Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Rainforest

Near San Isidro, Puerto Jardin

Present Day

ZO FROWNED as Finn kept walking. Her voice had been little more than a squeak, and it was no wonder he hadn't heard her. She needed to get down and catch up with him before he disappeared.

But her foot slipped as she tried to shift position, and she closed her eyes. She couldn't rush her descent. If she tried, she'd fall, and from this height, her injuries would be severe. She swallowed a few times, trying to moisten her throat. Finn was farther away now, and she'd need to be louder. Maybe if she pitched her voice lower, it would carry to him.

"Finn."

He paused, looking around, his posture alert.

Zo tried again, ended up coughing as her throat rebelled, but it caught her lover's attention. He came back toward her tree. "Where are you, loquita? "

She couldn't even manage a squeak this time, but she had the pistol in her hand. Zo banged the butt against the trunk. The noise had Finn looking upward and scanning. Relief flooded her as his gaze locked on hers.

"Are you okay?" he called as he walked to her.

With a nod, she holstered her gun. "Yes. Fine." Her voice was no more than a thick whisper, but it seemed he heard her.

"Can you get down, or do you need me to help you?"

It was tempting to let him come up and guide her to the ground, but Finn loved her strength. Strong women didn't wait for their lover to help them out of the tree they had climbed. A strong woman got herself down. "I can do it," she said.

Taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage and tried to clear the fog coating her brain. Getting to the ground was going to be trickier than going up had been.

The first problem was transitioning from straddling a branch to her feet while wearing a backpack that threw off her center of gravity. Her foot slipped out from under her on her first attempt, and with a gasp, Zo threw her arms around the tree.

"Be careful," Finn called.

Zo grimaced. As if she was being reckless. But she knew his comment came from concern.

She began to move. Slowly. Although she attempted to take the same path down that she'd used when she'd climbed, she tested each branch before putting her full weight on it. The rain-slicked bark proved to be a challenge, and her feet slipped a few times. Luckily, Finn had spent the last two years pushing her to train harder, and she had enough upper body strength to save herself.

She didn't realize how close she was to the ground until she felt Finn wrap his arms around her thighs. "Let go, Zo. I have you."

As soon as she released her hold on the tree, Finn lowered her the rest of the way. When her feet hit the earth, Zo turned, wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on tightly. "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay," she said, her voice a croak.

He hung on to her, too, his hands at her hips as he lowered his head to hers. She wanted her pack out of the way. She wanted his pack out of the way. She wanted to be closer to him but took solace in the warmth of his breath against her hair.

Zo blinked back tears. The relief that Finn was alive and uninjured overwhelmed her. She'd never expected one human being to mean everything to her, but then she'd met this man.

Finn was drenched. She was soaked and muddy. But Zo didn't care. Turning her face into his neck, she pressed her lips where she could feel the throb of his pulse. A shudder went through him, and as he pulled her more tightly against his body, he angled her face to his. He brushed his lips over hers softly before diving back for a deeper kiss.

His intensity rocked Zo. She returned his kiss, not holding anything back. Maybe she didn't dare say the words aloud, but she loved him, and he was safe. He was with her again, and it meant she was safe now, too. He'd make sure of that—she could count on it.

The moment didn't last long. She could feel Finn start to rein himself in, to ease back on their kiss. Zo squelched the urge to protest. This wasn't the time or place.

Finn eased away but didn't release her. "You scared the shit out of me, Zofia."

He might sound mild, but Zo could tell he was angry. Well, she'd known he would be. "I was scared, too," she admitted, her voice thin and raspy. "For you and myself."

"Why were you worried about me?" he asked neutrally.

Zo stomped down her own emotions in response to his impersonal tone. "Because Al is the one who wants the disk, and he's smart enough to realize you'll never stop trying to protect me."

"Ramos? Fuck."

That startled Zo. Finn didn't throw the word fuck around casually, not outside of sex. "Ramos," she confirmed. Her voice was starting to sound closer to normal. Speaking of Al reminded her. "We can't stand here. Two of his men have been chasing me."

"I know. I crossed their path earlier and followed them for a while." Finn's fingers flexed against her hips. "From what I saw, they're used to operating in the city, not the rainforest."

If he was aware of this and not hustling her away, then it was okay to stay here. "I didn't lie when I called you yesterday." Was it only yesterday? "I had things under control and had a plan in place to get out of Puerto Jardin. If Archer hadn't interfered, I'd probably be halfway home right now."

Finn closed his eyes briefly, shook his head, and said, "I know that, too." He sounded tight when he added, "But damn it, you should have told me what was going on anyway."

"You were thousands of miles away."

Now he released her and stepped back. "It doesn't matter. We're supposed to be partners, remember? How would you like it if I didn't tell you when I was in trouble?"

His expression was calm, his voice contained, but Zo could feel Finn's rage boiling under the surface. "I'd be pissed off to the nth degree." She took a step forward and reached for his hand, her fingers clutching his.

"And you expect me to not be pissed off?"

"It could be worse. I could be boring."

Finn scowled, but it didn't last long before he donned his stoic mask. "Where's the disk? Don't tell me you're carrying it."

"I hid it. If I got caught with it on me, I'd lose the relic, and it's too important for that to happen."

He stared at her for a long moment. "When Archer hired me," Finn said conversationally, "I wondered if he'd done it to make you happy. Then we went on an assignment together, and I saw firsthand how fucking reckless you could be."

Oh, yeah, he was beyond enraged. He had to be to say fuck in front of her for a second time in minutes. "I'm not reckless," Zo disagreed. "I would never risk your life by doing something stupid." She reached up with her free hand and ran her fingers down his jaw. The muscles there were tense.

"My life, no, but you'd risk your own." He shook his head. "We'll argue about this later. We need to move." Finn paused. "Are you hurt? I saw you slip a few times going down the tree."

His concern let her take a deep breath. "Maybe a scrape or two, nothing more."

He frowned. "We'll get some antiseptic on any cuts the next time we stop. We can't chance anything becoming infected."

When Finn tugged on her hand, she fell into step with him. They walked quietly for a while before Zo asked, "What happened to your hair?"

"You don't like it?"

It was her turn to scowl. "The only time I've seen it this short was when you first showed up in LA. Why'd you cut it?"

For a few moments, he remained silent. "It's my disguise."

Zo mulled it over. It was glib, but there was truth beneath it. "Disguise so the police and Puerto Jardinese military wouldn't immediately recognize you, am I right?"

"Yeah. You've got them on your tail, too, don't you?"

"Yeah," she said, mimicking his easy response. "Al must have bribed someone to flag us in the government computer system."

"He went higher than that." Finn looked down at her, his green eyes intense. "The presidential brigade was waiting for me at customs."

She considered it for a moment, and then the ramifications sank in. Ramos had gone high up the ladder, maybe even to the president himself. "How'd you avoid getting arrested?"

"I didn't."

Her gaze sharpened, but she couldn't read his face. Finn wouldn't have been able to bribe his way out, not from the presidential brigade. That left one option. He'd escaped. "So we have three groups after us—the police, Al's men, and Puerto Jardinese Special Forces, most of whom have trained in the US."

Finn nodded. "I'm most concerned about Ramos. Why does he want the disk so badly?"

"Al and I spent three summers searching the ruins looking for it when he was my babysitter. Our plan was to give it to his grandfather. Se?or Ramos always spoke of the disk with reverence."

"Isn't his grandfather dead?"

"Yes, he passed away years ago. Al was close to him and might want to continue his legacy."

"Might?" Finn asked.

"There could be another explanation." The hair on her nape prickled. Zo glanced around, trying to pick up what made her uneasy.

"And that is?" Finn prompted when she didn't continue.

"According to legend, the disk is the key to the world of the gods." Reluctantly, she expanded the explanation, telling Finn about the rectangle carved in the side of the mountain at the second Huarona site, and about the circular cutout inside the rectangle. "As the tale goes, placing this disk in that circle will open a portal, stargate, wormhole, whatever you want to call it to another dimension."

Finn didn't say anything.

"It's ridiculous, of course," Zo said quickly, not wanting him to give her the same disappointed look she always got from her parents, "but there are some drug lords heavily into occult practices. As far as I know, Al isn't one of them, but if his men believe, he might think possessing the disk would convey some kind of power to him in their eyes."

A sense of being watched filled Zo, and she edged closer to Finn. When she felt his tension, she realized it wasn't only her imagination. Something was going on. She looked around, trying to see what he was picking up, but nothing seemed out of place, and Ramos' men weren't visible or audible to her. "Finn?" she whispered.

"Hush, loquita." His voice was as quiet as hers had been.

Zo dug deep, trying to find a well of energy she could use if Finn needed her to run. Instead of going faster, though, he slowed, moving soundlessly. She tried to emulate him, but she didn't have years of training, and no matter how careful she tried to be, she wasn't silent.

A squeeze of her hand was the only warning Finn gave her before abruptly changing direction. Her stomach knotted up when he released her. There was a threat close by.

Finn picked up his pace now, and as she hurried to keep up with him, Zo looked around, searching for the men she'd been running from. She didn't see the tree root until she tripped. She flailed, trying to catch her balance, and when she was finally stable, she looked at Finn, but while he'd stopped, he wasn't watching her.

She followed his gaze. The shadows concealed their faces, but not their weapons. Three men with military-style rifles stood in front of them.