Predator (Copper Mesa Eagles Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

taste of vanilla and cinnamon, and probably make little sighing noises when he kissed her neck...
    The microwave beeped and Seth pulled his plate out, sticking his fingers into the middle of the pile of green peas. Still cold. He put the plate back in and cranked the dial again.
    Then he had a different thought about Jules: she’d said she was in town to work on a mining project, but Seth didn’t know about any mining project that was going on. In a town the size of Obsidian, word tended to get out if someone painted their house a new shade of white, so it was pretty strange that he hadn’t heard a thing about something big like that.
    Unless it’s like Tinville , he thought, and then his stomach dropped.
    Tinville had been a couple of hours away, in south central Utah, and until some company called Quarcom had rolled in, it had pretty much been just like Obsidian. That was, at least according to the guy that Seth worked with who’d moved to Obsidian after the mine took over Tinville.
    Quarcom had opened an enormous mine there — a mountaintop removal strip mine. Before it, Tinville had been remote but beautiful, tucked in between sets of jagged red mountains, the kind of unearthly beauty that didn’t even look real. After the mine, the river had been poisoned, the air choked with dust, and the mountains around the town were ugly and pitted. Most of the townspeople either worked for the mine or had to move away.
    Worst, his coworker had said, no one had known about the mine until about a week before it opened. Quarcom found every loophole it could in the environmental regulations. When the people protested that they hadn’t been informed of anything, a very smug man in a suit had told them that there had been an announcement in the classified section of the Salt Lake Tribune, which was technically the biggest media outlet in the area. It didn’t matter that no one in town got the paper because Salt Lake City was a six-hour drive away.
    The microwave beeped again, and this time when Seth stuck his finger into the peas, he nearly burned himself and pulled his hand away, sucking air in through his teeth. Then he sat at the table in the kitchen, the uncomfortable, rickety chair digging into his back, and ate his dinner while he worried about a mine coming to Obsidian.
    After he washed his plate and fork, something occurred to him, and he walked into the dining room where Zach’s schoolwork was spread out, his head bent over it studiously. Seth felt bad for interrupting, but did it anyway.
    “When was the last time you checked the mail?” Seth asked.
    Zach blinked a couple of times, then looked sheepish.
    “Maybe like... a week ago?” he said.
    Seth knew when his little brother was lying. It had obviously been more than a week.
    Not that he’d remembered to check the mail lately. They rarely got any, so they were just out of the habit.
    “There’s some stuff on the table in the guest bedroom, actually,” said Zach. “I keep meaning to go through it, but I’ve been really busy and just haven’t remembered.”
    He at least looked embarrassed.
    Shit , thought Seth. He doubted that if Quarcom was really coming to town, they’d send something through the mail, but it was worth a shot. It wasn’t like he had any idea where to get a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune.
    Seth walked to the mailbox. It was a good hundred yards away, by the main road, which was part of why they rarely checked it, and as he walked he could see the mesa hulking black against the star-filled sky, silent and dark. Beyond it, if he listened closely, he could just hear the sound of the river rushing past.
    The mailbox was stuffed with junk mail, mostly weekly circulars advertising deals for grocery stores in towns an hour away. He tucked all that under one arm and went through the three envelopes left over: two were from credit cards, addressed to the Monson Residence, and one was from the Kane County tax board, addressed to Seth, Garrett, and