Page 59 of Doyle

Gabriella caught it and fist-pumped, and Jamal’s shoulders slumped.

“It’s okay, son!” Hunter Jameson yelled. “You’ll get the next one.”

Son?Oh boy. He’d better tell Hunter to slow his roll. Still, maybe it boded well.

Gabriella kicked the ball out, and the game turned into a track meet, the two teams chasing each other down the field. When Rohan scored, the sun heavy on the horizon, even Doyle wanted to collapse on the grass.

A tie. The teams high-fived each other as the donors descended on the field.

From across the field, Stein stood with Declan, and his brother gave him a thumbs-up. Heat stirred in him, maybe because out of all his siblings, Stein had seen him before and during, and knew what it took to come back from devastation.

Rohan jogged over to him, tossed him the ball. “Thanks, Mr. D.”

Doyle high-fived him as the teen ran by, probably on his way to grab water, but the sight of Ethan Pine walking up to Tia caught his eye. He wore a pair of cargo pants, a linen shirt, a baseball hat, something determined in his eye.

Ethan spoke to her, and she shook her head, then started to walk away.

When Ethan grabbed her arm, Doyle couldn’t stop himself. He strode across the field, on his way to intercept.

She yanked her arm out of Ethan’s grip and rounded on him, souh,maybe she didn’t need him. Still, he came up to them quickly enough to catch?—

“You trying to bring the mountain down on us?”

Ethan held up his hands. “Don’t overreact there, sweetheart. It was just a test to see if I could move the rock. And I could. I know the treasure is just beyond the cave-in—you need to trust me.”

“Are you serious? Ethan, the entire mine shook,” Doyle said sharply.

Ethan cocked his head. “Wait—were you up there?”

Tia’s mouth tightened.

Attagirl—

“I thought you said you wanted no part of this,” Ethan snapped. “What, are you going behind my back? Trying to find the treasure for yourself?”

She lifted her hands, a sort of surrender. “No. Of course not.”

“Listen, Miss Pepper, I know you think you own the place?—”

“I don’t think anything of the sort. We have enough problems without you trying to get us all killed!”

Silence fell over the field and everyone turned.

Now Ethan’s expression hardened. “Just stay out of my way and out of my tunnel.”

“You should probably remember that this is Hope House land, sir,” she said, her voice low. “And the city owns the mine, so my guess is the police might have some thoughts on you being up there shaking Mr. Cumbre de Luz.”

“We’ll see about that.” He strode away.

Doyle watched him go, squelching the urge to high-five her.

“There goes the hope of the X-ray machine,” she said quietly.

What? “Tia. You’re right. He could get people hurt. I don’t think the entire mountain would come down, but those sulfur mines have turned the rock into Swiss cheese. The wrong tunnel collapses, and...” He glanced at Ethan, back at her. “Maybe itistime to pull the plug, at least until we can assess the danger.”

Stein had walked up to him. “Pull the plug on what?”

“Ethan is a treasure hunter, and he’s looking for pirate gold in the sulfur mines.”

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