Uncharted (Treasure Hunter Security Book 2) (7 page)

“As I’ll ever be.”

Cal checked on the others, and saw the guides had loaded the last of the gear. He signaled the lead guide, a man named Arn. Then Cal revved the engine and they set off.

At first, the track they followed was well-used, winding through the jungle trees. Golden light filtered down between the trees above.

They whizzed along, and soon the track turned bumpier. They crossed rickety wooden bridges, and a few times, the jungle gave way to small farms. One moment, a bright burst of sunlight would blind them, then they’d be swallowed again by the jungle.

As Dani adjusted to the bike, Cal felt her relaxing behind him. Soon, she was only holding on to him with one hand, the other lifting her camera to try and take pictures. He shook his head. No surprise there.

As they crossed through another small farm, he spotted a small mound of dirt ahead. Deciding she was comfortable enough, he aimed for it. “Hold on,” he shouted.

Both her arms wrapped tight around him. He shot over the mound, and they jumped into the air, landing with a bounce.

Behind him, Dani laughed. Her mouth brushed his ear. “Again.”

Soon, the track got wilder and more overgrown. This was a place few people ventured. Cal signaled to Arn for them to take a break.

The bikes pulled to a stop. Cal set his boots on the ground. “We’ll stop here for a short rest. Grab a drink and a snack. Stretch your legs.”

Dr. Oakley climbed off his bike and pressed his hands into his lower back. He arched backward with a groan. “I might be getting too old for this.”

“You want to discover the temple, right?” Jean-Luc nudged the other man with a smile.

Oakley nodded. “Yes. Yes.”

Cal saw that same eager, hungry look in all the archeologists’ eyes that he saw on every expedition he went on. The ones that worked in the field were adventurers at heart.

In moments, the others were fishing in their backpacks, pulling out water bottles and granola bars. The local guides sat down, eating their own food.

Dani, of course, was taking photographs.

He wandered closer to her. “Take the chance to grab a snack.”

“Yes, Commander.” This time she gave him a perfect salute.

“You’re a quick learner.”

She sat down under a tree, opening her pack. “And don’t you forget it.”

On a fallen branch nearby, Cal spotted a flash of movement. Something green.

His instincts kicked in. He dived forward, tackling Dani to the ground. A second later he was on his feet, pulling her with him.

“What the hell?” she gasped.

He spun her, keeping her in the confines of his arms. “Look.”

When she saw the bright-green snake, she gasped.

It slithered off the branch it had been resting on, its bright-yellow eyes looking in their direction. Then it disappeared into the jungle undergrowth.

“Greentree pit viper,” Cal said. “Highly venomous. Pit vipers are responsible for a hell of a lot of deaths in Cambodia. You need to be more careful out here.”

Dani raised a shaky hand and pushed her hair back off her face. “You got it. Snakes are not my favorite thing.” A look flowed over her face. “Wish I’d gotten a picture of it, though.”

Cal rolled his eyes. He’d never met a woman like Dani Navarro before.

Soon, everyone was back on the bikes, bouncing along the jungle track. Slowly, the tracks got narrower and more overgrown, causing them to travel much more slowly. Vines slapped at their faces, and in a few places, Cal and the guides had to stop to cut a way through with machetes.

Cal kept consulting Sam’s map to the temple site. They were heading in the right direction.

Moments later, Cal heard shouts and saw Dr. Oakley waving wildly in his direction. Cal pulled the bike to a stop.

Oakley had already slid off, and was hurrying over to what looked like a pile of rocks in the trees.

That’s when Cal realized it was ruins.

“Check for snakes first,” he called out.

The team crouched around, studying the moss-covered rubble. Cal decided it had probably been the base of a tower or statue. The archeologists took notes and conferred with each other. Dani circled them, taking pictures.

“There are ruins like this all over the mountain,” Dr. Oakley said. “Remnants of Mahendraparvata—unmarked and never explored.” He stroked a hand over one of the stones. “It’s hard to tell what this once was…now it belongs to the jungle.”

Sam held up his tablet, the map showing on the screen. “Well, the Temple of the Sacred Linga is one piece of history we’re going to claim back.”

Gemma bumped a shoulder against the man. “Okay, Indiana Jones.”

“Let’s keep moving,” Cal said.

They climbed on the bikes again. Cal waited until Dani’s arm was wrapped around him tight and they moved on.

She pressed against him, leaning forward so her mouth was pressed to his ear. “I’m getting used to the bike. When do I get to drive?”

“Never,” he called back.

“It’s a man thing, right?”

“No, it’s a Cal thing. I’m pretty happy sitting here with your thighs wrapped around me.”

He heard her snort.

But he’d told her the truth. Feeling her pressed up against him, her hands resting on his abdomen…he liked it a lot.

The track got harder to travel. The trees were thick and the vines thicker. Soon the guides pulled to a stop. They had a spirited conversation in Cambodian.

Cal looked at Sakada. The archeologist was frowning. He shot a few questions at the guide before shaking his head. “They say they won’t go any farther. The tracks are very overgrown, hard even for the motorbikes.” The man’s frown deepened. “But on top of that, they say it is a cursed area beyond here. There are bad spirits, and no one should go in.”

Damn
. Cal had known they’d have to trek part of the way but he’d hoped to get closer to the temple location. And he’d been on too many expeditions to argue with people over their beliefs and traditions. If the guides didn’t want to go in, no way he’d force them.

This would have to be good enough. “Thank them, Sakada.”

There was another round of conversation.

Sakada gave a nod. “They will go to the nearest village. Two of them are from there. They will keep the bikes ready for our return.”

“Okay, people,” Cal called out. “From here, we hike in on foot.” From the side of his bike, he pulled out his machete and grabbed his backpack. “Everyone will need to take their packs and some of the gear. I also suggest you make good use of your mosquito repellant. We only have a few hours of daylight left. So let’s get moving.”

The guides left with a roar of engines. Cal strapped some of the lightweight tents to his pack and pulled it onto his back. He checked to see the others were all ready and then started slashing a path through the jungle. He heard the click of a camera and glanced behind him. Dani was crouched, the camera blocking most of her face.

“Ask,” he said

She lowered the camera and looked up at him. “May I take your picture, please?” Her tone was saccharine-sweet.

He lowered his voice. “Only if I can take yours later.” The image of her naked and spread across one of the four-poster beds back at the hotel flashed through his head.

Her face changed. “No.”

He detected something in her tone. “Why not?”

She shrugged and stood. “Photographs in my family were all about being lined up wearing our Sunday best. I inevitably got my clothes dirty or messed up my hair. My mother was never happy.” Dani lifted the camera “I prefer to be on
this
side of the camera.”

Cal moved closer, so only she could hear him. “I could get a good shot of you. And so you won’t worry about dirty clothes, you could be naked on silk sheets. I think that would suit you.”

Her lips parted, then she shook her head. “Jungle to cut down, Ward. You’d better focus on that.”

With a laugh, he did. Cal had used a machete too many times to count, and got into his usual rhythm, hacking away the vines and undergrowth to make a path for them. Jean-Luc and Sakada proved pretty good with the machetes as well. While they couldn’t move as fast as they had on the bikes, they were making good progress, moving deeper into the uncharted jungle. Every now and then, they passed piles of rubble or weathered statues. Hints of the remnants of the lost city resting beneath the vegetation.

“You enjoy this.” Dani had caught up to him again.

Cal paused and swiped his arm across his sweaty forehead. “Beats a war zone.”

“The SEAL teams…it was rough?”

“War is.” His gut turned over. “I lost some good friends.”

“Like your friend Marty?”

His gut went hard now. “Yeah. Like Marty.”

“I’m sorry.” She paused. “You said your brother was a SEAL, as well?”

“Yeah. Dec took a bullet and got out.”

“I guess providing security for archeologists, even on remote expeditions, is safer than what you did before.”

Cal grunted. “You’d think. Actually, Dec took a bullet a few months back on a job. He almost died.”

Dani blinked. “I thought chasing artifacts would be less dangerous than fighting bad guys.”

“Usually. Some jobs are downright boring. But Dec was on a job in Egypt and tangled with some antiquities thieves.”

He saw Dani’s eyes widen. “The Zerzura discovery? That was your brother?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, I would give my first born child
to photograph there. A lost, underground oasis in the desert…I can only imagine the images I could capture there.” Her mouth slid into a frown. “They aren’t letting anyone in there, yet. I’ve tried.”

“It is pretty amazing.”

She pulled to a stop. “You’ve been there?”

God, her face. “I went in with our team to rescue Dec and Layne, the archeologist he was with.”

To be honest, Cal hadn’t really paid that much attention to the ancient city carved into the rock walls of the underground oasis. He’d been too busy saving Dec’s life. His brother had been bleeding out from a bullet wound.

Cal channeled extra energy into hacking away at the vines in front of them. Just the memory of his brother, bloody and dying, reminded Cal of the friend he hadn’t been able to save.

Suddenly his blade hit rock with a clang.

Beside him, Dani gasped. He reached out and pushed aside the vines.

Staring back at them, was a stone statue.

The seven-headed snake rose up like a cobra. The statue was taller than Cal, and badly weathered.

“Beautiful,” Dr. Oakley said. He was a little out of breath, sweat beading on his face. “A naga. The Cambodian people believe they came from the union of a Brahman and the daughter of a naga king.”

Cal pushed back more vines. “There’s another statue behind it.”

Dani’s camera clicked as she took a shot. Cal frowned. He couldn’t tell what the hell the other statue was. Some sort of monster.

Behind them, the other archeologists moved closer.

“Oh, my God,” Gemma breathed. “It looks like a makara.”

Sakada nodded. “Yes, definitely a makara.”

Cal decided it looked like an elephant with the tail of a fish. “Which is what?”

Sakada looked at him. “A sea monster. Usually half terrestrial animal, like an elephant or crocodile, with the tail of a fish or seal.”

Dr. Oakley stepped forward, an excited light in his eyes. “The makara was considered a guardian of the gateway or threshold.” He smiled. “We’re getting close to the temple.”

Chapter Five

Dani stopped and slipped a new memory card into her camera. She was getting so many great shots. She loved the jungle. She loved the feeling of teeming life all around her. It almost made up for the sticky humidity and the mosquitos.

But she could tell the light was slowly disappearing. They’d have to stop soon.

She slapped a branch away from her face. Having to hike put you up close and personal with the jungle and its wildlife. Although, she had to admit she liked being on the bike as well. Okay, maybe she just liked being pressed up against Cal. Feeling the warmth of his back against her, feeling the hard ridges of his stomach under her hand.

She shook her head. She was supposed to be focused on her work, not talking herself into a wild case of lust.

But as she watched him swinging the machete, sweat dripping down his temples and soaking the neckline of his shirt, she had to admit that she was starting to like him.

With a deep breath, Dani turned her attention to the rest of the group. Dr. Oakley was looking tired but determined. Sakada looked like he was having the time of his life. Jean-Luc and Gemma were a bit wilted but still going strong. Sam looked like he’d prefer to be somewhere else.

Then Gemma cried out with excitement, and the other archeologists pushed forward.

Dani swiveled, and saw the tower rising up into the trees.

It reminded her strongly of the towers at Angkor, but this one had a tree growing over it. She took a few shots of it, cursing the dying light.

Jean-Luc crouched at the base of it to scratch away some of the dead plant life. Dr. Oakley circled it, talking with Gemma and Sakada. Dani took pictures of them as a group, then individually. Their feelings were clearly written all over their faces. She liked seeing such very different people, joined together by a common passion.

Cal stood watching, the tip of his machete pressed to the ground. “Get what you need because we can’t stay long. We’re losing the light.”

Dr. Oakley nodded. “Thanks, Cal. We just need to take some photos and document this.” He smiled and the weariness disappeared. “There are references to the linga temple here.”

Cal nodded. “I’ll take a look around. No one wander off too far.”

Dani lost herself in her work—the quiet whirr of her camera, the muted light of the jungle. She blocked out the voices of the archeologists, not really paying any attention to them. She framed the ruined tower and thought of the long-ago people who’d built it, worshiped at it.

She moved away from the others, circling around the back of the ruin, stepping over tangled tree roots. Then she heard a noise and frowned. At first, the noise didn’t register, and she rounded the worn stones.