Otoche Canyon Murders - E-book - ePub

Darcy Agmar and Lincoln Alexander are a part of a special op unit working out of Phoenix Arizona. When two teen-agers on a weekend camping trip are literally hacked to pieces, they officially join the investigation. The scene is violent and looks like a crime of passion, but it's more animalistic.  The kid's murder is the third confirmed homicide in three months though the disappearance of an esteemed professor a few weeks before the first murder is being re-investigated.
The professor's wife is convinced her husband is a victim. The professor believes a lost tribe of people from the Aztec and Mayen era migrated to Otoche Canyon and spends a lot of time in the canyon in search of artifacts to prove his theory. His wife says he came back the trip before his last one excited about a find. She also explains the professor is changed. Interviewing the other two victim's families, associates, and friends Darcy and Linc find one of them with a similar story.
Jim Jacobson, a thirty-two-year-old weekend camper/treasure hunter also came back excited by something he found in the canyon, and like the professor his personal habits took an abrupt change. The sheriff, Aiden Lindell, with Apache heritage, has connections at the reservation. When after scouring the canyon for days and finding nothing he tries to employ 'The Old One' to help him track the canyon to find the professor and clues to the murders.
The Old One fearfully refuses. He says there are evil demons and killing white dust in the canyon. The professor, an extensive record taker, leaves volumes of journals. In the hope of finding where the professor might be found and identify the mysterious thing he found in the canyon, Darcy and Linc review his files.  Finally, after hours of work, they read where he found a cave.  True to his nature he gives details on the cave and what he finds inside.
Apparently, an earthquake opened up a cave entrance. It begins with a narrow low tunnel that contains spore like material. The professor describes how it clings to his nose and mouth.  When it opens up to a large chamber the Professor finds evidence of an ancient civilization that he is convinced is the lost tribe. While the authorities are trying to find the cave, the professor appears back at his house in the middle of the night a changed man.
No longer the well-groomed articulate professor, his condition is deplorable. Filthy and barely cognitive he is little more than an animal. With the help of medic's, they get the professor into a private hospital where they find that the spores have entered his brain. With renewed determination and the notes from the professor's journal Darcy, Linc and local law enforcement head back up to the canyon in search of the cave.
Seeing what the professor has been reduced to they have to find it before anyone else does. A treasure trove of artifacts awaits those that enter the cave, but something deadly co-inhabits it.  Something of nightmares.