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“Hold on Hold on,” he said

I kept running He stepped directly into my path and spread his arms wide

“Hold on, Dr Brockton Wait just a minute”

I tried to sidestep him, but he was too quick He wrapped both arms around me

“I can’t let you in there until I know it’s safe,” he said

I struggled to break free of his grip “I’ve got to check on Miranda,” I said “I have to see about her”

“Dr Brockton, listen up now You have got to cal, or I will handcuff you, sir Do you understand ave me a powerful squeeze He was no taller than I was, but he enty years younger and probably outweighed me by forty pounds, all of it muscle “Dr Brockton, please don’t make me handcuff you Do you understand me?”

I went li on Is Miranda in there?”

“We do have someone in there,” he said “I don’t know the status If I can turn loose of you, I’ll radio and ask what’s going on and if it’s all right for you to come in”

“Please,” I said

“Have you got ahold of yourself?” he asked “If I let you go, you’re not gonna go charging in there to be a hero, are you?”

“No,” I said “If you turn me loose, I’ll step back so you can make the radio call”

It wasn’t until he released ain, that I realized how hard he’d been holding me

He pressed the “transot Dr Brockton out here, just outside the baseht if he comes in there now?”

The answer came into his earpiece, so I couldn’t hear it, but he nodded and motioned me in I broke into a run, but he quickly called, “Walk! Don’t run! We’ve got officers eapons You go running in, they’re liable to shoot you”

I forced myself to slow to a walk When I reached the , I heard Markhaht now” A second officer was standing in the stairwell between the exterior door and the bone lab’s door The ht, as ays kept it closed The door was steel, fitted with a smallthat was kept covered by a piece of paper so no one could look inside The paper was gone So was the glass A s halfway to the floor

I stared around the bone lab, wild-eyed Two uniformed officers stood to raduate students worked To the right was the storage area that held row on row of boxed Native American skeletons-several thousand of them-stacked on shelves three feet deep

An EMT backed out of the aisle between the rows of shelves, pulling a gurney with hiurney; beneath a sheet I saw the contours of feet, legs, torso I’d seen that body nearly every day for years now in various postures-sitting, standing, crawling on all fours, bending over to pluck a bone fronized it instantly as Miranda’s

“Dear God,” I said “Tell me what happened”

“It’s about ti herself on her elbows

“Jesus,” I breathed, “Miranda! Are you okay? You’re hurt? What happened?”

“Could you repeat the questions one at a tiht, never mind I’uy out there I don’t want a second date with”

“Who? Tell ”