By Kristy McCaffrey
Greetings to everyone in 2021. I hope you’re all well and safe and healthy. I’m pleased to share that I finally have a release date for ANCIENT WINDS – February 15!! Keep scrolling for the pre-order links.
Brynn Galloway and Tristan Magee’s journey is a combination of Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone, with a dash of The X-Files. I hope you’ll have fun reading it. It’s a bit of a departure from the tone of the first two Pathway books, DEEP BLUE and COLD HORIZON. Those entailed rigorous and detailed research regarding great white sharks and climbing K2. While I did quite a lot of reading about the Bolivian jungle and historic Mesopotamia, this story is a bit more whimsical. It includes the creatures of the South American wilderness, shamans both good and bad, questionable archaeology, the search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, and time travel. I definitely relied more heavily on my imagination for this tale. So come along for a wild romp through the jungle with a skeptical Brynn Galloway and an irreverent Tristan Magee.
In the jungle, there are no barriers …
Brynn Galloway doesn’t know it, but her academic career in archaeology is about to become a laughingstock. When a rare Sumerian artifact surfaces, her presence is requested in Bolivia, but nothing is as it seems. Soon, she’s entangled in a desperate hunt not only for a valuable antiquity but also for answers to humanity that might stretch across time. And by her side is a sexy mercenary physicist with a maddening belief in space aliens.
Dr. Tristan Magee is in a bad mood. When his latest
acquisition—an unusual and as yet untranslated Sumerian cuneiform tablet—is
stolen right out from under him and spirited away to the Bolivian jungle, he’ll
do whatever it takes to get it back. Unfortunately, that includes partnering
with a female archaeologist who proves to be the kind of distraction that
brought down civilizations.
Excerpt from Ancient Winds
Tristan has recently become acquainted with Brynn while both are looking for a Bolivian guide named Dimar Castanos.
When they disembarked at Copacabana, he (Tristan) made his way to a
bus, following Dimar and his group of customers. Once aboard, he grabbed a
window view, and Ms. Galloway swiftly occupied the seat beside him.
“Good gravy,” she (Brynn) huffed. “It’s difficult to get a seat
together.”
“I didn’t realize we were together.”
“So this tablet is why you’re after Irene?”
“I’m only after her, as you put it, to get it back,
since she stole it from me.”
“Where did you get it?” she asked, plowing forward.
He supposed he should’ve been happy that she’d given him a
night free of an interrogation.
“I’d rather not say.” He leaned against the window and
shifted his hat to cover his eyes, hoping to sleep.
“Was it found in Iraq or Iran? An excavation? An accidental
discovery?” She seemed to be mostly talking to herself at this point. “Has its
whereabouts been known for years and hidden from the public?”
When he didn’t reply, she went silent, but that didn’t last
for long. The bus pulled out and she started chatting again.
“Are you certain it’s not a forgery?”
Tristan gave up his nap and dropped his hat to his lap. “Well,
if I wasn’t sure a few weeks ago, I am now that Irene swiped it.”
“Why would she steal it? I’ve never known her to be a
thief.”
“Look, I’m not here to debate the moral character of Dr.
Caridad with you, since I’m guessing you’re her friend, but if you’re in on
this, then tell me now.”
Brynn straightened her shoulders. “You think I helped her
steal it?”
Tristan waited. Galloway’s countenance didn’t budge as she
watched him. Shrugging, he turned away. Either she was a very good liar, or she
really didn’t know anything about the piece.
“All right,” he conceded. “You didn’t help her. Maybe Irene
took it because she’s a lunatic, and she’s managed to keep her mental illness
hidden from her family and friends all this time.”
“Really? That’s your answer? That if a woman does something
subversive then she must be crazy?”
“No, sorry. I’m just a bit frustrated. Irene is a smart
lady. That’s why I don’t understand any of this.”
“Look, I can assure you that I had no idea the tablet even
existed, let alone that Irene had it,” Galloway said. “She asked me to come
down here to help on an excavation.”
“That must be it then,” he murmured. “She’s gonna plant the
tablet here and pass it off as a South American discovery.”
“That’s quite an accusation. Maybe she has a reasonable
explanation. And what if evidence of Sumerian culture could be found in the
Americas?”
“I’ve heard this song before.”
“Did you get the piece illegally?”
“You think she’s acting as a de facto police force against
the illicit tradings of Tristan Magee?”
She answered with a silent raising of both eyebrows. He
could hear the duh as clearly as if she’d spoken it aloud.
“No, I didn’t get it illegally. At least, I don’t think so.”
He muttered the last bit. He never purposefully went after hot items, but that
didn’t mean he didn’t stumble across them in the underground antiquities
market. He also wasn’t about to tell Galloway that he hadn’t actually seen
the piece before Irene got her grubby little hands on it. There was no denying
that mistakes had been made during the acquisition process, but Tristan didn’t
have the stomach to be censured at the moment. Not by this woman.
“So you don’t know where it was discovered?”
“All the information on provenance is back in the States.” Kinda.
“I didn’t want to travel with any documentation. I’ll admit, I really didn’t
care where it was found, just that it had been found.”
“Why?”
“I have my reasons.”
“If Irene does have this tablet, why would she bring it down
here?” she asked. “She’d never be able to get it through customs. Maybe she
doesn’t have it with her. Maybe you’re wrong.”
Tristan sighed. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Copyright ©
2021 K. McCaffrey LLC
Read Chapter One: https://kmccaffrey.com/ancient-winds/
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