Chapter 4

True to his word,Ty was standing beside the motor pool at nine AM sharp.

As she strode toward him, Cara mused that he was turning out to be rather pleasant company. He'd snuck from the tent in the wee hours without waking her to install his hidden cameras. Then he'd met her, freshly shaved as she'd left her tent, heading toward breakfast.

He was pleasant to look at, too. The more she was around him, the more she appreciated his rugged good looks. The problem was that he likely knew he was attractive, so she did her best to hide the fact his proximity affected her.

It was odd, really. She'd begun to catalog the sensations. A flush of heat that rushed up the back of her neck then spread forward to warm her cheeks. A certain near-breathlessness that kept her chest high with her shallower inhalations. Worse was the tightening she felt in her lower body. She felt the urge to press her thighs together, and her belly grew tense. Even her skin prickled when she was near him.

Okay, so she was attracted. She was a big girl. Nothing was going to happen here, for sure, not surrounded by her colleagues and Professor Roy Beacham's disapproving gaze.

That disapproval had been so thick at breakfast that she could have cut her biscuit and spread the butter with it. She wasn't sure what bug had crawled up his ass, but he'd taken an instant dislike to her boyfriend.

And dear Lord, here she was thinking about him in those terms.

She eyed his loose shirt and khaki pants. The shirt covered his belt, and she wondered why he'd decided not to wear a lighter T-shirt. Then, she had a startling thought. "Are you wearing a holster?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Concealed carry is illegal for tourists in Mexico."

Not a definitive yes or no.

He pulled up the hem of his shirt to reveal a large knife in a tooled leather sheath. "In case we encounter any dangerous snakes."

She shook her head. "You'd have to get close for that to do any good."

"Don't worry about what I'm carrying, Cara. I'll take care of you."

The way he said it increased the flush of heat warming her body. Strangely, she was pretty sure that was the sexiest thing a man had ever said to her.

"Um, so you're ready to go?" she asked.

He pulled back the gate. "You're driving. You know where we're going, and I'll want my hands free."

She gave him a mock salute and headed toward the SUV they used when they were bringing back supplies.

Once they were on the road, she couldn't help giving him the occasional gaze. His attention was everywhere outside the vehicle.

Was he admiring the lush foliage? Looking for banditos? Probably both, she surmised.

Half an hour later, they rolled into Ma'ax. She stopped in front of a small gas station and pulled out her phone to text Gino.

Gino: Senora, I'll be there in five. I know you like me to be on time.

She responded, telling him she was arranging for a fuel delivery for the generators and filling the gas cans she'd brought with her. "Gino says he'll be here in five, but don't expect him to be here any sooner than fifteen minutes. He runs on ‘Gino time.'"

"And we need him with us, why?"

"Because he knows everyone, no one will bother us, and the vendors like him being their intermediary. Plus, he's a much better bargainer than I am."

When she stepped out of the vehicle, so did Ty.

"I'll grab the cans," he said.

"While you fill them, I'm going inside to buy fuel to be delivered by their small tanker."

He glanced through the window of the small station. "Stay where I can see you."

Just as she finished paying for all the fuel, Gino arrived in his camouflaged jeep.

"Hey, Ty," Gino said with his huge smile as he approached. "You get to see our little town."

"Ma'ax is a Mayan word…?" Ty said.

"Si. Cuidad de Ma'ax means the City of the Spider Monkey. The monkeys used to be more plentiful—but habitat loss and thieves who steal the monkeys to sell…" Gino shrugged. "It's a silly name for a town, no?"

"Not silly at all," he said.

Cara stepped outside and waved to Gino.

"You will follow me," Gino said.

After that, he returned to his Jeep, and Cara followed him through the town to the open-air market. Gino stuck his hand out of his window and pointed toward a space on the side of the street where they could park. Then, he pulled into a spot right in front of them. When he stepped out, he whistled loudly with two fingers in his mouth. A couple of boys ran from within the stands erected in a town square. He pointed to Cara's vehicle and his, then wagged his fingers at the boys. They bobbed their heads and smiled.

Cara and Ty stepped out of their vehicle.

"He's having the boys watch our vehicles," she said.

"Are they adequate protection?" Ty said, both eyebrows raised.

"They're getting paid for a job. Everyone respects that. If someone messes with the vehicles, their mamas will raise hell."

They followed Gino into the wooden stalls where local growers displayed their produce. She gave Gino her list and let him lead them from stall to stall, inspecting avocados, lettuce, peppers, and a wide variety of tomatoes and fruits. One stall with multi-colored ears of corn drew Ty's attention. She watched as he stood shaking his head and smiling at the vendor who extolled her corn's virtues while he nodded, not understanding a word she said.

Cara smiled. She was pretty sure the last thing he imagined he'd be doing on this job was interacting with local farmers.

Soon, their arms were filled with produce. Gino arranged for an older boy to take some of the items to their vehicle while they headed to a butcher's shop just off the town square. There, she purchased chicken and beef, which were wrapped and then settled into lined boxes with ice poured in to cover the meat. Next door, she purchased fresh corn and flour tortillas and loaves of bread.

With her list complete, she turned to Gino. "Once again, you made this painless, my friend."

"De nada, se?ora," he said, clasping a hand against his chest and giving her a slight bow.

He followed them back to their car and paid the boys, who ran happily back into the stands while Ty and Cara packed away the goods they'd purchased.

Just as they were about to get into the SUV, a police squad car stopped beside them in the middle of the street.

An officer wearing a dark uniform stepped out of the vehicle, and Cara heaved a sigh then pasted on a polite smile as the officer approached. "Officer Ramos," she said as he neared.

His gaze swept past her to Ty.

Ty's expression was set, but she could tell he was wary after the man snubbed her. Ramos didn't like dealing with women.

"You are new to the excavator's camp?" the man asked in heavily accented English.

"I arrived yesterday," Ty said.

"You dig?" the officer asked, giving him a once over and then locking his black gaze with Ty's.

Cara was pretty sure the policeman was bristling because the American was everything he wasn't—tall, well-muscled, and handsome—while Ramos resembled a squat toad.

"I'm not an archeologist or a student," Ty said. "I'm here to see Cara."

Ramos's gaze darted between Ty and Cara, and he gave a curt nod. "Welcome to our town, se?or."

"Gracias," Ty said with a slight inclination of his head.

Cara cleared her throat. "Have you heard anything from the Campeche headquarters about Duncan?"

"Only that negotiations between the family and the kidnappers are going well."

"You'll let us know if you hear anything…?"

"Naturalmente, se?ora."

After they were on their way back to camp, Ty cussed softly.

"You liked our local constable?" she asked, grinning.

"He's a dickwad. He probably knows exactly who took Duncan."

"I have no doubt you're right. The police here are either on the cartel's payroll or intimidated into cooperating. Anyone who stands up to them—police, politicians, journalists—ends up missing or murdered."

"Is it really worth it coming down here to work?"

"It's…challenging. However, none of this is new. The universities that sponsor digs understand the risks. The professors do, too. They're very dedicated to uncovering sites that further our knowledge of the past. It's their drug of choice—addictive, even. When Roy heads back and can write and instruct about what he's uncovered, it brings a certain status to his university, so they're on board as well. They use it to seek donations to support the dig."

"So, it's about money?"

"Don't be so cynical. Sure, money makes the world go round, but there are people who are truly in it for the knowledge."

"Is this site worth it?"

She grinned and lifted her hand off the wheel to check her watch. "If we can get this stuff offloaded quickly enough, we'll still have plenty of daylight left to give you a little tour of the worksite. They're uncovering some exciting stuff. Did Bradon mention that they found a mummy in a chamber of the pyramid they're excavating?"

"A mummy?"

"Yeah, a teenage girl—very well preserved, with a jade funerary mask, jade beads sewn into her wrappings, and obsidian blades tucked into them as well."

"Someone important?"

"An important sacrifice, they're guessing."

He grimaced. "Lucky her."

"Yeah, not so good for her, but everything about her—what she's wearing, the contents of her stomach, any evidence of diseases, will add to the body of knowledge regarding Mayan society."

The road curved, and when they reached the straightaway beyond it, Cara slammed on her brakes.

A tree had fallen, blocking the road.

"Shit," Cara said under her breath and quickly put the SUV into reverse. "It didn't just fall. It was cut."

Ty stayed silent beside her as she continued to drive backward, putting distance between the roadblock and searching for a place on the road wide enough for her to turn around. When she found a spot, she quickly reversed into it and headed back toward Ma'ax.

"There's another route," she said. "It's a little longer than this one, but it's going to add a couple of hours to our journey."

"Who do you think did that?"

She shrugged. "Who knows? Bandits looking to rob us. The cartel looking for another hostage. Ramos looking to scare us into not asking too many questions. Take your pick."

"So, what happens now?"

"We drive. No stops. As fast as we can."

They arrived backat the camp mid-afternoon. It took another half hour to move the goods they'd purchased and stow them away in the mess tent kitchen. After they'd finished, Cookie served them sandwiches and flavored, slightly cooled tea.

"So, someone set up a roadblock?" Cookie said, her eyebrows drawing together.

Cara nodded. "I called Gino to ask him to put together a small crew to clear the tree from the road."

"The man's certainly earning his retainer," Cookie said. "Does he know who's behind it?"

Cara shook her head. "And he doesn't want to guess. It's better for him to remain neutral." She turned to Ty, who sat beside her, eating his second chicken salad sandwich. "This exciting enough for you yet?"

"I'll admit, I was missing my Glock when we nearly plowed into that tree. I could see the cut—it was too precise not to be a chainsaw. Good driving back there, by the way."

His approval warmed her. "It's not something I learned in the Army. Adrenaline, I guess. We won't have time to hit the site now. We'd only have an hour to explore before dusk hits."

"No worries. Have there been any problems with thefts out there?"

"They bring back what artifacts they can box up," Cara said. "Every now and then, Raul and a couple of his students make a trip back to their university, where it's safer to store their finds."

One corner of Cookie's mouth quirked up in a bitter smile. "The thefts have mostly been pilfered food and cooking appliances, car parts—an entire jeep last year. Laptops, communications equipment…"

"Someone walked off with the old GPR early in the dig," Cara added.

"GPR?" Ty said.

"Ground Penetrating Radar," she said. "It looks kind of like a lawnmower, and you roll it across the ground to produce images of what's underneath. They use it to figure out where to dig. It's how they found the chamber with the mummy inside it. It's not cheap. A donor shipped another out last month. When it's not in use, it's in the professors' tent."

"So, how are you going to spend the rest of your day?" Ty asked.

"I'll inspect the worksite, make sure we have fuel in the generators, check the rain barrels, and send off a report to the university regarding our expenses—Roy informs them of their discoveries. Then it'll be dinner time."

"What's on the menu tonight?" Ty asked, turning to Cookie and waggling his eyebrows.

She grinned. "Beef tacos, seasoned rice, roasted corn. I'll make some cookies, too—I'll break into my stash of Tollhouse chocolate bits. If you want milk to dunk your cookies in, you'll have to make do with powdered milk."

"I've had worse."

"Bet you have."

Cara and Ty pushed up from the table and took their trays to the workers.

"I'll tag along to see what you do," Ty said.

"It's not the exciting part of this job."

"I'll be with you. What more excitement do I need?"

She shook her head. "Are you just trying to irritate me?" she said with a mock scowl.

He laughed. As they headed back toward the sleeping tents, a sound penetrated the hum of the generators. She stopped and looked overhead into the forest canopy. "You hear that?"

"The squeaks and clicks? That a bird?"

"Give it a minute," she said, still peering overhead.

His head tilted. "Is that…?"

"Monkeys," she said, raising a finger to point at a dark figure peering down at them. "Ma'ax monkeys. Spider monkeys. They're probably hanging out, hoping to steal fruit from the kitchen. Cookie leaves out the remnants from the veggies and fruits she prepares dishes with, and they swoop down to help themselves."

"Very cool," he said, glancing back down at her.

Two monkeys began jumping from branch to branch, tree to tree, barking now.

His gaze shot upward again. "Are they mad at us?"

"No, I think they're showing off."

"Must be males."

She glanced at him and found him looking back at her. Their gazes locked until something fell from above with a thud against the dirt.

"We better move along," she said. "They find it fun to drop pods and shit on us."

"Oh, fuck no." He grabbed her elbow and escorted her away.

Cara couldn't help but laugh at the look of disgust on his face.