Undiscovered (Treasure Hunter Security Book 1) Page 10

  From just meters away.

  He kept his breathing calm and waited. He felt something shift right by his hand…then slim fingers slid into his under the sand. Layne. He gently tangled his fingers with hers and held on.

  Dec willed these guys to move on. To go somewhere else. If these goons shined their lights down, they might notice Dec’s and the team’s hiding place.

  After what felt like an eternity, the voices drifted away.

  Soon, all Dec could hear was the whistle of the wind.

  Finally, he sat up and shook the sand out of his hair. He heard the others doing the same. He helped Layne up.

  “Nice work, Rush.”

  “I thought I was going to faint. They were practically on top of us.”

  “Come on.” He saw the glow of flashlights not far away. “They’re still looking for us and something tells me they’ll be back.” He hauled her to her feet. “Time to go.”

  Together, they all set off, trudging through the sand.

  “I managed to get a call into Darcy before they jammed us,” Declan said to the others. “I called in Cal.”

  “Good,” Logan said.

  “For now, we make our way to Dakhla—”

  “Boss?”

  He frowned. “Yes, Morgan?”

  “I think we have a problem.” Morgan was pointing ahead of them.

  Dec looked up and drew in a sharp breath. “Oh, shit.”

  “What?” Layne’s voice was shaky.

  “Look ahead.”

  “I see sand dunes.”

  “Above them.”

  “I see the black night sky.” There was confusion in her voice.

  “No stars.”

  She stared ahead, then gasped. “Something’s blocking out the stars.”

  As she said it, the wind picked up even more, howling at them.

  Dec’s mind raced as he tried to find an escape plan to keep them alive. Behind them, was a team of very organized and well-funded antiquities thieves.

  And in front of them, brewing like a boiling witch’s broth, was a wild desert sandstorm.

  “Come on. We go on a bit farther, then we’ll take cover.” If they burrowed in too early, the thieves might catch them.

  “If we wait too long, the sandstorm could kill us,” Layne shouted. “I’ve been through one out here on another dig. And I’ve heard some pretty bad stories.”

  “Then we’d better get the timing right. Everyone, open your emergency packs.”

  Everyone pulled scarves and goggles out of the backpacks and slipped them on.

  They pushed on until the edge of the sandstorm swallowed them. Soon the lights behind them disappeared. Hell, everything disappeared.

  The sand was pinging off his skin hard and stinging. He tapped Logan’s arm. The man would know what to do.

  Dec grabbed Layne’s arm. There was no way she’d hear him over the howl of the wind. He pulled her down in the sand and yanked his backpack off. He pulled out the small, plain canvas tent he had in his pack.

  It wasn’t fancy. You didn’t want mesh in a desert to let all the dust and sand in. He quickly set it up. It was a solo tent—sleek and streamlined. It was going to be a tight fit for two of them.

  He urged her in. He tried to spot the rest of his team, but the storm was too bad. The wind was tearing at him now like a wild beast. Logan and the others were all trained and experienced. He knew he didn’t need to worry about them.

  Dec followed Layne into the tent. It only took a second to seal the tent behind them.

  He turned to face her. There was only just enough room to sit up and his head brushed the top. He pressed a button on his watch and the face glowed. It gave just enough light to make her out. She looked kind of cute with the huge goggles dominating her face.

  The wind was making the canvas flap, and its wail was like a mob of monsters right on top of them.

  He saw Layne’s hands were clenched tightly together.

  Dec pulled her into his arms and held on. She buried her face against his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

  Funny how in that instant, Dec wouldn’t trade being stuck in the middle of a deadly sandstorm for anything.

  ***

  Callum Ward gunned his motorbike and leaned into the curve.

  Evening was falling in Denver and the city lights twinkled above him. His sweet little Ducati wanted to go faster—she’d clearly missed him while he’d been trekking through the Amazon. But as he whizzed through the LoDo area, he stuck to the speed limit. Mostly. He promised himself he’d take her out of the city one day and let her knock his teeth into the back of his head.

  His jaw tightened. After he’d rescued his brother.

  Cal pulled up in front of the Treasure Hunter Security warehouse. Lights were still on inside and he knew Darcy would be busy with her computers.

  He pulled his helmet off and headed inside.

  Darcy looked up and as soon as she saw him, rushed over. “Thank God you’re here.” She threw her arms around him. “I didn’t think you’d be back until tomorrow.”

  “One idiot anthropologist safely retrieved.” He pulled back and frowned at her worried face. “D, what’s going on? On our last call you said you were worried about Dec and his job…”

  She pressed her hands together. “The dig got raided three hours ago. I’ve lost contact with Dec and the team.”

  Cal cursed. He strode toward the computers. The thoughts of taking a few days off to ride his bike and go rock climbing in the mountains evaporated. “What do we know?”

  “Anders raided the dig with Silk Road thugs. Dec and Layne, the lead archeologist, got separated from Logan and the others. I have no idea if they managed to meet up.” Darcy scraped a hand through her hair, messing it up. A surefire sign she was agitated. “Something jammed our signal. Plus I just checked—” her blue-gray eyes were drowning in worry “—and a huge desert sandstorm hit their location a few hours ago. I can’t even pick up the emergency trackers in any of the team’s watches.”

  Fuck. Cal sucked in a deep breath. “Any good news?”

  “No. Dec said Anders captured one of the other archeologists and a scroll that leads to Zerzura.”

  “Look, they’ll be fine. Dec is good at this work, D. He’ll get himself, the team, and the archeologists out of there.”

  “Cal, it’s Anders.”

  Hell. Cal’s gut went hard. She was right. That meant his brother was unlikely to back off and Anders was a dangerous psychopath.

  “I’m going in,” Cal said. “Where’s Coop?”

  “Ronin’s on a job in Canada.”

  “Damn.” Cal rubbed his forehead, running through logistics in his head. He had to get to Egypt…fast. “I know who to call. Get me flights to Cairo. When we land, I’ll call.” He pulled his sister in for a hard hug. “Keep trying to contact Dec.”

  She nodded. “Cal, I have a bad feeling. I’m scared for Dec.”

  “He’s tougher than titanium.” Cal cupped her cheek. “I’ll find him.”

  She released a slow breath and managed a nod.

  Cal strode out to his bike, tugging his helmet on. It was only then that he let his worry show.

  ***

  Layne woke up warm and snug.

  She blinked, focusing on the hard arm wrapped around her waist. She shifted and realized she was clutched tightly in Declan’s arms, her back nestled to his hard chest, her butt snuggled to his hard—

  He was stroking her arm slowly, seemingly relaxed.

  Then it all crashed in on her. The sandstorm. The raid.

  She shot upright, bumping the top of the tent and dislodging a rain of dust. She started coughing and felt her goggles resting around her neck.

  She felt Declan move.

  “Either we survived, or the afterlife is dusty as hell.” She turned toward him. “It’s morning, and it feels like the sun is getting pretty warm. I can’t believe we fell asleep!”

  “I wasn’t asleep.”

  Sh
e eyed him. The dark stubble on his cheeks just made him look sexier and more dangerous. But he was alert. She realized he’d been watching over her during the sandstorm, protecting her as always.

  She didn’t let herself think, she just leaned down and kissed him.

  His arms clamped around her and yanked her down on his chest. Layne cupped his rough cheeks and poured everything into the kiss. He groaned, then bit her bottom lip, making her moan. His hands slid down her sides.

  “When we’re safe, I’m planning to strip your clothes off and fuck you,” he growled. “Every way I know how.”

  She pulled back, staring into his glittering gray eyes. She licked her lips, savoring the taste of him. “Oh? What happened to your ‘I’m too dark and brooding for you’ speech?”

  He sank a hand into her hair and tugged her head back. “You are such a pain in my ass.”

  “Good. You need it. So you’ve decided I’m not too sweet and innocent for you?”

  His thumb traced her lips, the air charging even more. She nipped at the hard pad of his thumb and something molten flared in his eyes.

  “I never said you were sweet.”

  She nipped again. “Good. Because, Declan Ward, I can be very not-sweet when I want to be.”

  He groaned again. “I’m going to make you pay for giving me a damn painful hard-on. Especially when we need to get moving and there is nothing I can do about it.”

  Reluctantly, she pulled away and sat on the layer of sand that had infiltrated their tent. She patted his chest. “Poor thing.”

  He sat up. “Careful, payback is a bitch.”

  Layne grinned cheekily at him. Considering thieves had raided her dig and she’d just survived a sandstorm, she was feeling pretty good.

  They packed up their meager belongings and climbed out of the tent.

  The morning sun was rising in the sky and the temperature was getting warm. She turned around, taking in the view, her stomach dropping.

  “What the hell?” she murmured.

  Beside her, Declan cursed.

  Everything looked…completely different.

  They were still in the desert, but the rolling dunes of golden sand were gone. Ahead was a white salt flat. There were some strange rock formations in the distance. Everything was shades of bleached brown.

  There was no sign of the dig.

  “Nothing looks familiar.” Layne swallowed.

  “Shit. Powerful sandstorms can move vast quantities of sand around.” He scanned the area around them. “I don’t see Logan and the others.”

  He cupped his hands and called out.

  No response.

  “Rush, can you pack up the tent? I’ll take a look for the others. They can’t be far away.”

  By the time Layne wrestled the tent into a neat pile, Declan came back, his face the grimmest she’d ever seen it.

  “No sign of them. And my satellite phone is completely dead.”

  “How can they not be here?”

  “I don’t know. But they’re trained soldiers, they can take care of themselves. I can’t worry about them right now. We need to work out our plan.” He studied the rugged watch on his wrist and she peered at it. He tilted it in her direction. “It has a built-in GPS tracker. I think our best bet is to still head northeast. Toward Dakhla.”

  She spun. “It’s miles away! It’ll take all day to walk there.”

  “Yes, but it’s a large landmark we can’t miss. There’s food, water, and shelter at the end.” He held up his backpack. “We only have a small amount of water with us.”

  Layne chewed on her lip, and for a second let herself worry about her dig, the artifacts, Aaron, Zerzura. Damn Ian Anders for all of this. And now because of this crazy asshole, she and Declan were lost in the desert.

  “What about Zerzura?” she asked quietly. The thought of Anders desecrating the place made her sick.

  Declan ran his fingers down her cheek. “Your safety comes first.”

  Warmth trickled through her. “Okay. Dakhla it is.”

  “Worst case, my brother’s coming. He can track me from this.” Declan shook his wrist.

  But as they headed off, Layne knew that Callum Ward was days away from reaching them.

  The ground was rocky and sandy, but at least the flatter ground was easier than traversing the large dunes. As they walked, the sun grew hotter, beating down on them. Layne wished for her hat, but made do with her scarf, wrapping it around her head.

  Declan warned her to take tiny sips of her water and make it last. She did, but the small mouthfuls hardly quenched her rabid thirst.

  Just keep walking, Rush.

  Declan, damn him, looked like he was out for a stroll. He walked with a loose-limbed, easy stride she envied, while she felt like she was dragging each foot through the sand.

  “I’ll buy you a cold beer when we get to Dakhla, Rush.”

  “Make it a Diet Coke, and you’re on,” she said.

  “You don’t drink?”

  She shook her head. “Guy who killed my parents was high as a kite, unaware that he destroyed my entire life. I’ve never touched drugs or alcohol.”

  Declan nodded. “Diet Coke it is.” He paused for a moment. “Bet your parents would be proud as hell of the life you’ve made for yourself.”

  She smiled. “Yeah. I think so. They were the ones who sent me down this path. Trips to the museum. Documentaries.”

  “Meanwhile, my parents tried to get me interested…by dragging me around dusty old digs, and sitting me in the corner of dad’s office.” A faint smile. “It had the opposite effect.”

  “Ah, I hate to break it to you, Ward, but you work on digs and in museums now.”

  “Yeah. I guess I always liked it, but once I hit my teens I knew I wanted to join the military. I think protecting artifacts is important, but protecting people, fighting for my country, that just spoke to something in me.”

  “Sounds like you did a good job of it.”

  His face changed, turning hard as stone. “Sometimes.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for the people Anders killed. That’s on him, not you.”

  A muscle ticked in Declan’s jaw. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You can’t bury the past, Declan. It just pops up to haunt you, otherwise.”

  “Not open for discussion.”

  Here was a good man, haunted by his past. So much he couldn’t even acknowledge all the good he did. “If you ignore it, then it just terrorizes you in your sleep, dogs your steps in the daylight, and blindsides you when you least expect it.”

  He stopped and spun, his face tight. “So, do you think of finding your murdered parents all the time?”

  She absorbed the blow, and tucked her hair back under her scarf.

  “Shit. Sorry.” He heaved out a breath and looked away. “That was out of line.”

  She stared at his tense back. “I think about them. But I’ve learned to remember the good stuff first. I bet you have loads of good memories from your time as a SEAL. Do you ever think of those?”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “The past is the past.”

  “The past is a lesson to absorb and learn from. Whatever our personal experiences, we have to face them and learn to live with them. I had a lot of therapy and now, I’m focused on building my career.”

  “Because of what happened?”

  “Yes. It still affects me. I have no family. It’s easy to feel pretty darn alone in this world.” Dammit, she hadn’t meant to say that. “What happened with Anders, it’s eating you alive, Declan.”

  Silence fell. It was just the two of them and the desert. She waited a few more beats. He wasn’t going to talk. She sighed.

  “It was my fault.” Declan didn’t look at her. “I didn’t save those people, and because of my screw up, he got off.”

  The words were hard as rock, and he spat them out as fast as bullets.

  “You did what you thought was right,” she said quietly.

&nb
sp; A vicious shake of his head. “Knowing they died, knowing he’s gone on killing. That’s all on me, Rush. That’s not something you face and make peace with.”

  Yes, she could see—for a man who lived to protect people, the deaths of those people had carved out a piece of his soul. “You were between a rock and a hard place. Go in early, save lives, but forgo the evidence. Let the people die, but get the evidence. There was no win-win situation, Declan.”

  “Instead, I waited just long enough for almost all those people to die and Anders still walked free.”

  She could feel the tension radiating off him. “I’m sure the few who survived were grateful.” She touched his arm. “I’m so sorry, Declan.”

  “Bastard is still out there terrorizing people.” Declan touched her healing cheek.

  “You did your best. God, you aren’t a superhero, expected to be perfect and win the day every time. Cut yourself some slack.”

  They stared at each other for a long moment. When Declan smiled, she felt like she’d won a prize.

  “Your sweetness is showing, Rush.”

  She snorted. “And your badassness is still firmly in place.” Her gaze shifted past him and she blinked. “I see people ahead. Look.”

  He spun. “It’s a heat mirage. No telling what those shapes are.”

  He was right, the shimmer made it hard to tell what the hazy, dark, shifting shapes were, but they sure looked like people to her. “Let’s check it out.”

  They pushed on. The mirage felt like it wasn’t getting any closer. But those tantalizing shapes made her hope for safety, water, and rest.

  “I want a huge glass of cold water. No, a bucket of it. I’ll drink until I pop, then tip it over my head.” She groaned. “Oh, a cold bath has never sounded so good.”

  Declan grunted.

  She elbowed him in the side. “Come on, what do you want once we reach Dakhla?”

  “You.”

  She stumbled to a stop.

  His gaze traced her face. “A cold shower first would be good, then you spread out on a bed, naked. All mine.”

  All the air in her lungs rushed out. The heat filtering through her now had nothing to do with the sun. “Don’t get me more hot and bothered!”

  He grinned and some of that darkness that had been plaguing him eased from his face. “Is that what I’m doing?”