Undiscovered (Treasure Hunter Security Book 1) (13 page)

“What the hell?” she murmured.

Beside her, Declan cursed.

Everything looked…completely different.

They were still in the desert, but the rolling dunes of golden sand were gone. Ahead was a white salt flat. There were some strange rock formations in the distance. Everything was shades of bleached brown.

There was no sign of the dig.

“Nothing looks familiar.” Layne swallowed.

“Shit. Powerful sandstorms can move vast quantities of sand around.” He scanned the area around them. “I don’t see Logan and the others.”

He cupped his hands and called out.

No response.

“Rush, can you pack up the tent? I’ll take a look for the others. They can’t be far away.”

By the time Layne wrestled the tent into a neat pile, Declan came back, his face the grimmest she’d ever seen it.

“No sign of them. And my satellite phone is completely dead.”

“How can they not be here?”

“I don’t know. But they’re trained soldiers, they can take care of themselves. I can’t worry about them right now. We need to work out our plan.” He studied the rugged watch on his wrist and she peered at it. He tilted it in her direction. “It has a built-in GPS tracker. I think our best bet is to still head northeast. Toward Dakhla.”

She spun. “It’s miles away! It’ll take all day to walk there.”

“Yes, but it’s a large landmark we can’t miss. There’s food, water, and shelter at the end.” He held up his backpack. “We only have a small amount of water with us.”

Layne chewed on her lip, and for a second let herself worry about her dig, the artifacts, Aaron, Zerzura. Damn Ian Anders for all of this. And now because of this crazy asshole, she and Declan were lost in the desert.

“What about Zerzura?” she asked quietly. The thought of Anders desecrating the place made her sick.

Declan ran his fingers down her cheek. “Your safety comes first.”

Warmth trickled through her. “Okay. Dakhla it is.”

“Worst case, my brother’s coming. He can track me from this.” Declan shook his wrist.

But as they headed off, Layne knew that Callum Ward was days away from reaching them.

The ground was rocky and sandy, but at least the flatter ground was easier than traversing the large dunes. As they walked, the sun grew hotter, beating down on them. Layne wished for her hat, but made do with her scarf, wrapping it around her head.

Declan warned her to take tiny sips of her water and make it last. She did, but the small mouthfuls hardly quenched her rabid thirst.

Just keep walking, Rush.

Declan, damn him, looked like he was out for a stroll. He walked with a loose-limbed, easy stride she envied, while she felt like she was dragging each foot through the sand.

“I’ll buy you a cold beer when we get to Dakhla, Rush.”

“Make it a Diet Coke, and you’re on,” she said.

“You don’t drink?”

She shook her head. “Guy who killed my parents was high as a kite, unaware that he destroyed my entire life. I’ve never touched drugs or alcohol.”

Declan nodded. “Diet Coke it is.” He paused for a moment. “Bet your parents would be proud as hell of the life you’ve made for yourself.”

She smiled. “Yeah. I think so. They were the ones who sent me down this path. Trips to the museum. Documentaries.”

“Meanwhile, my parents tried to get me interested…by dragging me around dusty old digs, and sitting me in the corner of dad’s office.” A faint smile. “It had the opposite effect.”

“Ah, I hate to break it to you, Ward, but you work on digs and in museums now.”

“Yeah. I guess I always liked it, but once I hit my teens I knew I wanted to join the military. I think protecting artifacts is important, but protecting people, fighting for my country, that just spoke to something in me.”

“Sounds like you did a good job of it.”

His face changed, turning hard as stone. “Sometimes.”

“You can’t blame yourself for the people Anders killed. That’s on him, not you.”

A muscle ticked in Declan’s jaw. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You can’t bury the past, Declan. It just pops up to haunt you, otherwise.”

“Not open for discussion.”

Here was a good man, haunted by his past. So much he couldn’t even acknowledge all the good he did. “If you ignore it, then it just terrorizes you in your sleep, dogs your steps in the daylight, and blindsides you when you least expect it.”

He stopped and spun, his face tight. “So, do you think of finding your murdered parents all the time?”

She absorbed the blow, and tucked her hair back under her scarf.

“Shit. Sorry.” He heaved out a breath and looked away. “That was out of line.”

She stared at his tense back. “I think about them. But I’ve learned to remember the good stuff first. I bet you have loads of good memories from your time as a SEAL. Do you ever think of those?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “The past is the past.”

“The past is a lesson to absorb and learn from. Whatever our personal experiences, we have to face them and learn to live with them. I had a lot of therapy and now, I’m focused on building my career.”

“Because of what happened?”

“Yes. It still affects me. I have no family. It’s easy to feel pretty darn alone in this world.” Dammit, she hadn’t meant to say that. “What happened with Anders, it’s eating you alive, Declan.”

Silence fell. It was just the two of them and the desert. She waited a few more beats. He wasn’t going to talk. She sighed.

“It was my fault.” Declan didn’t look at her. “I didn’t save those people, and because of my screw up, he got off.”

The words were hard as rock, and he spat them out as fast as bullets.

“You did what you thought was right,” she said quietly.

A vicious shake of his head. “Knowing they died, knowing he’s gone on killing. That’s all on me, Rush. That’s not something you face and make peace with.”

Yes, she could see—for a man who lived to protect people, the deaths of those people had carved out a piece of his soul. “You were between a rock and a hard place. Go in early, save lives, but forgo the evidence. Let the people die, but get the evidence. There was no win-win situation, Declan.”

“Instead, I waited just long enough for almost all those people to die and Anders still walked free.”

She could feel the tension radiating off him. “I’m sure the few who survived were grateful.” She touched his arm. “I’m so sorry, Declan.”

“Bastard is still out there terrorizing people.” Declan touched her healing cheek.

“You did your best. God, you aren’t a superhero, expected to be perfect and win the day every time. Cut yourself some slack.”

They stared at each other for a long moment. When Declan smiled, she felt like she’d won a prize.

“Your sweetness is showing, Rush.”

She snorted. “And your badassness is still firmly in place.” Her gaze shifted past him and she blinked. “I see people ahead. Look.”

He spun. “It’s a heat mirage. No telling what those shapes are.”

He was right, the shimmer made it hard to tell what the hazy, dark, shifting shapes were, but they sure looked like people to her. “Let’s check it out.”

They pushed on. The mirage felt like it wasn’t getting any closer. But those tantalizing shapes made her hope for safety, water, and rest.

“I want a huge glass of cold water. No, a bucket of it. I’ll drink until I pop, then tip it over my head.” She groaned. “Oh, a cold bath has never sounded so good.”

Declan grunted.

She elbowed him in the side. “Come on, what do you want once we reach Dakhla?”

“You.”

She stumbled to a stop.

His gaze traced her face. “A cold shower first would be good, then you spread out on a bed, naked. All mine.”

All the air in her lungs rushed out. The heat filtering through her now had nothing to do with the sun. “Don’t get me more hot and bothered!”

He grinned and some of that darkness that had been plaguing him eased from his face. “Is that what I’m doing?”

“Shush. No more about being naked.”

Now he groaned.

Soon, the shapes in the distance stopped moving.

Layne’s heart sank.

They weren’t people or trees. They were rocks.

The strange rock formations rose up. Some were like large balls at the top, narrowing down at the base. Others were straight, like pillars spearing upward.

Layne swallowed, trying to dampen her dry throat. “I’ve never heard of anything like this close to Dakhla.”

“Me neither,” Declan said. “But we can’t be far away. Keep moving, Rush.”

They did. They stopped a few times to rest and eat the nutrition bars from their backpacks. Layne was horribly aware that their water bottles were almost empty.

It felt like they’d been walking for days.

Her face felt pink from sunburn, her lips were chapped, and she was so tired and thirsty.

She kept walking, barely noticing that she was dragging her feet now, her legs feeling like blocks of lead.

One foot in front of the other.

Keep walking.

One.

Two.

Three.

Layne fell to her knees.

She blinked, trying to focus, trying to get her legs working. But all she could do was stay there on her knees, her hands dragging in the sand.

Chapter Ten

Dec suddenly realized that Layne wasn’t with him anymore.

He turned and spotted her a few feet back, on her knees, wavering. He rushed back and skidded to his knees beside her. “Shit, sweetheart.”

She licked her cracked lips. “Sorry. Need a rest.”

She needed more than that. He was pretty sure heat exhaustion was setting in. He cupped her face, checking her eyes.

“Here.” He pulled his water bottle out.

“No.” She pushed it away. “You need it—”

“I need you alive.”

“You could go on. Bring help back.”

His entire body rebelled at the thought. No fucking way was he leaving her here alone. “Hell, no. We are doing this together, Rush.”

She’d been such a damn trooper he hadn’t realized how badly she was doing. He slid an arm around her and hefted her up. He took as much of her weight as he could and they kept moving.

What he didn’t tell her, what he was most worried about, was that by his calculations, they should have reached the Dakhla Oasis about an hour ago.

She stumbled, pushing into his side. “I’m glad you’re with me, Declan.”

“Me too.” He hugged her tighter.

“Wish this sand was near a beach.” She had a goofy smile on her face. “A nice cold beach. With cold, frothy drinks and palm trees.”

“When we get out of here, Rush, I’m taking you to the beach. I’d like to see you in a bikini.”

“I have a teeny, tiny red one.”

“Tease.”

He felt her slow down more. “Declan…my feet are really hurting. I’ve been ignoring them, but I can’t anymore.”

He forced her to sit and carefully pulled off her boots and socks. She made small pained sounds that arrowed into him.

When he saw her feet, he cursed. “Layne.”

Sand had gotten in and had rubbed her feet raw in patches. It had to hurt like hell, and she hadn’t said a thing.

She managed a tired smile. “Sore feet, sunburn, tangled hair, and chapped lips. I must look like hell.”

He cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him. “You’re beautiful. Smart, committed, enthusiastic. The most beautiful woman I’ve known.”

Her lips tipped up. “I think you’ve had too much sun.”

Dec pulled out his tiny first aid kit. He didn’t have much, but he had some small bandages. He set to work covering the worst of the raw marks. He emptied her socks and boots of sand and slipped them back on. When he tightened the laces, she winced, but set her shoulders back.

“I’m ready,” she said. “But I’m pretty sure the heat is affecting me. Because now I can see a beautiful pool of water.”

Dec swiveled on one knee and looked over his shoulder. He stilled. “Holy hell, Layne, that’s an oasis.”

She straightened like she’d been hit with an electric shock. “Don’t mess with me, Ward.”

“Come on.” He helped her up, and with one arm wrapped around her, they stumbled toward it.

He could hear Layne trying to muffle her small moans of pain.

Screw this
. He scooped her up into his arms.

“Declan, you can’t carry me!”

“Not far to go, Rush. I’ve carried men three times your size.”

She made a grumbling sound but settled in his arms. Soon, they neared the oasis.

Damn
. Declan couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t Dakhla. It was too small, and while he could see date trees, there were no towns, roads, cars, or people.

Layne wiggled to get down and he set her on her feet.

“Where the hell are we?” she murmured. They moved closer, and Layne gasped. “Oh, my God, look!”

The ruins of a giant stone temple were perched right on the edge of the placid pool of water.

***

Layne hurriedly dropped her backpack and kicked her boots off, and then splashed into the water fully clothed. It was cool, but not very deep. She fell forward, savoring the water soaking into her clothes and skin.

God, it felt so, so good.

She turned, floating on her back, and watched Declan. He stood at the edge, filling their water bottles and dropping purification tablets into them.

“Declan, get in here.”

He set the bottles down, pulled his shirt off and waded in.

Okay, so Layne was exhausted, hot, and tired. But that chest and abdomen…she drank it in greedily. Every perfect ridge and lean muscle.

He did a shallow dive into the water and came up beside her, water streaming off his face.

“Has anything ever felt better?” she asked.

“Kissing you.”

She splashed him. It turned into a wild battle and when he lunged for her, she jumped up and ran toward the shore.

He snagged her around the waist and lifted her up. “Do you know your shirt is now completely transparent?”

“I’m wearing a tank top underneath.”

“I know. But I can still see it sticking to the skin of your collarbones, making me imagine what that smooth, baby-fine skin you have feels like.”