The Copper Box

By Linda Boltman

While excavating a new business site, heavy equipment operator Doug Stone scrapes a strange object with his earth moving bucket. Dr. Alicia Evans from the University is called in and discovers that this extraordinary box has a mysterious and nefarious history. Staying late that night to lock up, Doug is irrevocably drawn back to the dig site by a power he can't explain. Freeing the strange object from the hard dirt, he discovers two unusual keys which open the box. Initially disappointed at finding a simple, black onyx stone, Doug learns that this rock contains properties like no other. But once blessed with this new power, the recipient finds that it may not be a blessing at all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Boltman
• Release date: Sep 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465740588

Linda Boltman

Linda Boltman's psychological thriller, Man in the Moon was released by Jigsaw Press in July, 2011. Although she still writes psychological thrillers, since then she has shifted her focus to write short eBooks for people on the go. including The Sheriff, The Copper Box, Lover's Leap, The Valet of Darkshire Manor, The Captive, Moon Pies, Plum Loco, The Christmas Challenge and Flash and Dash, a collection of short stories. Shifting yet again, her latest book, a science fiction thriller, The Battle For Gray Tower, was released in October, 2014. Linda's short story, The Captive was selected by San Diego Writer's Ink Anthology, Vol 4 as one of San Diego's finest writers. She has had numerous short stories and poetry published in IdeaGems Magazine, Adventures for the Average Woman and Tough Lit in both their magazine and ezine editions in the United States and internationally. Her stories have also appeared in GreenPrints, Grand Magazine, The San Diego Reader and other publications. An active water colorist and traveler, Linda makes her home base in Kirkland, Washington where she enjoys an active lifestyle in the middle of wine country, the ocean and mountains with some pretty amazing scenery.

Book preview

The

Copper Box

By

Linda Boltman

The Copper Box© copyright 2011 Linda Boltman

All rights reserved

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Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to actual events, locales, or persons, either living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cover design by: David Clish

If you enjoyed this eBook, please encourage your friends to discover other eBooks by Linda Boltman now available on Smashwords:

Man in the Moon

The Sheriff

Lover’s Leap

The Valet of Darkshire Manor

Moon Pies

The Captive

Plum Loco

The Christmas Challenge

THE COPPER BOX

Chapter 1

The metal bucket ripped through the hard, clay earth, making a screeching sound unlike anything Doug had ever heard. What the hell… He brought the large excavator to a stop.

He jumped down from the rig, dropped to his stomach and peered into the cavernous hole. Letting his eyes adjust, he could just make out a strange glowing object barely jutting out from the side of the earthen wall about twelve or fifteen feet down.

Doug Stone had been a heavy equipment operator for over seventeen years and thought he’d seen everything. He’d come across plenty of animal bones, an old Indian clay pot that shut down production for over a month, and even a dead body once, but something about this thing made his skin crawl. He studied the strange object in silence for several moments. That creepy feeling wasn’t going away.

Hey Steve! Can you come here a sec? he shouted over his shoulder to his foreman, Steve Branson.

Steve glanced up from the architectural plans, What’s up, Doug?

My bucket hit something. Want to take a look at it? Doug called back.

Steve made a face, rolled up the plans and set them on the make-shift table before ambling over. Doug was still lying on the ground near the John Deere, staring into the excavation site when Steve approached.

Damn thing made the strangest screeching sound when I hit it.

Steve squatted to the ground next to Doug and peered over the ledge at a strange entity protruding from the edge of the excavation site. The object emitted a coppery glow from the scrape where the bucket hit.

Hmm, Steve muttered under his breath. Never seen anything quite like that. He stood up slowly and scanned the rest of the site.

Shit. Ok buddy, I suppose you’d better go down and take a look, he finally said, shaking his head. The area shouldn’t have old relics, but you never know. Steve let out a deep sigh. This better not hold us up like your last clay pot did! He smiled good-naturedly at Doug, knowing the old clay pot he had unearthed wasn’t his fault. The crew had found a number of other less valuable items during that dig. However the schedule had been set back several months while the archeologists went through the area inch by inch.

Let’s try to figure out what we’re dealing with here before I call the University. I’ll call them in the morning. We’ve only got a few more hours of digging left and if we keep quiet, maybe we can hold the wolves off for a day. Once you’ve checked this object out, move your backhoe to the other side of the site. Take it slow and keep your eyes open for anything else. We don’t want the University all over us for destroying some valuable artifact.

Steve turned and walked back towards the construction trailer. Just take a look at that thing, Doug, don’t try to dig it out, he called over his shoulder, And keep quiet about this. Those guys at the University would have a fit if they knew they weren’t called immediately.

Doug nodded and worked his way to a pathway on the side leading into