Chapter 11

Taking a deep breath, Nyx looked back at the phone. It connected to Wi-Fi. That solved the no bars issue, but now she had to worry someone was monitoring the devices on the network. Although, if they hadn't changed the router password in years, it seemed unlikely that anyone was paying much attention. She needed to figure out how to message, though, ASAP.

Maybe a panel on the phone slid up to reveal a keyboard?

Nothing moved and Nyx took another deep breath. People made mistakes when they gave into fear.

Her older sisters had owned phones like this one. She hadn't been allowed to touch them because she'd been too little, but she watched. What had they done?

There were letters on each number of the keypad. The number pad was the keyboard.

She pressed the menu key, found something called messaging, and selected text message. The patrol passed the window, and she shifted her gaze from her lap to the papers, watching the man from the corner of her eye. When he left her view, she checked on her guard. He remained in position, his back to the door.

Her hands shook. Feel the fear, acknowledge it, and do it anyway. That's what her dad told her. She put in Archer's number and pressed okay. The text field opened.

These old phones probably didn't have any leeway on the number of characters allowed, so she would need to be succinct. The fact that each letter required a small pause before going to the next raised her adrenaline. Her heart pounded so loudly she couldn't hear anything except its beat. Despite this, she took her time, making sure everything was correct. There wouldn't be a second chance.

It required trial and error to discover how to make a space. Punctuation and capitalizing letters were beyond her abilities, but Archer would figure it out. She tried to switch to numbers, but couldn't make that work either, and typed it out instead.

When she was finished, she reread what she'd entered:

held hostage by drug lord vargas near san isidro me and one other need help nyx

She was well within the character limit. Archer had her location, her captor's name, and that she wasn't alone. It was a jumbled mess, not the neat, carefully punctuated messages she preferred, but it was the best she could do.

Nyx hit send.

The screen dimmed, and she saw a sliver of green for the battery. Heart in her throat, she watched the progress bar. Please go. Please go.

It seemed to sit there forever. Nyx checked on the guard again. It must be close to the time limit he'd given her.

The progress bar moved a fraction farther.

Nyx wasn't sure what had her more terrified—that the guard would open the door and catch her with the phone, or that the battery would die before the message went. Either was a distinct possibility.

Watching the mobile was stressing her out, so she tried to read one of the pages on the table. It was useless. She couldn't focus.

Her gaze went back to the phone in time to see the message go. Another surge of adrenaline pumped through her body. An instant later, the phone went dark.

Closing it, she wrapped the cord around it. She picked up the blank paper she had at the table and used it to conceal the phone from the windows. Trying for nonchalance, she walked over to return it to where she found it. Her legs felt like gelatin and her entire body shook, but she ignored everything. The phone had to disappear again. The risk was too great otherwise. She buried it the same way it had been when she'd found it.

"What are you doing?" the guard demanded.

Nyx hadn't heard the door open and started. How much had he seen? She went for an explanation that allowed plausible deniability. "I'm putting away the paper. I had it in case I needed to make notes." She held up the blank sheets so he could see them, then laid them on top of the cords, and shut the drawer. It didn't close completely.

She held her breath. Did he believe her?

For an eternity, he stared, as if weighing her words. "Se?or Vargas wants you back in your room. Move." He indicated the door where he stood waiting.

Her legs still trembled, but she followed orders. She was more than ready to return to the suite. It was embarrassing, but Nyx felt safer when Lurch was nearby. Besides, he'd be climbing the walls.

The guard remained quiet, and Nyx was happy not to have to respond to questions. Her nerves were strung so tightly that it took all her attention to put one foot in front of the other.

She needed to tell Lurch she'd sent an SOS, but how did she do that without tipping off anyone who might be eavesdropping?

Problem two, what was his response going to be? She knew how her brother would react. He'd be furious that she took a risk like that when he was around to handle it. Nyx suspected Lurch would feel the same way. He would want her to stand by passively and let him take care of everything.

She understood. He was the one with Special Forces training and experience. He was the one good enough at his job to be assigned to a covert ops unit. The lessons her dad and brother had given her were a drop in the bucket compared to Lurch's skills.

But Nyx was the one out of the room. She was the one who found the phone. Was she supposed to let the opportunity slip away because Lurch wasn't there to send the text?

She was pretty confident about what his answer to that would be, and her chin went up.

Shit. She'd been so worried about an imaginary argument that she'd forgotten something basic. Recon the location. She should have been memorizing the route through the hacienda.

Lurch would have made note of their route when they'd been brought to the suite, but the more intel they had, the better. Nyx worked on nailing down the turns they took, and how many feet between them. It was a large hacienda.

She wondered if Lurch already had the layout of the estate. If his assignment involved Vargas, the intel reports he read before inserting would likely have included a blueprint. Since he was meeting the drug lord at the ruins, his op might be to shut down the flow of illegal narcotics. Nyx kept track of the route anyway. It was stupid to make assumptions.

The guard gestured for her to climb the stairs, and then he indicated she turn right. She knew which room was theirs. The two armed men standing on either side of it was a dead giveaway. As they neared, the men came to attention, suggesting that her escort had rank over them.

It might mean nothing, but maybe they could use that somehow.

One of them opened the door for her. When she hesitated, her watchdog shoved her inside. Nyx stumbled over the threshold.

Lurch strode toward her, but stopped abruptly, raising his hands to shoulder-height. She didn't need to glance behind her to know that someone had pointed a weapon at him. Maybe at her, too.

Without another word being spoken, the door closed, and she heard the lock turn. She was back in her prison, and her cellmate looked pissed.

Case watched Nyx flail. She steadied herself before he could reach her and he came to a stop, two assault rifles and a pistol aimed at his chest encouraging the decision. He raised his hands, showing he had no plans to attack, but they appeared wary. It wasn't a surprise. He was furious over the way she was shoved and couldn't manage a neutral expression.

He wanted to check her over, make sure she was unhurt, but he kept his eyes on the three men. They were the threat.

As soon as the door closed, Case turned his attention to Nyx. She appeared uninjured, but he went to her, gently clasping her shoulders, and asked, "Are you all right?"

Her lips wobbled as she nodded and he pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms around her, and rocking. To his surprise, she hugged him back, holding on fiercely. It restoked his anger. Nyx was no one's pushover, and those assholes had scared her enough to leave her clinging to him. Corralling his temper, Case made soothing noises and pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. He didn't stop until her grip let up.

With one last hug, he eased her back. More calmly than he had earlier, Case asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yes. They didn't do anything to me." Nyx stayed in the circle of his arms, her hands resting loosely at his waist.

"Where have you been all day?"

"Se?or Vargas gave me a research project."

"Explain," he ordered. Her lips thinned, probably over his tone, but she didn't pull away.

"He learned that I worked for the Paladin League. Se?or Vargas was aware I was assigned to search for the Lost Treasure and he was curious about what you knew. I told him you didn't believe in chasing shadows and probably didn't know much about the treasure."

Case's lips curved. Damn, he liked her. She was smart enough to convey the information he needed without giving anything away and she'd provided him with an opening to ask the question he needed answered. "Refresh my memory on this treasure."

Her smile almost looked real. "I knew you weren't listening when I told you about it."

"Fireball, I always listen to you. I just don't always retain everything you tell me. Come on, remind me about this missing treasure."

She nodded. "In 1820, the revolutionaries were closing in on Trujillo. The Spanish viceroy packed up everything he could get his hands on—jewels, gold, artwork, and other valuables—loaded it all on an English ship with guards and sent it to Spain."

"An English ship? My degree might be in math, but I thought England and Spain fought wars against each other."

Nyx caught the piece of personal intel he slipped her. He saw it in the slight change of her expression, but she didn't comment. "You're not wrong, but the viceroy wanted the goods out of Puerto Jardin before the country fell out of his control and the Spanish ships were full. He paid the English captain an impressive sum, had the treasure transported from Trujillo to the port, and sent soldiers to ensure the English didn't steal anything."

"But that didn't work."

Shaking her head, Nyx said, "No. The English crew killed the Spaniards and stole the treasure. They were hunted down. The crew was tortured for information and then put to death. The captain and his first mate were spared to recover the treasure, but they escaped instead. When they were recaptured in 1821, both men were executed."

"And the treasure was never found?"

"That's the story. People have hunted for it for two hundred years."

Case muttered a curse. If the Paladin League had sent someone to look for the treasure, that meant they believed it could be found. He didn't like it, and he hated that Vargas was interested. How the hell had he discovered why Nyx was down here?

"How'd Se?or Vargas hear about the treasure?" he asked.

Nyx's hands tightened at his waist and then she shrugged. "I don't know, but others are looking for it. A Norwegian treasure hunter for one, although he's out of the picture now. Given that a piece from the cache went up for auction not too long ago, it's likely there are others. The present-day worth is estimated at around one billion US dollars"

His blood ran cold. If Vargas thought Nyx could get the treasure for him, he wouldn't let her go. And nothing Case did or said would change his mind.