Eternal Nights (21 page)

He knew better than to become overconfident, however. Once she realized just how vulnerable she was, Bug would pull back hard, try to restore a safe distance between them. Wyatt figured he had yet to fight the biggest battle in his war to win Kendall.

For now, though, her fingers were laced with his and she wasn’t trying to get away. Maybe it was only coincidence, but he believed that it had been Kendall wrapping her arms around him that had ended the mind trap he’d been caught in. That was the reasoning he’d used when he’d suggested she hold on to him. Bug had appeared skeptical, but she hadn’t argued.

Wyatt scowled. The idea that Zolianna’s ties to the temple might have been reborn in Kendall concerned him. He had vague memories that didn’t make sense, but they suggested there was some kind of unusual connection between High Priestess and pyramid. Berkant hadn’t been able to tear Zolianna from this damn heap of rock and Wyatt refused to lose Bug the same way. His hand tightened around hers.

“Wy, are you drifting again?”

He heard the note of fear in her voice. “I’m okay, darlin’, just thinking about things is all.”

“So which thing had you frowning so fiercely?”

It didn’t require much thought to come up with a substitute. “Water. It’s been over twenty-four hours now since we ran out.” It was rehashing ground they’d already covered, but it was critical.

“I’ve been thinking—” She stopped talking abruptly when they rounded a curve and faced another spoke of hallways.

“Which way?”

Kendall sighed and looked around. Wyatt knew she was tired of being asked, but what could he tell her?
Gee, darlin’, you don’t remember this, but three thousand years ago, you were High Priestess of this whole shooting match. I’m counting on you to have some kind of instinctual knowledge of the pyramid.
Which of course, would lead her to ask why he thought this, and if he told her he knew because he’d been her lover, she’d break land-speed records trying to get away from him.

“Come here.” She tugged him to the mosaic. His hand tingled where she touched it. “See this?” She pointed to an iridescent pearl-colored crystal. “It’s selenite. Look how it forms a line at the ten o’clock position in this circle. Remember how I said the stone is formed from water? What if it was used to guide others to a source?”

“I don’t see anything remotely resembling a line.”

Kendall looked at him quizzically, then shrugged. “Sure, right here. See?” She ran her index finger along the wall.

“To call that a line,” he told her, “is stretching the definition of the word to the breaking point.”

“That stone isn’t anywhere else in the inlay, just here.” Kendall traced it again. “It’s a line, like a hand on an antique clock, and it’s aimed there.” She gestured.

“That’s dang farfetched.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a trial to me, Marsh,” Bug told him with a smile. “You’re the one who asked me which hall we should take, and I picked one. Besides it doesn’t hurt anything to see if I’m right.”

He nodded. She had a point. Wyatt headed in the direction Kendall wanted them to go, her hand still securely linked with his, and tried not to let the fact that she’d called him
Marsh
piss him off.

She only used his handle when she was trying to put distance between them, and he hated it.

“I’ve been thinking more about the smugglers,” Kendall said suddenly. “What if Dr. George isn’t the leader?”

“It’s possible,” Wyatt said slowly. “What makes you think it might be someone else?”

Bug was quiet for a moment, and Wyatt guessed she was organizing her thoughts. “George isn’t smart enough to run this kind of operation,” she said, “but he’s too arrogant to take orders from just anyone. That rules out just about anyone in the military—even officers. He refers to us as simpletons.”

“On the assumption that anyone who risks his life is too stupid to know better.”

Bug nodded.

“Okay, so the boss is a civilian. Any thoughts on who?”

Kendall bit her lip, then shook her head. “Not really. At first I thought it must be another archeologist, but I decided that was unlikely. If the head thief was someone who already knew artifacts, they wouldn’t need George.”

“What if he caught them red-handed and the person brought him in to keep him silent? Or George could have discovered the thefts and blackmailed his way in.”

They rounded a curve and hit another intersection of corridors. Wyatt felt that tingle again in Kendall’s hand, and he looked at her, trying to read her reaction. The vibration increased as they closed the distance to the gem mosaic.

“This row of selenite points toward one o’clock.”

“You still want to follow the rocks?” he asked.

“Yes. Give it a chance, Wy, you never know.”

He nodded, unsure why he was resisting her idea. It wasn’t like he had a better plan. She tugged him along.

“I suppose,” Kendall said, returning to their topic, “that George could have caught on. He’s nosy, so it is possible that he stumbled on the thieves.”

Wyatt picked up on something in her tone. “But you don’t think that’s what happened, do you?”

“I’m not sure why, but that just doesn’t feel right.”

“If it wasn’t another archeologist, that narrows the list some more. Any other people we can eliminate?”

“Yeah, anyone he considers beneath him, which would leave only the top level of civilian researchers.”

That meant about fifty people, he estimated, maybe less, depending on how
top level
was defined. Wyatt didn’t know most of them, though, and he doubted Bug did either. “Can we cross anyone else off the suspect list?”

Kendall shook her head. “I can’t. The only group outside the military that I’m familiar with are the social scientists I work for. Not that it matters. We can’t do anything right now, and once we’re out of here, Sullivan will take over.”

“Yeah, the Big Chill will take immediate control, but he’ll listen to you and consider what you tell him; don’t think he won’t. And it does make a difference who’s in charge,” Wyatt told her. “The personality of the boss will affect what kind of orders our hunters have. If we can figure out who it is, and if we’re lucky enough to know something about him, we might be able to predict what these underlings were told to do.”

“Point taken.”

He started thinking of the civilians he knew. Like Bug, he wasn’t familiar with many. His list included the group he’d escorted outside the city walls, but even then, they’d segregated themselves, geologists in one group, Spec Ops in the other.

They came to a corner. Wyatt slowed, checked things over. They only went about a hundred yards before they hit another corner and he made sure that one was clear too. It was, and he and Kendall turned it before they stopped short.

A doorway to a chamber was on a sharp angle from where they stood. It was impossible to see much, but in the sliver of the room that he could view, there appeared to be a fountain.

Looked like Kendall had been right.

They’d found water. Maybe.

Chapter Twelve

The skin on Wyatt’s nape prickled. They were exposed, vulnerable, and he drew back around the corner, tugging Kendall along with him. Leaning forward, his mouth next to her ear, Wyatt breathed one word. “Stay.”

He didn’t miss the way her lips tightened. She was not happy with the order, but Bug nodded once to indicate she understood and would follow his direction.

Leaving her where she stood, he slipped around the corner again to look at the fountain. There was no good way to do a sneak and peek, not with the layout of the area. Taking a few seconds to think things through, Wyatt evaluated his options, and chose the best of the few he had available.

Sticking close to the wall, he moved silently down the corridor away from the chamber. When he knew no one inside that room could see his position, he crossed to the other side, and, back against the stone, he eased toward the doorway.

He heard nothing, but that didn’t mean much. When he reached the entrance, he leaned over far enough to peer inside, and saw the tip of a boot. Shit. Just as he’d feared, they’d put at least one man in the room. Wyatt shifted back and waited, but he’d remained undetected.

Wyatt wanted a better look, but he wasn’t going to get it, not without taking too large a gamble. If he were alone, he’d do things differently, but with Kendall involved, he was erring on the side of caution.

Okay, first he needed to move Bug farther away. If he failed, the guy would search the area, and Wyatt wanted to give her the best chance possible of getting out.

Following the same route, Wyatt returned to where he’d left her. Bug was tense, but she relaxed as soon as she saw him. He shook his head when she opened her mouth, then, hooking an arm around her waist, he steered her down the passageway and past the more distant corner.

When he felt they were safe, he embraced her loosely. Bug’s hands went to his waist, and that momentarily derailed his thoughts. “Here’s the scoop,” he told her quietly. “There’s one man in the room for sure. There may be more, but I couldn’t see enough to be certain.”

“What do you think the odds are that he’s there alone?” she asked in a whisper.

“Fifty-fifty, darlin’. It could go either way.”

She nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

Wyatt grinned. That was his Bug. No hemming and hawing. No discussing things to death. Just tell her what he needed, and she’d do it. Too bad she wasn’t going to like his response. “I want you to stay here, and if things fall apart, run.”

“No. I told you I wouldn’t leave you, and I meant it.”

With a sigh, he drew her nearer until her breasts pressed against his chest. She didn’t break his hold, and her willingness to stay close got his heart thumping. “You can’t come with me. I’m going to have a heck of a time sneaking up on the man or men on my own. Two people could never do it.” Kendall still looked mulish. “You’re a liability.”

That deflated her, and his heart twisted. He didn’t want to wound her. “Even if one of my men were with me,” Wyatt explained, voice low, “I’d leave him behind. It’s not a matter of skill; it’s pure logistics.”

For a long moment, she stared at him. He found his eyes glued to her mouth. Wyatt wanted to kiss her, and he wanted to be one hundred percent aware while he was doing it. Not like last time. Her tongue came out, moistened her lips, and he almost groaned. Damn, he wanted her.

“We’ll do it your way,” she said, and reluctantly he looked up to meet her gaze. “But you better not get hurt, understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kendall scowled at him, but he ignored it. “Here’s how we’re going to play it. You stay here. I’ll take out the thief and come back for you. If things fall apart, you take off,
away
from the problem. The dampening effect of the pyramid might keep you from hearing if things go to hel—heck, but if I’m not back in say, fifteen minutes, you leave, got it?”

“I don’t like it.”

“I wasn’t asking for your opinion. Do you understand what I want you to do?”

“Yes. I stay here, and if you’re in trouble, I run like a coward instead of helping you.”

“Exactly.” Wyatt grinned again. “And no one is ever going to call you a coward. You’re too gutsy for that.”

She wrinkled her nose at him, and he almost bent down to kiss her. Shit, he had better get going before he did something that would scatter both their thoughts. “I need something from your bag,” he said as he stepped away from her.

Bug adjusted the satchel till it was square in front of her, lifted the flap, and opened it. Wyatt dug around until he found her mirror. “Fifteen minutes,” he reminded her. “No longer.”

Her seemingly innocent smile made him hesitate, but he opted to say nothing. She’d already agreed to his plan. Wyatt tucked her mirror in the front pocket of his pants, and set off.

When he reached the second corner, the one nearest the room, he studied the sight lines and their relation to the light. Then he reached for Kendall’s mirror, and angled it so it bounced a beam into the chamber. One flash, and he put his hand over it before ducking back behind the wall. Nothing.

He repeated the process. Even with the way sound was muted, he heard a voice ask, “What the hell was that?”

“Go check it out.”

Two of them then. There could be more, but Wyatt didn’t think so; it would be an unnecessary drain on manpower. He put the mirror away and shifted into position. If he screwed up, he’d lose the element of surprise. Right now, the guards might suspect the flash had something to do with their quarry, but they weren’t sure. That gave him a small advantage.

The first thief made an appearance, pistol in hand. Wyatt recognized him—Lidge, a corporal attached to the security team. Grimly, he waited. The man looked around, but didn’t head his direction the way Wyatt had hoped.

“Nothing,” Lidge called.

“Look some more,” the other one ordered.

Muttering his displeasure, Lidge went down the hall in the opposite the direction from where Wyatt was standing. The search was halfhearted at best, an indication that these men had been guarding the fountain for too long, and that complacency had set in. That gave Wyatt an edge—if that bastard would come this way.

Lidge headed back toward the room, and Wyatt frowned.

Another flash with the mirror would make those men too alert, but it looked as if he wasn’t going to have a choice.

The corporal stopped, thought things over, then, shaking his head, wandered toward Wyatt. He slowed down as he neared, and it appeared as if he weren’t going to cross the opening.
Come on, asshole,
Wyatt thought,
come on.

As Lidge drew near, Wyatt plastered himself against the wall, and waited. From his position, he could see the corporal glance over, but the man kept moving. As soon as Lidge was past the archway, his back toward him, Wyatt attacked.

He didn’t fuck around, and he didn’t play nice. Wyatt grabbed the man and snapped the bastard’s neck before Lidge could react or make a ruckus. With the corporal disabled, Wyatt choked off his air supply, asphyxiating him.