Unmapped (Treasure Hunter Security #6) Read online

Peri wanted to argue. She wanted to charge into this eerie, dead city and find her sister. But she was an experienced guide, and she knew better than to push too hard. It could cost them all their lives.

  Ronin gripped her hand. “We can make it a bit farther before we take a break.”

  She smiled at him. It appeared he could read her like an open book, and she didn’t care. Sometime during the last few days, Ronin Cooper had earned her trust. She followed him into the ancient city.

  Ronin’s steps echoed dully off the ice-covered stone. They were walking down a street lined with what had probably been shops and homes. They crossed an open square, maybe once a park where children had played, but now just a slick, ice-covered space.

  It must have been an amazing metropolis.

  He glanced at the ground, noting the scuff marks of boots on ice. “They went this way.”

  Silk Road had left a clear trail for them to follow. The thieves clearly weren’t expecting company.

  The street turned, and ahead was a giant wall of ice in a cloudy blue-green. The street continued right alongside it.

  Suddenly, Peri jumped back from the ice wall. “What the hell?”

  Ronin spun, reaching for his Glock. “What?” He didn’t see anything but ice.

  She frowned. “I saw something move. In the ice.”

  Ronin looked at Dec, who shook his head. Ronin studied the ice wall again.

  Then, there was sudden movement behind the ice, and his eyes widened. A huge animal swam past. It had distinctive black-and-white markings.

  “Orca,” he breathed. “There’s water behind this wall.”

  “My God,” Peri said.

  Another large predator swam past with graceful moves. Ronin peered through the ice and spotted distorted shadows on the other side. Something else was out there.

  “Dec? What do you make of that?” Ronin pointed. Something was definitely sitting on the other side of the ice in the cold water.

  “They almost look like…vehicles,” Dec said, a frown in his voice.

  “Or submarines, maybe?” Peri added.

  Dec took a few pictures. “They look ancient. My guess is they were made by the people who lived here. Layne is going to be so pissed she isn’t on this mission.”

  They moved on. They passed through several more neatly-laid-out streets, following the boot tracks. Silk Road was moving deeper into the heart of the city.

  “Look at that,” Peri breathed.

  Not far away, ice had infiltrated the city, creating a giant curve of ice that formed a cavern. She hurried over and glanced inside.

  To Ronin, it looked like water had rushed in like a wave, and frozen. It was a beautiful blue-green color.

  “The ground is rough in there,” she said. “But the walls are smooth and gorgeous. It’s amazing.”

  “Look at that.” Ronin shone his flashlight upward.

  Dec hissed in a breath. “That doesn’t look stable.”

  The ceiling of the ice cavern was covered in sharp icicles.

  “Well, I’m glad Silk Road didn’t go that way,” Logan said.

  His voice echoed through the cavern, and a second later, several icicles crashed down to the ground like missiles.

  They all leaped back.

  “Shit,” Peri muttered.

  “Come on,” Dec said. “Let’s keep going.”

  They turned away from the ice cavern and headed back down the street. Soon, their group stepped out into a large main square. Ronin took a second to scan ahead, but didn’t see any movement, or hear any sounds. A giant, rectangular stone dominated the square, set upright. It was covered in engravings.

  They paused in front of it, and Dec moved closer, pressing a hand to the symbols. “Definitely similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs.”

  “Can you read it?” Peri asked.

  “A little. When you grow up with a history professor and a treasure hunter for parents, you absorb a lot.”

  “And when you marry an archeologist who specializes in Egyptian history,” Logan added.

  Dec grinned. “I have better things to do with my wife than decipher hieroglyphs.”

  Logan snorted.

  When Dec turned back to the stone, Ronin watched the man’s brow crease. Dec let out a breath. “It talks about a terrible calamity, and the fall of the city. The ground shook and moved, and in days, the ice came and many died.”

  Peri pressed a hand to her mouth. “There would have been thousands of people living here.”

  “And very few survivors,” Dec said. He looked back at the stone. “This stone is a remembrance and a warning.”

  “A warning?” Lars said.

  “From what I can make out, it says greedy people used a great power, and that was what caused the destruction of the city.”

  Ronin cursed. “They used the vajra and it did this? Shifted an entire continent?”

  “It says the city is the tomb of the great power, and that it shouldn’t be tampered with. Any who enter here will find nothing but death.”

  Peri gasped. Ronin scanned the empty city.

  “Where are the bodies?” he said.

  “What?” Peri looked up at him.

  “A catastrophic event froze the city fast, and only a few survivors made it out. Where are the bodies? You’d expect to see some frozen in the ice.”

  Dec frowned thoughtfully. “No idea. That’s probably not a good sign.”

  Logan crouched nearby, studying the ground. He looked up at them. “Looks like the Silk Road group split up here.”

  Ronin studied the markings on the ice and nodded. “Half the group went that way—” he pointed down another street “—and the other half in that direction.”

  He pointed into what looked like a huge building that was mostly covered in ice.

  “Why would they split up?” Lars asked.

  “Maybe they could translate the entire stone,” Dec mused. “It might give more information than I can read.”

  “Any way to tell which way Peri’s sister went?” Logan asked.

  Peri scanned the ground. “I don’t see anything she might have dropped as a clue.” She huffed out a breath.

  Dec was silent for a moment. “We need to split up. Ronin and Peri, you head into the building. Logan, Lars, and I will go the other way. Ninety minutes, then we come back and meet here. Got it?”

  They all nodded, everyone checking their watches.

  Moments later, Ronin and Peri walked into the large building. His flashlight illuminated the vast, empty space.

  “Their version of a warehouse?” Peri suggested, stepping cautiously on the floor. Here, the ice floor was bumpy and rough.

  “Probably.” Ronin picked his way through the space.

  He tried to imagine what this place must have looked like in its heyday, bustling with people and life. He couldn’t picture it.

  They followed the Silk Road trail, moving through several other warehouses, all huge cavernous spaces. The next one had several rooms off the side, and Ronin felt the temperature rise a few degrees. Those rooms were free of ice, but empty of anything else.

  “How are these rooms free of ice?” Peri asked.

  Ronin crouched and pressed a palm to the stone floor. “It must be some sort of heated storage. Whatever is powering it must still be working.”

  “Amazing,” she murmured.

  The Silk Road trail led to the back of the warehouse…right up to where it stopped at a huge hunk of ice.

  “What is this?” Peri said.

  Ronin studied it and looked up. He cursed. “A huge chunk of ice broke off the ceiling and is blocking the doorway.”

  “Dammit,” she said, swinging her light around. “Look, there’s another doorway over there.”

  They headed in that direction. One of Ronin’s boots slipped and he caught himself. “Watch yourself. The ground’s slick here.”

  She nodded, moving slowly.

  Then Ronin heard a loud crack.

  They both froze. He lo
oked down and saw a spider web of cracks in the ice beneath him. He frowned.

  Then, the ground gave way, and he was falling.

  A second later, he splashed into freezing-cold water. Fuck.

  “Hold on, Ronin!” Peri shouted from above.

  Ronin gasped, his breaths coming in fast pants. The water was freezing. He knew hyperventilation was the body’s natural response to the shock of the intense cold, so instead, he focused on trying to control his breathing.

  He tilted his head and looked up. He’d fallen down a cylindrical hole. It must have once been some sort of water tank or storage. His teeth clattered together, and his heart thumped hard in his chest. It was fucking cold. He pressed a hand to the ice wall. It was slick, with no handholds or cracks, or anything to hold on to.

  He glanced upward again, watching as Peri climbed over the edge of the hole. She was lowering herself over the side, rigged to a rope. She moved with strong, experienced moves down the icy wall.

  He blinked and smiled to himself. He had to admit he really liked her. Everything about her. She was strong, smart, and stubborn. She loved her sister and could curse like a soldier. It had been such a long time since he’d really liked a woman.

  When she reached him, stopping just above the water, she was grim faced. “Take it easy. Contrary to popular belief, hypothermia takes a lot longer to set in than people think.”

  “I…know.” His muscles were feeling sluggish, his energy rapidly draining away. “Been plunged in…lots of freezing lakes…as a SEAL.”

  She reached down and held out an arm. “We need to get you out of there. Our muscles and nerves don’t work well in the extreme cold.”

  Meaning he’d lose control of his muscles, and wouldn’t be able to keep his head above the water. He tried to grab her hand, but his aim was way off, and he missed. His muscles were beginning to ache, badly.

  “Come on, G-Man. Stay with me.”

  He tried again, and they connected. She pulled him closer, and he felt her lean down and wrap a rope around him. She tied it off with some impressive knots. Damn, he was so cold. He just wanted to close his eyes and make the pain go away.

  “No, Ronin,” she snapped. “Look at me. Stay with me.”

  He stared into her blue eyes, and kept staring. “Could…look at you all day.”

  She smiled. “Right back at you, G-Man.”

  They started upward. Ronin did what he could to help, but it was a hellishly tough climb. He heard each one of Peri’s grunts and harsh expulsions of breath. They slipped a few times, smacking against the ice wall.

  He saw the strain on Peri’s face. She was killing herself to get him out. He frowned. That was unacceptable.

  “Let me go,” he mumbled wearily.

  “Hell, no!” Anger fired in her eyes.

  “No one’s ever wanted me.” He tried to stop the words, but they tumbled out, slurred and broken. “Not even my mother. She tossed me away at birth.”

  “I want you. And I am fucking getting you out of here.”

  They kept moving, inching upward slowly. Just when he felt like his body had nothing left in it to give, Peri clambered over the edge. She yanked on the rope, and pulled him over.

  He collapsed on the icy floor. He couldn’t feel anything anymore.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ronin wasn’t moving and wasn’t shivering. Not good. Peri’s heart was lodged in her throat. Hypothermia was setting in, and she had to get him warm.

  She slid an arm around him. “Come on, G-Man. Up we go.”

  She heaved, and he staggered to his feet. She gritted her teeth as she took his weight. God, he was heavy, and her muscles already felt like noodles after the climb out of the hole.

  “Move nice and slowly,” she warned him. “That heart of yours is working overtime right now.” They shuffled across the ancient warehouse.

  She led him into one of the ice-free rooms, and gently lowered him to the floor. She needed him horizontal to help the blood flow through his cold-constricted arteries. She ripped his backpack off, thanking whatever god might be listening that it was made of a high-tech waterproof fabric. She opened it and checked that everything inside was still dry. She opened her own pack too, grabbing what she needed. She quickly set up their two-man tent, and laid out their sleeping bags inside, zipping them together. Then she started tearing at his wet clothes.

  “Time to get these off.” Peri worked to get his clothes off, and then helped him onto the nest of sleeping bags. His eyes had closed, and he still wasn’t shivering. She grabbed some small warming packs and cracked them to start the chemical reaction to heat them. She stuck them under his armpits.

  Next, she wrung out his inner layers and hung them inside the tent. She set his boots inside as well, although they’d take much longer to dry. Hers and Ronin’s bodies would be the heat source to dry everything off.

  But first, she had to get him warm.

  Hurrying, she stood and opened her jacket. She tossed it aside, and then stripped off her clothes including her silky, thin, thermal underwear. She tossed them in a pile inside the tent. Naked, except for her panties, the cold made her shiver.

  She climbed into the tent, zipped it closed behind her. Then she wrapped herself around Ronin and pulled the sleeping bags closed, cocooning them inside.

  With all the exertion, and the sleeping bags, she felt hot, but Ronin’s skin was so icy cold against hers. She gritted her teeth, pressed into him, and shoved her face against his neck.

  A faint moan rumbled through him.

  “I know, babe,” she murmured. “Come on, wake up and talk to me.” Be okay. Please. She started stroking him. His arms, his face, his strong jaw. She kept murmuring comforting nonsense to him.

  It felt like forever, but finally, she thought his skin felt warmer. Then he started shivering.

  Huge shivers wracked him, so hard his teeth were rattling. She held on to him. “I’ve got you, G-Man.”

  He groaned and moved fitfully.

  “I’m here. Open your eyes, Ronin. Let me see those midnight eyes of yours.” She kept talking, holding him tight as the violent shivers continued. She told him all about being a twin, her travels, why she liked climbing, how sometimes you could be surrounded by so many people and still feel alone.

  Before long, she was covered in a sheen of perspiration, and his body was pumping off heat. Finally, the shivers subsided. She pressed a kiss to his bare shoulder. She was so damn glad he was going to be all right. When he’d fallen into the water, she’d been terrified.

  His breathing evened out and she guessed he was asleep. He’d need some calories once he woke up. But for now, exhausted herself, Peri let herself doze, as well.

  She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she woke up to a hand sliding down the side of her body. She opened her eyes and took a second to orient herself. She smelled Ronin, and felt toasty warm.

  Suddenly, she was rolled over, and his big body moved over hers. He pinned her down, shoving her legs apart.

  She gasped and felt a very hard cock brush over the hot, damp center of her. She moaned, her fingers digging into his skin. She looked up into glittering, dark-blue eyes.

  The heat and hunger she saw made her chest tighten.

  “Ronin, you were just hypothermic. You need to rest—”

  He reached down, his hand cupping her breast for a second, before he moved lower. He shoved aside her panties, and one thick finger speared inside her.

  God. She’d gone from dozing to a barrage of arousal in seconds. She undulated her hips against his hand.

  “Need you.” His voice was deep and guttural.

  She wasn’t even sure he was fully awake. He seemed to be operating on instinct. And right now, his body was telling him he was very much alive, when not long ago, he’d been dangerously close to death.

  His thumb brushed her clit, and Peri tried to stifle her cry. She stared up at the tough, intense man above her.

  Hers. The thought reverberated
through her. Nothing and no one had ever just been hers before. Something she could keep and be sure it would stay a part of her life. She sank her hands into his hair and yanked his head down. The kiss was hard, edgy, with the hint of teeth, and the deep drive of tongues.

  The taste of him flooded her, and his tongue slid into her mouth, hard and demanding.

  “Never tasted anything as good as you.” He nipped her jawline, then found a sensitive spot on her neck that made her squirm.

  With a jerk of his wrist, he tore her panties off.

  She arched into him and felt the head of his cock prod between her legs. Then, with one hard thrust, he drove inside her.

  Peri moaned. It was fast, and there was nothing gentle about him. Sensation burned across her nerve endings. She felt very stretched and very full and she loved it.

  He dragged out of her and then thrust back in with a flex of his hips. He pinned her down and started hammering into her with brutal thrusts. This wasn’t gentle lovemaking, this was a hard, fast affirmation of life. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, and dug her nails into his tight ass, urging him on.

  Each grind of his hips put pressure on her clit and she felt her release rushing at her. She’d never experienced anything like this—so primal, so raw. His big body covered her, filled her, and she loved it. She felt claimed and branded.

  With every thrust, she heard a harsh expulsion of air from Ronin. He was thrusting into her with an urgency that made her body white-hot.

  Her release erupted through her body. Her inner muscles clamped down on Ronin’s cock and she came hard, sinking her teeth into his arm to muffle her scream.

  Ronin felt all of Peri’s orgasm. Her sweet body gripped his cock, her muffled screams played in his ears, and he felt the sharp nip of her teeth on his skin. It was sexy as hell.

  He ground his teeth together, his jaw tight. He wanted to feel her come again. He used every ounce of his control to stop from slamming into her and emptying himself inside her.

  He wanted to make sure she remembered this. That she remembered exactly how he made her feel, and how she felt with him inside her for the first time.

  They could have both died out there in the freezing cold, and right now, the driving need inside him was to claim this woman.