Page 1 of Inexplicable

Chapter 1

Jenna

Iwas scared.

Really scared.

And I hadn’t experienced real fear for a very long time.

I was terrified about what was going to happen to me because my future was beyond bleak at the moment.

Knowing there was nothing I could do to change my fate was making me crazy and was about to send me into a psychological meltdown.

My situation right now was my fault.

I was usually a cautious woman who never took unnecessary chances, but the new meteorite fall near Rosarito, Mexico had been way too big of a temptation for me.

I’d been monitoring meteorites for years, and I’d never had one drop within a three-hour drive from my home.

Not to mention the fact that large meteorites were incredibly rare.

This had been one of those large meteorites, and it had come down extremely close to me.

There was no possible way I could just sit in Los Angeles and do nothing.

I was an astrophysicist, for God’s sake. I’d needed to be in Mexico for this event.

The strewn field, the scientific term for the area of the ground where the meteorite’s fragments fall, would be massive.

I’d planned on driving across the border and checking out the strewn field for several hours. I’d wanted as much data and as many photos as possible, and then I figured that I would just return to my home in Los Angeles the same day.

My arrangements had seemed safe enough since I hadn’t intended to spend the night in the area, and being there after dark hadn’t been part of my plan.

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry…

That Robert Burns quote had never meant quite as much to me as it did right now.

I’d been excited to get to Mexico, but I’d tried to take every precaution.

And things had still gone terrifyingly wrong.

I’d made that plan ten days ago, and I was still in Mexico because I’d been kidnapped while viewing that damn meteorite site that I just couldn’t resist.

I’d done one minimally risky thing in my boring life, and that deviation from my normal existence had resulted in an absolute nightmare.

My drive to Rosarito had been completely uneventful, and I’d been so thrilled to see a strewn field that was only hours old.

I’d gotten so many photos of the debris because I’d gotten to the area before most of the meteorite hunters.

Yeah, Mexican law didn’t allow those pieces of space debris to be taken out of the country, but I was a scientist.

I’d been perfectly happy with photos and the joy of seeing something extraordinary in person.

I’d been about to leave the quiet area outside of Rosarito when my world had suddenly gone dark.

There was no warning.

I still wasn’t sure how the kidnapper who had bashed me over the head had managed to sneak up on me.