by Anna Hackett
Logan heard the dejection in her tone. A part of him wanted to slide an arm around her, but he steeled himself against it. She may not have outright lied to him and the others, but she’d hidden a pretty important fact about herself. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—trust her.
“Your brother isn’t a CIA agent too, is he?”
Sydney made an angry sound, and before Logan realized what she intended, she flew off the bed and slammed into him. Surprised, Logan fell, hitting the carpeted floor with Sydney on top of him.
He looked up and saw color flooding her face, anger in those pale blue eyes. Finally, the heat had burst through the ice. She trapped his arms against his body with her legs, her slim, but surprisingly strong, thighs clamping onto him.
“Listen to me, Wild Man. I may not have told you about my no-longer-relevant previous employment—”
“Feels relevant to me,” he growled.
She jammed her knees into his side and he grunted.
Fuck. He was getting a hard on, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t what she’d intended.
“I’m sorry you got duped and taken in. I’m sorry someone sent some redneck hottie that was right up your alley and you got fooled. Luckily for both of us, I am clearly not your type, and not what you want. You and I are chalk and cheese. I don’t need some big, shaggy, bad-tempered alpha male in my face all the time. You got betrayed, Logan, time to get over it. If you were dumb enough to give away classified information to whoever was sharing your pillow, you need to learn from that mistake.”
Logan gritted his teeth. “I never gave away classified information.”
Sydney dragged in a breath. “Then why are you so twisted up about it, still?”
“Because I damn well gave her enough, and she made some educated guesses to fill in the gaps. My SEAL team was on a mission in North Africa and we were ambushed.”
Sydney went still. “Logan—”
“No one died.” God, he felt like the words were being torn out of him. He didn’t even know why he was telling her this. “But a good man got a bullet in his spine, and he won’t ever walk again. So I’m not going to just get over it.”
“I’m sorry, Logan,” she said quietly.
He so did not want to talk about this. When she shifted her body a little, she suddenly went still, her eyes widening. Yeah, she could hardly miss his hard cock jabbing her between her legs.
“Ah…” Heat was a pretty blush on her cheeks.
“You said you weren’t what I want,” he murmured. “You were wrong.”
Her gaze met his. Her eyes were so wide, he could see the dark ring of blue around the paler color of her iris. At the side of her slim throat, he saw her pulse leaping.
Because he was an idiot, he bumped his hips up, grinding his cock against her. Her hands latched onto his shirt, twisting in the fabric.
“I can’t damn well stop thinking about you,” he growled. “I want to know what’s lying under all that cool gloss of yours.”
“This is a bad idea. You and I. No…just no.”
“So why aren’t you getting off me?”
She squeezed her eyes closed. “Dammit.”
And in that one word, Logan heard what he needed. He reared up and slammed his mouth against hers. She moved her legs enough so he could free his arms. Her hands slid along his shoulders before moving to tangle in his hair. She kissed him back.
It wasn’t slow or elegant. This kiss had an edge, the nip of teeth and the thrust of tongues. It was a battle, not a seduction.
Suddenly, she yanked her head back. She stumbled to her feet, pushing her tangled hair off her face.
“Sydney—”
“No. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Later.”
Logan dragged in a long breath, and jumped up. He tried to control the reaction of his raging body. “Syd.”
“Let’s just focus on finding my brother. That’s what we’re here to do.” She turned away from Logan.
Job, lost brother. Right. “Your brother’s smart, right? He’s left a clue for you here. Somewhere.”
“Maybe not at the hotel. Maybe somewhere else.” She was frowning.
“Are there any other ways that he used to leave you messages? Like the codes you sent each other?”
Frustration etched her face. “The codes were the main way. And…”
When her voice just drifted off, Logan turned. “And what?”
“It’s silly. He didn’t do it often…it probably isn’t anything.”
“Try me.”
“He used the mirror in my bathroom. He’d leave me little messages on it. He’d use soap and write a message and then clean it off enough that you wouldn’t notice it. Then when the steam built up from the shower, the message appeared.”
Logan strode to the bathroom. He flicked on the tap in the sink, running it on hot. He reached for the shower and did the same.
A moment later, steam started to fill the bathroom. Sydney stood beside him, her face tense, staring at the mirror.
Logan shoved his hands in his pockets. Hell, if a dedicated cleaner had been in here, they may have cleaned off whatever message Drew Granger might have left. Logan watched as the mirror began to fog up. They waited.
At first, he thought there was nothing there. Then he saw the letters appear like a ghostly message. It was a single word.
Kuelap.
Logan frowned. “What the hell is Kuelap?”
Beside him, Sydney beamed. “I remember it from Drew’s notes. It’s a Chachapoya site. It’s not too far from the town, and a popular tourist destination.”
“Okay, let me call Dec. We’ll meet the others.”
“Logan.” She grabbed his arm and he felt her touch burn right through his shirt. “Thanks for not letting me give up.”
He lifted his chin. “It’s my job.”
Her smile melted, and she nodded. “Let’s go find the others and get to Kuelap.”
Chapter Five
Sydney sat in the passenger seat of the SUV and tried not to fidget. But she was just so excited. They were getting closer to Drew, she could feel it. She pulled out Drew’s notebooks and found the pages referencing the Cloud Warrior site of Kuelap.
Logan pulled the SUV to a stop near Chachapoyas’ main square. A second later, the other SUV pulled up beside them. Logan and Declan lowered their windows.
“What did you find?” Declan asked.
Sydney leaned forward. “Drew left me another message. It was just one word—Kuelap.”
“Which is?” Declan asked.
“The most famous of the Cloud Warrior ruins. It’s about two hours’ drive from here, and is perched on the summit of a hill. It’s known as the Machu Picchu of north Peru. It’s a fortress and walled city, the largest pre-Inca ruins in South America. It gets some tourists, but it’s quite remote, so it isn’t overrun like the more well-known Inca ruins in the south.”
“All right,” Declan said. “Looks like that’s where we need to head next. You’ve got directions?”
“Yes.”
“Any sign of Silk Road?” Logan asked.
“Nothing.” Declan frowned. “I hate when there’s nothing. Park your vehicle. We may as well just take one to see these ruins.”
Sydney found herself pressed between Morgan and the window. Logan rode up front with Declan.
Sydney stared out the window as the town gave way to cleared patches of forest and small villages. In the distance she saw the mountains, covered in dense forest, and some with clouds hanging over them like a blanket. The very thing that had given the cloud forests their name.
She was cataloguing every little detail before she admitted to herself it was just a way to stop thinking about Logan. And that kiss. She looked forward, at the back of his head and broad shoulders. She was excruciatingly conscious of him.
That kiss. God, she should not be thinking about him. The man was too big, too annoying, too opinionated. She sighed. But a part of her was glad that he knew all about he
r, who she really was. She’d kept an important part of her life hidden from her friends, her father, even Drew. Most days she’d been okay with people thinking she was just a society woman who liked the arts and attending parties. But now, these people with her—honest, real, hard-working people who risked their lives to keep other people safe—knew who she was.
Logan knew.
Sydney tapped her fingers against her knee. She could understand why he’d been angry she hadn’t told him about the CIA. That this foreign agent—someone he’d cared about—had tricked him, used him. He must have hated that, and knowing a friend had been injured. A man like Logan wouldn’t easily forgive himself for that.
It wasn’t hard to picture the kind of woman who would appeal to Logan O’Connor. A woman with brash confidence, a body that never quit, and who was just a little wild.
Nothing like Sydney.
The others didn’t notice she was quiet and lost in her thoughts. Their easy banter filled the vehicle. They acted like a big family—joking and teasing each other. Declan and Logan especially. The bond between them was clear to see.
It took them right on two hours to reach the base of the hill where the Kuelap ruins were located.
Declan got out of the car. “Looks like there’s a kilometer-long walk up to the ruins.” He was studying his tablet. “It says the path should be pretty easy going.”
“You get signal up here?” Sydney asked.
Declan smiled. “I pay a small fortune for top-of-the-line satellite connections. Doesn’t always work, but it’s worth every penny.”
Logan climbed out, looking at the few empty cars parked nearby. “Looks like they don’t get too many tourists.”
“Nothing like Machu Picchu, or Cuzco, or the Nazca Lines,” Sydney said. “It’s only been the last few years that the roads up into the north of the country have been improved, and more tourists have started venturing off the beaten track.”
Sydney pulled on a light jacket. It was a little cooler up here, and she was grateful it wasn’t winter. She could feel that the air was thinner and she needed to breathe deeper. The five of them headed off along the track leading up the hillside. The view in all directions was amazing—the deep green of the forests and mountains dipping down to the valleys below.
They walked up the track, moving into some trees. The walk was fairly easy, but she imagined if it rained, it wouldn’t be much fun.
Sydney looked up as they cleared the trees, and the breath caught in her chest. “My God, it’s amazing.”
The top of the long, narrow plateau was ringed with a high stone wall. The walls had to be at least twenty meters tall, and to think it had been built by an ancient culture, hundreds of years ago. Seriously impressive.
Looking along the length of the wall, she saw a few places where the stones had tumbled down, but for the most part, she guessed sections of the wall looked as they had when the Warriors of the Clouds had lived here.
They kept walking, and ahead, she spotted an entrance through the stone walls. The narrow gap was only a few meters wide, flanked by the high walls. As she stepped through it, she felt like she was heading down a tiny alleyway.
Then she moved out into the citadel of Kuelap.
Wow. She’d always enjoyed history, and Drew’s ramblings on whatever latest culture he was researching, but this…she felt chills up her arms. Stepping into a place that practically echoed with the voices of the people who’d lived, loved, and fought here was amazing.
The remains of the ancient city spread out before them. There were lots of low stone walls, several in circles that outlined the bases of buildings. She saw lots of platforms and terraces at different heights to make use of the uneven land.
Drew’s notes had mentioned that archeologists had found tombs and burials in parts of the site, filled with funerary bundles, ceramics, and the knotted strings known as quipus—used for recording information. And there was also an impressive drainage system.
“Split up and take a look around,” Declan said.
Sydney nodded, and with Logan by her side, they headed in the opposite direction to Declan and the others. Ahead, she saw that one of the round buildings had been restored. The houses were circular stone walls topped by a cone-shaped thatch roof. She tried to picture all the buildings looking like this one. She imagined it would have looked reminiscent of a medieval village.
“My brother must have loved seeing this.” Sydney carefully stepped over some tumbled rocks. “All this history that so few people see. When you think of Peru, you think of Machu Picchu and the Inca. The Warriors of the Clouds are forgotten.”
Logan grunted, which she took for agreement.
They walked farther along the crumbling stone walls. There were a few people dotted here and there. Sydney checked out everyone’s faces, hoping to see the familiar blue eyes and smile of her brother.
But she didn’t spot him. She reached a point at the outer defensive wall and stared down across the valley and to the mountains beyond. The view of the cloud forests, stretching out before her, took her breath away.
“Okay?”
She nodded at Logan. “I’m wondering what Drew stumbled onto that is so important that Silk Road would come after him.” All she saw here were stone ruins. Amazing and of huge historical value, but nothing that she could think that Silk Road would want.
“Something valuable,” Logan said.
She spun. “I’ve run my own searches. There is no mythical lost treasure of the Cloud Warriors. No stories of vast fortunes. No legends of cities of gold like in other parts of the continent. They didn’t even make or use metal. Right here, at this very site, they’ve only found stone, ceramics, and fabric.”
Logan stared at her. “And yet you said the Inca feared them. That they had the power to fight back against the greatest empire in the area.”
Logan was right. The Cloud Warriors had something of value. And whatever it was had put Drew in danger.
Down in the ruins, she saw some local kids playing and laughing. They were dark-haired, and wearing brightly colored sweaters. As Sydney watched, she saw one girl staring in their direction. A second later, nimble as a gazelle, she ran toward them, leaping over the ruined stones.
As the girl reached them, she shot them a shy smile. Sydney blinked. The girl was maybe ten or eleven, and she had fair hair and freckles scattered across her nose.
Sydney went still. This girl was a descendent of the Chachapoyas.
“Señorita Granger?”
Sydney’s back went stiff. “Yes. Si.”
“Para ti.” The girl pulled out a folded envelope and held it out. “He said you would be beautiful, tall, and have hair like mine,” the girl said in Spanish.
As soon as Sydney took the envelope, the girl turned and went back to her friends. Sydney turned the envelope over. It was battered and covered in a smear of dirt.
“Sydney?”
She looked at Logan and held up the envelope. She tore it open, hope filling her. It was filled with papers.
She pulled the first one out and recognized the untidy handwriting. She shot Logan a blinding smile. “It’s from Drew.”
***
Logan sipped his beer. He sat beside Sydney and the team, huddled around a table in a restaurant in Chachapoyas. Dec had picked a table right at the back where they could keep an eye on anyone entering the restaurant.
So far, there had been no sign that Silk Road had followed them into the Andes.
But the back of Logan’s neck was itching. They hadn’t seen the last of the bastards.
Sydney’s head was bent over the papers she had spread out on the table. He figured from the pinched look on her face, she wasn’t finding what she wanted.
She sat back in her chair with a huff. “There’s no message here.” She shook her head, little tendrils of blonde hair curling around her face. “These are just articles on the Cloud Warriors that Drew must have printed out. He’s made a few notations, but nothing that looks
like a message.”
“Tell us about the articles,” Logan said.
Morgan rattled the ice in her glass. “Talking it out might help.”
Sydney nodded and tapped one of the pages. “This article is about two silver cups dating from the Chachapoya era, and found at a Chachapoya site not far from here.” She turned the page so they could all see the image. Two simple silver tumblers were engraved with images of people, and a geometric pattern.
Logan frowned. “I thought you said they had no metal.”
“That’s what the current belief is. Drew’s made a special note of this discovery.”
“Maybe they traded for these, or something,” Hale suggested.
“The design is characteristic of the Cloud Warriors.”
Dec set his beer bottle down on the wooden table. “So, let’s recap. We have a mysterious, powerful people, who held out against the Inca, and who had no metal, while their neighbors were drowning in gold. And now these two cups have been found.”
Logan lowered his beer and studied his friend. “You think they had metal.”
Dec nodded. “Yeah. I think they did.”
Sydney’s eyes widened. “They were battling the Inca, but they knew the Inca had greater numbers. They must have known they were fighting a losing battle.”
Morgan leaned forward. “And then the Spanish arrived, hungry for gold and treasure…”
“The Warriors of the Clouds hid their treasure,” Logan stated.
“Oh, my God.” Sydney gripped the edge of the table. “Drew put it together. And I bet he knows where this treasure is.”
“And Silk Road wants it,” Logan finished.
“What’s the other article about?” Hale asked, from the other side of the table.
Sydney lifted the page. “It talks about the Cloud Warriors’ unique burial practices. They created anthropomorphous sarcophagi out of clay for their dead. They were shaped like human bodies, with exaggerated jaws, painted white and decorated with other colors. The mummies were left inside and the most famous of these types of burials were lined up along a cliff face, facing out across the valley.” She tapped her nail against a picture.