Traitorous Attraction (8 page)

Then again, the average agent with Sphere lasted less than five years. They were either killed, switched out of the role of field agent or they quit.

Kate took care to keep her steps inside Connor’s larger ones. When he stilled in front of her, she braced herself for an assault. Angry revolutionary? Jungle cat?

“You were right. It’s a village,” he said. He changed directions, moving to the left.

Through the heavy foliage, mud-brick buildings came into view. After walking for so long with a view of only trees and vines, it was strange to see a clearing with human-made structures. The jungle couldn’t be held away from the village completely. Despite the split-rail fence surrounding it, the jungle had pressed inward, giving the village a run-down and disheveled appearance.

Connor moved closer and waited, crouching to the ground. Kate did the same. After long minutes had passed, Connor turned to her. “I haven’t seen a single person. It’s the middle of the day. Where is everyone?”

She hadn’t noticed any movement inside the fence either. “What do you think it means?”

“It could be abandoned.” He sounded disappointed.

“I’m sorry Aiden isn’t here,” she said.

“He’s out here somewhere and we’ll find him,” Connor said.

“Let’s see what’s left. Supplies. Water.”

“Carefully,” Connor said, though he seemed as eager as she was to search.

The village was eerily still with no people, no animals and no movement. “It’s a ghost town,” Kate said.

“Do you want to wait out here while I have a look around?” he asked.

She wasn’t waiting alone, unprotected in the dense green. “I’m coming with you,” Kate said. Two sets of eyes were better than one.

They searched building after building. Most were stripped bare of supplies. Some furniture remained inside, some clothing and wood for fires. Kate was disappointed they had no bottles of water and no edible food. Either the former inhabitants had taken their goods with them or she and Connor were not the first people to find the village and raid it.

“How much did you study religious practices of the people of this area?” Connor asked.

Kate wiped a trickle of sweat from her temple. She didn’t know how her body was sweating extra fluid. She was desperately thirsty. “I’ve read a little. I don’t know anything about summoning water via a rain dance or using a divining rod to locate a water source.” She meant her words in jest, but Connor either missed the humor or ignored it.

He pointed to the doors and windows of the nearest two huts. “Those stick figures. What do they mean?”

A chill trembled up Kate’s spine as she looked around. Why hadn’t she noticed them before? Hung with vines from every door and window were simple stick figures formed from dried grass. “They’re to ward off evil.” She’d seen a picture of them when she’d been researching the area. A Sphere agent had taken a photo of one while he was performing some reconnaissance in Tumara and had found one hanging on his tent in the morning. It was disturbing for two reasons. First, a Sphere agent was trained to go undetected and listen for footsteps. Someone had approached his tent without him hearing. Second, for the locals to believe Sphere agents were evil had overarching implications about the successfulness in obtaining help from them. That was, they wouldn’t.

Connor ran his hand over one of the figures. “What’s your best guess as to the evil they are trying to avoid? Are we talking about the revolutionaries?
El presidente?
”

Kate couldn’t be sure. “They could have been experiencing a problem within their community and tried to turn things around with a ceremony to ward away evil. When that failed, maybe they abandoned their village and relocated. The locals are seminomadic. They don’t stay in a place for long that doesn’t have favorable conditions.”

“Like if their water source dried up,” Connor said.

“Yes, like losing their water source,” Kate agreed, and her heart fell.

They continued to search the village. Kate kept her eyes away from the stick figures. When they moved in the slight breeze, twisting on their grass loops, they were unsettling.

“Kate!”

She had never heard such joy in Connor’s voice. She jogged around a hut on the edge of the village. A small stream cut through the dense vegetation and Kate almost wept when she saw it. She rushed and fell to her knees. Scooping it in her hands, she splashed her face, opening her mouth and catching what she could.

Connor pulled her back, shaking his head before she could cup her hands again into the water and drink. “I don’t know if that’s safe. Let me build a fire and boil some water.”

How dirty could the running water be? Her lips were dry. Just a few sips wouldn’t hurt. “I’ll just drink a little bit.”

Connor shook his head. “If there’s bacteria in the water, you could have a major dehydration problem.”

She had a dehydration problem now. “I won’t drink any. I’ll clean up a bit.” Her face and body were damp with sweat and caked with dust and debris. Kate rinsed her arms, rolled her pants legs, removed her shoes and let cool water wash over her feet. She restrained herself from drinking and waited for Connor to clean it.

Connor was kneeling on the ground, his cargo pants tight around his hips, his white shirt damp with sweat and clinging to his body. His broad shoulders tapered down to a trim waist. The muscles in his back and arms worked as he removed items from his pack and boiled the water. He must spend time in a gym or doing some form of physical activity. No man looked that ripped sitting around his remote cabin watching television and reading books.

“Do you have any hobbies?” she asked.

Connor glanced over his shoulder at her, the boyishness of his expression charming. “Small talk? I told you I hate small talk.”

“It’s not small talk. I want to know how you keep in such good shape.”

Connor had returned to his task, and for a long moment, Kate wasn’t sure he would answer her. “I hike. I climb. I do calisthenics.”

He had the body and endurance for it. Throughout the day, exhaustion had dogged her, but Connor had pressed on, not only taking the lead, but never showing signs of needing to rest.

“You’re in good shape,” she said, wanting to draw him out. He was so different from Aiden. Aiden would have let the question lead to a conversation, not drop it as quickly as possible.

“I have to be.”

“You don’t have to be. You could sit around your cabin, watch movies and eat chocolate.”

He frowned at the idea. “I suppose I could. I don’t. Water’s almost ready.”

He pulled the metal pot from the fire he’d made and poured the water into a cup. Then he gathered more water from the stream. He handed Kate the cup. “It’s hot, but drink as much as you need. I pushed you hard this morning.”

He had. “I understand you want to get to Mangrove.”

Connor looked out into the jungle. “I’ve been thinking. Why was Aiden out here?”

“That’s classified.”

“Meaning you don’t know or you won’t tell me?” he asked.

“Everything about his mission was and is need-to-know,” Kate said.

“That’s Sphere’s favorite line. Makes it easier to hide the truth.”

The water was cool enough to sip, and though the liquid was hot, it was a salve to her parched throat. She blew on the water and sipped as fast as she could.

“That’s a good look for you,” Connor said. “You look like a hiker.”

The clothes, backpack and cup. “I call this my outdoorswoman look. All I need is an ax, and I could survive out here for weeks.” Joking, of course. Without Connor, Kate didn’t think she would survive a night.

Connor removed the pot from the fire and poured himself a cup of water. “Are you sorry you came? Do you wish you were home now, under the spray of a hot shower, then pulling on a pair of soft pajamas?”

The visual Connor created was tempting. It would be nice to have hot, running water and access to the luxuries she lived with and was accustomed to. But sitting around in her apartment wouldn’t save Aiden. “It’s mean to give me that glorious mental image when I’m covered with grime, but I’ll be home soon enough.”

Connor let his gaze move down her body. She felt the look as if he’d touched her. How did he do that to her?

“Had Aiden seen you in the field or did you stay behind a desk?”

“He and I worked together for a few years before we met in person. Most of our interaction was over the phone,” Kate said.

“And the sparks flew?” Connor asked.

Kate stared at him. If he didn’t want to believe her, that was fine, but his take on events was skewed. “Sparks did not fly, to use your words. I met him and we had a mutual and well-deserved respect for each other. We got along and shared a few beers and conversations. But Aiden isn’t interested in dating me.”

“I know my brother. You’re his type. Tall. Gorgeous. Blonde. Smart. Aiden would be on you like flies on manure.”

Her belly fluttered at his compliment. “While that’s a darling image, it’s fiction. Hear me now, and for once, stop thinking I’m lying to cover an agenda. I am not in love with your brother. I do not have sexual feelings for your brother. I have great respect and admiration for him. I care about him as my friend. That is all.” She wouldn’t go so far as to tell Connor it was him she had the crush on. It was Connor who caught and held her attention. Connor who possessed that hard-to-define quality that drew her eye. Kate wanted to touch him and kiss him and be wrapped in his arms. Though it defied logic, she was drawn to the more difficult brother.

Given Connor’s paranoia that originated in some damaging emotional experience, she shouldn’t want to be close to him. She should want to put as much distance between him and her as possible.

“I believe you,” Connor said.

Finally. “Good, because it’s the truth.”

“I can give your water some flavor if you want,” Connor said. “Make it more like sipping tea.”

Kate blew on the water to cool it. “You travel with tea bags?”

“My mother was English and instilled in me a love of tea, but no, I don’t have tea bags. But I’ve got some sassafras root I picked up this morning.”

He set a gnarled-looking stick in his tea. “Have to make the most of the flavors you can find.”

“I’ll try some,” she said.

Connor handed her his cup. “Help yourself. We’ll refill our canteens here, too.”

Kate took a sip and was surprised how good it was. “It tastes a little like root beer.” She handed the mug back to him and their fingers brushed. The heat from the jungle, the mug and their touch could have ignited a fire. “If I have to be lost in the jungle, I’m glad it’s with you.”

“We’re not lost. If you can get past the personality quirks, I’m a handy guy to have around.”

His personality quirks were undeniable. The paranoia about security. The bluntness. General distrust of the human population. She could live with those traits. Half her colleagues had at least one of those qualities. But the resourcefulness, the confidence and the calmness under pressure were strengths she admired. Put to the test, Connor was a man who would rise to the occasion. “What are the chances you can come up with a way to get us some meat?”

“Is that a challenge?” Connor asked.

She had expected him to laugh off her request. “I’m only joking. We have other things to focus on.”

Connor shrugged. “We’ll stay here tonight and have some shelter. I can set some traps and get us food other than fruit. We have the food we bought. We’ll eat some more of it for dinner.”

His willingness to go out of his way for her impressed her. “I can make do with what we’ve found.” But now that he had mentioned it, she was looking forward to beef jerky. How her life had changed in the past several days. Prior to coming to Tumara, jerky of any kind would be near the end of her “things I want to eat” list.

“Let’s pick a hut here to set up. We’ve been walking for hours and we need to rehydrate and refuel,” Connor said.

Connor walked through the village again, stopping at a midsize hut in the middle of the village. “We’ll use this one,” Connor said. It was the most sophisticated of the huts, a stone fireplace built into one of the walls and wood sleeping platforms on the ground. Unlike their bed the night before, the wood was sanded smooth. “I’ll start a fire and heat some stones to leave around the hut to keep us warm overnight.”

“What can I do to help?” Kate asked.

“Can you gather some broadleaves for bedding?” he asked.

Having seen him work the night before, Kate knew what to look for, and she was pleased to be asked to help. She didn’t want to be a burden. She left Connor in the hut building a fire in the hearth.

The jungle was never quiet. Birds’ songs and bugs’ humming filled the air. The strange sense of being watched burned into her back. Kate looked around, expecting to see Connor. He was still inside the hut. Was it Sphere? They had eyes and ears everywhere. Their satellite capabilities were legendary. Could they be spying on her and Connor now remotely?

Kate smothered the laugh that rose to her lips. She was becoming as paranoid as Connor. Sphere could gather intel and they could track her, but how much effort would they put into finding her when they hadn’t tried to find Aiden? They’d be more likely to strategically place someone in Mangrove and try to stop her and Connor then.

Trees and brush rustled around her. Kate peered into the green, training her eyes to look for movement. If a predator was watching, she wanted to see it coming. She didn’t see any animal appear. She continued collecting leaves.

When she had enough, she returned to the hut, watching over her shoulders. She couldn’t shake the sensation someone was out here with them.

Connor had arranged the hut and was laying food on a plank of wood. “Lunch, if you’re interested.”

She was hungry, although her nerves made her stomach tight with fear. “I felt someone watching me.”

Connor’s gaze swerved to her. “Did you see anyone?”

His eyes took on the intense look he sometimes got. Intense and focused on her. Being on the receiving end of his attention, she found it was difficult not to reach out and touch him, to complete that connection that burned hot. He aroused a heavy, sensuous sensation in her body. Her breasts felt heavier and her skin ached to be touched.