anymore."
"If you don't like how I run things, then leave!"
"And that's supposed to be an answer? Sounds like a dodge to me."
She took a long, deep breath to calm herself, beating down the prickling of guilt -- and very real hurt at his accusation. "No, nobody asked me to come back and give up all my plans and dreams. I know that. But what did people expect me to do? I couldn't let everything our family worked so hard to create over so many years just disappear. Our parents give us life and raise us, and it's right to give something back to them when the situation requires it."
"It's wrong when you keep using it as an excuse to do everything your way because you're a selfish control freak." Along with the anger coloring his face, Cassie saw hurt and frustration in her brother's dark eyes a split second before he dropped his gaze. "I see your point of view more than you think. But you laid a guilt trip on us for years to force us to do everything your way, and now -"
"No one else was doing anyting at all! You and Tom were too young, and Tom never had any interest in the rancy anyway. After Dad died, somebody had to step in to keep everything from falling apart, and you know Mom never had a head for business. Staying here cost me a lot, Wyatt," she finished quietly. "All I ask is that you remember that."
"Like I can forget, with you telling me at least once a day," her brother said bitterly. "Saint Cassie, savior of the Parker Ranch and Hell Creek Rock Shop. And God forbid that I dare disagree with any of your almighty decisions."
He grabbed his bag of tools and stalked off, clanking with each forceful stride, and leaving her with a sudden awareness of Mae and Amy, sitting in a frozen silence of embarassment. Amy had been at Hell Creek long enough to grow accustomed to the occasional blowups between Cassie and Wyatt, but Mae had joined them only some eight months ago, and she always looked like she wanted to cry following these shouting matches.
"Sorry about that," Cassie told Mae. "Wyatt and I don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. He's also getting to the point where he doesn't want to work for his big sister; he wants to run the show."
Mae tried smiling, which made Cassie want to give her a reassuring hug. Mae always brought out her protective streak; it had to be those Bambi eyes. She seemed so unworldly, Cassie sometimes wondered if the woman had lived her life in some kind of bubble. How could any woman be that naive in this day and age?
"It's okay," Mae said softly. "You're both so much alike, really, and I wish you'd get along better. It must be hard for him."
And what about me? Why did everyone assume she had it easy just because she was in charge?
"Hey, Mom," Travis called, poking his head through the door that led from the shop to the lab. "Why's Uncle Wyatt all pissed off again?"
"Pick your flavor or gripe of the day."
"Ooookay. Forget I asked." He walked in and edged closer to the table. "So how do you think Trixie died?"
"It's too early to say." Casie stood and absently removed a bit of loose plaster, revealing paler bone. So slender and fragile; hard to believe she would've grown into a massive killing machine. "We found her in what used to be an old riverbed, so it's a pretty safe bet that she drowned in a flash flood before being quickly covered by mud. That's why she's in such good shape."
Touching a tiny bone gently, Cassie felt her gaze blur as she imagined the infant rex's fate.
67 Million Years Ago...
The flying thing had drawn her away from her safe place. She'd followed, curious, trying to catch it as it buzzed from one leaf to another. Soon, her chase had taken her far away, to a place where everything looked and smelled strange.
Before long, water had fallen from the sky. Scared and alone, the creature had cried out for her mother. Then, trying to hide, she'd fallen into a cold, watery dark.
Despite her efforts, she couldn't climb back up the slippery incline. Light flashed above, blinding her. Even young as she was, fear registered clearly. She understood her mother, her body both a comfort and safety, was not near. The water tickled against her belly as more fell from the black sky with its burst of lights.
Over and over, she tried with all her strength to climb out of the rising water. She smelled mud, but not the refuge of the place where she belonged. Fear pulled her down as surely as the strong currents of the water.
The torrential rains had turned the dry riverbed into a brown, churning maelstrom. Ripped from her precarious hold on the shore's edge, she was tumbled and pushed forward by the current, dragging her under the water.
She cried louder for her mother, never stopping, until the water pulled her under for the last time. Weak, too weary to fight, she let the darkness take her to a peaceful place.
For a long while, she bobbed and swirled to the whims of the wind-whipped river, until finally the rains eased, the winds died down, and the current turned sluggish once again. Her small body drifted toward the muddy shallows and sank into the softness, where it was soon covered by layers of fine silt that washed down from the hills and mountains. Tiny hands curled inward, her head arched back, the mud switfly entombed her.
Once the rains receded, the sun emerged, and long, hot days followed, baking the mud hard as rock and sealing the little one within a cradle of dark earth.
"She's really worth a lot of money, isn't she?"
Travis's voice pulled Cassie back to the present, to her own vulnerable child.
"Sweetie, she's priceless."
Seeing his wistful expression, she added quickly, "But as incredible as she is, she's not as important to me as certain people in my life. I think you know who I'm talking about."
"I know." He heaved a sigh. "I didn't mean what I said earlier."
She nodded, understanding why he'd trailed back into the lab just now. Her son didn't have a mean bone in his body; he couldn't hold a grudge even if he wanted to. He was a good-natured kid, and the fact that she could still say that during adolescence had to be a miracle.
"Trav?" Ellen Parker called through the lab door. "Your dad's here, and he brought Trina and the kids."
Travis groaned. "Oh, great. They'll be crawling all over me. I hate that."
Being a teenager with two half sisters half his age didn't do much for his dignity, especially since their way of showing how much they idolized him was to torment him. Mercilessly.
"You'll survive." Cassie turned as her ex-husband walked in, laughing at something Ellen had said. He was still tall, still thin, still blond and gray-eyed, and still cute in that grown-up-little-boy way that had been her utter undoing so many years ago.
Now, there were times she looked at him and wondered what the hell she'd been thinking. Not that she regretted it; how could she, with the fantastic kid she'd been blessed with?
"Hey, Cass," Joash said lazily. "You're lookin' good. The old bone business must be doing right by you."
"It's a living," she answered, as she always did. He'd never shared her fascination for geology, much less dinosauria, so no one had been too surprised, herself included, when their marriage had gone sour pretty much from the start. Still, he was an okay guy, as was his wife. Cassie returned Trina's smile. She wouldn't consider Trina a friend, but she liked her well enough -- and it helped that Trina was truly fond of Travis.
"You ready to bo, buddy?" Josh asked his son, grinning from ear to ear. Their marriage may have been a disaster, but she'd never once doubted that Josh loved his son.
"All pakced. My suitcase is out by the garage." Travis nodded at Trina and gave a wave at his two half sisters, who were clinging shyly to their mother. Somewhere by the lab's back door, Wyatt laughed loudly, and the little girls moved even closer to their mother. Cassie couldn't blame them; Wyatt had an overwhelming effect on a lot of people. Especially female people.
Cassie gave her son a quick, firm hug, wishing she could hold him close or kiss his cheek like she'd done so often when he was small. But she knew better than to embarrass him. Instead, she said cheerfullyl to Josh, "Here you go, then: one prime specimen of Pesticus bratticus. Please return the creature to me in the same condition as you received it."
Travis groaned. "That is so lame."
"I know. Can't help it."
Still grinning, Josh asked, "Is there anything I need to know? Any rules or orders?"
"I'd tell you not to spoil him rotten, but I'd be wasting my breath."
"Okay, Trav, let's go. You can give your mother a call when we get back to Laramie."
Everybody said good-bye and Cassie waved until she could no longer see the trail of dust down the long driveway.
Strange how the place always seemed so quiet once Travis left. At moments like this, she wondered how she'd deal with the empty nest thing. It wouldn't be long before he'd hit eighteen, and then he'd be impatient to head out into the big, bad world all on his own.
And of course he should; that was the way it worked. Kids grew up and left home. Mothers suddenly had to find something else to fill up the hours they'd once spent chasing after kids.
"God," she mumbled to herself. "Am I in a mood or what?"
As Cassie passed through the shop, she automatically checked the shelves and stock. Housed in a log shed built by the first Parker settler in 1910, it had been modernized and expanded as the business grew, but still possessed a quaint charm. She'd loved playing in the shop when she was little, and it was still her favorite part of the business, even if it made the least profit.
But once she'd taken over the business, she'd started catering to the serious collectors in addition to the casual tourists who wanted a pretty rock or two to take home as a souvenir.
For pint-sized rock houds, the shop had barrels of quartz, pyrite, geodes, and other showy rocks and minerals, as well as fossils too fragmentary or damaged to be of value, or too common to be worth cataloging, like the fossil shark teeth that sold so well. Shark teeth and kids went together like Hershey's syrup and French vanilla ice cream.
The nicer specimens were shelved in display boxes, and the big-ticket items were up front by the cash register. And some of those big-ticket items were just plain big, like Opie the juvenile triceratops -- or the front quarter of him, anyway -- who would stand on display near the front door until somebody came up with the money to take him home.
Her mother stood at the cash register, chatting on the phone while she priced little sand buckets full of plastic dinosaurs and colorful shovels. As Cassie approached, Ellen finished up the conversation and hung up.
"It was nice of Josh and Trina to take Travis on such a short notice," she said.
It's only a week earlier than we'd arranged. He always spends time with his dad before school starts. It's not that big a deal."
"Still, it was nice," Ellen repeated. "You're expecting to be really busy with that thing, huh?"
"Yeah, it will take a marathon of cleaning. How's it going today? Looks like we've been busy."
"Just the typical end of summer rush, last-minute vacations before school starts. We've had a lot of famlies with kids today. Oh! And that reminds me, I took a call from that nice gentleman in Dallas who's looking for eggs. Anything you've got, he said he'd take."
"Hmmm." Cassie leaned back against the counter, watching a family with three small boys who were pawing excitedly through the barrels of polished rocks, all oohs! and aahs! and excited whisperings. "I'm not sure we have much in stock. I'll have to check with Mae. Did he leave a number?"
Her mother handed it over. "He said to leave a message if he wasn't there."
Cassie slipped the paper into her back pocket.
"So what's next with that thing?"
It didn't require a genius IQ to deduce that her mother didn't much care for Hell Creek Fossil Company's newest prize. "Mom, you could be a little more excited about it. We're going to be able to sell this one for major money."
"I know, but I'm not looking forward to all the stress. I remember what it was like when Wyatt and his people found that partial rex last year, and that elderly triceratops that caused your last big fight with Mr. Martinelli. Lately I find myself missing the times when we just ran the rock shop. I hate disruptions."
"Then you better brace yourself, because when word gets out on this one, the phones will be ringing off the hook."
"I'm sorry, honey. I know this means a lot to you. And I know it's important." Ellen sighed. "But I'm dreading the long hours and the arguments. You and Wyatt haven't exactly been getting along these past few months."
"Leave Wyatt to me. He'll get over it."
"So what are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to check on Trixie, then get ready to head into Medicine Bow to negotiate terms with Martinelli."
"Cassie, I hope you know what you're doing. He's never been very nice to you. In fact, he very nearly -"
"Martinelli and I have a basic understanding," Cassie interrupted before her mother could start in on the laundry list of Martinelli's Crimes Against the Parkers. "He won't try to get me arrested this time. I promise." She pushed open the lab door. "I don't know when I'll be back, so don't wait up for me."
Once back in the lab, she asked Mae to check on their fossil egg stock, told Amy to run numbers to get an idea of what this fossil was going to cost in terms of work hours and supplies, cautioned the whole crew once again to keep their mouths shut about Trixie, then headed to the main house to change into something more appropriate for "negotiations."
The ranch house had started out small, and over the years various Parkers had added on to it as needed, so it was an odd mix of styles. But it was home, and that made all the difference. Sometimes she longed to move away to her own place; at other times she found the familiarity, the memories, and the connection with family long since gone to be comforting.
It was a good place to raise a kid, although there were days when she wished it had more than one bathroom with a shower. With four people in the house -- though technically Wyatt was living in the apartment above the garage -- bathroom time was a precious commodity.
Right now, though, she was the only person in the house and the shower was all hers for as long as she wanted.
After leisurely washing away the day's sweat and grime, she toweled dry, powdered and perfumed herself, then rummaged through her closet until she found what she wanted.
It qualified as a dress, even if there was barely enough of it to do any qualifying. She'd bought it a few years back on a shopping trip in L.A. with her best friends, Diana and Fiona. She couldn't remember why she'd bought it; it wasn't like she had many opportunities to dress up out here in the middle of Nowhere, Wyoming. The skin-colored crochet sheath, lined in a matching knit that created the illusion of nothing beneath, hugged her curves and bared a lot of leg and cleavage.
Not a dress for the faint of heart or the modest of soul, neither of which had ever been an issue for her.
Cassie eyed herself in her dreser mirror and laughed softly. "All's fair in love and war and dinosaur hunting."
Curious to see the reactioin to her newly created man-eater persona, she traipsed back to the lab in high heels. The second she walked through the door, silence fell over the room. Russ, talking with Wyatt, nearly let hs jaw hit the floor; Wyatt just grinned.
"Jesus," Russ said in awe. "What the hell is that?"
"My war gear. History has shown that the best way to deal with Martinelli is to distract him with boobage."
"You know, I almost feel sorry for the guy." Russ hadn't stopped staring. "Poor bastard doesn't stand a chance."
"That's the whole point." Cassie pirouetted, thoroughly enjoying her rare plunge into femaleness. "You like?"
"What's not to like?" Russ's focus dropped to her backside. "Very nice."
"I do have a pretty decent ass, don't I?" Cassie peered at her bottom, clearly outlined beneath the tight dress.
"The magnificence of which nearly matches your ego, yes," Russ replied with a grin.
"Hey, none of it's my doing. The good Lord giveth." She slapped her hands on her rear, then over her breasts as she added mournfully, "And the good Lord also taken away."
"Hey, none of that." Russ eyed her breasts with a lazy appreciation. "You have great boobage. And you're so damn cute."
"Uh-oh." Amy gave him a look of mock alarm. "The newbie just used the c word. Now you're in for it, Russ."
Cassie laughed. "Lucky for you, Russ, I'm in a good mood. But for the record, calling me 'cute' won't win you any points."
"Sorry." He didn't look in the least contrite. "But I call 'em like I see 'em, and you're cute as cute can be."
Amy said, "It comes from being barely five foot tall and all perky and bouncy. Disgusting, isn't she? But damn, if I weren't straight, I'd do her."
Everybody laughed, and Russ said, "I am straight, and I'd do her, too." As Cassie sent him a quelling glare, he added, "Martinelli's never gonna know what hit him."
"Excellent. Just what I wanted to hear. Okay, kids, I'm off to the bar to pick up slutty palentologists. Play nice while the lab mommy's away, and remember -- nobody plays with the baby or talks about her."
With a pert finger wave, she spun on her high heels and sashayed out to the garage, carefully making her way over the gravel. Stepping up into the pickup in her tight skirt took a little ingenuity, but she wiggled onto the seat without ripping or snagging anything critical. And then she was headed toward the nearby town of Medicine Bow.