“Tio Felix loved Bahia. Mom and Dad tried to convince him to join them in Miami when they moved, but he always refused.” Katelyn spoke softly, the ache of sorrow winding through her.
“Why wouldn’t he leave?”
“He told them that God had carved heaven from the mountains and named it Bahia and that he would be a fool to abandon heaven. He said it was probably his first and last visit.”
Sebastian understood the sentiment. “Some of us stake out our paradise on earth. Avoid the rush.”
“That’s rather cynical of you,” she protested, turning slightly against his arm.
“Realistic.”
“I miss him.” She swallowed around the lump that formed in her throat. “I didn’t see him much lately, but he was always there for me. I used to spend the summers with him, hiking around the countryside.”
Stroking her arm soothingly, Sebastian offered, “I knew your uncle. We met up more than once. Estrada was a tough little bull, cunning. Could talk his way into anywhere. Once, we were after the same clay ocarina from the Shang Dynasty that had found a new home in Seoul. While I cut my way into a vault, Felix had tea with the owner’s wife and convinced her to sell it to him for a song. Madame Cho and Felix found me standing in her husband’s vault, surrounded by treasures the Chinese government would have gone to war to recover. When the lady would have had me slit from ear to ear, Felix not only saved my life, he got an excellent deal on a set of fifteenth-century celadon bowls from the Korean Goryeo Dynasty. And an offer to tea the next time he was in town.”
Knowing she should be appalled at Sebastian’s brazen admission, Kat couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you have any sense of—”
The rest of her sentence never emerged. In a blur of motion, Sebastian tucked Katelyn to his side and dived to the rocky ground.
“What?” The gasp from Katelyn was drowned when Sebastian covered her mouth with his hand.
“I saw something. In the ravine,” he explained tersely. With careful movements, Sebastian eased Katelyn deeper into the shadows of the cave. The jut of rock served as a shallow awning and offered little cover, but its gloom was a damned sight better than the spotlighted target they presented standing near the lip of the cliff. The sheer face of the mountain would disguise the presence of the cave until their hunters drew flush, but he didn’t figure that would be too long now.
“We’ve got company. Probably your friends from yesterday.” Against Katelyn’s ear, he explained in hushed tones, “I saw three figures moving in the brush. I don’t know if they saw us, but I don’t want to take that chance. Down here, we’re safe for now, but I need you to be still. Don’t move a muscle.”
To show she understood, she caught his look and did not blink.
“Good girl.” Sebastian waited the space of two breaths, then slid slowly along her taut, still length. Near her feet, the cavern entrance waited. Their only weapon, Kat’s gun, lay inside. As did the bounty their guests were hunting. He needed to get to the gun, get their stuff, and get them down the hill while the getting was good.
Ear pressed to stone, Katelyn listened in tense anticipation as heavy footfalls scrambled against the terrain. The trail she’d taken up the mountain had been intentionally difficult to trace. And with the rainfall yesterday, any tracks had been swept away by the deluge. Still, the grunting of men grew uncomfortably close and her heartbeat sped up in concert. From the echoes of sound, they were five minutes away at best. A clutch at her throat joined her too-rapid heartbeat. Cold shuddered over her skin as she recalled the brutal scene she’d witnessed the night before as they’d tortured Felix to gain his secrets. Now they’d find her and take his legacy.
No! The denial screamed through her mind. Her uncle had not died in vain. She’d be damned if his killers would profit from his death. Pushing the stultifying fear to a corner of her mind, she focused on the peril at hand. Men, three by her estimation, were coming.
Once they crested the lower ledge, the hidden cavern would be an easy target. Which meant she and Sebastian either needed to stop them from making it up the mountain or needed to be gone before their unwanted guests arrived.
Beneath her prone form, jagged stone dug into flesh, and her arms felt sticky and sore. Turning her head only slightly, she noted for the first time that Sebastian’s tackle onto the rock had ripped at her bare arms. Torn skin oozed trickles of blood, the red stains streaked with dirt. Sebastian had probably saved her life, though. The thought bothered as much as it unfurled a tendril of warmth. Despite his disdain for rules and honor, he at least cared about her survival.
Speaking of which, she wondered, cutting her eyes to the left, where the hell he was.
As though he could hear her, a form appeared on the edge of her peripheral vision and tapped her booted foot and pressed the toes flat. Understanding the silent sign, she inched forward, remaining on her back. The terrain shredded the thin tank she wore, and more shards poked at her aching skin. Inch by interminable inch, she eased her way forward. When she felt Sebastian’s hand grip her thigh, she stopped.
The rush of coming battle churned in his gut, and he cursed himself for having waited so long to leave. He knew better. Should have known better. A fortune in gold and one dead body already.
But, this time, he might be able to pay his debt to Felix Estrada, which meant protecting Kat and the Cinchona. He spoke in a tight whisper, the words disappearing almost before they could be heard. “On the count of three, I need you to turn over onto your stomach and crawl around the side of the cave to the seep. I’ll be right behind you. Take the keys, get in the truck, and be ready to move.” He lifted her hand, which lay near her side, the palm abraded by the ground, and closed her fingers around the satchel strap and car keys. “Do you understand, Kat?”
She whispered as low as he, “Yes.”
Satisfied, he adjusted the duffel bags and secured her camp gear beneath his arm, unwilling to leave a trace of their presence. He started the countdown. “One.” The sound of the men grew louder, as the thin air forced them to breathe harder. “Two.” By Sebastian’s calculations, they had mere minutes. “Three.”
With a tumbler’s grace, Katelyn moved into position and was soon crawling down the slope where the Jeep was hidden among the piñon bushes. Her movements barely disturbed the earth. Sebastian followed quickly, keeping an eye on his back trail. Using his foot, he tried to brush out signs of their passage, but the effort was clumsy at best. By his count, they had thirty seconds before she would have to drive them out of there.
He heard the men come over the ridge and spun on his heel, jogging for the truck. “Start the engine, Kat,” he instructed, tossing their gear onto the rear bench. Climbing inside, he yanked the gun from his pocket and knelt on the seat to watch for their visitors. They popped over the ridge in quick succession, the first one bearing a rifle bigger than himself. A volley of bullets struck the trees around them, and one shattered the Jeep’s glass, the shards spraying outward.
“Drive!” Sebastian yelled, aiming his gun. The bullet leaped out but missed the rifle’s holder. “Now, Kat. Go now!”
Rock churned beneath the wheels, and Kat shifted into drive. Turning in a tight circle, the Jeep pitched over the ridge and into nothingness. For endless, weightless seconds, they hung in the air, then dropped like a two-ton stone. Gunfire erupted behind them, coming closer and closer. Shouting punctuated the scatter of bullets, and Sebastian waited for a good shot.
The Jeep struck ground, the tires slipping as they tried to find purchase. Katelyn spun the wheel hard and floored the accelerator. The engine growled in agreement, and the vehicle jumped forward eagerly. Restrained only by their seat belts, the pair shook violently as the Jeep rattled along a stony path that had been hidden by the ledge. Rock yielded to trees, whose broad leaves whipped at their faces. Dense stands of vegetation blocked their path, but Katelyn expertly weaved the Jeep between the obstacles.
Sebastian spared a glance at his companion. She drove with
speed and precision, and not a small hint of recklessness. As they crested a rise, he saw the outlines of three men standing on the ledge they’d abandoned. One held a rifle, but the Jeep was out of range. “You can slow down, Kat. We lost them.”
When the Jeep continued to barrel forward, he checked her profile and found her jaw clenched, an echo of the fingers clamped around the steering wheel. The topaz eyes stared unblinkingly at the forest, and he realized she was driving on instinct alone. “Kat, honey, slow down. It’s okay. They’re not following us.” He slipped a hand along her nape, tracing soft rings on the taut muscles. “Come on, darling. Let it go.”
The sound of Sebastian’s voice broke through the haze of fear that surrounded her, consuming her thoughts. Kat felt the light touch on her skin, heard the gentle voice that urged her to stop. “Are they gone?” she whispered. Looking at him briefly, she searched his face for reassurance.
“Yes, they are. You did good, Kat. Real good.” Concerned, Sebastian used his free hand to cover hers on the wheel. The shocky look in her eyes warned him that she wasn’t as tough as she pretended. And much tougher than he’d imagined. Katelyn Lyda was a hell of a woman.
The realization stirred him, made him remember dreams he’d discarded years ago. Dreams of happily ever after and other nonsense. Sebastian pushed away the hazy image, and said tersely, “Why don’t you stop the car and let me drive?”
Chapter 7
The Jeep rumbled along the valley floor, heading south, away from Canete. Kat noticed the detour, and finally asked, “I thought we were going for supplies?”
Sebastian swigged from the canteen he’d rescued from their gear. “Canete is probably crawling with cops by now.”
“Because of Tio Felix.”
“Right. We go back there, someone is bound to recognize you. They’ll bring you in for questioning, and it will be a month before a judge sets bail.” He’d given the matter a great deal of thought, especially when she went on her jaunt. “Besides, I want to read the rest of the diary, figure out where we’re headed.”
“Headed?” Kat asked blankly.
Sebastian turned his head sharply. “To the gold. Remember? The Cinchona. Incan gold.”
“Oh, yes.” In the rush to escape their visitors with her life intact, she’d forgotten momentarily the story she’d made up about Incan treasure. Kat sat back, closing her eyes to escape Sebastian’s inquiring look. Keeping lies straight was hard for her under the best of circumstances. As a child, she’d invariably gotten caught. Lying didn’t come naturally for her, and she had the worst poker face in the world. “I’m still a bit frazzled,” she temporized.
And she was lying through her straight, perfect teeth, he noted. The tan satchel rested between her feet on the floor of the truck, heavier than it had been when he first went through it. Unfortunately, their guests hadn’t given him adequate time to search through the contents and check for new additions. He’d been forced to scoop up everything, pausing only to grab the gun. Kat had followed his instructions to the letter, and he owed their safe getaway to her lack of histrionics. Still, the events had to have taken their toll, as evidenced by the shadows smudged beneath her eyes. “You should take a nap. I figure we’ll head south for an hour or so, then pick a nice little hotel for the afternoon. Read through the diary and plan our expedition.”
As though waiting for permission, her lids felt heavy and drifted down, lashes fanning out. “Wake me if you want me to take a turn.” The husky mumble faded quickly as Kat drifted off.
Sebastian smiled approvingly and laid his arm across the back of the seats. Within seconds, her breathing lengthened into steady, even drafts. Too heavy, her head lolled against the headrest, and giving in to temptation he knew to ignore, he tipped her over to relax against his shoulder. Soft, warm breaths puffed along his skin, followed by a quickening of blood that had become reflexive in her presence.
Scenery flashed outside the car in photogenic succession. Mountain peaks disappeared behind wisps of white clouds, and dark water twisted through the countryside. Beneath the Jeep, brown earth, rutted and uneven, jounced the axles until he found a trail that led out of the valley.
With controlled speed, he guided the Jeep onto a rural highway, really no more than a slap of tar over poured concrete. Sebastian hadn’t been in Bahia before, but his research had been thorough. Like Peru to the south, Bahia had been carved between the Pacific and the Andes, with an Amazon tributary running straight through the center. The resulting landscape yielded part tropical rain forest and part desert sierra. The real mountains and the broad river skated just outside Bahia’s compact borders.
According to the history he’d read, Bahia had been an accidental country, grown from a family’s civil war. The supreme Incan leader, Huayna Capac, died and left three sons. His eldest son Atahualpa headed the Incan imperial army, based in what became Ecuador. Atahualpa’s half brother Huáscar ruled the capital city of Cuzco, which became Peru. However, Capac’s sons didn’t know he had an illegitimate child, Chalcucha. By the time the Spanish set their sights on Peru, Huáscar and Atahualpa were engaged in a bitter civil war. When Pizzaro arrived, Atahualpa had defeated Huáscar and become the Inca. He allowed Chalcucha to live and installed him as the puppet ruler of Bahia. Centuries later, Bahia still formed a natural barrier between Ecuador and Peru.
On the side of the road, a llama led its grizzled master, the shaggy white back saddled with a bundle of indiscriminate purpose. The man watched Sebastian, who tipped his head in greeting. An answering nod was the man’s response, and Sebastian swerved the Jeep around the area where the two walked.
Kat stirred against his shoulder, and he murmured softly, urging her to rest. The next few days would sap her energy unless she stored it up. Grief, he knew, was enervating and debilitating. Which was why he admired how well she’d stood up so far. In his life, loss had been fairly contained. His father had died before he was born, and neither of his parents had relatives to speak of. Sebastian had found a little sister in his best friend Erin, the daughter of the family his mom kept house for.
Sebastian thought about Kat’s earlier query. Why did he steal? The answer wasn’t too complex. He liked shiny stuff. His childhood hadn’t been marked by deprivation, though he did remember the time before his mom went to work for the Glovers. The husband and wife and their only child, Analise Erin Abbott Glover, had been good to him. He had no doubt they’d treated the servant’s kid better than his counterparts. Still, peering into their monied lives hadn’t been sufficient. So, instead, he discovered young an aptitude for parting fools and their money, a skill he had honed into a profession.
The memory of his first big job remained with him that day. He’d been hired by an oil magnate to recover the man’s gift to a mistress who had deserted him for a computer tycoon. The sapphire necklace in a platinum setting rarely left the lady’s neck. But a little finesse and her overindulgence in prescriptions had netted him a paycheck that rivaled his mother’s salary for a couple of years.
She pretended to believe him when he said he’d won the money in a bet.
God bless her, Mrs. Caine didn’t ask too many questions of her son. Like Erin. And his occasional collaborator, Mara Reed. The best friends, he supposed, accepted you—without too much hand-wringing and philosophizing. They came to your aid and left you to your own devices, unless interference was absolutely necessary.
Katelyn didn’t strike him as the noninterfering type.
“What are you thinking about?”
The sleepy question wafted against his cheek, and he offered a half smile. “How I plan to spend my gold.”
“Hmm.” The curve of his lips spoke of mysteries, and his casual response jabbed at Kat’s inconvenient conscience. She should tell him there was no gold. After all, he’d just saved her life. However, she hedged silently, there had been nothing altruistic in his rescue. Without her, all he had was the diary, which he couldn’t read. Saving her had been necessary for his plans, and k
eeping the truth about the Cinchona to herself was essential too. Sitting up, she blinked at the changing scenery, the Andean hills giving way to the lush vineyards that stretched along the tributaries. “Where do you plan to stop?”
“Ballestas, I think. According to the road signs, the town is about ninety kilometers away. I figure we can grab a hotel room, eat, and plot our treasure hunt. Ever been there?”
Kat drew her feet up to prop against the dashboard, dropping her chin to her knees. “I haven’t really traveled around Bahia. Tio Felix and I mainly stayed in Canete during my visits.”
“You stayed with him a lot?”
“Nearly every summer. Mom and Dad taught college, but they used the summers for travel.”
“Must have been lonely, being dumped on your uncle.”
She hadn’t really thought about it before. “No, I wasn’t lonely. Not at all. I’m an only child, like my dad. And they didn’t dump me on Tio Felix. I asked to come. He was larger than life, told the best stories.” Kat angled her head toward Sebastian, considering. “I hadn’t thought about it before, but I think I found my parents boring. College professors who didn’t watch television and who actually read my homework. Visiting Tio Felix seemed much more exciting than traipsing behind either of my parents doing fieldwork.”
“Understandable. Which one is the anthropologist?” Sebastian prodded.
“Mom. My dad is the naturalist, and I appear to be a combination of them both.” She laughed quietly. “A therapist would have a field day.”
“You seem fairly well balanced, all things considered.”
Her smile faded. “I keep waiting to fall apart. I should, you know.” Kat bit at her lip, eyes troubled. “I saw him murdered, Sebastian. My favorite relative, who took such good care of me. But I’m not curling into a hysterical ball and weeping. What’s wrong with me?”
Secrets and Lies Page 8