Found in the Lost

by Tarina Deaton

  “Roof access is to the right at the end of the hall,” Phantom said.

  “I’ve got point,” Ace said.

  “Go,” Phantom said. “I’ve got your six.”

  Shane grabbed Kinley’s hand in his and glanced out the door to the left in the direction of Kinley’s room, then followed Ace to the right. The door to the stairwell was cracked and he eased it open, glancing up the stairs in case Ace had run into any issues. A low whistle indicated the all clear and he led Kinley up the concrete steps to the roof.

  Very few lights lit the street below them, making it difficult to find Ace in the dark. Shane finally spotted him crouched close to the low wall at the side of the building.

  “All the buildings are roughly the same height with only a foot or two gap between them,” he said. “If we travel across a few, it should get us far enough away from the tangos before we hit the ground.”

  “We’re going to jump across the buildings?” Kinley asked.

  Shane could see the whites of her eyes in the dim light. “Hey. It’ll be okay. I’ve got you. We all do. We’ll get you across. Trust us.”

  She hesitated, but nodded and whispered, “Okay.”

  He shifted his duffel bag around to his chest so the strap crossed his back. “Give me your backpack.”

  She slid it off her shoulders and he loosened the straps before slinging it over his back. “That’ll make it easier.”

  “We good?” Phantom asked.

  Kinley nodded, much more confident than the first time.

  “We’re good,” Shane said.

  He was able to straddle the space between most of the buildings and help Kinley step from one low wall to the next. Only twice did they need to find something to span the gap to walk across. The second time, Ace backtracked to get the wide plank of wood they’d used the first time.

  Kinley crossed without complaint or balking, even when the plank had shifted under her weight. He wanted to give her an attagirl, but his boss would probably fire him if she ever got wind of it so he simply smiled his encouragement.

  They’d crossed seven buildings before they reached the cross street and had to descend to the ground. They hunkered between the last two buildings on the street.

  “Now what?” Ace asked.

  “We should go back to Flores,” Kinley said. “I’ll contact the Foundation and let them know what’s going on.”

  Shane exchanged a look with Ace and Phantom. She wasn’t certain about the idea. “I hear a but,” he said.

  She remained silent, chewing on the edge of her thumb, and glanced in the direction of the street.

  “Do you want us to talk you into that plan or out of it?” Ace asked.

  “If we do that, I’ll probably be taken off the excavation. I’ll have to turn my notes over to someone else.” She paused and chewed on her nail again. “Dr. Banks could be in serious trouble. The sensible thing to do is alert the authorities.”

  Ace huffed out a laugh. “No one ever accused any of us of being sensible.”

  Shane didn’t think she was leaning toward going to Flores and contacting the authorities, but if he told her it was the right thing to do, she’d do it.

  Maybe it was wishful thinking. Maybe he was jonesing for his old life so bad, he was looking for a chance to do something “operational”. Maybe it was selfish, but he wanted Kinley to choose option B. “If you want to find out if the burial chamber is real, we’ll help you do it.”

  “I want to find out if it’s real,” Kinley whispered.

  “I’d rather go treasure hunting than follow a fucking hiking trail,” Phantom added.

  Option B, it was. A sliver of remorse wormed through his conscience. Her eyes shone with so much excitement and trust, he almost took his offer back. Almost. “Let’s go find your dead guy’s treasure.”

  Chapter 7

  “Did you take the granola bar out of my bag?” Ace asked.

  “No,” Phantom said around a mouthful of food.

  “You dick. That was my last one,” Ace threw an empty water bottle at Phantom. “I’m starving.”

  “So was I,” Phantom said.

  “Then you should have packed your own food!”

  “I did. I ate it.”

  “Asshole.”

  Leaning against the metal wall of the small storage shed they’d found on the outskirts of town, Kinley watched the two men fight. Was this what it was like to have brothers? She had two sisters and they had been in some knock-down, hair-pulling, screaming fests when they were growing up. She always told them their parents should have traded them for boys. She should probably call and apologize when she got the chance.

  Shane sat down on the floor next to her. “Can you tell us some more about this lost city?”

  “Yeah. Of course.” She turned to face him more fully. Don’t get distracted by his mouth, Kin. She rubbed the sleepy grit from her eyes. “The ruins were found using LIDAR. It’s a method of surveying that uses pulsed laser light to illuminate an area and then the reflected pulse is measured with a sensor. It’s kind of like how sound waves—.”

  Phantom waved his hands and formed a T. “I know you’re in sharing knowledge mode, but it will probably save you some time to tell you we know what LIDAR is.”

  Heat suffused her neck and cheeks and she glanced down at her hands. “Right…sorry.”

  “Ignore him,” Shane said. “He’s an ass on the best of days, but doubly so when he’s hangry. How about if you explain like we understand everything and we’ll ask questions if we need to?”

  She smiled, still flustered after Phantom’s interruption, but continued. “Sure. Imagery showed that the Mayan civilization was much more extensive than previously thought. The site that was discovered may even be a separate civilization that predates the Mayans by almost five hundred years. It changes everything archaeologists thought they knew.”

  “What about that Blue Lake text you figured out?” Ace asked.

  “The Lago Azul text.” She pulled out her notebook and pulled out the copies of the text. “Here, look. The inscriptions are different from classical Mayan inscriptions. Some of the glyphs had been translated, but not most of them, so it was hard to put into any kind of context. One of the deciphered glyphs is the symbol for sun, since it’s very similar to the classic Mayan glyph for sun. A lot of scholars believed the text is part of a ritual worship of the sun god—kind of like a prayer. But I think what most scholars have translated as ‘sun’ actually means ‘enlightenment’. See these two little additions on the side of the glyph? I think they work similar to accents in the Arabic alphabet where it changes the sound of the consonant, only in this case it changes the meaning of the word.”

  “Why is that important?” Ace asked.

  Kinley shook her head and shrugged as a yawn stretched her jaw wide. “Sorry. I don’t know. I don’t have enough expert knowledge about Mayan culture to say whether it’s important or not. That’s one of the reasons I was so excited to be working on this excavation with Dr. Ford—she’s one of the foremost experts on Mayan culture and history.”

  “Do you have any maps of the area?” Phantom asked.

  She dug into her bag, feeling for the large plastic file folder and pulled it out. Releasing the elastic holding it closed, she pulled out the colorful LIDAR images of the area and handed them to Shane.

  He glanced through them, then passed them to Phantom. “You don’t have any topographical maps?”

  “No. I figured the team would have maps, so I didn’t bother with any. The only reason I have these is because there’s something about the layout of the city that’s teasing at the corner of my mind and I can’t figure it out.”

  Shane’s phone buzzed and he answered it. “Ivers…yeah, got it.”

  He disconnected the short call. “We need to get some wheels. We have a rendezvous in six hours. They’re going to have gear and maps for us. And food.”

  “Huh. Maybe the private sector isn’t such a bad gig,” Phantom s
aid.

  “Let me know when you’re ready to punch. In the meantime, there’s also a ride for you two to Belize.”

  Ace sat up straight. “Do what?”

  “You’re still active duty. The last thing you guys need is to go traipsing through the jungle, getting hurt.”

  “First of all,” Ace said, “I don’t traipse—whatever the hell that is.”

  “Second—you do know what we do for a living, right?” Phantom asked.

  “Yeah. Which is why you don’t need to get injured, killed, or worse—court-martialed, if shit goes south.”

  Kinley had to wonder about guys who considered getting court-martialed worse than dying. She watched the silent exchange between Phantom and Ace.

  “Fine,” Phantom said. “But I’m hanging out in Belize to finish my leave, so you better tell your guy to make reservations at a beach-side resort.”

  “You sure this is the place?”

  Shane didn’t fault Phantom for asking. “This is where the coordinates are.”

  The small village was more like a group of huts than anything else, although in the early morning light he might have described it as picturesque. Pulling the beat-up car off the road, he stared at the small building through the rearview mirror.

  “Are we here?” Kinley asked from the back. She’d passed out almost as soon as they’d loaded up in the car.

  “Looks like it,” Ace said.

  “Take your bags,” Shane said. No sense in coming back for them if this was the place and better to have them than have to leave them if it wasn’t.

  They approached the house slowly, taking note of the surroundings and keeping Kinley between them. Two wire-haired dogs slept under a rough-hewn bench by the door. Shane knocked softly on the wooden door and it swung open, revealing a dimly lit interior. Stepping over the threshold, he scanned the sparsely furnished open room. A table and three chairs stood against one wall, with a cold firepit to the left, and a door leading to another room on the right.

  “This better not be the resort,” Ace said.

  “It’s not,” a woman said.

  Shane pushed Kinley behind him and faced the threat. It took a second to register the woman stepping out of the doorway to the other room wasn’t a threat, at least not to him. Maybe. It was always kind of hard to tell and depended on her mood at the moment.

  “Jesus, Paige. Give a guy a heart attack, why don’t you? What are you doing here?”

  She leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms. “I was the closest.”

  “I didn’t know we had a job down here,” he said.

  “We didn’t.” Her voice was the audible definition of disgruntled. “I was on vacation.”

  “Anywhere good?” Phantom asked.

  “Turks and Caicos.”

  “Nice,” Phantom said. “We should go there.”

  “You’re already booked at an all-inclusive in Belize. I’ll be dropping you off at the Guatemala City airport on my way back to my vacation.” She straightened from the doorway and looked at Shane. “We need to talk.”

  He ran his hand down Kinley’s arm. “I’ll be right back.”

  Following Paige into the room, which had a small platform bed and not much else, he closed the door behind him. “What’s up?”

  She raised one perfectly arched eyebrow and crossed her arms. “What are you doing, Shane?”

  He really didn’t like this side of Paige. She gave a stare down worse than anyone he’d ever met. Even his mom when he’d gotten caught trying to sneak out of the house in high school to go meet up with Kiki White.

  “What? I’m helping Kinley.”

  “And when did you meet Kinley?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “So we’re expending funds and favors because you want to impress a girl?”

  “It’s not like that, Paige.” It wasn’t. It was more than wanting to impress Kinley or even find that temple she talked about.

  “Then explain what it’s like. Because I was enjoying myself on the beach and now I’m being eaten alive by mosquitos.” She slapped at her arm to emphasize her point.

  Running his hands through his curls that no amount of gel or product could tame, he summarized the events of the last day.

  “Why can’t we turn this over to the authorities?” Paige asked.

  “Kinley’s afraid if we turn this over to the authorities or go to the foundation she’s working for, she’ll get taken off the team.”

  Paige stared at him, assessing him, fucking reading him in that uncanny way of hers.

  “I need this, Paige. For the first time since I blew out my knee, I feel like I have a purpose. I know this isn’t a mission, but this whole situation is… I can’t explain it.” Not in a way that would make sense to anyone else, at least. He felt…alive. Like he could breathe deep.

  She sighed. “Do you need a team with you? I agree it’s not a good idea for your buddies to be here—there are too many things that can go wrong. It’s a slow week at home, which is why I was on vacation, so I can have a couple guys here in a day or two.”

  All the expected tension left his body, even with her dig at being pulled away from her vacation, and he relaxed his shoulders. His biggest fear was that Leonidas wouldn’t provide support. He could manage on his own, but it would be harder.

  “I’ve got it covered for now.”

  Paige lifted her chin a fraction in agreement. “I’m going to stage Devon, Harrison, and Jordan in Flores. They’ll attract less attention in a bigger city. I’ve also got Angie digging into any back chatter she can find so we can have some kind of idea of what group or groups we’re dealing with. I’m telling you now, if I think this is too much for you to handle on your own, I’m sending the team in.”

  She opened the door and left the small room. That had gone better than he expected. He thought she’d drag them all back to the airport and tell them they were idiots. The fact that she already had Leonidas’s cybertech specialist looking into it meant she’d never intended on pulling him off this mission…case…adventure. It didn’t matter what he called it. Right now, it was his purpose.

  He followed Paige out of the room and found Ace, Phantom, and Kinley gathered around the small table while Paige hefted a large pack onto it.

  “You have a GPS and satellite phone as well as sleeping bags and camping gear,” she said.

  “And rations.” Ace held up an MRE.

  “We are definitely going to the resort,” Phantom said.

  Paige held up a large square of paper. “There are also maps of the area.”

  He took a map and unfolded it, spreading it out on the table. Kinley already had the LIDAR images out and laid them over it.

  “The images aren’t the greatest since I got them from the internet, but this should be the temple,” Kinley said, pointing at a bright square.

  “I’ll send the coordinates to the team so they know where you’re headed.” Paige pulled out her phone and tapped on it with her thumbs. “You’re safe in the house and village, but don’t linger for more than a day or two.”

  “We’ll set out at first light,” Shane said.

  “All right. There’s a four-wheel-drive parked behind the house. Keys are in the center console. We’ll take the vehicle you acquired earlier and leave it somewhere along the way,” Paige said. “Be careful, Shane. Call the team before you need them ASAP.”

  His lips quirked up. “Thanks, Paige.”

  “Don’t thank me—I was going to leave your ass here. The only reason I came is Graham agreed to cover the cost of my resort.” She waved over her shoulder.

  Shane grinned after her. She was so full of it. She wouldn’t leave anyone out to hang. Give them shit for an eternity, sure, but she’d be the first one into the fray if one of the team needed it.

  Phantom and Ace stopped in front of him.

  “Kind of feel like the job is only half done,” Phantom said.

  Shane clasped his hand and pulled him into a one-armed hug, sla
pping him on the shoulder while Phantom did the same. “There’s always another job.”

  “Yeah. Next time let’s go right to the all-inclusive.”

  He left and Shane and Ace hugged it out.

  “Lot of effort to get the girl,” Ace said. “Hope you’re worth it.” He winked and followed Phantom and Paige, pulling the door to the house firmly shut behind him.

  Chapter 8

  Kinley watched as Shane tore the top off the smoking bag and pulled the dark brown pouch out of it, setting the still smoking bag off to the side. Smoking—not steaming. The chemical pouch in the bottom of the bag produced a toxic smoke, but apparently it was perfectly fine to heat their “meals ready to eat” with.

  “You’re sure these are okay to eat?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah. These are downright gourmet compared to what we used to have.” He used a knife to cut the side off the pouch he held. “The trick is to cut along the length instead of ripping across the top. That way you don’t have to shove your hand into the pouch to get to the bottom of it.”

  “This is my first MRE,” she said.

  “What do you normally eat when you’re on digs?”

  Heat crept up her neck and she lowered her gaze. “This is my first real trip to the field.”

  “Really?”

  Kinley nodded. “I’ve been on training trips, but they were to established sites—Egypt and Pompeii. My concentration has always been glyph translation, not the actual digging part. Honestly, the only reason I was invited on this trip is because I translated the Lago Azul text.”

  She took the pouch and spoon he held out to her and poked at the food before taking a small bite of what she assumed was meat. It wasn’t half bad. Saltier than she liked her food, but it wasn’t horrible even if it was unevenly heated through.

  “Stir it around a bit,” Shane said, opening the other pouch.

  She moved the food back and forth and took another bite. That was better. At least the cold spots and hot spots were mixed together.

  Shane passed her a water bottle and held his up. “Here’s to your first real dig.”