other fist, did not seem to be electing a response. He was about two seconds from taking the door off the hinges but yelled one last warning, “Becki, if you want to keep your front door intact, I suggest you open it.”
Big chocolate-brown eyes peeked out through the door still glazed with sleep. “Did you have to come this early,” she grouched, opening the door to let Kurt inside, “I just got to bed a few hours ago,” she complained with a glare. Becki absolutely hated being woken up before the sun shined directly overhead. There was nothing on earth that had to be taken care of prior to twelve noon, at least nothing she could think of.
“You said ‘stop by,’” Kurt defended with a shrug, “I’m stopping by. Now, what was this about needing my help?”
Becki rolled her eyes and said, “I’m just sure I added ‘nothing is wrong’? Meaning you did not need to come straight over here first thing this morning.”
“You think I don’t know by now? You would say that, even if there was something wrong.”
Ok, he had a point there. Without giving him the satisfaction of acknowledging the accusation, she explained, “I found a crate yesterday when Jonah and I were diving; I wanted to see if you could open it for me.”
“Let me take a look at it. I don’t have a lot of time this morning, but I can work on it later.”
‘Later’ would have been just fine to begin with. Shooting him one more narrow-eyed glare, Becki turned and stomped toward the patio door located in the kitchen, pausing to turn on the coffee maker as she passed by.
After sliding the patio door open with more force than necessary, she pointed toward the crate. Kurt moved forward, frowning as he spotted symbols etched into the top of the crate, outlining the parameter of the lid. A heat advisory had been issued for today; the temperature was already nearing ninety degrees. Kurt, however, was suddenly chilled to the bone.
“Where did you say you found this?” he asked, moving closer to the crate.
“I found it in the cove yesterday when Jonah, Natie, and I were looking for sharks’ teeth. Well, Natie wasn’t looking for teeth, you know she won’t step foot in the water. She lounged on deck and caught some rays.”
Kurt tested the weight of the crate. Damn, it was heavy. He wanted to load it in his truck and remove it from Becki’s house as quickly as possible. Truthfully, he wanted to get it far, far away from Becki as quickly as possible.
“It seemed a lot lighter when I pulled it out of the water yesterday,” she remarked with a perplexed expression on her face. She shrugged and continued, “I don’t know, it must have been that buoyancy thing. Either that, or you and Landon are getting weak with age,” she added, still not over the fact that she had been awoken far too early.
“Landon?” Kurt prompted, running his fingers over the symbols etched into the crate’s lid. The symbols were very intricate, the lines clean, indications that a powerful force had crafted this container.
“Yes, Landon!” Becki confirmed, rolling her eyes. “He helped me move it home from the boat last night. It wouldn’t fit in my car,” Becki explained.
As Kurt scanned the markings on the lid, hoping to find something he could interpret, Becki suddenly moved in for a closer look.
“I don’t remember seeing those yesterday,” she said with a frown, “but then again, it is hard to think straight with Natie and Jonah around.” Abruptly turning to make her way back inside, she called, “I need caffeine; do you want a cup of coffee?”
“Huh?” Kurt responded, still concentrating on the crate. “Coffee, do you want coffee?”
“No thanks. I’m trying to quit,” he answered quickly.
Becki liked her coffee strong and sweet. Her favorite recipe consisted of one part coffee, strong enough to stand a spoon in, added to an equal part of cinnamon creamer. As if that were not enough to eat the lining of a person’s stomach, she topped it off with whipped cream, from a can.
“What the hell is going on?” he muttered, as he pulled a cell phone from his pocket. Kurt’s stomach was already churning, and the last thing he needed was a cup of her coffee. He had seen designs like this only once before during a top-secret mission in the Middle East. As he punched in Landon’s number, he wondered how the crate had ended