Unexplored (Treasure Hunter Security Book 3) (6 page)

She turned in her seat. “I get that you’re still angry. But you need to drop it. My previous job wasn’t relevant.”

He grunted, and she turned away to look out the window again.

He pulled up near a three-story, cream-colored building accented with lots of dark wood. They got out of the car and walked toward the front door. The doors were also carved of dark wood, as were the window shutters lining all the windows.

They entered and from behind a desk, a cheery-looking local man bustled over.

“
Bienvenido!
Do you have a reservation?”

“I believe you spoke to my boss, Declan Ward. I’m Logan O’Connor, I’m with Treasure Hunter Security.”

The man’s smile widened. “Oh, yes. Your boss is a very nice man. He said that you wanted to see one of my rooms, just for a short while. Come, come.” He waved his hands at them. “My name is Julio. I will show you.”

He led them through another door, and it was then Logan realized that the building was a U-shape, with a central courtyard in the middle, covered in lush, green grass. Each floor was ringed by railings made of more dark wood.

Julio led them up some steps. He was eyeing both of them intently. “You are a lovely couple. You are sure you don’t need my room for a night, maybe two?”

Sydney made a choked sound. “Oh, no. We are not a couple. No.” She shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

“I think he got the message,” Logan grumbled.

Julio stopped outside one of the doors and pulled out a large ring of keys. “Really? Not a couple.” He smiled at Sydney. “The big man watches you like you are his.”

Logan’s brows winged up.
What?

But then, the man opened the door and waved them inside. “Take your time, take your time. I have lovely, clean rooms. If you change your mind and want to stay, I will give you a good deal.” He headed back toward the stairs.

Logan turned his attention to the room. It was simple, nothing fancy. There were two beds with brightly colored covers—one double and one single. A dark wood desk with a spindly chair sat in one corner, and a solid-looking wardrobe was positioned against the back wall. As they looked around, Logan poked his head into the tiny bathroom.

Sydney checked the cupboard, the desk, and the bedside tables. She pulled open doors and drawers. Logan lifted the mattresses off the beds.

“There’s nothing here,” Sydney said bleakly.

“Look again. He must have left you something.”

But a thorough search of the entire room and bathroom revealed nothing but a clean, sparse hotel room. She dropped down on the bed, her hands resting between her knees. “What do we do now? Do I need to search the entire Andes to find him?”

Logan heard the dejection in her tone. A part of him wanted to slide an arm around her, but he steeled himself against it. She may not have outright lied to him and the others, but she’d hidden a pretty important fact about herself. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—trust her.

“Your brother isn’t a CIA agent too, is he?”

Sydney made an angry sound, and before Logan realized what she intended, she flew off the bed and slammed into him. Surprised, Logan fell, hitting the carpeted floor with Sydney on top of him.

He looked up and saw color flooding her face, anger in those pale blue eyes. Finally, the heat had burst through the ice. She trapped his arms against his body with her legs, her slim, but surprisingly strong, thighs clamping onto him.

“Listen to me, Wild Man. I may not have told you about my no-longer-relevant previous employment—”

“Feels relevant to me,” he growled.

She jammed her knees into his side and he grunted.

Fuck
. He was getting a hard on, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t what she’d intended.

“I’m sorry you got duped and taken in. I’m sorry someone sent some redneck hottie that was right up your alley and you got fooled. Luckily for both of us, I am clearly not your type, and not what you want. You and I are chalk and cheese. I don’t need some big, shaggy, bad-tempered alpha male in my face all the time. You got betrayed, Logan, time to get over it. If you were dumb enough to give away classified information to whoever was sharing your pillow, you need to learn from that mistake.”

Logan gritted his teeth. “I never gave away classified information.”

Sydney dragged in a breath. “Then why are you so twisted up about it, still?”

“Because I damn well gave her enough, and she made some educated guesses to fill in the gaps. My SEAL team was on a mission in North Africa and we were ambushed.”

Sydney went still. “Logan—”

“No one died.” God, he felt like the words were being torn out of him. He didn’t even know why he was telling her this. “But a good man got a bullet in his spine, and he won’t ever walk again. So I’m not going to just get over it.”

“I’m sorry, Logan,” she said quietly.

He so did not want to talk about this. When she shifted her body a little, she suddenly went still, her eyes widening. Yeah, she could hardly miss his hard cock jabbing her between her legs.

“Ah…” Heat was a pretty blush on her cheeks.

“You said you weren’t what I want,” he murmured. “You were wrong.”

Her gaze met his. Her eyes were so wide, he could see the dark ring of blue around the paler color of her iris. At the side of her slim throat, he saw her pulse leaping.

Because he was an idiot, he bumped his hips up, grinding his cock against her. Her hands latched onto his shirt, twisting in the fabric.

“I can’t damn well stop thinking about you,” he growled. “I want to know what’s lying under all that cool gloss of yours.”

“This is a bad idea. You and I. No…just no.”

“So why aren’t you getting off me?”

She squeezed her eyes closed. “Dammit.”

And in that one word, Logan heard what he needed. He reared up and slammed his mouth against hers. She moved her legs enough so he could free his arms. Her hands slid along his shoulders before moving to tangle in his hair. She kissed him back.

It wasn’t slow or elegant. This kiss had an edge, the nip of teeth and the thrust of tongues. It was a battle, not a seduction.

Suddenly, she yanked her head back. She stumbled to her feet, pushing her tangled hair off her face.

“Sydney—”

“No. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Later.”

Logan dragged in a long breath, and jumped up. He tried to control the reaction of his raging body. “Syd.”

“Let’s just focus on finding my brother. That’s what we’re here to do.” She turned away from Logan.

Job, lost brother.
Right
. “Your brother’s smart, right? He’s left a clue for you here. Somewhere.”

“Maybe not at the hotel. Maybe somewhere else.” She was frowning.

“Are there any other ways that he used to leave you messages? Like the codes you sent each other?”

Frustration etched her face. “The codes were the main way. And…”

When her voice just drifted off, Logan turned. “And what?”

“It’s silly. He didn’t do it often…it probably isn’t anything.”

“Try me.”

“He used the mirror in my bathroom. He’d leave me little messages on it. He’d use soap and write a message and then clean it off enough that you wouldn’t notice it. Then when the steam built up from the shower, the message appeared.”

Logan strode to the bathroom. He flicked on the tap in the sink, running it on hot. He reached for the shower and did the same.

A moment later, steam started to fill the bathroom. Sydney stood beside him, her face tense, staring at the mirror.

Logan shoved his hands in his pockets. Hell, if a dedicated cleaner had been in here, they may have cleaned off whatever message Drew Granger might have left. Logan watched as the mirror began to fog up. They waited.

At first, he thought there was nothing there. Then he saw the letters appear like a ghostly message. It was a single word.

Kuelap.

Logan frowned. “What the hell is Kuelap?”

Beside him, Sydney beamed. “I remember it from Drew’s notes. It’s a Chachapoya site. It’s not too far from the town, and a popular tourist destination.”

“Okay, let me call Dec. We’ll meet the others.”

“Logan.” She grabbed his arm and he felt her touch burn right through his shirt. “Thanks for not letting me give up.”

He lifted his chin. “It’s my job.”

Her smile melted, and she nodded. “Let’s go find the others and get to Kuelap.”

Chapter Five

Sydney sat in the passenger seat of the SUV and tried not to fidget. But she was just so excited. They were getting closer to Drew, she could feel it. She pulled out Drew’s notebooks and found the pages referencing the Cloud Warrior site of Kuelap.

Logan pulled the SUV to a stop near Chachapoyas’ main square. A second later, the other SUV pulled up beside them. Logan and Declan lowered their windows.

“What did you find?” Declan asked.

Sydney leaned forward. “Drew left me another message. It was just one word—Kuelap.”

“Which is?” Declan asked.

“The most famous of the Cloud Warrior ruins. It’s about two hours’ drive from here, and is perched on the summit of a hill. It’s known as the Machu Picchu of north Peru. It’s a fortress and walled city, the largest pre-Inca ruins in South America. It gets some tourists, but it’s quite remote, so it isn’t overrun like the more well-known Inca ruins in the south.”

“All right,” Declan said. “Looks like that’s where we need to head next. You’ve got directions?”

“Yes.”

“Any sign of Silk Road?” Logan asked.

“Nothing.” Declan frowned. “I hate when there’s nothing. Park your vehicle. We may as well just take one to see these ruins.”

Sydney found herself pressed between Morgan and the window. Logan rode up front with Declan.

Sydney stared out the window as the town gave way to cleared patches of forest and small villages. In the distance she saw the mountains, covered in dense forest, and some with clouds hanging over them like a blanket. The very thing that had given the cloud forests their name.

She was cataloguing every little detail before she admitted to herself it was just a way to stop thinking about Logan. And that kiss. She looked forward, at the back of his head and broad shoulders. She was excruciatingly conscious of him.

That kiss. God, she should
not
be thinking about him. The man was too big, too annoying, too opinionated. She sighed. But a part of her was glad that he knew all about her, who she really was. She’d kept an important part of her life hidden from her friends, her father, even Drew. Most days she’d been okay with people thinking she was just a society woman who liked the arts and attending parties. But now, these people with her—honest, real, hard-working people who risked their lives to keep other people safe—knew who she was.

Logan knew.

Sydney tapped her fingers against her knee. She could understand why he’d been angry she hadn’t told him about the CIA. That this foreign agent—someone he’d cared about—had tricked him, used him. He must have hated that, and knowing a friend had been injured. A man like Logan wouldn’t easily forgive himself for that.

It wasn’t hard to picture the kind of woman who would appeal to Logan O’Connor. A woman with brash confidence, a body that never quit, and who was just a little wild.

Nothing like Sydney.

The others didn’t notice she was quiet and lost in her thoughts. Their easy banter filled the vehicle. They acted like a big family—joking and teasing each other. Declan and Logan especially. The bond between them was clear to see.

It took them right on two hours to reach the base of the hill where the Kuelap ruins were located.

Declan got out of the car. “Looks like there’s a kilometer-long walk up to the ruins.” He was studying his tablet. “It says the path should be pretty easy going.”

“You get signal up here?” Sydney asked.

Declan smiled. “I pay a small fortune for top-of-the-line satellite connections. Doesn’t always work, but it’s worth every penny.”

Logan climbed out, looking at the few empty cars parked nearby. “Looks like they don’t get too many tourists.”

“Nothing like Machu Picchu, or Cuzco, or the Nazca Lines,” Sydney said. “It’s only been the last few years that the roads up into the north of the country have been improved, and more tourists have started venturing off the beaten track.”

Sydney pulled on a light jacket. It was a little cooler up here, and she was grateful it wasn’t winter. She could feel that the air was thinner and she needed to breathe deeper. The five of them headed off along the track leading up the hillside. The view in all directions was amazing—the deep green of the forests and mountains dipping down to the valleys below.

They walked up the track, moving into some trees. The walk was fairly easy, but she imagined if it rained, it wouldn’t be much fun.

Sydney looked up as they cleared the trees, and the breath caught in her chest. “My God, it’s amazing.”

The top of the long, narrow plateau was ringed with a high stone wall. The walls had to be at least twenty meters tall, and to think it had been built by an ancient culture, hundreds of years ago. Seriously impressive.

Looking along the length of the wall, she saw a few places where the stones had tumbled down, but for the most part, she guessed sections of the wall looked as they had when the Warriors of the Clouds had lived here.

They kept walking, and ahead, she spotted an entrance through the stone walls. The narrow gap was only a few meters wide, flanked by the high walls. As she stepped through it, she felt like she was heading down a tiny alleyway.

Then she moved out into the citadel of Kuelap.

Wow
. She’d always enjoyed history, and Drew’s ramblings on whatever latest culture he was researching, but this…she felt chills up her arms. Stepping into a place that practically echoed with the voices of the people who’d lived, loved, and fought here was amazing.

The remains of the ancient city spread out before them. There were lots of low stone walls, several in circles that outlined the bases of buildings. She saw lots of platforms and terraces at different heights to make use of the uneven land.